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Archive for “Race” news
Tom Corbett Fires A Cabinet Member Over Racially Charged Email
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 6/14/2013
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The head of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Richard Allen, has been under scrutiny lately for negotiating in secret to open up drilling on an 18,000 acre swath of Loyalstock State Forest. Just this week, a coalition of environmental groups demanded the terms of the proposal to be released, along with a set of public hearings that would typically accompany such a project.
But that's not why he was a fired. (Or asked to resign, technically speaking.) According to the Inquirer, Allen was shown the door for sending a racially insensitive email to his wife, also a state employee, in
First Lady Michelle Obama Has the Right to Defend Herself
By Maya K. Francis 6/10/2013
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There was a considerable amount of copy last week devoted to the story of First Lady Michelle Obama and the Heckler. Ellen Sturtz, the heckler, attended a private fundraiser on behalf of LGBT civil rights group Get Equal. Sturtz interrupted Obama, the invited guest for the $500-per-ticket event, throughout her remarks, demanding that President Obama sign the Employment Non-Discrimination Act on behalf of the LGBT community.
The First Lady handled the situation deftly, approaching Sturtz and replying, “One of the things I don’t do well is this, do you understand? Listen to me or you can take the mic, but I'm leaving. You all decide. You have a choice.”
And in this impromptu game of political survivor, the crowd quickly sided with the First Lady, and Sturtz was voted off the island.
Federal Judge Uses Penn Law Lecture to be Really Racist
By Joel Mathis 6/06/2013
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It's not been too long since U.S. Appellate Judge Edith Jones was seen as a short-list candidate for Republican nominees to the Supreme Court. After her Feb. 20 talk at Penn's law school, that's no longer the case. A misconduct complaint has been brought against her based on those comments—which weren't recorded, but which five students and one attorney who attended have signed affidavits saying they witnessed.
AP reports:
Jones is accused of saying that certain "racial groups like African-Americans and Hispanics are predisposed to crime," and are "prone to commit acts of violence" and be involved in more violent and "heinous"
Can Obama Ambush Republicans With a Pocket Full of Blackness?
By Charles D. Ellison 6/04/2013
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Democrats bank on a weary, politically shell-shocked public eventually punishing Republicans in 2014, compounded by the constant of changing demographic winds that conservatives can’t shake. Generic mid-term ballots showing Democrats nearly three points ahead of Republicans give progressives breathing space. Unemployment is still high, growth at snail’s pace, and the sticker shock on everything from gas pumps to grocery lines evident—yet, Congress is muddled in AP-‘Ghazi-Tax-Gate madness over the scraps under the kitchen table. Voters will lash out on that.
But we’re still 18 months and stocks of unknown political problems away to make that assumption. Unaddressed is the second-term President presently stuck in a first-term mindset. Barack Obama has fantastically dropped the ball on messaging as “scandals” sucker-smack him from left jaw to right, his White House unable or just plain unwilling to put its elbow in it.
Whatever Happened to Integration?
By Sandy Smith 6/04/2013
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As Philadelphia readers and the rest of the city have been reminded again, bridging the worlds of black and white in this city is a particularly tricky task. So many times, it seems, we talk past each other or remain ensconced in our own worlds—even in places known for racial comity.
Recently, a white friend of mine who lives up my way wanted to bend my ear about personal stuff and invited me to meet him at a popular Mt. Airy bar. When I walked into McMenamin's, I recognized a scene that was very Mt. Airy: About half the patrons in the bar were black and half were white, and everyone was enjoying themselves.
Swastika Spray-Painted on Honey’s Sit ‘N Eat
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 6/03/2013
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Saturday morning, Honey's Sit N' Eat owner Ellen Mogel, who is Jewish, found the exterior of her Northern Liberties restaurant defaced with a swastika. "In 15 seconds," Mogel told Philly.com. "someone rocked my world." A skull and the words 'Get drunk happy' and 'Bitin' were also tagged. It's unclear whether the vandal knew of Honey's Jewish roots; some of its signage is made to look like it's written in Hebrew. [Philly.com]
A White Uncle Tom?
By Victor Fiorillo 5/29/2013
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White Former ADA Sues Seth Williams for Racial Discrimination
By Victor Fiorillo 5/28/2013
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Tom Corbett Could Use A Binderful of Latinos
By Joel Mathis 5/22/2013
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ThinkProgress catches Gov. Tom Corbett admitting he has no Latinos on his staff, during an appearance hosted by Al Dia last week at the Union League:
Watch the video, courtesy of Al Dia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&list=UUGrUeq1FtRamLqZgaCIgB3w&v=BdFH2RzblYA
MODERATOR: Do you have staff members that are Latino?CORBETT: No, we do not have any staff members in there. If you can find us one, please let me know.MODERATOR: I am sure that there are Latinos that…CORBETT: Do any of you want to come to Harrisburg? See?!
Liberty Place Says Racist, Sexist Religious Protests Are Hurting Its Business
By Joel Mathis 5/22/2013
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Courthouse News Service reports that the operators of The Shops at Liberty Place have asked a state court to bar the Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge from conducting its religious protests outside the tower's Chestnut Street entrance.
It claims that since November 2012 the group has met on Friday afternoons near its 16th and Chestnut Street entrance, using a loudspeaker to "take turns preaching hate toward whites, homosexuals and women."
According to the complaint, the defendants' comments have included: "You hate the white man? So do I;" "The white man is the devil," "A faggot doing what he's doing to another faggot is
