Round-up

1. We had a case of the Golliwogs' Return in Lancashire this week as police seized two of the dolls on charges of the shop owner being racist after a visitor to the shop complained the golliwogs were racist. Fortunately, common sense prevailed in the end and the dolls are now being sold in the shop again.

I genuinely feel sorry for the moronic "visitor" who reported this to the police. It can't be easy to be so short on both brain cells AND a properly-developed sense of morals. I think the fact that she sees black men whenever she looks at these featureless, cartoonish, androgynous children's dolls shows who is the real racist in this situation.

2. Reginald Jones doesn't blame the woman on the plane. Jones, a former musician who now tours the country as an inspirational speaker, told Bates College students Wednesday night of his first experience flying first-class. A woman seated next to the well-dressed, well-spoken black man asked him which team he played for. Seeing his perplexed reaction, the woman realized her gaffe and then asked if he was a rapper. "I'm five-foot-eight, and I weigh 160 after dinner. What pro team could I possibly play for?" Jones said. "She couldn't possibly believe that I might be the CEO of a Fortune 400 company."

I think in this case we're just looking at a really dumb and possibly racist person more than anything else. I don't think it's necessarily right to blame anyone else but this woman. However, I did find it funny that the article makes its own racial gaffe by describing Mr Jones as a "relative oddity" because he is a successful black man.