Wednesday 3 October 2007

Round-up

1. A primary school in Louisiana is investigating an incident in which a noose was placed around a kindergarten child's neck.

The Alma J Brown Elementary School newspaper published pictures of black adults placing the noose around at least one child's neck at a mock rally on the same day as the mass anti-racism protest at Jena in September.

This sounds dreadful to begin with, but a quick examination of the article makes it clear that this was in fact an anti-racist rather than a racist statement. I'm not a fan of it, anyway, because I don't like this emotional pleading to 50-year-old trends that by-and-large are not applicable today to make a political point. It smacks of manipulation.

2. A former Los Angeles firefighter who said his co-workers were racist and even once fed him dog food was awarded 1.43 million dollars as part of a discrimination settlement, officials said Tuesday.

The Los Angeles City Council also voted to grant Tennie Pierce, a 19-year fire department veteran, 60,000 dollars in back pay, making him eligible for pension benefits.

OK, first of all I see no evidence of racism here apart from the fact that he was black. In fact, I find it equally likely that the other firemen may have picked on him because he was the "young one" - only 19.

Secondly, the amount we're talking about here - $1.43m - is clearly crazy, even if the incidents were racially motivated. No way can such an extortionate amount be justified.

And then there is this:

"But Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa vetoed the settlement when photos surfaced of Pierce participating in hazing directed at another firefighter."

You see that? Our poor "victim" has been involved in treating someone else exactly the same way. And yet he's won over a million dollars from his mistreatment. Why? Because he's black, and the other guy wasn't. Who said discrimination was a bad thing?

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