Posted on 07/09/2004 1:31:45 AM PDT by KneelBeforeZod
SACRAMENTO - A lawmaker who had called for Education Secretary Richard Riordan to resign for joking with a 6-year-old that her name meant ``stupid, dirty girl'' abruptly backed off Thursday after mistakenly suggesting that race was a factor in the quip.
Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally, D-Los Angeles, canceled a news conference today with civil rights groups after learning that the girl subjected to Riordan's joke was white, not African-American.
An aide to Dymally said the assemblyman had seen conflicting news accounts of the girl's race. In a press release canceling the news conference, Dymally, who is African-American, said Riordan had apologized to clergy in Los Angeles for the gaffe.
``It should be noted that race is not a factor in this issue,'' Dymally said in the statement, stressing that he wanted to meet with Riordan to further discuss the matter. ``It is time for us to move on.''
SNIP
Riordan, a wealthy former Los Angeles mayor known for both his philanthropy and his verbal blunders, stepped into a political morass when he joked that Goleta resident Isis D'Luciano's name meant ``stupid, dirty girl.'' Isis had asked Riordan if he knew that she was named for an Egyptian goddess. Apparently confused, Riordan took an awkward stab at guessing the name's derivation.
Riordan later apologized for the joke. And Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called the comments ``unacceptable in any context'' but said he was satisfied that Riordan's apology was sincere.
On Wednesday, Dymally, D-Compton, was far from satisfied, saying the Republican governor should seek Riordan's resignation. At the time, Dymally told the Mercury News that Riordan ``needs to do more than just apologize. And I have to inject: This was a little African-American girl. Would he have done that to a white girl?''
Isis' mother, Trinity Lila, was baffled both by Riordan's statement and Dymally's actions.
``Does it matter that she's white?'' asked Lila, who isn't sure if Riordan should step down, given his apologies. ``If he feels that the man should step down, does it matter that she's white?''
Isis is a fan of the summer book club Riordan was promoting in Santa Barbara, her mother said. The precocious girl, who reads at a fifth-grade level, likes the environmental themes in the club selections and enjoys answering comprehension questions once she has finished a book.
SNIP
``She was really OK,'' Lila said. ``I asked her why she kept repeating what her name meant and why she didn't tell him that what he said wasn't very nice. She said she didn't want to hurt his feelings. I think she thought he wasn't very bright.''
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Dymally, what a maroon, Riordan, a maroon enabler.
After learning that the girl subjected to Riordan's joke was white, not African-American, Dymally was heard to say "Damn, damn, damn! Why couldn't she have been black!"
typical leftist scum
what's color have to do with it?
maroon/moron?
Isn't it interesting that when Mervyn Dymally hears the words "stupid" and "dirty," he immediately thinks one is talking about Blacks? Talk about self hatred!
Not even Riordan would have been stupid enough to say this to a black child.
Gee, it was JUST a white girl so it's okay too insult her.
/sarcasm
BTTT!
Well well well. This is the first time that hypothetical question has ever been definitively answered. And I hope it's thrown in the face of the next person to ask it as well.
This story is sick on so many levels:
SICK because a grown man doesn't have the tact, common sense and decency to refrain from insulting a little girl.
SICK because some race baiter is sooooo eager to jump on the "whitey is out to get us" bandwagon that he makes a butt out of himself.
SICK because once said race baiter realizes that the little girl is white, he drops his rant. So I guess in his world it's a death sentence to insult a little black child, but OK to insult a white child.
Both of this men disgust me.
Bwahaha! Even a 6 year old knows-
'Stupid is as stupid does!'
Isn't it, well, racist, for civil rights activists to have assumed that Isis was white, merely because she had an unusual first name? Don't white people give their kids goofy names as well (Apple, ESPN, Coco)?
Soleil Moon Frye. Moon Unit. Dweezil. Leaf. River.
this shows what the NAALCP really is.....a racist organization that is in business to extort money for private use.
I'm still trying to figure out where Riordan's head was in this encounter. Was it in the cell with that French cannibal? Where does his nonsensical line even come from? If it's supposed to be witty, I don't even get it. I just can't see talking to a tiny little girl like that and coming up with a stupid line that could be hurtful.
But, then, didn't this guy say Bill Clinton was the greatest? Read that in the other thread.
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