Free Republic

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s tours of soul food restaurants and black churches to court black voters in recent weeks doesn’t seem to be paying off. The turnout of black voters is down in many areas compared to 2012, including key battleground states, providing the latest evidence that the former first lady’s campaign may be circling the drain. The black voter turnout in the key state of North Carolina is down 16 percent in early voting. It’s a similar situation in Florida, where black voters heading to the polls in person has decreased from 25 percent in 2012 to a...

A University of Oregon law professor wore a costume that included "blackface" at an off-campus Halloween party, prompting outcry from student groups and a decision to place the professor on paid administrative leave pending an investigation. President Michael Schill sent out a campus-wide message commenting on the incident Tuesday, condemning the unnamed professor's actions as an "anathema to the University of Oregon's cherished values of racial diversity and inclusion." UO's law school dean, chief academic officer and dean of inclusion all signed onto the message. The faculty member apparently wore blackface to an off-campus private party where other faculty members...

The first time I saw a friend wearing blackface I was a freshman in college. I was stunned. I was hurt. I was enraged. But more than anything, I was confused. He thought it was funny, albeit controversial. But to me it wasn’t a joke; it was pointed mockery. I imagined him laughing and joking as his friends painted his skin. I couldn’t understand why he would so callously and easily disrespect me and those like me, for fun. Now I have come to expect such acts, and the conversations that surround them, as routine displays of disrespect and cultural...

Filed under the heading of "You Just Can't Make This Stuff Up," I give you Terry Rambler, who is the Chairman of the San Carlos Apache Tribe in Arizona. Rambler was in DC recently to represent his tribe at Tribal Nations Conference. He is also a signatory to a pledge calling for the Washington Redskins to change their name, because racism. With me so far? Good. While in DC, Rambler decided to partake in Halloween festivities where he dressed up as Bob Marley. Okay, no worries. Perfectly acceptable Halloween costume. Except for a certain altering of the facial complexion that...

In a move that many would consider basic human decency, the Metropolitan Opera in New York has decided to break from tradition, and forgo the use of blackface in its upcoming production of Verdi’s Otello (based on Shakespeare’s Othello). The decision, which should have been a no-brainer, has been met with resounding positivity and a general sense of self-congratulation. Met general manager Peter Gelb is quoted as saying, “I realize it’s a sensitive issue. We feel that it’s the appropriate direction for this production and we’re happy with that decision. Quite frankly, [director Bartlett Sher] and I have talked about...

To the chagrin of progressives, especially those who are African American, we have not heard the last from this remarkable young woman. She plans to keep making videos. Patty has a bright future ahead of her no matter what she intends to do Patty, who for obvious reasons does not want her full name used, operates the Facebook page, Young, Black and Conservative. On Friday she uploaded a video in response to comments actor George Takei made about Justice Clarence Thomas’s remarks in his dissenting opinion in the Supreme Court same sex marriage case. Takei called the only African American...

George Takei called Thomas a "clown in blackface" following the justice's dissent in last week's landmark same-sex marriage ruling.Star Trek legend George Takei has apologized for calling Clarence Thomas a "clown in blackface" following the Supreme Court justice's dissent in last week's landmark same-sex marriage ruling, according to CNN. "I was still seething, and I referred to him as a 'clown in blackface' to suggest that he had abdicated and abandoned his heritage," Takei wrote Friday in a Facebook post. "This was not intended to be racist, but rather to evoke a history of racism in the theatrical arts. While...

The conservative world exploded in outrage over George Takei's blatantly racist remark calling Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas "a clown in blackface," but they all got this story wrong. Takei is a very rare bird: an intellectually honest liberal. I'm not going to cover in detail what Takei said and what Justice Thomas wrote.  You can read about it here, here, and here. To sum up, Justice Thomas wrote in his dissent on Obergefell v. Hodges (the gay marriage case, for those who have hid their heads in a bag for the last two weeks) that the government doesn't bestow dignity and humanity...

Just because Takei had the ability to memorize such great lines “Aye aye, captain,” does not mean he has any smarts. And, as far as intelligence in actors goes, Takei is no Ronald Reagan. He’s not even a Kim Kardashian As everyone who does not depend on the left wing mainstream media for news knows by now, actor and gay rights spokesman, George Takei, is not too pleased with what Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in his dissenting opinion in the gay marriage case, Obergefell v. Hodges. Of the only black justice on the Supreme Court of the United...

I owe an apology. On the eve of Independence Day, I have a renewed sense of what this country stands for, and how I personally could help achieve it. The promise of equality and freedom is one that all of us have to work for, at all times. I know this as a survivor of the Japanese American internment, which each day drives me only to strive harder to help fulfill that promise for future generations. I recently was asked by a reporter about Justice Clarence Thomas’s dissent in the marriage equality cases, in which he wrote words that really...

George Takei unleashed a racist rant against Clarence Thomas, sneering that the Supreme Court justice is a "clown in blackface." The Star Trek actor on Monday fumed, "[Thomas] is a clown in blackface sitting on the Supreme Court. He gets me that angry. He doesn't belong there." Talking to a local Fox affiliate in Phoenix, Takei snarled that the second African American on the Supreme Court is unqualified: "This man does not belong on the Supreme Court. He is an embarrassment. He is a disgrace to America."

Via the Free Beacon, I think it was Dan McLaughlin of Red State who tweeted after last week’s SSM decision was released, “Now the contest begins to see who’ll be the angriest winner.� His point was that, for a movement that’s been unstoppable culturally over the past 10 years, there’s a curiously strong impulse towards nastiness in some lefties’ reaction to each new victory. With this remark from George Takei, I think it’s safe to say the contest is now over. Takei’s overreacting to a point Thomas made in response to Kennedy’s idea that state recognition of gay marriage is...

<p>Two years ago, I was a freelance reporter on the island of Curacao, a former Dutch colony and a territory once key to the European slave trade in the New World. Within a few months, I began making friends, picking up some Dutch and Papiamento (the local, Creolized language) and absorbing a bit of the culture. Before arriving there, I had been aware of the Dutch holiday tradition of Sinterklaas (something like Santa Claus) and his mischievous helper-slave Zwarte Piet (or Black Pete). I knew that many white Dutch loved to dress up as Zwarte Piet by painting their faces black and their lips bright red and donning curly wigs. I thought I was ready to face this character, who is bumbling, mischievous and dimwitted, but nevertheless kind to children.</p>

Monroe Middle School teacher Al Barron who was suspended while the Monroe district investigated his teaching methods on African American history was reinstated....

A Monroe, Michigan middle-school teacher has been suspended after showing a video of people in blackface to his eighth-grade class. According to Monroe News, Alan Barron, who is weeks away from retiring, showed videos of white entertainers wearing blackface while discussing racial segregation and black history, but the class was cut short by an assistant principal who was in the classroom. Parents said that the school official believed the lesson plan to be racist. The 36-year teacher was placed on suspension by school officials while they investigate whether his lesson plan was actually racist. Adrienne Aaron, whose husband is African-American,...

The former 'Dancing with the Stars' pro added an unfortunate touch to her getup as character Crazy Eyes.Not a good look, Julianne Hough. The former 'Dancing with the Stars' pro donned blackface on Friday night as part of her Halloween costume. The 25-year-old actress was portraying "Orange is the New Black" character Crazy Eyes, played on the hit Netflix series by Uzo Aduba. Hough hit the Casamigos Tequila Halloween Party with a group of friends dressed as the cast of the show. For the occasion, Hough appears to have darkened the skin on her face and neck, as well as...

A veteran New York Assemblyman on Monday stood by his decision to wear blackface makeup, an Afro wig and a basketball jersey to a costume party in the face of criticism he called “political correctness to the absurd.” Democratic Assemblyman Dov Hikind wrote on his blog Monday that he doesn’t understand the criticism swirling around Albany, and doesn’t know why anyone would be offended by the costume he wore to a party he recently held at his home in Brooklyn to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Purim. Hikind hired a makeup artist and wore an orange basketball jersey, sunglasses and...

(I apologize if this has already been posted. I can't get the search function to work.) During an interview last week with Democracy Now, author and activist Cornel West offered harsh criticism of President Barack Obama, calling him a “Rockefeller Republican in blackface” and not someone who is actually looking out for the best interests of the impoverished. The prominent social critic also lashed out at black MSNBC personalities, accusing them of “selling their souls” in support of a president who has been anything but progressive. “I think that it’s morally obscene and spiritually profane to spend $6 billion on...

Despite some commentators’ giddy excitement about President Barack Obama’s reelection, Tavis Smiley and Cornel West took a different stand, calling out the president for some of the shortcomings of his administration and his reelection campaign on the issue of poverty. Of course, Smiley and West have their own critics, in part due to West’s occasional propensity to use highly charged language, such as his 2010 contention that Obama’s policies led to racist effects. Speaking on Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now! show, Smiley and West tore into the president. Calling Obama “a Rockefeller Republican in blackface,” West charged “that it’s morally obscene...

......The two-minute clip shows Hanks hosting the castaway-themed auction in a room decorated to look like a jungle at the £18,000-a-year St Matthew’s Parish School in Pacific Palisades, California. As the blacked-up man takes the stage, Hanks quips that the Right-wing US commentator Bill O’Reilly, who has himself often been accused of racial insensitivity, has arrived....... ..........Hanks, who starred in the 2000 Hollywood film Castaway, recently narrated a 17-minute campaign video calling for President Barack Obama’s re-election. In response to the auction video, Niger Innis, of the Congress of Racial Equality, said: “I call upon President Obama, who has Tom...