Free Republic

A hospital employee dressed in a gorilla costume and passing out bananas to the sounds of “Hail to the Chief” may have been an effort to recognize employees for a job well done, but some Regional Medical Center trustees are calling the incident offensive and racist. Trustees Betty Henderson and Dr. Oscar Butler Jr. called for greater sensitivity and diversity training opportunities on the part of hospital staff and employees to ensure a similar incident does not reoccur. “I know in the beginning in six days God created the earth and on the seventh day he made man,” Henderson said....

New York - Little people are calling on the Federal Communications Commission to ban the use of the word "midget" on broadcast TV. The group Little People of America said Sunday the word is just as offensive as racial slurs. The request was prompted by an April episode of NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice" that the group said was demeaning. In the episode, contestants created a detergent ad called "Jesse James and the Midgets." The contestants, including Joan Rivers, suggested bathing little people in the detergent and hanging them to dry. Calls to the FCC and "Celebrity Apprentice" host Donald Trump were...

NEW YORK - Little people are calling on the Federal Communications Commission to ban the use of the word "midget" on broadcast TV. The group Little People of America said Sunday the word is just as offensive as racial slurs.

Fireworks called Run Hadji Run were pulled off the shelves of a Wisconsin store after Minnesota Muslims complained that they were racist. The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) said that both the name and the packaging are demeaning. One side of the package has a drawing of Uncle Sam yanking the long beard of a man in traditional Muslim attire, while the other shows a Stealth bomber flying over a group of Arabs riding camels. In addition, "Hadji" is an honorific for those who have completed the pilgrimage to Mecca.

RAPID CITY, S.D. - Custer rides again, although he's atop a plastic motorcycle and in a McDonald's Happy Meal box. And that doesn't sit well with some in the Native American community. Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer was killed in 1876 along the Little Big Horn River by Native Americans he aimed to destroy. But Hollywood brought him back to life as a character in the Ben Stiller comedy “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian,” which opened in theaters May 22. McDonald's included characters from the movie as toys in its kid-sized Happy Meals. The fast food chain's...

WASHINGTON – The Washington Redskins won another legal victory Friday in a 17-year fight with a group of American Indians who argue the football team's trademark is racially offensive. The decision issued Friday by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington doesn't address the main question of racism at the center of the case. Instead, it upholds the lower court's decision in favor of the football team on a legal technicality. The court agreed that the seven Native Americans waited too long to challenge the trademark first issued in 1967. They initially won — the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office...

"We're destroying words -- scores of them, hundreds of them, every day. We're cutting the language down to the bone. It's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words." --George Orwell Yesterday I was riding down the street and saw one of those DayGlo orange warning signs that read "FLAGGER AHEAD." Just typing the word "flagger" causes my word processor to upchuck, and mark (flag, if you will) the word as a misspelling. My Mac dictionary doesn't recognize it, nor is the word listed on dictionary.com or in my 700-page copy of Webster's New Dictionary of the English Language. There is...

Rachel's Take I was a little concerned tonight about the Popeye’s story. Not because I don’t think it was a legitimate story. Customers called our newsroom wanting us to do the story about the chain running out of chicken after promoting a big special. They said the Lake Ave. location had long lines of cars. When we went to the Lake Ave. Popeye’s, there were indeed long lines of cars. Some people took it in stride. Other people were downright angry. A few people made jokes. The idea of people up in arms over chicken was pretty funny. I think...

<p>AMPA - Some local Walgreen's stores are pulling a supposed likeness of President Barack Obama off their shelves. The 'Chia Obama' will no longer be sold there.</p>

To the list of lofty names that glamorize the city’s fried chicken stands, like Crown, Royal and Kennedy, one Brooklyn restaurant owner decided to add another: Obama. From the restaurant’s perspective, the name change grew out of pride in the new president and a keen sense of commerce. From other perspectives, it was tone-deaf at best, and racist at worst. When the restaurant, Royal Fried Chicken on Rutland Road in Brownsville, changed its name last week to Obama Fried Chicken, the reaction was swift. “Community leaders came. They told us we have to change the name,” said Mohammad Jabbar,...

An elementary school principal is barring a fifth-grader from wearing a Barack Obama mask in the school's talent show because parents have complained it's inappropriate. Dru Lechert-Kelly, 11, hoped to dress presidentially and dance to a YouTube parody that features an Obama look-alike and a rap called "I Can Do Whatever I Like." The skit features him in a navy blue suit, white shirt, red tie, black shoes and an Obama mask purchased at a costume shop — one like Obama himself once donned for a Saturday Night Live sketch. The choreographed routine rehearsed Thursday ends with Dru on the...

Recently a photo of Barnes & Noble book display board was circulated widely over the Internet. The photo showed various books about President Obama around a central photo of a monkey book. Barnes & Noble claims some prankster did this intentionally. The photo shown in this site was the catalyst of this controversy. The photos shows a book on monkeys “Monkey: A Captivating Look at These Fascinating Animals” with a number of books around it focusing on President Obama and his wife Michelle. The book chain Barnes & Noble deny someone deliberately placed the monkey book in the display. They...

LOS ALAMITOS - Some say the decision by the city's mayor to step down after the widely publicized uproar over an e-mail he sent depicting a watermelon patch in front of the White House shows he is taking the impact of his action seriously. Others say the resignation was the only option for someone who offended so many. "It was a flagrant disregard for basic civility and a demonstrated lack of knowledge about how painful the issue of race has been for our nation," said Fred Smoller, associate professor of Political Science at Chapman University.

Cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz was in front of a classroom full of black and Latino kids, drawing presidents. He sketched Bush, then Clinton. Next came his favorite, the man he voted for: Obama."Hey, those lips are big," Alcaraz heard a black girl say from the back of the room. Alcaraz was disturbed. "I try to bend over backwards not to make him look like a cartoon stereotype," and certainly not a racial stereotype, he said. Editorial cartoonists are bending over backwards a lot these days, as they try to satirize the nation's first black president. And when they don't, the result...

It's not over yet. Public interpretation of gunned down chimp cartoon goes into phase 2, Rev. Sharpton included.

NEW YORK (AP) - Some 200 people chanting "Boycott the Post! Shut it down!" marched in front of the New York Post on Thursday to protest a newspaper cartoon that critics say compares President Barack Obama to the chimpanzee that was shot dead by police in Connecticut.

Today's silliest controversy relates to this cartoon in today's New York Post, in which Sean Delonas uses the bizarre case of the crazed chimpanzee who attacked a woman and had to be shot to comment harshly on the Democrats' "stimulus" package; click to enlarge: [CARTOON AT LINK] Readers of the Huffington Post and--who else?--Al Sharpton construe the cartoon as a possibly racist attack on President Obama: Civil rights activist Al Sharpton called the cartoon "troubling at best given the historic racist attacks of African-Americans as being synonymous with monkeys." ... A story about the cartoon on the liberal-leaning Huffington Post...

Why White Comics Don't Get Barack By Salamishah Tillet | TheRoot.com If SNL and others want to make Obama funny, they'll have to tap into more than just stereotypes. Sen. Obama, give the haters something to laugh at." —Bill Maher, Real Time with Bill Maher Nov. 7, 2008--A black president. Now that's funny! So why are so many political satirists crying about how unamusing the Obama presidency will be? The standard reasoning is that, unlike Bush, McCain, Palin, the Clintons or even Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama is "too perfect" and does not provide material for good jokes. But the inability...

Toby Keith Hits Back at Accusation Song Is Pro-Lynching Friday, August 08, 2008 Toby Keith hit back at a recent blog post that derided his 2003 song "Beer for My Horses" as a pro-lynching anthem. "The song was a hit and the words 'lynch' and 'racism' has never come up until this moron wrote this blog," he said, according to ContactMusic. The country singer, 47, was on "The Colbert Report" last month to perform "Beer for My Horses," the popular song that inspired a movie of the same name. Huffington Post blogger Max Blumenthal called the song an "ode to...

Somebody call the Epidemiology Branch at the NIH. It's looking as if we're on the verge of a full-fledged epidemic of Obamania. As we noted here, NYT columnist experienced an acute case of the malady on live national TV yesterday, seeing visions of the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Washington Monument where none existed in the McCain Obama/Spears/Hilton ad. By yesterday evening, Keith Olbermann had contracted the affliction in aggravated form, claiming, as NewsBuster Brad Wilmouth has noted, to see no fewer than three phallic symbols in the same commercial. Now, yet another variant of the dread disease can...

Gee, I wonder why, if you have a black man running for high public office — say, Barack Obama or Harold Ford — the opposition feels compelled to run low-life political ads featuring tacky, sexually provocative white women who have no connection whatsoever to the black male candidates. Spare me any more drivel about the high-mindedness of John McCain. You knew something was up back in March when, in his first ad of the general campaign, Mr. McCain had himself touted as “the American president Americans have been waiting for.” There was nothing subtle about that attempt to position Senator...

A special meeting about Dallas County traffic tickets turned tense and bizarre this afternoon. County commissioners were discussing problems with the central collections office that is used to process traffic ticket payments and handle other paperwork normally done by the JP Courts. Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, who is white, said it seemed that central collections "has become a black hole" because paperwork reportedly has become lost in the office. Commissioner John Wiley Price, who is black, interrupted him with a loud "Excuse me!" He then corrected his colleague, saying the office has become a "white hole." That prompted Judge Thomas Jones,...

Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price is sticking to his comments that the term "black hole," which a colleague used, is racist.

Yesterday morning, I marveled at the p.c. idiocy of Dallas County (TX) commissioner John Wiley Price, who protested when his colleague Kenneth Mayfield used the term “black hole” to refer to lost paperwork. The local Fox station in Dallas-Fort Worth has the video of the exchange. The ignorance and sanctimony of John Wiley Price are something to behold.

There is always one guy in a bar spoiling for a fight and will take any movement or glance, any sound, any word as his excuse at bellicosity. In the race mongering biz the equivalent would be people like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, both men who take immediate umbrage at the un-umbragable, just so that they can use the excuse to extort money out of businesses or get their mugs splashed across the papers and TV. In Dallas County the loudmouth looking for a fight is Commissioner John Wiley Price who foolishly decided that the scientific term "black hole"...

A special meeting about Dallas County traffic tickets turned tense and bizarre Tuesday afternoon. County commissioners were discussing problems with the central collections office that is used to process traffic ticket payments and handle other paperwork normally done by the JP Courts. Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, who is white, said it seemed that central collections "has become a black hole" because paperwork reportedly has become lost in the office. Commissioner John Wiley Price, who is black, interrupted him with a loud "Excuse me!" He then corrected his colleague, saying the office has become a "white hole." That prompted Judge Thomas Jones,...

A special meeting about Dallas County traffic tickets turned tense and bizarre this afternoon. County commissioners were discussing problems with the central collections office that is used to process traffic ticket payments and handle other paperwork normally done by the JP Courts. Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, who is white, said it seemed that central collections "has become a black hole" because paperwork reportedly has become lost in the office. Commissioner John Wiley Price, who is black, interrupted him with a loud "Excuse me!" He then corrected his colleague, saying the office has become a "white hole." That prompted Judge Thomas Jones,...

Council bans brainstorming By Nick Allen Last Updated: 2:06PM BST 20/06/2008   A council has banned the term "brainstorming" and replaced it with "thought showers". Tunbridge Wells Borough Council in Kent was accused of taking political correctness to extremes after instructing staff to make the change.The move came as council chiefs feared the word brainstorming might offend mentally ill people and those with epilepsy.The buzz term is often used by executives to generate ideas among their staff. But memos have been sent to staff asking them not to use it and some have been given training which encouraged them...

The Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter has halted a program to promote the adoption of black cats and dogs the week of June 14-20 after criticism that the event would have taken place the week of Juneteenth, Director Cheryl Schneider said today. “We apologize if our promotion to reduce fees on black dogs and cats offended anyone,” Schneider said in a statement. The shelter, which is located in Georgetown, had planned to reduce adoption fees for black-coated animals to $25 through its “Black is Beautiful” promotion. The normal fee for adoption is $85, Williamson County spokeswoman Connie Watson said. “Based...

West Virginia Elected Officials Blast Cheney Over Family Joke Monday, June 02, 2008 WASHINGTON — West Virginians reacted angrily to a joke about families in the state made by Vice President Dick Cheney at the National Press Club Monday. Talking about his family roots and how he's distantly related to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, the vice president noted that he had Cheneys on both sides of his family. "We'd always known about the Cheney family line on my father's side of the family, back to Massachusetts in the 1630s. My grandmother was named Tyler but it turned out she...

Another ethnic slur has reared its ugly head from the golf world, and once again, it's from a golf announcer. Bobby Clampett, a former pro and CBS announcer, referred to Chinese golfer Wen-Chong Liang as "the Chinaman," on the air on Friday. Clampett issued an apology, albeit a rather weak one, on the air: "It has been a privilege to be here with you the last two days describing action of the players. In describing the Asian player Wen-Chong Liang if I offended anybody please accept my sincere apolgies." These are sensitive times in the golf world. Golf is trying...

The Gamma Phi Beta sorority at University of North Dakota has been put on temporary social probation while the university investigates complaints stemming from a November party during which sorority members and their guests donned mock Indian garb and red face and body paint. The temporary probation was issued by both the UND Dean of Student’s Office, which will investigate the complaints, and by the Gamma Phi Beta International office in Centennial, Colo. The probation means Gamma Phi won’t be allowed to host or participate in social activities with other sororities and fraternities or other student groups, either on...

I am watching Fox's O'Reilly Show and they showed a Vogue Cover showing Lebron James and a white model. Some black dude was yelling to high heaven that it was RACIST! RACIST??? I don't know about you follks, but I am sick and tired of blacks pulling the race card for every possible (and impossible) excuse. Why don't they get over it. They are free, able to work anywhere, even if not qualified, and are making great strides toward equality. The reason they haven't achieved equality is BS crap like this. I have had it. My give a sh!t got...

Vogue Cover Racially Motivated? 03/25/2008 NEW YORK, New York (AP) -- A spokesman for Vogue says the magazine's April cover sought to celebrate two superstars at the top of their game. But critics say it perpetuates racial stereotypes because they say Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James looks like King Kong in his pose with model Gisele Bundchen. © Copyright WHIO radio news WebReadyTM

Two weeks after making her disdain for the nation clear during a campaign speech for her husband in Wisconsin, Michelle further debased America by saying that we're a country that is "just downright mean." Obama begins with a broad assessment of life in America in 2008, and life is not good: we're a divided country, we're a country that is "just downright mean," we are "guided by fear," we're a nation of cynics, sloths, and complacents. "We have become a nation of struggling folks who are barely making it every day," she said, as heads bobbed in the pews. "Folks...

There is a line of salsa products with the name "Green Mountain Gringo." "Gringo" is a mildly pejorative term that our friends from south of the (unenforced) border use to describe North Americans. Green Mountain Gringo Salsa While I, personally, am not offended in the least by the name, I wonder what would happen if someone put out a line of Tacos called "Washington State Wetback." The double standard is alive and well and living in the United States of America.

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Two days after naming its mascot "PorkChop," the Philadelphia Phillies' new Triple-A affiliate abruptly dropped the moniker after receiving complaints from Hispanics that it was offensive. The Lehigh Valley IronPigs, whose mascot is a large, furry pig, had selected PorkChop from more than 7,300 fan submissions. The team, which begins play in 2008, announced Monday that the mascot will be named "Ferrous" instead. General Manager Kurt Landes said he heard from several Hispanics who said PorkChop was derogatory.

THERE'LL be no ho, ho, ho this Christmas. Aspiring Santas have been told not to use the term "ho" because it could be seen as derogatory to women. Thirty trainees at a Santa course in Adelaide last month, held by recruitment company Westaff, were urged to replace the traditional festive greeting with "ha, ha, ha".

A small but growing coffeehouse chain is changing its name amid concern that the moniker meant to celebrate the seed of its main product also is a disparaging term for Hispanics. Juan Tornoe, an Austin, Texas-based Hispanic marketing consultant, said it's clear to him and should be to anyone that Beaner's name is about coffee, not contempt. But the name change could be a smart move for a company with national aspirations: By 2050, nearly a quarter of the U.S. population will be of Hispanic heritage.

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - There are so many negative vibes around "Cavemen" that at least one TV critic is taking bets that it won't even get on the air. The ABC series based on Geico insurance commercials has gone beyond being just another stupid sitcom. Questions are being raised about whether the Cro-Magnon characters will reinforce racial stereotypes.

    Cleared ... station manager Victor Cooney      EXCLUSIVE  Ruined by black Jelly Baby By TONY BONNICINovember 03, 2006           TWO Tube workers have been cleared of racially harassing a colleague with JELLY BABIES.  A jury took just one hour to acquit Carlo Rozza, 45, and Victor Cooney, 47, at the end of a farcical eight-day trial that cost £250,000.They had denied taunting black colleague Daniel Jean-Marie with black Jelly Babies.Victor Cooney said the strain had nearly destroyed his marriage and relationship with his children.He said: “The trial has been a complete farce. The whole...

The Maryland comptroller, William Donald Schaefer, a former governor and Baltimore mayor, released a radio advertisement on Wednesday in which he apologized to anyone he had offended in his 50-year career, sins that ranged from ogling a woman at a public meeting to complaining that immigrants were not learning English fast enough. Senator Conrad Burns, Republican of Montana, said Wednesday that the United States confronts a “faceless enemy” of terrorists who “drive cabs in the daytime and kill at night.” Despite a hail of criticism on Thursday, Mr. Burns has not apologized for this remark as he did after complaining...

A LEADING US Republican Senator has sparked a furore for his use of a pejorative term to refer to an Asian man of Indian descent, a US newspaper has reported. The Washington Post reported that Senator George Allen, who is running for re-election to his Senate seat representing the southern state of Virginia, has apologised for what his opponent's campaign said were demeaning and insensitive comments. In remarks on Friday at campaign rally in Virginia, Senator Allen reportedly referred to the Indian-American man - a volunteer with the Senate campaign of his Democratic opponent - as a "macaca". Macaca is...

RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) -- A volunteer of Indian descent working for Democrat Jim Webb's U.S. Senate campaign said Monday he felt insulted when Sen. George Allen called him a name that sounded like "Macaca" during a rally in western Virginia. S.R. Sidarth, 20, spent last week following Allen's "listening tour" and filming the appearances for the Webb campaign, which distributed a video clip of Friday's appearance to reporters. "This fellow over here with the yellow shirt -- Macaca or whatever his name is -- he's with my opponent," Allen said. "He's following us around everywhere." Macaca is a term associated...

Prominent black Bay Staters are outraged by Gov. Mitt Romney’s use of the words “tar baby” to describe the Big Dig as he stumped for presidential points in Iowa. “Tar baby is a totally inappropriate phrase in the 21st century. If Calvin Coolidge didn’t use it, why the hell should Mitt Romney?” railed Larry Jones, a black Republican and civil rights activist. Tar baby can refer to a sticky mess, but it also has been recognized as an epithet to humiliate black people. President Bush’s spokesman Tony Snow learned that in May when his expression, “I don’t want to hug...

District of Columbia police commander returned to his position Monday after being reassigned for making a racially insensitive remark at a community meeting about the slaying of a British activist. On July 10, Cmdr. Andy Solberg spoke to residents of the upscale Georgetown neighborhood who had gathered to express concern about the slaying of Alan Senitt, 27, a volunteer in the potential presidential campaign of former Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner. Senitt's throat was slit a day earlier during a robbery as he and a female companion returned from a movie. Police say Senitt's attackers attempted to rape the companion....

The College of William and Mary can use the nickname “Tribe” for its athletic teams, but it must eliminate the two feathers in the W&M logo, the National Collegiate Athletic Association ruled Tuesday. The NCAA has been cracking down on Native American nicknames, mascots and images that some find offensive. The NCAA said, “the committee believes that coupling the term “Tribe” with imagery that has traditionally been linked to Native Americans, for example eagle feathers and arrowheads, transforms that use from one associated with “togetherness,” “shared idealism,” and “commitment” to a stereotypical reference to Native Americans.” If the Williamsburg college...

Those who have recently been decrying a "racist use" of the image of the Tar Baby might benefit from knowing more about the allusion and its origins. Tony Snow, now the White House press secretary, certainly found himself in the proverbial Brier Patch when he used the image to describe his predicament when facing his first meeting with the Washington press corps. The infamous Tar Baby originated as a figure in a grand scheme detailed in an African-American Brer Rabbit slave tale. These stories, in which the sly rabbit always manages to outwit those who are stronger and more powerful...

Penguins lose 'fairy' tag THEME park bosses have re-named their colony of fairy penguins amid fears they could upset the gay community. Managers at Sea World, on the Gold Coast, are now calling the species "little penguins" in case associations with the word "fairy" offend visitors to the park. "We didn't have any complaints about the name of the penguins, but someone thought they could be seen as offensive so we decided to change it to little penguin instead," a Sea World spokeswoman said. "We just didn't want to upset the gay community. The new name is more politically correct."...

Golfer Tiger Woods has been criticised for saying he played like 'a spaz'. Can using the word ever be right? Two years ago I was involved in a linguistic incident at work. I called a disabled colleague a spaz after hearing he'd spilt coffee over yet another expensive bit of computer kit. My colleague laughed it off. It was a friendly bit of banter - spaz in this case meaning I thought he was being a bit of a stereotype like the helpless disabled people you used to see in telethons and charity posters. I use the term with irony...