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Sexual Profiling, Banking While Black
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A south Boston school official who used the term "lynch mob" to
describe a group of angry black parents has been labeled a racist
and is facing demands for his resignation. Randolph, Mass., School Committee Chairman Ronald DiGuilio used the term in an April meeting in reference to a group of parents who said the achievement gap between black and white students was the district's fault and not theirs. Minority groups in town have insisted that DiGuilio apologize or resign, but he has refused to back down. David Harris Jr., co-chairman of the Randolph Fair Practices Committee (search), said the term has a negative connotation to people of color and should not be used in public. Another New 'Profiling' Police who responded to citizen complaints about being accosted and propositioned in a public restroom in Michigan with a sting that led to the arrest of a dozen men for criminal sexual conduct are being accused of "sexual profiling" and homophobia, reports the State News. The Michigan State Police (search) posted undercover officers in a public restroom on northbound U.S. 127 near Holt following complaints that "people were doing gross things" in the bathroom. But gay activists said the timing of the sting, immediately preceding Pride Weekend, smacked of homophobia. Sean Kosofsky of the Triangle Foundation (search) called the operation a deliberate attack against homosexuals. "It is illegal profiling behavior and an attempt to fabricate a problem," he said. "It's like, if you're gay and using a rest area, you are there for sex." That's Just So ... The New York Daily News' Lloyd Grove reports that teen actress Lindsay Lohan (search) is in trouble with advocates for the mentally disabled for her wanton use of the term "retarded" to describe something ridiculous or absurd. The starlet was informed by the ARC of the United States, a group that claims to be "the nation's largest group devoted to issues concerning people with mental retardation and related developmental disabilities," that "there are few more deeply wounding words than these, which are painful reminders that people with disabilities are still not fully welcome in our society." Lohan has used the expression for everything from rumors of breast implants ("That's retarded") to a spat with Hilary Duff (search) ("retarded") to an unpleasant encounter with paparazzi ("So retarded!"). Banking While Black A bank branch on the high-crime south side of Chicago is accused of being racist because it requires customers to go through a metal detector on their way into the building, reports ABC7. Protesters are demanding an apology and that the magnetometer be removed from the Bank One branch at 81st and South Cottage Grove. The Rev. Michael Pleger of Saint Sabina Catholic Church called the situation, "pure racism, racial profiling, black while banking, it's stereotyping, it's sending every negative message you can send." State Sen. Jacqueline Collins agreed. "When Bank One only enacts such restrictive access and displays such offensive signage within this African American community, then this policy becomes demeaning, disrespectful, and discriminating," she said. Alarmed and Offended A woman who recently moved to Florida described herself as "alarmed and offended" when, at a city council meeting she attended, a clergyman used the J-word during the opening invocation, reports the South-Florida Sun-Sentinel. Caryl Berner, a New Yorker who moved to a retirement community in Deerfield Beach, Fla., two years ago, said the minister's use of the word "Jesus" was "a subtle form of bigotry" that offends people. The city, however, defends the practice, saying people of all faiths are regularly invited to lead the nondenominational invocation. The Rev. Tony Farmer also defended the practice. "The founding fathers weren't trying to keep religion out of government, they were trying to keep government out of religion," said Farmer. "Their desire was for freedom of religion, not freedom from religion." Racism Everywhere Two billboards in Michigan decrying the rate of abortion within the African American community are being criticized as racist because they feature the image of a black baby, reports the Flint Journal. The billboards in Flint were put up across the street from abortion clinics and feature messages calling abortion the "No. 1 killer of African Americans." Angela Lee, program director for Flint Area Citizens to End Racism, said there were some "concerns" in the community about the campaign. "There were those who thought the image of the black baby on the billboards is the root of racism," she said. |
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