As I was walking along Race Street in Philadelphia, race was very much on my mind.
Six months after the inauguration of the first African American president, several incidents in the past few days have roiled the racial waters.
A new CNN poll found that 55 percent of blacks think racial discrimination is a serious problem.
In Cambridge, Mass., racial profiling is as serious as a heart attack.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Prof. Henry Louis Gates Jr. said:
I’m outraged that this could happen to me in my own home, but I’m outraged that it could happen to any individual.
Indeed, a black teenager was arrested for being, well, a teenager. Robert Cox of New Rochelle’s Talk of the Sound reports:
Demetrius Hazelton, 17 and Class of ‘09 at New Rochelle High School . . . was arrested after he allegedly mocked a white police officer using a “white racial monotone voice” which police claim is the same voice used by Dave Chappelle “when making fun of white people.”
And it is no joke that New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney used the N-word twice during an interview. While the N-word is not buried, Maloney’s use of the racial slur buries any chance she had to unseat Sen. Kristen Gillibrand.
BTW, Maloney’s racial faux pas was brought to my attention by Florida state Sen. Anthony “Tony” Hill Sr. during a reception at the National Constitution Center. That’s where President Obama delivered his speech on race.
