It was a WHITE girl? Never mind then...cancel the protest

The BBQ Pit
1

Our little local story has made the national news and now it’s getten interesting. Here is the link to the CNN story but I’ll give you a recap.

California State Education Secretary Richard Riordan, pal of Arnie and former L.A. mayor was in Santa Barbara for a book reading with children last week. A little girl named Isis D’Luciano asked Riordan if he knew what her first name meant. He joked with her that he thought it meant “stupid, dirty girl.” Yeah, it was lame and insensitive (not to mention unfunny) but he apologized and that was that.

The girl and her mother were totally gracious about it. The mother was quoted as saying, “Obviously it hurt her feelings, but she didn’t take it personally. She knew he was wrong and she let it go. I’m not going to sue them for therapy bills.”

Isis was was asked by a reporter from our local free weekly why she didn’t say anything. She replied, “I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. He didn’t seem too bright.”

The whole thing should have blown over and is barely worth a pitting. Then things got strange. Demcratic State Assemblyman Mervyn Donnally got wind of this and it’s this asshole that I am Pitting.

Mervyn represents South Los Angeles. That’s 110 miles away from here and none of his fucking business in the first place. Some how he got the notion that little Isis is a black girl. I’m not sure why. Maybe “Isis” sounded black to him, although her last name is D’Luciano. Maybe he received bad information. It really doesn’t matter. Mervyn decided that he was going to have a protest. A civil fucking rights protest.

Mervyn, you see, was certain that this was a racial issue. Obviously she had to be black because…well, we’ll quote Mervyn. He said, “[Isis is] a little African-American girl. Would he (Riordan) have done that to a white girl?”

Uh, yeah Mervyn. He would. Isis is as white child with very light skin and blonde hair. Suddenly Mervyn doesn’t give a shit about little Isis. He cancelled the protest saying, “Race is not a factor in this issue. It’s time for us to move on” and “Too err is human; to forgive divine.”

Mervyn’s office isn’t answering right now so I’ll ask the following questions (and provide the answers):

-Would you have forgiven Riordan and moved on if Isis was black? No, you would have called for his head on a platter.
-Why would the incident have been worse if Isis happened to be black? Because you’re a grandstanding fuckhead trying to make political hay off of a little girl.
-Who’s the racist in this story? Exercise left to the reader.

Haj

2

This whole story seemed to me to be much ado about nothing. When I first heard it, I just though “What a dumb thing for an adult to say”. Of course, since he’s a politician, it’s about par for the course.

The more I heard about it though, it started to sound like one of those deals where you try to make a joke and it comes out wrong and you sound like an idiot. We’ve all been there.

I can’t believe that this is getting national play. Sounds like the only 2 sensible people are the girl and her mom. Hopefully, they’ll roll their eyes and move on

3

Amen. I was about to pit the same thing, but I wouldn’t have done nearly as good a job. :slight_smile:

4

Something similar happened in Chicago a couple of years ago.

Policewoman shot an unarmed black motorist (after a chase). The motorist had a cell phone in his hand which the policewoman said she mistook for a gun.

Rev. Al Sharpton schedules a protest and flys into Chicago for a big march.

Then Rev. Al is told that the policewoman is black. March is cancelled and Al flys back to NY.

Of COURSE it’s about Race!

5

I’m more amused by the fact that the race of the girl in question has pretty much not been discussed on our local talk radio here in Sacramento.

This more than anything else shows just how incredibly dumb it is to view the world through the lens of race.

Idiots.

6

Fucking amazing.

7

Speaking of getting things wrong, the fuckwit in question is Mervyn Dymally. :smack:

Haj

8

Thank you for correcting that, it was too close to my last name the way it was spelled at first.

CIVIL RIGHTS DO NOT EQUAL RACIAL RIGHTS!!! Civil Rights are for ALL people, EQUALITY means everyone is involved.

Dymally and Sharpton and their ilk are racist fucknuts.

9

I read that story on CNN this morning, and I couldn’t get past the 4th paragraph. I quote it here, so you all can share in my confusion.

This was right next to a picture of the mother and daughter, and above a picture of Riordan, all of them white as white can be. Unfortunately, (for CNN anyway) hajario’s pit thread turned out to be much more informative than CNN this morning, as CNN didn’t mention any of the quotes about people assuming Isis was black.

This whole situation makes my head hurt.

10

So far, the smartest one of the bunch is the girl.

Mervyn, whose entire interest was derived from a racist assumption, is a race-baiting, egomanical jag-off.

Riordan is an idiot.

Isis, however, rocks!

11

Here’s how I parse it:
[ul]
[li]Frankly, I don’t give a flip whether the girl is black or white.[/li][li]I still can’t believe someone who’d say something like that is state Education Secretary anywhere, let alone in a major state like CA. He must’ve had a triple helping of stupid for breakfast that morning.[/li][li]What UncleBill said about civil rights.[/li][li]Whether this worth a protest or not, Isis’ race shouldn’t have been a factor in that judgement.[/li][li]Dymally is indeed a fuckwit.[/li][/ul]

12

What’s so hard to understand about that paragraph? IMO, Riordan isn’t suitable for his position within the california government.

Sam

13

One stupid comment doesn’t mean he’s not suitable.

Riordan has a history of putting his foot in his mouth, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s not an able administrator.

14

Well, GaWd, I just couldn’t figure out why “Alice Huffman, president of the California chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People” would be involved in this matter, what with everyone involved being white. I think we’re all in agreement that this Riordan fellow put his foot in it.

15

What sort of punishment would a student have gotten for saying the same thing to Isis?

16

Heh… you crazy 'merkins and your strange fixation on race.

:wink:

17

That’s too funny. Why in the hell would Dymally think the girl was black? There’s like about 4 black people in Santa Barbara, and that’s counting Oprah and Michael Jackson.

[Not really, but it is mostly white (and some hispanic) people there]

18

Heh…you crazy English and your strange fixation on an outmoded class system

:wink:

19

So the Americans are fixated on race, the English on the class system, so I guess that means the Canadians, and to paraphase the Simpsons, possibly the Australians, have it right?

:smiley:

20

Well, maybe because she has an opinion of the man? Just because there’s no “colored people” involved doesn’t mean a reporter can’t ask her about Riordan.

Neurotik- irrespective of this incident I didn’t and don’t think he is suitable for the job. It really has nothing to do with his latest gaffe.

Sam