One could argue that Michael Jackson doesn’t count. He’s in Los Olivos anyway. We don’t count him among our own. 
Haj
Heh…you crazy Canadians and your strange fixation on an outmoded game played on ice.
O.K., 3 black people, then. 
A-freakin-men!
Naah. Canadians are fixated on language issues. 
Ah, well. Fair enough then.
Riordan made a gaffe, but given his squeaky-clean record in the past, I’m willing to just accept his apology and conclude it was a silly joke that went wrong.
Mervyn, howeer, is a weenie twice over – first for trying to turn the molehill into a mountain, then for backpedaling like a craven coward when it turned out the girl was Caucasian. Pick ONE position and stick to it, you :wally
This mess helps to confirm why I rank AACP right up there with PETA.
Too tired to pit, but I think AACP=PETA is bad enough. :\
Perhaps because “Isis” was the name of the sassy black head-cheerleader of the East Compton Clovers in Bring It On?
Australians are fixated on … sheep?
Yeah, that’s how I see it. My gosh, that man must have the worst case of foot-in-mouthitis, but I’ve never heard anything really grievous about him.
No, crocodiles.
Sheep is New Zealand. 
D
Egyptian-goddess name. And “of course”, :rolleyes: “everyone knows”, only black africans can make Ancient Egyptian cultural references… (Wasn’t he around in the late 70s to catch the “Mighty Isis” kid-TV show? Girl was white!)
I’ve always been uncomfortable with people getting fired for shooting their mouths off, but I’d make an exception in this case. Look at it this way: Riordan answers to Governor Schwarznegger, who answers to the people of Calfiornia. Now imagine your boss’ boss brings his eight-year-old daughter into work. “This,” he says, “is my daughter, Brittney.”
“Brittney,” you reply, “means stupid, dirty girl.”
How long do you expect to keep that job?
Isn’t there a word for exacerbating a situation when your intent is to solve the problem?
Good thing these people are constantly reminding us that everyone’s equal, and that a person’s race has nothing to do with the degree of outrage generated by a few loudmouths.
Racism will disappear when people fucking let it. No sooner. The past never disappears, and unless something is done in the present, the future will be the past repeated all over again. Also, the girl made that dude look like a jackass. That’s always good.
As a state assemblyman, the public behavior of state officials IS part of Mervyn’s business, quite aside from the quality of judement he displayed. Is this Riordan an appointee? Maybe confirmed by the legislature? Or elected in his own right? If there truly was some form of unacceptable behavior, it seems plausible the Assembly would have a role in determining the consequences. But I can’t claim any knowledge of how California law covers discipline issues of state officials.
And of course it DOES matter how he got the idea she is a black girl. Perhaps it was fed to him to provoke an inappropriate response. Or by a reporter looking for a sensationally stupid-sounding quote. Not that I believe either of these things – he’s probably every bit the idiot you think he is. But still, the source of the idea does bear some weight IMO.
An the last thing I’ll say is, at least he did cancel the thing when he learned the facts. He would have looked WAY stupider if he actually held the demonstration.
That’s a good point. I agree that it is his business.
It would have really been funny if they had the rally and an hour or so of ranting before they brought Isis out. I would pay good money to see the look on his face when he saw Isis for the first time.
Haj
Never happen… all the sudden Isis would become “in seclusion” and unavailable to the press. Mervyn would pay for the family to spend a week or two in Disneyland hoping it would all go away.
Or he’d start her on a heavy program in a tanning salon.
A-bloody-men!
(Her mother gets high points, too, for raising a kid with such compassion.)
Having seen the footage in question tonight, I can only conclude that he meant it as a teasing joke. Here’s the exchange:
Can’t find any malice there; just an adult-style “smackdown” joke that didn’t quite work on a six-year-old.