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Jan 25 2007

Sensitivity Training Time!

Posted at 12:15 pm under Silly

DALLAS (AP) - Authorities at Tarleton State University said they plan to investigate a Martin Luther King Jr. Day party that mocked black stereotypes by featuring fried chicken, malt liquor and faux gang apparel.

“I feel like there is no excuse for this type of ignorance,” said Donald Ray Elder, president of the Stephenville school’s chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Photographs posted on social networking Web site Facebook.com showed partygoers wearing Afro wigs and fake gold and silver teeth. One photo showed students “mocking how African-Americans do step shows,” Elder said. In another picture, a student is dressed as Aunt Jemima and carries a gun.

“That upsets me,” Elder said. “That’s someone who knows nothing about Dr. King, because Dr. King was totally about nonviolence.”

Wanda Mercer, the school’s vice president of student life, said an investigation was planned into the Jan. 15 party.

Yep. I agree. They should’ve done something more productive to honor King…

…Like take the day off from work.

After all, that seems like the way most people choose to remember him anyway: an excuse for a three-day weekend.

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2 Responses to “Sensitivity Training Time!”

  1. Patrick Says:
    January 25th, 2007 at 3:54 pm

    Heh….I actually think this is kinda funny. MLK was a great man but I wonder how proud he would be of black culture if he was still alive?

    I’m not talking about the violence and the drugs; they are the biproducts of poverty, not race. I’m talking about the senseless consumerism. Although this is something of which we are all guilty, African American culture seems to place an absolute premium on materialism and consumption. It’s almost as if African American culture aims at validating black humanness by means of material gain.

    I realize that what I’m saying may sound a little obtuse. The difference between whites and blacks in this country, I guess, really has nothing to do with consumerism -whites are just as guilty. Pay close attention, however, to the way black Americans glorify their possesions. Black rappers, athletes, and actors are some of the most prolific pushers of consumer products. It seems like white Americans, more so than blacks, don’t feel as if they need tangible posssions to secure their validity.

  2. Vinny Says:
    January 25th, 2007 at 5:34 pm

    I never would’ve expected something that biting from you… I’m quite pleased :-)

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