Blackface merriment at UC Irvine

People who have read this infernal rag long enough know that I feel OC's most embarrassing fact of life is our embarrassingly low African-American community, and all the juvenile incidents that come with growing up sans blacks, whether it's offering fried chicken on MLK Day or having a 50% off black items sale for MLK Day or driving out a family of cops from Yorba Linda or putting on the ol' blackface. In fact, we're working on a special issue involving the subject--but before that, I did a commentary for KCRW-FM 89.9 as part of my ever-Monday "Orange County Line" commentary.

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All I know about Humboldt State is that it's a stoner campus--wait, that's Chico State. Or is it Sonoma State? To be honest with you, I have no idea who or what is a Humboldt State. But they've gained in Internet prominence in the past couple of years for something called the Geography of Hate, an aggregation of tweets containing racist and homophobic slurs then mapped out to show a concentration of hate based on geography.

When I first saw the report, I noticed our beloved Orange County had no seeming ranking on the list. But I overlooked the fine print, because it turns out we're the capital of racist and homophobic tweets in America--POUND SAND, ALABAMA.

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See the update at the end of this post with an image of the note stating "Go Back 2 Africa Slave" and the university disclosing it was left in the freshman student's backpack in a lab.

ORIGINAL POST, MAY 9, 2:59 P.M.: A UC Irvine freshman received a note slipped under her dorm-room door* Tuesday night that read, "Go back 2 Africa slave," her mother has told a San Diego television station. (*The note was actually left in her backpack in a campus lab; see update.) A university spokeswoman later told ABC 10News the incident is now being investigated alongside the continuing probe into an Asian fraternity that posted a video online of students in blackface.

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A wet seal, not Wet Seal

As if Orange County needed to further show the world it ain't the friendliest place for black people comes this: Foothill Ranch-based Wet Seal announced it settled a federal class-action lawsuit alleging it discriminated against African-American employees for a cool $7.5 million.

The lawsuit, though filed in SanTana, deals with Philadelphia-area plaintiffs, and in the course of discover there emerged an email by a Wet Seal exec stating "Store Teams - need diversification African American dominate - huge issue."

Betcha Wet Seal doesn't send out similar emails complaining of all the gabachas who work its OC stores, eh?

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McClain: Once she went white, she knew it was . . . right?

There was a point last year when it looked as if Barack Obama's post-racial world had a chance even here in Orange County, the onetime heart of the John Birch Society.

White supremacist, hoodlum Christopher Roger Brown thought that he'd found secret but true love with Jennifer Tamara McClain, a black sheriff's deputy.

While in custody for a hate-crime related robbery of a black man in Costa Mesa, Brown claims McClain repeatedly engaged in immensely satisfying sexual affairs with him.

But nowadays Brown, a skinhead who had a pro-Nazi "88" tattooed on his chin, is outraged and not because he presumably isn't getting more jailhouse nooky.

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Read the response from UCI's chancellor at the end of this post.

ORIGINAL POST, APRIL 25, 6 A.M.: Another day, another frat bro in blackface. Lambda Theta Delta (LTD), the largest and oldest Asian American fraternity at UC Irvine, is under fire after members produced a music video inspired by the Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z collaboration, "Suit and Tie." In the video, four young men dressed in suits and white shades are seen dancing and lip-synching to the hit single. One of them plays Jay-Z. In blackface. Really.

The video was created as promotion for the fraternity's annual "installs" event, which celebrates the entrance of new brothers. It was posted on YouTube with the disclaimer: "No racism intended. All fun and laughter." But many students didn't laugh. Instead, controversy and outrage ensued.

See Also:
* UC Irvine Cafeteria Sells Chicken and Waffles for Martin Luther King Day
* CSULB Newspaper Apologizes for Insensitive 'Pow Wow Wow Yippee Yo Yippy Yay' Report on Native American Event

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Where the white people at?

Man, I still remember as a wabby high-schooler reading about the accomplishments of Tustin High basketball star Doug Gottlieb during the 1990s. And, sure: while having a pretty good career at Oklahoma State didn't translate into NBA stardom, Gottlieb has nevertheless made a name for himself as a pretty sharp basketball analyst.

But that's not what the sports world is talking about this morning, after a train wreck of a joke Gottlieb opened with yesterday during CBS's coverage of the NCAA Sweet 16 tournament. Gottlieb's sin? As the sole gabacho at the desk, surrounded by black men, Gottlieb announced he was bringing the "white man's perspective" to the discussion.

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Add conservative political activists to the long list of judge, journalists and sane people who have now told Rancho Santa Margarita lawyer/dentist/real estate saleslady/Queen of the Birfers Orly Taitz to shut her pie hole.

The latest rebuke came at the CPAC convention near Washington, D.C. this weekend.

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D.R.

At the end of the day, at least veteran Orange County congressmen John Campbell and Dana Rohrabacher can say they don't hate all women. That's because they voted for one of two federal Violence Against Women acts last week, although not the one covering all women that's awaiting an anxious President Barack Obama's pen, but rather a defeated Republican alternative that would not have applied to lesbian, undocumented or Native American females.

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If you ever want to talk about the racial double standards that continue to plague Orange County to this day, just check out how county law enforcement deals with gangs in South County.

For years, the Sheriff's Department, district attorney's office and the few police forces down there have applied for grants, issued gang injunctions, and generally cracked down on Latino gangs from Lake Forest down to San Clemente. Can't have anything ruin South County's self-designated reputation as our paradise, right?

But white-power gangs? Meh.

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