• So now we’re going to take down the statue of Theodore Roosevelt outside the Natural History Museum in New York? I’m no great fan of TR, but if I was a New Yorker I think I’d mount the barricade to prevent the statue’s removal. I also hope the Great Repudiators currently rampaging across the land will get around to the other Roosevelt—you know, the one who put 100,000 Japanese in camps.
• While we’re on the subject of selective indignation, the Great Repudiators will stand exposed as shameless hypocrites if they don’t loudly demand that Yale University change its name, for it is well known that the university’s namesake Elihu Yale was not just a slave-owner but a slave-trader—an act the United States made a capital offense decades before it got round to abolishing slavery. We know they won’t change it—and we all know why, though of course the oh-so-race-sensitive leaders of Yale won’t admit it publicly. Alumni would be furious and donations would plummet, and I suspect even radical black students at Yale wouldn’t want the name changed. Symbolism is one thing, but having “B.A., University of New Haven” on your CV just won’t sound as prestigious.
• Well lookie here:
Family of woman who portrayed Aunt Jemima opposes move to change brand
FORNEY, Texas (KLTV) – An East Texas family is not happy about the ‘brand changing’ of a popular pancake syrup: Aunt Jemima. The iconic “Aunt Jemima” has long-standing ties with the city of Hawkins, and a goodwill ambassador named “Lillian Richard.”
Living in Forney, Vera Harris is the family historian for the Richard family of Hawkins, and could hardly believe a big part of their family legacy, the “Aunt Jemima” brand, was about to be erased from supermarket shelves.
“A lot of people want it removed. We want the world to know that our cousin Lillian was one of the Aunt Jemima’s and she made an honest living. We would ask that you reconsider just wiping all that away. There wasn’t a lot of jobs, especially for black women back in that time. She was discovered by Quaker Oats to be their brand person,” Harris said.
• Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe (which tribe, by the way?) has had to apologize for the suggestion that Joe Biden should pick his running mate “by merit” and track record rather than by diversity criteria:
Tribe said in an interview with the Washington Post that it would be “symbolic” to choose an African American running mate. However, he added, “I think African Americans above all would be the first to say they are more interested in results than cosmetics.”
These statements and the letter have resulted in outrage from Democrats across social media platforms. . . Former Democratic National Committee Chairman and Vermont Gov. Howard Dean also expressed his outrage over the letter on Twitter. He claimed that Tribe was “well-meaning” in signing the letter, but it’s indicative of white peoples’ “clueless racism.”
In response to the pushback, Tribe apologized for his “choice of words” on Twitter soon after the Washington Post published his interview.
Where’d I misplace my popcorn?
• Get a load of this mask order from Lincoln County, Oregon, especially the fourth exception:
Face Covering Directive
Order 6/17/2020—Face Covering Directive
General directive: All individualis in Lincoln County are required to wear face coverings during any indoor public setting or outdoor public location where a person will be in within six feet of another individual, who does not share the same household.
Exceptions:
- Persons with health/medical conditions that preclude or are exacerbated by wearing a face covering.
- Children under the age of 12. Children over the age of 2 but under the age of 12 are encouraged to wear face coverings but not required to do so.
- Persons with disabilities that prevents them from using the face covering as described in this Directive. These persons must be reasonably accommodated to allow them access to goods and services.
- People of color who have heightened concerns about racial profiling and harassment due to wearing face coverings in public.
Of course, if people of color in Lincoln County should come down with COVID-19 in disproportionate numbers, we’ll be told it is because of “systemic racism.” And in an ironic way, they’ll be right!
(Hat tip: Reason)
Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.