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Knicks Coach: Black Men Can Say 'B-Word,' White Men Can't
Compiled by the DiversityInc staff
September 18, 2007
Knicks Coach: Black Men Can Say 'B-Word,' White Men Can't
"I do make a distinction," said Isiah Thomas, coach and president of basketball operations for the New York Knicks, when asked in a videotaped deposition if he would be offended if he heard a white man call a black woman a vulgar term. If he heard a black man use the same term, he said he wouldn't be as offended. Thomas' videotaped deposition played for a jury Monday in his sexual-harassment trial brought by former Knicks employee Anucha Browne Sanders. Browne Sanders seeks $10 million in damages because she says she was fired after accusing Thomas of harassment. Thomas claimed to have never cursed at Browne Sanders but did admit to using vulgar language around her. Other testimony Monday included that from Robert Levy, an employment lawyer and Knicks season-ticket holder. Levy said in October 2005 he was seated in the stands with his son and saw Thomas in a conversation nearby with Browne Sanders and another man. As Thomas praised Browne Sanders, he allegedly placed his arm around her shoulders and said, "It was distracting working with someone easy on the eyes," Levy testified. Click here to listen to the audio on the New York Post.
50 Cent 'Likes' Clinton
Oprah Winfrey endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic nominee for president in 2008, but rapper 50 Cent "likes" Hilary Clinton. 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, told TIME magazine he is not backing a particular candidate for president but said that he likes Clinton. "She was already our president once," he joked. Click here to read the Political Ticker on CNN [scroll down for story].
(See also: Hillary Clinton: Diversity Is a Vital Ingredient of Good Governance)
Education Author on Hunger Strike
Jonathan Kozol, 71, an education author, has been on a partial hunger strike for 75 days to protest No Child Left Behind (NCLB), which he says is "wreaking havoc in our inner-city schools." Congress is set to reauthorize the law, instituted in 2001 with the goal of getting all students' reading and math comprehension at their particular grade level by 2014. NCLB mandates annual math and reading tests and punishes schools whose students' scores do not improve. Kozol says the NCLB's focus on standardized tests is dumbing down the curriculum in urban schools. Kozol wants the Senate Education Committee to commit to "a stark reduction in the use of standardized exams." Click here to read the full story on USA Today.
(See also: Are School Vouchers the Solution?)
Are GOP Candidates 'Unfriendly' Toward Latinos?
"It's just an exaggerated, unfriendly position that needlessly turns away Latinos," says Lionel Sosa, a marketing genius who created political ads for Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush to attract Latinos to their presidential campaigns. Now Sosa supports Bill Richardson—and for more reasons than that Richardson is the first viable Latino presidential candidate. The gains Bush made in the last two presidential elections with Latinos, garnering 40 percent of their ballots in 2004, are slipping fast. Sosa and other Latino leaders cite GOP candidates' tough stance against undocumented workers and support of plans to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border. The number of Latino registered voters is expected to hit 11.4 million in 2008, up from 7.5 million in 2000, according to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. Bush's political strategist, Karl Rove, who left the White House in August, told reporters he is worried about GOP candidates turning away Latino voters. "You cannot ignore the aspirations of the fastest-growing minority in America," Rove told reporters. Click here to read the full story on Newsweek.com.
(See also: How Would Your Presidential Candidate Vote on Immigration?)
School Cuts LGBT Clip From Diversity Video
Evesham Township Board of Education in New Jersey doesn't want a diversity-education video to include same-sex parents. The school system was using the film "That's a Family!" to show the diversity of American families to its students. Children in the video talk about having parents from different races, divorced parents, single parents and adoptive parents, but Evesham Township doesn't want the part about same-sex parents. "I'm losing my tolerance for the amount of tolerance I'm supposed to tolerate," one parent told NBC's Ron Allen. But not all parents felt that way. After parents learned about the film, they were polled by Evesham and half approved of the video. But at an Aug. 30 meeting, the board voted to ban the video. Click here to read the full story on MSNBC.
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