Echoes in Eternity

In an utterly Orwellian moment this week, a Barack Obama supporter was forced to step down as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention after she was ticketed (you read it correctly, ticketed) for telling two neighbor children (who happen to be black) to stop playing in the trees like monkeys. Even though the Hispanic woman likely meant no racial undertones to her comment, their mother heard it and thought otherwise, calling the police, who in turn fined the woman $75 for disorderly conduct.

So now the government oppresses its citizens for SAYING the wrong thing... guess they've never heard of the First Amendment. Also, why do so many people automatically assume the worst about everyone else's motives? Are people so narcissistic that every word is a personal affront to their ethnicity, religion, sexuality, etc?

This whole incident brings to mind the movie (and book) The Human Stain (2000), in which Anthony Hopkins plays the part of Professor Coleman Silk, who is forced out of his job for wondering aloud in class if two perpetually-absent black students are "spooks" (meaning "ghosts"). The ironic catch: Silk is himself a black man, who has secretly lived as a white man since he was a young man (his skin color is remarkably light, allowing him to pull off this deception). That story was likely based on a true story from 1999 where a white aide to the black mayor of Washington, D.C. used the word "niggardly" (meaning "stingy" or "miserly") in regards to a budget. Unfortunately for him, an ignorant idiot (who happened to be black) heard him use that word, and reported him. The aide was forced to resign because of that one person's stupidity and everyone else's lack of common sense.