Village Voice Media Owner Uses N-Word
Michael Lacey, co-owner of Village Voice Media, which publishes a chain of weekly newspapers across the United States, used the N-word to describe a deceased journalist he characterized as his friend. While accepting an award from the Phoenix chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), he referenced the late Pulitzer Prize--winning reporter Tom Fitzpatrick, saying he was, "my [N-word]." The short, impromptu speech also included other vulgar phrases, reports The East Valley Tribune. The SPJ event was commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and in the audience sat the 82-year-old mother of the late Tribune sports writer Bob Moran, a Black journalist who died last month from cancer, reports the Tribune. Moran's mother was there to accept a special recognition award on his behalf. Lacey said he was sorry that his "comments about a dead colleague rankled listeners … My words, meant to honor a friend, were inappropriate … All present have my sincere apology. It is regrettable that any phrase of mine offended those attending a First Amendment awards banquet." Read the Jan./Feb. 2008 issue of DiversityInc magazine to learn about the double standard for whites and Blacks in using the N-word.
Businesses Hurt for Foreign Workers, European Visa Violators Snagged
Seasonal foreign workers are not returning to the United States, forcing a work shortage in industries such as tourism, landscaping and others that hire foreign workers on a seasonal basis, reports National Public Radio. These foreign workers enter the United States under the H-2B visa program. However, Congress this year allowed the H-2B visa extension to expire.
Increasingly, groups of undocumented workers, known within the Department of Homeland Security as "other than Mexicans or OTMs," are being swept up by immigration raids, reports The Wall Street Journal. Many of the visa violators hail from European countries such as Ireland and Poland or are from East Asia. The Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research group, estimates that of the 12 million undocumented workers in the United States, 45 percent outstayed their visa, and Europeans account for 400,000 of them. Read why immigration does not hurt American jobs.
Homeland-Security Official Tried to Erase Racist Costume Photos
It appears that Homeland Security is in dire need of diversity training. Last Halloween, Julie Myers, the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for Homeland Security, awarded a costume prize to a staffer dressed in black-and-white prison fatigues and wearing a dreadlock wig. Myers, who later apologized for that and other offensive costumes, reportedly ordered photographs of the costumes deleted just before the U.S. Senate was to confirm her for her current position, reports The Huffington Post. Kelly A. Nantel, a spokesperson for Homeland Security, confirmed Tuesday that Myers had ordered the photographs deleted but said Myers did so because she belatedly realized that the costume was inappropriate and that it would be offensive if the photos were included in any agency publications, reports The Huffington Post.
Ohio Man Threatens Clarence Thomas, Black Men
David Tuason of Pepper Pike, Ohio, was charged with threatening Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and other well-known "African-American males known to affiliate with white females," according to the Justice Department, reports USA Today. Tuason, 46, is accused of sending 200 threats over the last 20 years, according to acting U.S. Attorney William Edwards. "As far as we know, it's a one-man operation," Wilson said. Justice Clarence Thomas was threatened in a July 2003 letter to the high court that said a Bblack man identified as "CT" would be "castrated, shot or set on fire ... I want him killed." Read the Jena 6's story of racist threats.
N.J. Senate Gives Workers 6 Weeks Off
New Jersey's State Senate voted to give workers up to six weeks of paid leave to care for a sick family member or new baby, positioning the state to become the third with such a plan, reports Customized Benefits Solutions. The bill now heads to the desk of New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, who promised to sign it. When crafting the bill, sponsors scaled back the number of weeks off allowed under the program from 10 to six and included a provision allowing businesses with fewer than 50 employees to replace an employee who takes leave. The program will be 100 percent funded through a small employee contribution (no more than 64 cents/week, $33 a year) starting on Jan. 1, 2009. Workers who take the leave would be paid two-thirds of their salary, or up to $524 a week, under the measure.
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