Essay 508

Late-breaking news on daylight-saving time with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• The immigration-related protests continue, with the latest big one taking place on the Brooklyn Bridge (pictured above). “There is no victory yet,” said one organizer of the event. “We have many more changes we need to get. We have to fight.” That’s an interesting comment, given that immigration issues seem to have inspired more passion and unity than the war debates.

• A new poll showed a slim majority of Americans support giving illegal immigrants an opportunity to receive some kind of legal status to remain the U.S. — with two-thirds recognizing immigrants fill jobs most folks don’t want. It’s funny that institutions like The Minuteman Project use volunteers to stop people from doing work nobody else wants.

• Rev. Jesse Jackson teamed with Rev. Al Sharpton to lead a protest on Saturday, demanding displaced New Orleans citizens have the right to vote in upcoming elections. Bill Cosby joined the event, urging folks to rebuild New Orleans without the murders and drugs that have always tainted the city. Leave it to Cosby to reprimand while others rally.

• The New York Post continues hating on Naomi Campbell, reporting that the temperamental supermodel spat on a security guard at a Madison Square Garden concert last fall. Campbell is currently facing accusations of hurling a phone at an assistant. Campbell released a statement that read, “[The accuser] is sadly mistaken if she thinks she can extract money from me by concocting lies by recycling old stories.” She then flew to South Africa to promote a children’s charity event with Nelson Mandela. Kids, keep the cell phones away from Miss Campbell.

• Marion “Suge” Knight failed to appear at a court-mandated debt hearing. Opposing lawyers are seeking to have the rap mogul held in contempt and even jailed for the no-show. Knight’s lawyer declined to comment, proclaiming, “We try our cases in the court and not in the press.” Not convinced someone like Knight deals with cases in the court or in the press.

• The Los Angeles Times reports that Black churches across the country are organizing to combat the obesity epidemic, which has been a definite problem in the Black community. Churches are designing programs to educate folks about nutrition and exercise. “Our body is the temple of the Lord,” said one Los Angeles pastor. “We have to revere our temple.” Somebody preach it to Mo’Nique.

• Three Ohio teachers were suspended after supervising a bus trip where students engaged in a lurid game of “Truth or Dare.” The players allegedly flashed passing motorists and girls put money down their shirts for boys to fish for — plus, one girl performed oral sex on a boy. Things probably got really interesting when kids started singing, “100 bottles of beer on the wall.”