Essay Seventy

Questionable endings and beginnings with MultiCultClassics Minutes…

• Mickey D’s has lost again in a wrongful termination discrimination suit filed by an ex-restaurant manager with AIDS. In his second trial, Russell Rich of Ohio was awarded $490,000 in damages. A 2001 trial initially landed Rich $5 million, but the amount was withdrawn after an appeal showed the judge had given faulty instructions. The new award does not have Rich proclaiming, “i’m lovin’ it!” — and plans for an appeal are underway. Rich has rejected Mickey D’s offers to settle. The settlement proposals probably required accepting payment in the form of McDonald’s Gift Certificates.

• Bizarre Alleged Murderer of the Month Award goes to James Butler Jr., aka The Harlem Hammer. Butler, a professional boxer, was charged with using a hammer to murder sportswriter Sam Kellerman. The victim’s Hollywood apartment had been torched, and a hammer was found near his bludgeoned body. Isn’t this like The Joker leaving joker cards at Gotham City crime scenes? If convicted, let’s hope the judge doesn’t declare, “It’s Hammer Time!”

• Willie Nelson is releasing a Reggae album. Don’t mean to sound stereotypical, but does anybody NOT think Nelson’s foray into the genre was inspired by excessive pot smoking?

• The deeper one gets into the Memin Pinguin scenario, well, the deeper it gets. Blacks in Mexico, particularly those living on the Pacific coast, are among the poorest of the poor. And by golly, they do experience discrimination from fairer-skinned fellow countrymen. Police and airport officials routinely make Black Mexicans prove their citizenship by singing the national anthem. There are no government programs to address their needs — unlike the country’s other indigenous groups. Some are encouraged to intermarry to create children less Black. Memin Pinguin supporters still insist protesters don’t understand Mexican culture. That may be true. But most outsiders completely comprehend how racism works.

• Former Verizon executive Bruce Gordon will officially be sworn in as new leader of the NAACP at the organization’s national convention being held in Milwaukee. Gordon brings new perspectives and experience to the civil rights group. At Verizon, he helped create great diversity and opportunities, while rising to a high level of power in the business community. In a recent New York Times interview, Gordon commented, “When you advertise, you communicate your company’s products and services. You don’t advertise, people don’t get the message. Do we need to promote the NAACP, for what it is, what it stands for? Absolutely.” Look for Verizon’s multicultural advertising agencies to pick up a new client soon.