'Mommy, What's Nig ... ger Brown?'

This is actually a triumph.

Sure, a black woman was deeply insulted, and probably, understandably, doesn't want the furniture in her house.



But consider the quote:

"It was tough, because she really didn't understand. [...] She'd never heard that word before and didn't really understand the concept of it."

She'd never heard that word before.

One day there'll be twenty-seven-year-olds like her.

Or maybe not.

Over at the Doonesbury website, hotbed of what passes for liberalism in the US, the Straw Poll on Don Imus' big mouth has surprised me.

Imus called a black womens' basketball team "nappy-headed ho's" (For readers from Albion's Isles: 'nappy' is not referring to turbans or head scarves but to the texture of black peoples' hair).

In response to the question "Should Imus have been sacked?", ten thousand Doonesbury readers concluded "Of course not," excusing his racism by pointing to his job description ("shock jock").

I wonder what they might think if Imus had called them "hook-nosed hebes"?

"Swarthy camel traders?"

"Whiny bitches?"

Do any of those sound better?

If it'd been Rush Limbaugh or one of the other wingnutosphericals, Doonesbury's readership would surely have been calling for his head on a pike.

I find this strange, and even worrying. Don't these people realize that Future President Obama probably reads Doonesbury? And that thanks to his predecessor, he has the power to record their IP addies?