They Barred Them from Her Book Signing Party

Being barred from establishments because of the color of one's skin is something that is supposed to be passé. Now that this has happened to you, do you smile and say thank you, or do you let your brilliance speak while using common sense?

It seems as if there is always something that is done, which makes what I've been writing about ring out louder and clearer. Incidents like not being allowed to enter to an establishment should be a thing of the past. This was part of America's history, and we know it to be true because it happened not too long ago. Being refused entry to places shouldn't still be making the headlines; these stories should not be part of today's news.

Unfortunately I do believe that things like this still happen; one only has to look at what happened with the class action lawsuit against Macy's department store. Minorities were followed and watched as if they were going to steal something; today we call it racial profiling. In this particular case an African-American woman was detained because they thought she had stolen something; she had not, in fact she tried to show the security guards her receipts for her purchases, but they ignored her.

http://www.allbusiness.com/retail-trade/miscellaneous-retail/4430260-1.html

One can also look at various police confrontations, incidents of police brutality against the African-American people and Hispanic minorities. One particular case comes to mind, the Abner Louima case, where police officers brutally sodomized him with a broken broom handle.

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-167464676.html

http://revcom.us/a/v19/920-29/925/louima.htm

There's also another tragic case, where Amadou Diallo, an innocent man was murdered for no reason by police officers. http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/d/amadou_diallo/index.html

These are only a couple of cases, but it shows the mentality of some people out there; some of these people live and work in New York City.

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pshell/gammage/testimonies/ny-amnesty.html

There was also the case involving Harvard Professor, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. http://wcbstv.com/national/Henry.Louis.Gates.2.1094420.html

This didn't occur in New York City, but it helps to show the temperament of this country when race is involved.

Unfortunately finding stories that show racial tension in New York City and other parts of this country is very easy. For instance, when it comes to housing, Long Island appears to be in a continued frenzy against renting to people of color.

http://www.eraseracismny.org/html/pdf/Long_island_survey_report_2009.pdf

Look at our school systems where the African-American children are disproportionately higher in number than their White classmates. http://courses.coe.asu.edu/artiles/er/06ERv35n6_Blanchett.pdf

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