One black woman was even called Mammy! The hate must end, now!

No where do we hear, of course about the crimes perpetrated against whites by blacks. But what is a little murder, rape and torture compared to black women being called mammy, bitches and nappy headed hoes. Minorities are special pampered victims and must always be treated in that way.

We also don't hear anything about crimes committed against blacks by other blacks, but again I suppose that is not all that important, to them compared to a few not so PC words from whites. Talking about that is also not as useful to them as is playing to white guilt.

This year has left people of color — and black women in particular — a little more bruised and battered than normal.

The new year has to be better: What occurred in 2007 merited public outrage.

It is absolutely inexcusable that anyone would call a black woman mammy. Yet that is what Gloria Squitiro, Mayor Mark Funkhouser’s wife, said this year to Ruth Bates, a black woman at City Hall, where Bates works and Squitiro volunteers.

People of all races have told me how hurt and angry they have been about reports of the mammy incidents before the news finally broke that Bates has filed a complaintwith the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Add to that Funkhouser’s initial decision to dump Wayne Cauthen as city manager. Funkhouser is white; Cauthen is Kansas City’s first black city manager.

On Dec. 13, people of all colors packed the Kansas City Council chambers to harangue the mayor for his action against Cauthen and for Squitiro’s treatment of Bates. I haven’t seen that kind of public display of outrage by community leaders in decades.

Years ago, it was necessary for African Americans in groups such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, black churches and the Urban League of Greater Kansas City to verbally expose some whites’ biases.

Progress often followed. Civil rights era street protests moved into the board rooms of the ’70s, where blacks pounded tables insisting on jobs, contracts, promotions, better pay and equality. The Kansas City Star also was a target.

It appears from high-profile incidents this year that America is backsliding.

For example, Kansas City School District Superintendent Anthony Amato allegedly used the B-word when referring to Helen Ragsdale and Marilyn Simmons, two strong black women who are school board members.

The B-word – like the N-word or mammy – should never be used on anyone.

Also this year, Don Imus was fired by CBS and MSNBC for calling the Rutgers University women’s basketball team “nappy-headed ’hos.” But Imus didn’t stay off the air. This month he was back on WABC-AM in New York.

This year has not been kind to Hispanics either — locally or nationally. In Kansas City, Funkhouser again made retro headlines by refusing to dump Frances Semler from the Kansas City parks board. Semler is a member of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. Its stand against illegal immigration carries anti-Hispanic undertones.

Hispanics locally and nationally expressed their outrage, but Funkhouser didn’t budge. His intractable stance caused the city to lose the National Council of La Raza convention, which was to occur in 2009.

The city also may lose the NAACP convention in 2010. That’s millions of dollars blown by bigotry. But the city did pick up the first-ever, two-day Minuteman convention, which could attract 300 people and a few hundred dollars.

The actions of some Kansas City leaders might make outsiders think this town isn’t ready to understand or embrace diversity. They might conclude that our city is as stuck in the mud of the past as the Supreme Court was in its action this year to remove race as a remedy for the integration of schools in Seattle and Louisville, Ky.

Let’s hope that one day everyone in town will see the value of diversity(usually when people actually see and feel the affects of diversity up close and personal, it is not something they embrace, in fact if they are able they get the hell out of town) realize how much racism is costing this community in wealth and talent, and how the bleeding can be stopped. Let’s hope the city heals in 2008.

http://www.kansascity.com/278/story/418159.html