This Week in Racism
So, Does ‘Police Reform’ Include Pranking Black Officers With KKK Jokes?
It’s an embarrassment of riches in our weekly roundup of the world’s most preventable disease!
Death and taxes used to be the only two certainties in life. But no matter how much progress it feels like we’re making sometimes, the sad fact is you can probably slide racism into that list. Are we in a moment of uprising that feels like it has the potential to create real, systemic change? Yes. Do people and organizations still show their ass on a daily basis? Oh, most definitely. And to keep tabs on all that ass-showing, we created a weekly racism surveillance machine.
🗑 If you’re gonna prank a Black co-worker, maybe leave out the racism
After 30 years on the job, an Ohio police chief has resigned after surveillance footage captured him playing a hilarious prank on a Black officer. That prank? Arranging a yellow raincoat on the officer’s desk so the hood looked pointy, then placing a sign on it reading “Ku Klux Klan.” In case that’s not funny enough for you, consider this: After Sheffield Lake’s mayor asked Anthony Campo to hand in his badge and keys (what, not his gun?), Campo told a news crew that the offense “was just a joke that got out of hand.” In fact, according to Mayor Dennis Bring, Campo genuinely didn’t understand why he was being asked to retire. The only question here isn’t why Campo got booted — it’s how he went all these years without becoming a comedy phenomenon! (CNN)
🗑 “Careful what you wish for” has never felt quite so fitting
From the Fuck Around and Find Out files, a South Jersey dude is in police custody for racial harassment of his Black neighbors — but not before giving his address out on social media and inviting people to come see him if they had a problem with his prolific use of the N-bomb and other slurs. And guess what? They did! Hundreds of people showed up outside Edward Cagney Mathews’ house on the outskirts of Philadelphia on Monday, more than ready to shorten his Illadelph half-life. Ultimately, the police — who days before had done little but issue a summons…
