SADLY, THIS DOESN'T SURPRISE ME: Jay Nordlinger includes the following anecdote in his latest column:

A friend of mine from Arkansas writes the following: "Thought you'd appreciate this little anecdote. A co-worker of mine has a daughter in public elementary school, here in Pine Bluff. They're still doing Black History Month stuff, apparently, because the kids were told to come to class dressed as a famous (and presumably accomplished) African-American. My co-worker's kid was told to come as Tina Turner. My co-worker informed the teacher that her child would come as Condoleezza Rice instead. The teacher refused to allow it, on grounds that Rice 'is for white people.' Nice, huh?"

Disgusting--and, again, very American. Sadly so.

Along with Colin Powell, President Bush has appointed two of the highest ranking blacks in office ever, and has kept on Colin's son, Clinton appointee Michael Powell, as head of the FCC. And still, cracks like this occur. Will a black Republican ever be respected? I'm sure if the teacher was fired, Nordlinger's friend would have mentioned it in his email. This is a rhetorical question of course, but why aren't more teachers let go for such blatantly racist statements?