The color gap

Like no other event in recent history, the shooting death of Providence Police Sgt. Cornel Young Jr. has opened up discussion of the racial divide in Vo Dilun. We've seen how it has given new urgency to other festering issues, such as the gathering of data to detail whether racial profiling takes place during highway stops; the shielding of small groups of bigoted law enforcement officers; and even the question of whether we should retain the phrase "and Providence Plantations" in the official state name.

While there are certainly differences between the "P" word and the flying of the Confederate flag over certain Southern state houses, the fact is that some of the folks who pooh-pooh the use of "plantations" in our state name just don't get it. The meanings of words and symbols do change. Nothing is static and that includes history. As Charlie Bakst has helpfully pointed out in the pages of the BeloJo, with this state's history in the financing of the slave trade, we Vo Dilunduhs are hardly in a position to argue that the inclusion of the word "Plantations" in the state's official name means nothing.

There are undoubtedly a few racist police officers around, and the fact that no police department has made a serious effort to address this issue is a continuing shame. P&J also believe that racial profiling does occur. When will we seriously listen to the grievances of our neighbors who have been negatively impacted by this?

We believe that Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse is beginning to listen more closely. Yes, he has reacted too slowly, but he's trying. On election night 1998, your superior correspondents were in Sheldon's victory suite in the Biltmore for a brief time, and one of things that struck us was the presence of more people of color than at any of the other campaign headquarters. We believe in the AG's commitment to justice for all, and are heartened by the make-up of the group he has selected to investigate the death of Sgt. Young.

At the same time, we understand that racism is a very hard thing to prove. Barring any surprising disclosures, we believe this particular charge will remain clouded in controversy and no real resolution will result. But, beyond that, there are any number of other issues that can and should be addressed: Is the policy of off-duty officers being required to carry guns a wise one? Did the officers who shot Sgt. Young discharge their weapons too hastily? Is the law that allows the charge of "felony murder" a good idea, and was the decision to charge Aldrin Diaz with this a prudent one?

All of these questions must be addressed. In the longer term, some serious leadership is needed to scrutinize the racist attitudes alleged in some Providence police officers. We can't just slough this off, as has been done so many other times. Until we confront these issues, not only with our lips but in our lives, we will fall short of even attempting to live up to our ideals. These are among the reasons why citizens of color perceive things differently from their Caucasian counterparts. There is much work to do.

Gee whiz

Many members of the Brown University community might indeed be furious with that flatulent phony, Gordon Gee(k), the pencil-necked clown with the preposterous bow ties, who was most well-known hereabouts for wetting his pants the first time General Assembly leaders confronted him over the laudable "Access Denied" report put together by his Taubman Center. The anger has flared because Gee quit the presidency and took a tit job as chief yahoo for Vanderbilt University -- which is like leaving Sharon Stone for Rosie O'Donnell -- but certainly P&J don't have a bad word to say about him.

We think it exalts an academician to sneak around behind his board of directors' backs in secret negotiations and then come to them and say, "Match this offer or I'm out of here." Fortunately, Brown's administrators have slightly higher standards than those at Vandy and said, "Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out, nancy-boy."

Incidentally, this profile in shiftiness garnered a $500,000 salary from Vanderbilt, with perks that put the deal at a reported million-dollar level. It even got immediate tenure for his wife, who teaches arts policy -- an oxymoron if we ever heard one -- and who would've had to earn it like a normal, respectable professor had she stayed at Bruno Uno.

Sources at Brown believe the general mood up there is that the august Providence Ivy League institution will remain strong long after Greedhead Geek has retired to an odious plantation in the South. But Gee's reputation as a shameless carpetbagger will be indelible in the minds of anyone who has a modicum of dignity and respect for higher learning. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Toy story (cont.)

A little more info on last week's missive from Beth Whitney re: the giant Mr. Potato Head contest launched by the Rhode Island Tourism Commission/Rhode Island State Council on the Arts. You'll recall that Ms. Whitney revealed how RITC/RISCA were pimping for Hasbro in asking the arts community to prostitute itself for the Biggest Little's numero uno toy manufacturer. This week, we hear from Casa Diablo regular Victoria Gianitsaris, who explains a little about the genesis of the whole project.

Victoria informs us that, back in September 1999, she wrote to the Bud-I and Leslie Gardner, the chair of Capital Center Commission, alerting them to the existence of an exhibit of life-sized cow models in Chicago, where they created a sensation. Victoria suggested that some prime vacant real estate in downtown (Parcel 9) be used for similar artistic expression, possibly featuring giant quahogs or Rhode Island Red chickens. There was no response.

About a month later, Victoria wrote again, noting the financial success of the cow display (we're talking about $9 million). Suddenly, Victoria was treated as a genius. The Bud-I responded, saying he would pass the idea on to Bob Rizzo, the city's esteemed director of cultural affairs. Ms. Gardner also responded, suggesting that Bob Rizzo take charge.

Victoria has a few questions about how her original suggestion became a key component in the whore-out project now in the Hasbro ballpark. Was Bob Rizzo actually contacted? Did he talk to RISCA? Did RISCA pass the idea on to the Tourism Commission, who alerted Hasbro to the really fab promotional idea? Or did it go directly from the Capital Center Commission to Hasbro?

All Victoria knows is this: a really cool and creative idea became seriously distorted into a Mr. Potato Head promotion benefiting a giant toy company, which has been rapidly pulling out of the Biggest Little to benefit from the likes of Mexican wage levels.

Law & Order, Special Morons' unit

From Tuesday's "Providence Police Report" in the Urinal comes this heartwarming story: "Christian Santos, 23, an employee at Dunkin' Donuts, 69 Empire St., told the police that two men approached him as he was unloading freshly baked doughnuts from a van Saturday about 5:30 a.m. and demanded doughnuts and coffee, threatening to kill him. He said he gave each man two chocolate-frosted doughnuts, but explained that he hadn't brewed any coffee yet, and they left."

While we have made some controversial statements about local law enforcement in this column, none could be more shocking than what is implicit in this story. Phillipe & Jorge say that there is no harsher indictment of any police department than to realize that a stolen doughnut caper could take place mere blocks from headquarters.

Gore the bore

There aren't enough horrible things to say about the loathsome phony Al Gore, the man with the two-by-four stuck up his freckle, and his incredibly annoying and egotistical harridan wife ("New Hampshire rocks!" indeed). But P&J were mightily amused by a February 3 campaign report by the New York Times' Melinda Henneberger, right after the Granite State primary, which described how "Two-by-four" and Tipper (Ugh, what name!) did their shock-the-monkey gyrations and screaming over a 5 percentage point win over Dollar Bill Bradley.

Jetting immediately out to L.A., Gore evidently showed all his dynamic appeal and charisma to the locals, never mind the attendant media, which Henneberger described thusly: "Even with Michael S. Dukakis nodding off in the second row, Al Gore kept talking. One of the Secret Service agents standing at the edge of the crowd had his eyes closed, too, and the press corps was literally moaning for mercy -- so loudly, in fact, that many of the real people at the town hall meeting here at Los Angeles City College turned around to look."

Quelle surprise, non?

Irish sports pages

P&J were very sorry to read about the death of Carl Albert, the diminutive Oklahoman, who served his country so well for many years as speaker of the US House of Representatives. His grace under fire was notable, and his ability to seek compromise invaluable. We are only sorry, that in later years, a pall was cast on his legacy after he was caught wearing women's clothing and accused of assault after biting a woman with whom he was having an affair (which led to his losing his job as announcer for the N.Y. Knicks). We also enjoyed Albert's musical ability, particularly his renditions of "The Lonely Bull," and "This Guy's In Love with You."

The wrong enemy

Providence residents angered by accumulated slights and the death of Sgt. Young marched on Mayor Cianci's office last week. Someone who was there tells us how Marion Davis, a scribe for the Other Paper, lost her cool while covering the February 3 protest. To be fair, she might have been jostled, and the collection of some 300 protesters nonsensically included "the media" -- an ever-popular scapegoat -- as a subject for their pejorative chants. But the visibly chagrined reporter lost it, at one point exclaiming how she was being given a hard time since she isn't black.

Hey folks, given the restrained and very even-handed coverage the Urinal has given this story, thoughtful comments by BeloJo columnist Bob Kerr, and (hopefully) P&J's own takes, you are picking on the wrong people when you go after the media. Not that anyone needs to be quite as defensive as in this case. But members of DARE. and their allies would do well to remember the very large role played by the Other Paper in getting the Derrick Hazard case back in the public eye. Can't we just all get along?

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