Yes, it was mind-bogglingly insensitive and outright racist for some students at the University of California, San Diego, to hold a party mocking Black History Month. Resorting to nearly every offensive stereotype imaginable, the "Compton Cookout" invitation demeaned black women as "ghetto chicks" with gold teeth and nappy hair who start fights, and who make up for a "very limited vocabulary" by cursing and smacking their lips.
But does the Legislature have much weightier matters to attend to? Absolutely.
About 30 state lawmakers – mostly Assembly members, including outgoing Speaker Karen Bass and incoming Speaker John A. Pérez – took to the south steps of the Capitol to vent their outrage in a made-for-TV event Thursday. One after another, they stepped up to the portable lectern, the Assembly seal affixed with packing tape, to denounce the party, to make clear that such behavior will not be tolerated in 21st century California, and to demand accountability.
Assemblyman Isadore Hall III, who represents Compton and organized the local event, called on UC San Diego administrators to launch an immediate and full investigation.
They already have.
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