California State Education Secretary Richard Riordan found himself the subject of a planned protest and calls for his resignation after he jokingly told a child her name, Isis, meant “stupid dirty girl.”
Democratic state Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally was quoted thursday as saying the child was “a little African-American girl. Would he have done that to a white girl?” He then set about organizing a protest by civil rights organizations including the NAACP which was subsequently cancelled when they all realized that the little girl is white, with blonde hair.
Dymally’s office issued a statement Wednesday calling Riordan’s remarks “outrageous and irresponsible,” then issued another on Thursday saying, “To err is human; to forgive is divine.” He also claims, “Race is not a factor in this issue,” that Riordan had apologized a second time, and “It is time for us to move on.”
Oh, oh… he apologized twice. That was the magic number, was it? So had he only apologized once, the protest would have gone on as planned?