A Knight in Dragonland

Some people around here must like the fact that Pekin is viewed as the racist Mecca of Central Illinois. In the past week or so, I’ve seen two gentlemen wearing “Chinks” t-shirts. One of them was at the big playground in Mineral Springs Park setting a wonderful example for the youth of Pekin. [...]

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My most recent Jake Grys post garnered two “interesting” comments from our friendly neighborhood Nazis. I believe this is probably the work of the same adolescent Matt Hale wannabes that were harassing local blogger Ollie Nanyes, proprietor of the blog “blueollie.”
I deleted the comments from the post about Jake. Mr. Hitler Lover’s choice [...]

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Allllllllllllrighty then. After 81 posts at my last discussion of racism in Pekin, it’s time to close up shop there and start a new line of discussion. Let me take this opportunity to clarify a few things.
I’m not proposing any changes in the law of the land, despite the hysterical ramblings about “thought control” [...]

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Unfortunately, in this case, it seems that the children of Pekin are learning a legacy of hate. This past Wednesday, two boys, ten and eleven years old, circled a woman and her 2-year-old child (specific ethnicity not identified) on their bikes, repeatedly yelling racial slurs. One threw an empty soda can at the [...]

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Wow, have I ever stirred up a can of worms with this topic! My post on the T-Shirt House and my comments on the specter of the Chink, lingering stereotypes, Pekin’s image problem and the ugliness of real racism lingering throughout all of Central Illinois have all elicited some serious commentary.
I want to thank [...]

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I want to thank the crew at WHOI for inviting me on for their “Connected” segment this evening, especially Meghan Fisher, Nishi Gupta (my first contact at the station) and Tim McGinnis. Tim did a great job of talking me through the process and set my nerves at ease.
I have to agree with Eyebrows [...]

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I’m going to be a guest on WHOI News at Five this afternoon. We’ll be talking about Jake Grys and racism in Pekin. Yeah … no controversy whatsoever. We’ll see how many death threats I get this time. Wish me luck!

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I often find myself disagreeing with Phil Luciano, especially in regards to his snarky antagonism to the Smoke Free Illinois Act. However, I have to give him kudos for his column today. Luciano dispels some nasty internet rumors flying about regarding the new owner of a Bartonville gas station – Yosef Abdullah, an [...]

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The T-Shirt House at 219 S. Second Street in Pekin was destroyed by fire late Monday night. Fortunately no one was injured.
The Daily Times has been covering the heck out of this event, with follow-up articles on Wednesday and again today. These articles craft a sad yet also heartwarming story of a community [...]

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Major League Baseball will hold its inaugural “Civil Rights Game” in Memphis, Tennessee today. The St. Louis Cardinals will play the Cleveland Indians.
Anyone else see the hypocrisy in this?
UPDATE (3/31/07): Filip Bondy of the NY Daily News has some great comments on this issue.  Hat tip to the Sports Frog for pointing out Bondy’s [...]

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The University of Illinois and the city of Pekin both have long histories of controversy over the same thing – the mascot of their sports teams. I think this is an issue that needs further discussion, although I’m quite sure that what I say here is going to be incredibly unpopular. I’ll begin [...]

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One of the first things that I said when I started this blog is that I wanted to “bridge the divide between Peoria and Tazewell counties. Why do people from both sides of the river seem to think the other side is some foreign country?” Heck, that applies to the whole heart of Illinois [...]

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