So a few months ago, a then-associate editor of Glamour magazine went to give a presentation on fashion dos-and-don'ts to a corporate audience. Then all hell broke loose: "In June, then-associate editor Ashley Baker spoke to a group of about 40 lawyers at the offices of Cleary Gottlieb in Manhattan. The idea was that Baker would offer the "dos and don'ts" of corporate fashion, so far so good. But, when Baker got to a slide showing a black woman sporting an Afro, it read "Just say no to the 'fro." Outrage ensued.... In the firestorm that followed, Baker was forced to resign. Glamour's web site sports a front-page response from editor Cindi Leive that reads, in part "Glamour did not, does not, and would never endorse the comments made; we are a magazine that believes in the beauty of all women."
Well, oddly enough, Editor Leive, Ms. Baker didn't challenge the notion that all women are beautiful, nor was she criticizing all black women. Instead, she didn't like a hairstyle. (And in critiquing that hairstyle, she appears to have plenty of company, as the linked piece suggests). There are other hairstyles worn primarily by white women. If someone criticizes those, is that a racial slam against the white race? The ubiquity of the thought police out there right now when it comes to any comments touching anything to do with race, and their endless demands for apologies, firings, and the silencing of those who don't toe their line, is remarkable, and alarming.
