Posts Tagged ‘iraq’

More on the Beijing Banhammer

Thursday, July 24th, 2008

Deadspin gave a bit more thorough explanation about the banning of blacks and Mongols:

Beijing is serious about street-level enforcement of trafficking and prostitution (if you don’t see it on the street it doesn’t happen!) and this affects some Africans and Mongolians who, accurately or not, are profiled by police as perpetrators of these two vices.

That said, if there was indeed a directive issued concerning blacks and Mongolians it was probably more like: “Don’t let African drug dealers or Mongolian prostitutes into your bar,” a statement echoed by some interviews done by our man Beijing Boyce. We’re not sure what this would mean for blacks or reputable Mongolians in Beijing, many of whom already deal with some not-so-subtle racism from the locals. So it’s not that we question a disregard for racial sensitivity; there’s certainly that. After all, there is enough information available that leads us to believe enforcement figures approached bars and told the owners to monitor their black and Mongolian patrons. We just don’t think that any secret, official ban was issued.

So there you have it. It’s more they’re targeting the problem and some people are getting caught in the crossfire. I hope. In other Olympian news, Iraq will not be participating in the games this year. Their Olympic committee’s 7 picks were ignored and replaced instead by the government’s own favorites. Weird. The International Olympic Committee says boo-hiss to this disregard for hard-won placement, so banninating the Iraqi team was the only thing to be done in such a short time frame. Too bad. Some of the original members of the appointed Olympic committee for Iraq have been missing for a few years. Hm.