Entertainment Tonight pt. II: Doth though protest too much?

As spellbinding as the earlier discussions in the city council meeting were, there was an incident that occurred during the discussion of agenda item #33 surpassed even that as an ugly example that racism is not dead in Riverside's City Hall.

Schiavone made some vague references to someone in the audience calling him a racist in connection with some newspaper. But he said he did not want to really get into that now. What he wanted to do was show how he was not a racist by pulling Interim asst. city manager, Jim Smith(African-American) out of the audience so that he could stand in front of everyone in the chambers as well as the viewing audience while Schiavone explained that had he been a racist, there would not be a Black man in city management(pare-the-meat-off-the-bone paraphrase). Smith smiled and went along with, being on display as the "black friend" of Schiavone. After all, that's what he's worked hard during his entire career to do, is to serve to validate his employer's belief that he was not a racist. Hopefully, he gets paid extra for this role in city government on top of the other job responsibilities he has to perform.

I almost addressed Schiavone's almost-allegation but then I thought, since he would be so busy pulling the foot he had wedged so tightly in his mouth, I wouldn't have his full attention.