Fan tosses banana peel at black NHL player: Just before Philadelphia's Wayne Simmonds, one of the few African-American players in the NHL, scored on a shootout attempt in Thursday's preseason game against the Detroit Red Wings at the Labatt Centre in Ontario, a fan taunted him by throwing a banana peel that landed directly in his path to the net. "When you're a black man playing in a predominantly white man's sport, you've got to come to expect things like that," he said. Frank Servalli of Philly.com pointed out that this isn't new in the NHL. In 2002 a fan threw a banana at Carolina Hurricanes goalie Kevin Weekes.
VIDEO: Wanda Sykes Talks About Her Double Mastectomy: Comedian Wanda Sykes, in an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show scheduled to air Monday, reflected on her bout with breast cancer, which resulted in a double mastectomy. She managed to include some humor, of course, explaining that the discovery came after a recent breast-reduction surgery. "I had breast cancer. Yeah, I know it's scary," she said. "This was in February. I went for the reduction. I had real big boobs, and I just got tired of knocking over stuff. Every time I eat … Oh lord. I'd carry a Tide stick everywhere I go."
The low hopes of the black GOP: ColorLines' Shani O. Hilton says the two black Republicans have been making waves on the national stage recently — with outlandish antics that make it hard to remember there's a long tradition of black political conservatism in the U.S.
Bachmann: Republicans don't have to sit on the back of the bus: In the most recent in a string of ridiculous civil rights references during her campaign, GOP hopeful Rep. Michele Bachmann told a crowd of supporters in Florida Thursday that Republicans "don't have to sit on the back of the bus."
In other news: Haiti's President: Can He Lead?