The chimney sweep dance in “Mary Poppins,” led by Dick van Dyk’s likeable all-rounder Burt, is reminiscent of typical blackface motifs, claims a scientist.

Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, a professor of English and gender studies at Linfield College in Oregon, explained in a New York Times article that the sequence in PL Travers' book meant “race panic.”

Pollack-Pelzner simply refers to the scene as “blacking up,” and while this may seem harmless, it has other, more disturbing connotations.

“This might seem like a harmless comic scene if Travers' novels did not associate the chimney sweeps' blackened faces with racist caricatures,” he writes.

“'Don't touch me, you black heathen,' cries a maid in Mary Poppins Opens the Door (1943), as a house broom extends its dark hand. When he tries to approach the cook, she threatens to stop: 'If that Hottentot goes into the fireplace, I'm going out the door,' she says, using an archaic insult for black South Africans that recurs in book and screen.

“The 1964 film re-enacts this racial panic in absurd fashion. As the dark figures of the chimney sweeps step onto a roof in time, a naval buffoon, Admiral Boom, shouts 'We are being attacked by Hottentots!' and orders his cannon to be fired at the 'insolent devils.'”

“We're in on the joke for what it is: these aren't real black Africans, but grinning white dancers with blackened faces. It's a parody of the black threat; it was even posted on a white nationalist website as evidence of the film's racial hierarchy. And it's not just fools like the Admiral who use this language. In the 1952 novel Mary Poppins in the Park, the nanny herself says to an exasperated young Michael, 'I understand you're acting like a Hottentot.'”

Pollack-Pelzner also pointed to other examples of archaic, racially charged language in Travers' Poppins books, which in one case even led to her books being banned from the San Francisco Public Library in the early 1980s.

Travers later rewrote the chapters in a revised edition of the book, in which Poppins, Jane and Michael Banks are abducted to a South Sea island, where the nanny uses the offensive phrase “pickaninny” and speaks in a racially charged South American dialect.

However, she later said that this was “not an apology for anything I have written, the reason is much simpler: I don't want to see Mary Poppins hidden in a closet.”

Disney has not yet commented on the matter.

But in an online post after the Times article was published, Pollack-Pelzner explained: “The main reason I wrote this article was in the hope that a Disney executive would read it, take another look at the upcoming Dumbo remake and ask if there was anything in it that was even the slightest bit racist that he should perhaps reconsider before it goes on the screen.”

“After writing this article and receiving tons of hate mail in response, I learned one thing about the alt-right: Mary Poppins definitely suits them very well!”

Read more
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Russell Crowe transforms into Roger Ailes
Zombieland 2 first poster

The post ‘Mary Poppins’ chimney sweep ‘blackface’ dance is racist, claims tutorial appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Mary Poppins (Source: Disney)

The chimney sweep dance in “Mary Poppins,” led by Dick van Dyk’s likeable all-rounder Burt, is reminiscent of typical blackface motifs, claims a scientist.

Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, a professor of English and gender studies at Linfield College in Oregon, explained in a New York Times article that the sequence in PL Travers' book meant “race panic.”

Pollack-Pelzner simply refers to the scene as “blacking up,” and while this may seem harmless, it has other, more disturbing connotations.

“This might seem like a harmless comic scene if Travers' novels did not associate the chimney sweeps' blackened faces with racist caricatures,” he writes.

“'Don't touch me, you black heathen,' cries a maid in Mary Poppins Opens the Door (1943) as a house broom extends its dark hand. When he tries to approach the cook, she threatens to stop: 'If that Hottentot goes into the fireplace, I'm going out the door,' she says, using an archaic insult for black South Africans that recurs in book and screen.

“The 1964 film re-enacts this racial panic in absurd fashion. As the dark figures of the chimney sweeps step onto a roof in time, a naval buffoon, Admiral Boom, shouts 'We are being attacked by Hottentots!' and orders his cannon to be fired at the 'insolent devils.'”

“We're in on the joke for what it is: these aren't real black Africans, but grinning white dancers with blackened faces. It's a parody of the black threat; it was even posted on a white nationalist website as evidence of the film's racial hierarchy. And it's not just fools like the Admiral who use this language. In the 1952 novel Mary Poppins in the Park, the nanny herself says to an exasperated young Michael, 'I understand you're acting like a Hottentot.'”

Pollack-Pelzner also pointed to other examples of archaic, racially charged language in Travers' Poppins books, which in one case even led to her books being banned from the San Francisco Public Library in the early 1980s.

Travers later rewrote the chapters in a revised edition of the book, in which Poppins, Jane and Michael Banks are abducted to a South Sea island, where the nanny uses the offensive phrase “pickaninny” and speaks in a racially charged South American dialect.

The story goes on

However, she later said that this was “not an apology for anything I have written, the reason is much simpler: I don't want to see Mary Poppins hidden in a closet.”

Disney has not yet commented on the matter.

But in an online post after the Times article was published, Pollack-Pelzner explained: “The main reason I wrote this article was in the hope that a Disney executive would read it, take another look at the upcoming Dumbo remake and ask if there was anything in it that was even the slightest bit racist that he should perhaps reconsider before it goes on the screen.”

“After writing this article and receiving tons of hate mail in response, I learned one thing about the alt-right: Mary Poppins definitely suits them very well!”

Read more
Duncan Jones criticizes David Bowie film
Russell Crowe transforms into Roger Ailes
Zombieland 2 first poster

The post ‘Mary Poppins’ chimney sweep ‘blackface’ dance is racist, claims tutorial appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

In 2012, while her investigation was ongoing, Hoeper's claim alleges that Herrera demoted her, closed the investigation and then fired her earlier that year. She claims that her demotion and firing were in retaliation for her own efforts to expose financial improprieties in the prosecutor's office – including her suspicions that someone was receiving kickbacks.

Herrera is out of town and cannot be reached for comment. In an email, his spokesman Matt Dorsey said the claim reflected “baseless allegations of misconduct by a disgruntled former employee.”

“Although we generally cannot discuss personnel matters, the circumstances of Ms. Hoeper's separation were thoroughly reviewed by outside counsel,” he continued, “and we are confident that the San Francisco District Attorney's Office will prevail over the case will be decided.”

Haase declined to comment and Rothschild did not respond to a request for comment.

Tree roots and sewer pipes

Hoeper's allegations involve several small plumbing companies whose activities have led to a flood of complaints from homeowners to police, city officials and even the FBI, according to documents and interviews. For years, salespeople from the companies went door-to-door in neighborhoods, claiming that the roots of city street trees were damaging homeowners' sewer lines and offering to replace them for free.

To get the job done, homeowners were asked to file legal claims with the state attorney general's office for up to $10,000. After the claims were settled, the homeowners were supposed to pay the money to the plumbing companies that replaced the sewer lines.

Some people who encountered the sellers suspected a scam.

Michael Zack and Odilon Vasconcelos, former operators of a hair salon on Guerrero Street, said in interviews that in 2011, a salesman for a plumbing company called Drainbusters Plumbing obtained their signatures under false pretenses, creating a $10,000 claim for one New hair salon submitted sewer line for her salon.

The claim was “ridiculous,” Zack said, because there was nothing wrong with the salon's plumbing and the nearest street tree was a sapling so far down the block that its roots couldn't possibly have reached the salon. Additionally, the men do not own the building and therefore cannot legally claim the repairs, he said. Still, prosecutors approved the lawsuit, court records show.

Zack was suspicious, emailed Mayor Ed Lee and other officials and eventually called Haase at the DA's claims office. Zack said the officer told him that the salesman's behavior was “unethical, but not illegal” and he asked Zack to turn over the $10,000 damages settlement that the city had paid him and Vasconcelos to the plumbing salesman .

A review of public records shows that from 2009 to 2011, San Francisco paid $8.9 million on about 1,100 claims in these cases.

At first, Zack and Vasconcelos were reluctant, but they ultimately paid the plumbing company the damage money after a small claims court judge ordered them to do so, records show.

In another case, the owner of a Mission District restaurant called police on a Drainbusters vendor in 2012 after he allegedly trespassed on a sewer cleanout, according to a police report. Apparently the seller wanted to convince the property owners that tree roots were damaging their sewers.

Riad Khano, owner of Drainbusters, said his company only performed necessary, city-approved repairs to sewer lines. The city saved significant costs by paying private sanitation companies to do the work, he claimed, calling Department of Public Works crews notoriously inefficient. The city has stopped paying for repairs to private sewer lines because of budget problems, he said.

A few people have complained about his vendors, Khano said, but the complaints are unfounded.

Claim the FBI tipped her off

In her lawsuit, Hoeper says the FBI alerted her to the alleged billing fraud in 2011 after agents received a series of complaints from homeowners. Hoeper hired two investigators to investigate.

She concluded that the city had no legal obligation to pay the claims. No city in California routinely pays for tree root damage to private sewer lines, she said in her lawsuit, and neither has San Francisco for most of its history. But beginning in 2002, prosecutors began approving these claims, sometimes within days of their filing.

She claimed that her investigation found case after case where sewer lines were replaced even though there was no sign of damage or the bills were clearly padded.

In 2012, six months after it began, Hoeper said she told Herrera about her investigation. Herrera asked her for a written report, she said. Shortly after reviewing the matter, he dismissed her as the main trial representative and transferred her to the public prosecutor's office, according to her statements. She said she was fired last January, the day Herrera was sworn in for his fourth term.

A review of public records shows that from 2009 to 2011, San Francisco paid $8.9 million on about 1,100 claims for damage to sewer property or tree care problems that the city described as sewer line damage, which included root damage to private sewer lines could belong. The average payout was about $8,000. Around 140 applications were rejected. In a few cases, the payments went to plumbing companies. Normally the payment went to the property owners.

Public records also show the city stopped paying for private sewer repairs shortly after Hoeper said she reported to Herrera.

City records show that on June 20, 2012, Edward Harrington, then general manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, issued a memo stating that no “tree root intrusion” claims should be paid, it said unless he or the city's construction manager personally approved them in advance.

Since then, court records show prosecutors have successfully defeated several small claims lawsuits from homeowners seeking damages for tree root damage to their sewer lines. In court, the city's lawyers contend that the city was never responsible for the cost of such repairs.

Herrera, the city's top law official since 2001, has built an image as a champion of good government and consumer protection. Hoeper was one of Herrera's closest collaborators for years.

In 2003, when a legal newspaper named Hoeper one of the “Top 50 Women Trial Lawyers” in California, Herrera issued a press release praising Hoeper for her efforts to combat public corruption.

Hoeper's claim states that Rothschild, the head of the claims office, was outraged by her investigation into his unit.

According to her account, Rothschild confronted her and angrily declared, “I will not tolerate this.” In another encounter before her demotion, Hoeper claimed that Rothschild accused her of “picking up” his assistant and threatened a “hunger strike, if she continues with the investigation.”

In her lawsuit, Hoeper is demanding reinstatement and back pay and other damages.

This story was edited by Amy Pyle and copied by Christine Lee and Nikki Frick.

The post S.F. Lawyer Claims She Was Fired for Investigating Suspected Cost Rip-off appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

The chimney sweep dance in Mary Poppins, led by Dick van Dyk's affable jack-of-all-trades Burt, is reminiscent of blackface themes, one academic has claimed.

In an article in the New York Times, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, a professor of English and gender studies at Linfield College in Oregon, said that the sequence in PL Travers' book means “racial panic.”

Pollack-Pelzner simply calls the scene “blackout,” and while it may seem harmless, it has other, more disturbing connotations.

“This might seem like a harmless comic scene if Travers' novels did not associate the blackened faces of chimney sweeps with racist caricatures,” he writes.

“'Don't touch me, you black heathen,' screams a maid in Mary Poppins Opens the Door (1943) as a sweep extends his dark hand. When he tries to approach the cook, she threatens to stop: “If that Hottentot goes down the chimney, I'm going out the door,” she says, using an archaic insult to black South Africans that appears repeatedly on page and screen occurs.

“The 1964 film recreates this racial panic in an absurd tone. As the dark figures of the chimney sweeps step onto a roof in rhythm, a naval idiot, Admiral Boom, shouts: “We are being attacked by Hottentots!” and orders his cannon to be fired at the “insolent devils”.

“We’re in on the joke such as it is: These aren’t really black Africans; They are grinning white dancers in blackface. It's a parody of The Black Menace; It is even posted on a white nationalist website as evidence of the film's racial hierarchy. And it's not just fools like the Admiral who invoke this language. In the 1952 novel “Mary Poppins in the Park,” the nanny herself says to the upset young Michael, “I understand that you are behaving like a Hottentot.”

Pollack-Pelzner has also pointed out other examples of archaic, racially charged language in Travers' Poppins books, in one case her books were actually banned from the San Francisco Public Library in the early 1980s.

Travers later rewrote the chapters in a revised edition of the book, in which Poppins, Jane, and Michael Banks are transported to a South Seas island, where the nanny uses the offensive phrase “pickaninny” and speaks in a racially charged South American dialect.

However, she later said she “didn't do this as an apology for anything I've written, the reason is much simpler: I don't want to see Mary Poppins hidden in a closet.”

Disney has not yet commented on the matter.

However, after the Times article was published, Pollack-Pelzner posted online: “The main reason I wrote this article was in the hope that a Disney executive would read it, take another look at the upcoming Dumbo remake and ask “If it was there.” If it was all a bit racist, maybe they should think again before it hits the big screen.

“One thing I learned about the alt-right after writing this article and receiving countless hate messages in response: They really like Mary Poppins!”

Read more
Duncan Jones hits David Bowie film
Russell Crowe turns into Roger Ailes
First poster for Zombieland 2

The post ‘Mary Poppins’ chimney sweep ‘blackface’ dance is racist, claims educational appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Mary Poppins (Source: Disney)

The chimney sweep dance in Mary Poppins, led by Dick van Dyk's affable jack-of-all-trades Burt, is reminiscent of blackface themes, one academic has claimed.

In an article in the New York Times, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, a professor of English and gender studies at Linfield College in Oregon, said that the sequence in PL Travers' book means “racial panic.”

Pollack-Pelzner simply calls the scene “blackout,” and while it may seem harmless, it has other, more disturbing connotations.

“This might seem like a harmless comic scene if Travers' novels did not associate the blackened faces of chimney sweeps with racist caricatures,” he writes.

“'Don't touch me, you black heathen,' screams a maid in Mary Poppins Opens the Door (1943) as a sweep extends his dark hand. When he tries to approach the cook, she threatens to stop: “If that Hottentot goes down the chimney, I'm going out the door,” she says, using an archaic slur for black South Africans that appears repeatedly on page and screen occurs.

“The 1964 film recreates this racial panic in a bizarre tone. When the dark figures of the chimney sweeps appear in time on a roof, Admiral Boom, a naval fool, shouts: “We are being attacked by Hottentots!” and orders his cannon to be fired at the “insolent devils”.

“We’re in on the joke such as it is: These aren’t really black Africans; They are grinning white dancers in blackface. It's a parody of The Black Menace; It is even posted on a white nationalist website as evidence of the film's racial hierarchy. And it's not just fools like the Admiral who invoke this language. In the 1952 novel “Mary Poppins in the Park,” the nanny herself says to the upset young Michael, “I understand that you are behaving like a Hottentot.”

Pollack-Pelzner has also pointed out other examples of archaic, racially charged language in Travers' Poppins books, in one case her books were actually banned from the San Francisco Public Library in the early 1980s.

Travers later rewrote the chapters in a revised edition of the book, in which Poppins, Jane, and Michael Banks are transported to a South Seas island, where the nanny uses the offensive term “pickaninny” and speaks in a racially charged South American dialect.

The story goes on

However, she later said she “didn't do this as an apology for anything I've written, the reason is much simpler: I don't want to see Mary Poppins hidden in a closet.”

Disney has not yet commented on the matter.

However, after the Times article was published, Pollack-Pelzner posted online: “The main reason I wrote this article was in the hope that a Disney executive would read it, take another look at the upcoming Dumbo remake and ask “If it was there.” If it was all a bit racist, maybe they should think again before it hits the big screen.

“One thing I learned about the alt-right after writing this article and receiving countless hate messages in response: They really like Mary Poppins!”

Read more
Duncan Jones hits David Bowie film
Russell Crowe turns into Roger Ailes
First poster for Zombieland 2

The post ‘Mary Poppins’ chimney sweep ‘blackface’ dance is racist, claims educational appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Mary Poppins (Credit: Disney)

The chimney sweep dance in Mary Poppins, led by Dick van Dyk’s affable jack-of-all-trades Burt, harks back to ‘blackface’ tropes, an academic has claimed.

In an article in the New York Times, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, a professor of English and gender studies professor at Oregon’s Linfield College, has said that in the book by PL Travers, the sequence signifies ‘racial panic’.

Pollack-Pelzner flatly calls the scene ‘blacking up’, and while it may seem innocuous, it has other more troubling connotations.

“This might seem like an innocuous comic scene if Travers’s novels didn’t associate chimney sweeps’ blackened faces with racial caricature,” he writes.

“’Don’t touch me, you black heathen,’ a housemaid screams in Mary Poppins Opens the Door (1943), as a sweep reaches out his darkened hand. When he tries to approach the cook, she threatens to quit: ‘If that Hottentot goes into the chimney, I shall go out the door,’ she says, using an archaic slur for black South Africans that recurs on page and screen.

“The 1964 film replays this racial panic in a farcical key. When the dark figures of the chimney sweeps step in time on a roof, a naval buffoon, Admiral Boom, shouts, ‘We’re being attacked by Hottentots!’ and orders his cannon to be fired at the ‘cheeky devils.’

“We’re in on the joke, such as it is: These aren’t really black Africans; they’re grinning white dancers in blackface. It’s a parody of black menace; it’s even posted on a white nationalist website as evidence of the film’s racial hierarchy. And it’s not only fools like the Admiral who invoke this language. In the 1952 novel Mary Poppins in the Park, the nanny herself tells an upset young Michael, ‘I understand that you’re behaving like a Hottentot.’”

Pollack-Pelzner has also pointed to other instances of archaic, racially-loaded language in Travers’ Poppins books, which in once instance actually saw her books banned from the San Francisco Public Library in the early 80s.

Travers later re-wrote the chapters in a revised edition of the book, in which Poppins and Jane and Michael Banks are transported to a South Sea Island, where the nanny uses the offensive phrase ‘pickaninny’ and speaks in a racially charged southern American dialect.

Story continues

However, she later said that she did so ‘not as an apology for anything I have written, the reason is much more simple: I do not wish to see Mary Poppins tucked away in a closet’.

Disney is yet to comment on the matter.

But posting online after the publishing of the piece in the Times, Pollack-Pelzner said: “The chief reason I wrote this article was the hope that a Disney exec would read it, take another look at the forthcoming Dumbo remake, and ask if there was anything just a little bit racist they might want to rethink before it hits the big screen.

“Here’s one thing I’ve learned about the alt-right, after I wrote this article and received a zillion hate messages in response: they sure like Mary Poppins!”

Read more
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Russell Crowe transforms into Roger Ailes
Zombieland 2 first poster

The post ‘Mary Poppins’ chimney sweep ‘blackface’ dance is racist, claims tutorial appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

In 2012, while her probe was underway, Hoeper says in her claim that Herrera demoted her and shut down the investigation, and then fired her earlier this year. She contends that her demotion and firing were in retaliation for what she said were her efforts to expose financial improprieties — including her suspicion that someone was receiving kickbacks — in the city attorney’s office.

Herrera is out of town and unavailable for comment. In an email, his spokesman, Matt Dorsey, said the claim reflected “baseless allegations of wrongdoing from a disgruntled former employee.”

“While we generally cannot discuss personnel issues, the circumstances of Ms. Hoeper’s separation were thoroughly reviewed by outside counsel,” he continued, “and we’re confident that the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office will be vindicated when the case is adjudicated.”

Haase declined to comment, and Rothschild didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Tree Roots and Sewer Lines

Hoeper’s allegations concern several small plumbing companies whose activities have prompted a flurry of homeowners’ complaints to police, city officials and even the FBI, according to documents and interviews. For years, salesmen for the companies went door to door in residential districts, claiming the roots of city street trees were damaging homeowners’ sewer lines and offering to replace them for free.

To get the work done, homeowners were told to file legal claims for as much as $10,000 with the city attorney’s office. After the claims were paid, the homeowners were supposed to pay the money to the plumbing contractors, who replaced the sewer lines.

Some people who encountered the salesmen suspected a scam.

Michael Zack and Odilon Vasconcelos, former operators of a hair salon on Guerrero Street, said in interviews that in 2011, a salesman for a plumbing company called Drainbusters Plumbing had obtained their signatures under false pretenses and used them to file a $10,000 claim for a new sewer line for their salon.

The claim was “ridiculous,” Zack said, because nothing was wrong with the salon’s plumbing, and the nearest street tree was a sapling so far down the block that its roots couldn’t possibly have extended to the salon. Besides, the men didn’t own the building and thus legally couldn’t file a claim for the repair, he said. Nevertheless, the city attorney’s office approved the claim, court records show.

Suspicious, Zack emailed Mayor Ed Lee and other officials and ultimately called Haase in the city attorney’s claims bureau. Zack said the official told him that the salesman’s conduct was “unethical but not illegal” and told Zack to turn over to the plumbing salesman the $10,000 claim settlement the city had issued to him and Vasconcelos.

A review of public records shows that from 2009 to 2011, San Francisco paid $8.9 million on about 1,100 claims in these cases.

At first, Zack and Vasconcelos balked, but ultimately they paid the claim money to the plumbing company after being ordered to do so by a judge in small claims court, records show.

In another case, the owner of a Mission District restaurant called police on a Drainbusters salesman in 2012, after he allegedly pried open a sewer cleanout without permission, according to a police report. The salesman apparently was hoping to convince property owners that tree roots were damaging their sewers.

Riad Khano, owner of Drainbusters, said his company did only necessary, city-authorized sewer line repairs. The city saved significant money by paying private plumbing companies for the work, he claimed, calling Department of Public Works crews notoriously inefficient. The city stopped paying for repairs to private sewer lines because of budget problems, he said.

A few people had complained about his salesmen, Khano said, but the complaints were unfounded.

Claim That FBI Tipped Her Off

In her claim, Hoeper says the FBI tipped her to the suspected billing scam in 2011, after agents received a series of complaints from homeowners. Hoeper assigned two investigators to the probe.

She concluded that the city had no legal responsibility to pay any of the claims. No city in California routinely pays for tree root damage to private sewer lines, she said in her claim, and for most of its history, San Francisco didn’t either. But starting in 2002, the city attorney’s office began approving those claims, sometimes within days after they were submitted.

She contended that her probe found case after case in which sewer lines were being replaced, even though there was no evidence of damage or bills obviously were padded.

In 2012, six months after it began, Hoeper said she told Herrera of her investigation. Herrera asked her for a written report, she said. Soon after reviewing it, by her account, he removed her as chief trial deputy and transferred her to the district attorney’s office. She said she was fired last January, on the day Herrera was sworn in for his fourth term.

A review of public records shows that from 2009 to 2011, San Francisco paid $8.9 million on about 1,100 claims for what the city described as sewer property damage or tree maintenance issues, categories that could include root damage to private sewer lines. The average payout was about $8,000. About 140 claims were rejected. In a handful of cases, payments went to plumbing companies. Usually, payment went to property owners.

Public records also show the city stopped paying for private sewer repairs soon after Hoeper says she made her report to Herrera.

On June 20, 2012, city records show that Edward Harrington, then the general manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, issued a memo saying no claims for “tree root intrusion” should be paid unless he or the city’s public works director personally approved them in advance.

Since then, court records show the city attorney’s office has successfully defended several small claims lawsuits brought by homeowners seeking compensation for tree root damage to their sewer lines. In court, the city’s lawyers contend that the city never has been responsible for paying for such repairs.

Herrera, the city’s top legal officer since 2001, has cultivated an image as a champion of good government and consumer protection. For years, Hoeper was one of Herrera’s closest aides.

In 2003, when a legal newspaper named Hoeper one of the “top 50 women litigators”in California, Herrera issued a news release praising Hoeper for her efforts to stamp out public corruption.

Hoeper’s claim says Rothschild, the claims bureau chief, was outraged by her investigation of his unit.

By her account, Rothschild confronted her, angrily declaring, “I will not stand for this.” In another encounter before she was demoted, Hoeper asserted that Rothschild accused her of “picking on” his assistant and threatened a “hunger strike if she persisted with the investigation.”

In her claim, Hoeper asks to be reinstated and awarded back pay and other damages.

This story was edited by Amy Pyle and copy edited by Christine Lee and Nikki Frick.

The post S.F. Lawyer Claims She Was Fired for Investigating Suspected Cost Rip-off appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Tech

By Thomas Barrabi

Published
Sep. 14, 2023, 12:41 p.m. ET

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff took credit for San Francisco’s effort to clean up the streets ahead of his company’s biggest annual conference this week — days after he publicly threatened to pull the event due to rampant crime and homelessness in the city.

Benioff had demanded action from city and state officials ahead of his firm’s annual “Dreamforce” conference, warning that the 2023 edition could be the last to take place in San Francisco unless local leaders addressed his concerns.

“We put a lot of pressure on the city this year,” Benioff told reporters on Wednesday, according to Bloomberg. “It looks great. It’s very safe right now. We’re moving in the right direction.”

Losing the Dreamforce conference would be yet another major blow for San Francisco, which has seen an exodus of companies and constant criticism from executives as it struggles with lawlessness, drug use and other glaring public safety issues.

This year, the conference was expected to attract approximately 43,000 visitors and generate nearly $90 million in revenue for San Francisco, according to data from the San Francisco Travel Association cited by Salesforce.

Marc Benioff had demanded action from city and state officials ahead of his firm’s annual “Dreamforce” conference.AP

Benioff reportedly dodged a follow-up question on whether San Francisco’s apparent progress meant that Salesforce’s conference would return next year.

“Homelessness remains a major issue in our city,” Benioff said.

He also called on San Francisco to hire more police officers, step up enforcement of existing laws and build more affordable housing.

San Francisco is contending with a wave of petty crime and homelessness.AP

A Gallup poll last month found that nearly half of Americans believe the once-shimmering City by the Bay is a dangerous place, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

One notable critic of San Francisco’s management is X owner Elon Musk, who said in May that the city felt “post-apocalyptic.”

Bloomberg noted that Oracle and Google had recently moved events out of San Francisco.

Dreamforce runs through Thursday and features a mixture of speeches and panel discussions, entertainment and appearances from well-known celebrities and blue-chip executives.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom joked that local officials were sucking up to Benioff.AP

Speaking at a later event on Wednesday, Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom quipped that officials were “sucking up” to Benioff because “we want to keep you here.”

“Ramping up police visibility and community ambassadors in key tourist areas has been an ongoing effort,” a spokesperson for San Francisco Mayor London Breed said in a statement. “San Francisco is committed to making Dreamforce a world-class event, as we do year after year.”

Last month, Benioff openly stated that Dreamforce would need a new home if local officials did not address major issues plaguing San Francisco.

Marc Benioff had threatened to pull “Dreamforce” out of San Francisco.AP

“If this Dreamforce is impacted by the current situation with homelessness and drug use it may be the last Dreamforce” in the city, Benioff told the San Francisco Chronicle on Aug. 29.

Salesforce did not immediately return The Post’s request for further comment.

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Mary Poppins (Credit: Disney)

The chimney sweep dance in Mary Poppins, led by Dick van Dyk’s affable jack-of-all-trades Burt, harks back to ‘blackface’ tropes, an academic has claimed.

In an article in the New York Times, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, a professor of English and gender studies professor at Oregon’s Linfield College, has said that in the book by PL Travers, the sequence signifies ‘racial panic’.

Pollack-Pelzner flatly calls the scene ‘blacking up’, and while it may seem innocuous, it has other more troubling connotations.

“This might seem like an innocuous comic scene if Travers’s novels didn’t associate chimney sweeps’ blackened faces with racial caricature,” he writes.

“’Don’t touch me, you black heathen,’ a housemaid screams in Mary Poppins Opens the Door (1943), as a sweep reaches out his darkened hand. When he tries to approach the cook, she threatens to quit: ‘If that Hottentot goes into the chimney, I shall go out the door,’ she says, using an archaic slur for black South Africans that recurs on page and screen.

“The 1964 film replays this racial panic in a farcical key. When the dark figures of the chimney sweeps step in time on a roof, a naval buffoon, Admiral Boom, shouts, ‘We’re being attacked by Hottentots!’ and orders his cannon to be fired at the ‘cheeky devils.’

“We’re in on the joke, such as it is: These aren’t really black Africans; they’re grinning white dancers in blackface. It’s a parody of black menace; it’s even posted on a white nationalist website as evidence of the film’s racial hierarchy. And it’s not only fools like the Admiral who invoke this language. In the 1952 novel Mary Poppins in the Park, the nanny herself tells an upset young Michael, ‘I understand that you’re behaving like a Hottentot.’”

Pollack-Pelzner has also pointed to other instances of archaic, racially-loaded language in Travers’ Poppins books, which in once instance actually saw her books banned from the San Francisco Public Library in the early 80s.

Travers later re-wrote the chapters in a revised edition of the book, in which Poppins and Jane and Michael Banks are transported to a South Sea Island, where the nanny uses the offensive phrase ‘pickaninny’ and speaks in a racially charged southern American dialect.

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However, she later said that she did so ‘not as an apology for anything I have written, the reason is much more simple: I do not wish to see Mary Poppins tucked away in a closet’.

Disney is yet to comment on the matter.

But posting online after the publishing of the piece in the Times, Pollack-Pelzner said: “The chief reason I wrote this article was the hope that a Disney exec would read it, take another look at the forthcoming Dumbo remake, and ask if there was anything just a little bit racist they might want to rethink before it hits the big screen.

“Here’s one thing I’ve learned about the alt-right, after I wrote this article and received a zillion hate messages in response: they sure like Mary Poppins!”

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The post ‘Mary Poppins’ chimney sweep ‘blackface’ dance is racist, claims tutorial appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

The chimney sweep dance in Mary Poppins, led by Dick van Dyk’s affable jack-of-all-trades Burt, harks back to ‘blackface’ tropes, an academic has claimed.

In an article in the New York Times, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, a professor of English and gender studies professor at Oregon’s Linfield College, has said that in the book by PL Travers, the sequence signifies ‘racial panic’.

Pollack-Pelzner flatly calls the scene ‘blacking up’, and while it may seem innocuous, it has other more troubling connotations.

“This might seem like an innocuous comic scene if Travers’s novels didn’t associate chimney sweeps’ blackened faces with racial caricature,” he writes.

“’Don’t touch me, you black heathen,’ a housemaid screams in Mary Poppins Opens the Door (1943), as a sweep reaches out his darkened hand. When he tries to approach the cook, she threatens to quit: ‘If that Hottentot goes into the chimney, I shall go out the door,’ she says, using an archaic slur for black South Africans that recurs on page and screen.

“The 1964 film replays this racial panic in a farcical key. When the dark figures of the chimney sweeps step in time on a roof, a naval buffoon, Admiral Boom, shouts, ‘We’re being attacked by Hottentots!’ and orders his cannon to be fired at the ‘cheeky devils.’

“We’re in on the joke, such as it is: These aren’t really black Africans; they’re grinning white dancers in blackface. It’s a parody of black menace; it’s even posted on a white nationalist website as evidence of the film’s racial hierarchy. And it’s not only fools like the Admiral who invoke this language. In the 1952 novel Mary Poppins in the Park, the nanny herself tells an upset young Michael, ‘I understand that you’re behaving like a Hottentot.’”

Pollack-Pelzner has also pointed to other instances of archaic, racially-loaded language in Travers’ Poppins books, which in once instance actually saw her books banned from the San Francisco Public Library in the early 80s.

Travers later re-wrote the chapters in a revised edition of the book, in which Poppins and Jane and Michael Banks are transported to a South Sea Island, where the nanny uses the offensive phrase ‘pickaninny’ and speaks in a racially charged southern American dialect.

However, she later said that she did so ‘not as an apology for anything I have written, the reason is much more simple: I do not wish to see Mary Poppins tucked away in a closet’.

Disney is yet to comment on the matter.

But posting online after the publishing of the piece in the Times, Pollack-Pelzner said: “The chief reason I wrote this article was the hope that a Disney exec would read it, take another look at the forthcoming Dumbo remake, and ask if there was anything just a little bit racist they might want to rethink before it hits the big screen.

“Here’s one thing I’ve learned about the alt-right, after I wrote this article and received a zillion hate messages in response: they sure like Mary Poppins!”

Read more
Duncan Jones hits out at David Bowie movie
Russell Crowe transforms into Roger Ailes
Zombieland 2 first poster

The post ‘Mary Poppins’ chimney sweep ‘blackface’ dance is racist, claims tutorial appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.