Latina too ghetto to serve drinks at NYC Hawaiian Tropic Zone? Judge will let jury decide

A luscious Latina who sued the Hawaiian Tropic Zone will leave it to a jury to decide whether she's "too ghetto" to sling drinks in a bikini at the infamous eatery. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Edward Lehner on Tuesday greenlighted the discrimination lawsuit by Melody Morales, who charged that she was denied her dream job because she didn't "speak white."

"I don't think accent should play any role in service at a restaurant where the waitresses serve drinks and meals in bikinis," said Derek Smith, a lawyer for the top-heavy former Hooters girl.

Morales, 22, sued the Times Square restaurant in January after the stunner with a 34-D cup size says she was twice rejected for a job by managers who didn't much care for her "Latin accent."

"They're going to see that she speaks very well," Smith said. "And I intend to depose all of the waitresses who work there because I am interested to see how well they speak."

Lawyers for the recently reopened Hawaiian Tropic Zone had tried to have Morales' suit tossed - and they strongly hinted that she was a hooker after her photos appeared on what they called "very filthy" Web sites. James Rosenzweig, a lawyer for the Hawaiian Tropic Zone, however, declined to comment.

White Philly Cop With Cornrows Pulled from Duty

To get booted off the street, a police officer has to do something pretty serious - like shoot a suspect or be accused of brutality.

But in the 35th District, apparently a hairdo will do it. A cop who got cornrows was ordered off the street and kept on desk duty for two days until he cut his braids off, sources said.

While dozens of black officers across the city wear cornrows, Officer Thomas Strain is white. So when the five-year veteran showed up for work Sept. 3 with the traditionally black hairstyle, it didn't take long for his colleagues - or his bosses - to notice." They pulled him out of roll call and took him right up to the inspector's office," said an officer who asked to remain anonymous. Inspector Aaron Horne who is African-American oversees the Northwest Police Division, which includes the 35th District, is the supervisor who directed Strain to banish the braids.

Reached last week, Strain declined to comment about the hair hubbub. It's absolutely discriminatory," said one officer. Strain's cornrows 'do "was neat. It was above his collar. It's not like he shaved a Nazi sign or something anti-black or anti-Hispanic on his head. It's just cornrows. I don't know what the problem is."

The problem, police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore said, is that Strain's superior didn't feel his cornrows were "professional." Ordering Strain to chop them off had nothing to do with discrimination, added Vanore, "The policy's the policy, it doesn't matter what race you are," Vanore said. He couldn't explain why black officers with cornrows weren't ordered to get haircuts, however.

Still, while the division inspector did instruct Strain to get a haircut, Vanore emphasized, the officer wasn't formally disciplined.

This Not That

Kansas Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins

Comedian Sunda Croonquist, Husband Mark Zafrin and Ruth Zafrin

Kansas U.S. Rep Lynn Jenkins peoples are backtracking faster today than Jaime Foxx did when he told Miley Cyrus to "make a sex tape" the week before 'The Soloist' came out, after she made the comment that the Republican Party is looking for a "great white hope" to help stop the political agenda of the Democratic party and President Barack Obama. Jenkins said Thursday that was not a reference to someone who could challenge President Barack Obama's political agenda and she was unaware of the negative connotation to the phrase "great white hope." riiite.

In the other picture, The brown skinnded woman is veteran comic Sunda Croonquist. The white lady is Ruth Zafrin of Brooklyn, Sunra's mother-in-law. The man in the middle is Sunda's husband Mark Zafrin.

Ruth objects to being the butt of Sunda's jokes and has sued to get the last laugh. She claims her son's wife, has spread defamatory and racist lies about her with the "Take my mother-in-law, please!" jokes that are a staple of her routine.

Croonquist from Paterson, NJ has made the remarks in shows on Comedy Central, and has posted bits on her Web site and blog, according to papers filed in Monmouth, NJ, federal court.
Furious at being Croonquist's perpetual punch lines, she seeks unspecified damages and wants the court to make the comedian remove offensive statements from her Web site, routines and recordings. For example, Croonquist tells a story about when she met her mother-in-law for the first time and found out she was from Paterson, she could be overheard whispering to someone to hide her pocketbook.

Croonquist -- who is being represented by a staff of three from her husband's New York law firm -- has said she will drop offensive language, but won't pay a settlement. She also claims that her in-law and family jokes are not mean-spirited, but, rather, natural laugh-getters -- particularly because she comes from a diverse background. Croonquist is half-Swedish and half-black, has a Hindu first name and grew up Roman Catholic. She converted to Judaism when she married real-estate lawyer Mark Zafrin, and keeps a kosher house. They have two daughters.

Now which incident would you consider racist?