(1) The huge sigh of relief that comes from schools across the country when they can finally shove what little they actually teach about black history in a cabinet at the end of February.

(2) The very recently (as in, February 28th) overturned convictions of three of the officers who assisted in the torture of Abner Louima and/or helped to cover it up. One of the men will be retried but the other two are off scot-free and are applying to be reinstated in their jobs (one of them claims he was playing with a puppy outside the bathroom where Louima was being tortured and didn't hear any screams. Yeah, right.) It's also possible that some of the men who murdered Tyisha Miller will have their jobs back. With back pay!

(3) The fact that it has become taboo to even talk about police brutality since 9/11... Why the hell did Giuliani get Time Magazine's Man of the Year? Has everyone forgotten how his policies encouraged racial profiling and police brutality? That the first thing he did after the shooting of Patrick Dorismond was to dig into Dorismond's past to justify his murder? That the men who tortured Louima told him 'It's Giuliani time!'? (Made 3/4/02)