Gregory Charles Royal, a noted Black Jazz musician with a light complexion, has an anecdote seared in his memory from meeting "Sarah Heath" Palin during a trip to Anchorage. He reports that when he was touring with the Duke Ellington Orchestra in Anchorage, Alaska, vice presidential nominee Sarah Heath Palin broke off a conversation with him in a restaurant, saying, "I don't mess with Black guys," after seeing his fellow Orchestra players and realizing that he must be Black.
This is the second case in which Palin has been reported to have made color-based statements in an Alaska restaurant. However, in this case the person reporting the behavior is an internationally well-known Jazz trombonist who operates a community organization in Washington, DC, and whose friends say he has a reputation for honesty and dependability.
Contacted this afternoon by telephone, Ashley Messinger, Editorial Counsel at US News and World Reports, says she has known Charles Gregory Royal for over three years, and first met him when married Messinger's friend, Susan Veres, who is a Co-Director of the US and the Wold Initiative, housed at Demos in New York. Atty. Messinger says Royal has contacted her informally about various issues of media law. And Atty. Messinger says of "Greg" Royal,
He's never been dishonest with me. I cannot think of an example when he has been untruthful. He's a very funny, charming guy. He says he's going to do something and he does it. What more could you ask?
Shelley Carrol, a Grammy-nominated saxophonist said in a conversation today that he, too, had been with the Duke Ellington Orchestra in Alaska, and had eaten at many fast food restaurants with Royal and 16 other Orchestra mates. He said he was close friends with Royal at the time and knew him to be a very popular and very honest and dependable person.
Now, Royal has come forward to tell of his experience with Sarah Heath Palin.
http://www.spusa.org/pubs/science_society/media/media_field2.html
Blogs and publications reporting this account:
The Francis L. Holland Blog
Assata Shakur Forums
NewsVine.Com
LA Progressive
Conservatives4Palin
PalinGates
Democratic Underground
PRWeb.Com
Robeson's Voice
BlackPoliticsOnTheWeb
