By Debbie Schlussel
It’s not exactly news that some communities don’t want sex shops, strip clubs, and x-rated movie theaters around. It’s also not news why: they don’t like the exposure to kids and families, and they don’t exactly like the kind of traffic these businesses bring.
But the owner of a suburban Detroit area lingerie store for the obese is crying racism because she can’t get the zoning to go her way. It’s the old standby of racism. If at first you don’t succeed, cry racism:

[Redford] township’s outgoing supervisor said he’s not budging on his opposition to a plus-sized lingerie shop across from the Township Hall that advertises “naughty nurse and bondage outfits” on its Web site, but the store’s owner says her race may be the underlying issue. . . .

Rochelle Allen of the Internet-based intimate apparel shop Fancy Lingerie Plus is vowing a discrimination lawsuit against Redford. Allen, who is black, said she was told the store meets the township’s ordinance requirements, but opposition from residents . . . is fueling racial bias and misinformation about her store’s collection.
“The [Township] (supervisor) [R. Miles Handy II] shouted out … they don’t want my type of traffic out there. What do you mean my type of traffic? I assume it’s the color of my skin,” said Allen, referring to Handy’s comments during the Site Committee meeting Aug. 13.

Trite but true: You know what they say about assuming.

“I do believe this violated my civil rights and they discriminated against me.”
The claims are nonsense, said Handy, who lost the supervisor primary in August and will exit in November.
“That is totally ludicrous,” he said Wednesday. “It has nothing to do with her race. … It all has to do with being between two churches, across from city hall and a courthouse. It’s inappropriate. It is not the type of business that meets the DDA [Downtown Development Authority] standard.”

Hmmm . . . a store that sells bondage outfits to the porcine set. I can think of at least a million reasons why it’s not a good idea.
Apparently the “Boy Who Cried Wolf” story doesn’t apply to cries of racism.
Where are Weird Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson to lead the protest and initiate the shakedown?