Incensed over an Incisor

When Savannah Simmons asked her dentist to fabricate her dentures using a gold maxillary lateral incisor as a tribute to her late father, she had no idea that the tooth would one day find itself at the center of a little controversy. That's because she didn't anticipate being included in a Rhodes College project through its Center for Outreach and Development of the Arts, and certainly couldn't have guessed that her grinning mug would find its way onto a giant, highly visible wall in downtown Memphis.


Enter one Gregory Grant, a man who balances his duties as president of the Memphis chapter of Al Sharpton's National Action Network with the time he spends as a Memphis tour guide. On a recent tour, Grant noticed the new mural and was "incensed" at the racial stereotype. He complained to the university, saying "The next thing I know you'll have a little boy sitting on a riverbank eating watermelon."

When it was explained to Grant that the woman in the mural was indeed a real person and not a fictitious racial stereotype, he quickly changed his tune and issued a press release inviting the public to this Sunday's debut party for the mural, which "shows Memphis as a harmonious city -- a city that embraces its diversity."

In Grant's defense, his duties with the National Action Network include constantly "telling young people to take the gold teeth out and pull your pants up."

Wise ninja say, be slow to anger lest ye find yourself quite the fool.

Source article at commercialappeal.com