North Dakota State University is looking into an alleged campus skit in which a white student dressed in black face attempted to portray Barack Obama receiving a lap dance but get this, it was part of a CHARITY FUNDRAISER. The incident comes one week before Obama is scheduled to speak at North Dakota Democrats’ state convention in Grand Forks.

Forum newspaper, which first reported the story is saying the March 18 skit involving the NDSU Saddle and Sirloin Club was performed at the Mr. NDSU Pageant, sponsored by the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority and raises money for diabetes research. Greeks! Should we be surprised?

According to attendees, A male contestant dressed as the woman from the Internet video “I Got a Crush on Obama” and performed a strip tease for another student, who was wearing dark makeup and an afro wig. In the background, two male students dressed as cowboys simulated anal sex while holding an Obama sign that one student ripped at the conclusion of the 30-second performance, the Forum reported.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune is reporting that the a coed group for students interested in agriculture which was responsible for the skit publicly apologized as did the sorority which put on the event.

Josh Boschee, NDSU’s coordinator of Greek life said, “It is pretty typical on college campuses. The hard part is recognizing that the students that were a part of this, I don’t believe were intentionally malicious. But the impact of their actions was malicious. It ended up affecting our community in a not-so-positive way.”

University President Joseph Chapman said, “The students involved have accepted responsibility for their actions and expressed deep remorse,” he said in a statement. “NDSU does not and will not ignore acts of intolerance at our institution or in our community.”

Are we being serious here? This is pretty typical and this is from a high ranking member of the faculty? Then the President brushes the incident off as saying they apologized and lets move on! I guess this just happens every day and everyone’s…over reacting.

Josh Reimnitz, the NDSU student body president saw the skit calling it “totally tasteless.” He and other audience members were shocked. “Honestly, I still don’t know what the intention of the skit was. It was very silent, and there were some boos. People were looking at each other, not knowing how to act.”

The skit follows a complaint filed against a sorority at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, where guests wore Indian costumes and red paint on their faces and bodies. NDSU has 10,403 undergraduates. The student body is 92 percent white, while 1.5 percent identify themselves as black or African-American.

I guess the beat goes on. Should we as African Americans and minorities “chalk this one up” because it happened in rural North Dakota? Should we be excepting of racism because it doesn’t happen in our back yard. 40 years ago Martin Luther King died in the name of his “Dream.” He dreamed of a world where we could all understand and appreciate each others differences… I ask you are we worse off now, than we were then?