News-Record.com

From an blog post by the LA Times' Washington Bureau comes this scene of Rep. Mel Watt at work on Capitol Hill:

The meeting took a truly unexpected turn ... when Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia called upon Chertoff's entourage to all stand up -- without explaining why.

That task fell to Rep. Mel Watt of North Carolina, like Scott an African American and a Democrat. He said he wanted to make clear, for the record, "that the 10 staff members who stood up behind Secretary Chertoff are all white males."

There ensued a testy exchange between Watt and Chertoff, with the latter cautioning against assumptions about ethnicity based on appearances.

"I know an African American when I see one," Watt shot back.

In a comment directed at the staffers, he called out, "If anyone is an African American, I hope they will stand up."

That sparked laughter from some in attendance (thougn not from Chertoff's aides).
Watt then asked, to truly drive his point home, "If anyone back there is a woman, I hope they will stand up."

Finally, he chided Chertoff: "If you are going to do law enforcement, you need to have an element of diversity."