Last August, Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) set off a media shit storm by suggesting that NYPD officers use race as a criterion for “random” bag searches. After being slapped down by the good servicemembers themselves, Hikind is back at it, introducing a bill on Thursday that would permit police officers to arrest people for looking Middle Eastern (as long as race is not the “sole criterion.”)

OK, politicians pushing racial profiling, not surprising. But scroll down: the justification cites Grutter v. Bollinger, in which the court ruled consideration of race admissible in the case of “compelling government interest.”

Somewhere, in a beaux-arts brownstone on Morningside Drive, a shaggy haired man named Lee is crying.

Thanks to Bwog correspondent J.J.V. Neun for the tip.