regarding the 'blonde' comments..

there was an experiment in schools a few years ago, that attempted to look at racism, and how kids deal with it.

As far as I remember the teachers, selected only the blond kids in a class made them sit at the back, and when it came time to do 'fun' activities the blond kids were not a part of it, but instead were given work assignments. THe experiment was to see how the other kids dealt with it, whether or not they would complain to the teachers.

Not surprisingly, the blond kids didnt like being treated differently,
however almost none of the other kids complained or raised the issue of unfairness to the other kids.

also...
- what is your take on this? A few days ago a school trustee (of Chinese background) in a district here in vancouver, gave a speech on some students )who received top marks in some aptitude tests-
8 of the 12 students were Asian) He said Id especially like to thank these Asian families that encouraged their kids etc..

Whereupon another trustee took offense and this and criticized it
(her response was quite measured, she pointed out it is not helpful to anyone to specifically praise one group over another)

was the first comment racist?, was the other trustee being too politically correct?
I think the answer would be clear if he had said 'White' families instead of 'Asian'.