I just read this on Yahoo! news. Do people really want change? It sickens me so much that racism can be so deeply rooted in our society. We should be proud of the fact that we've finally seen past ethnicity and elected a president whom we thought was the best person for the position. The fact that this hatred is still rampant, and that we can pass it on to the younger generation, really speaks about the character of our country. The character that so many of us are eager to shed. Yet there's still so many out there perpetuating the stereotype of the "ignorant American." Just when we thought these barricades had been broken down, racism rears it's ugly head in force. I am embarrassed, saddened and depressed by these certain individuals who call themselves American, or even human. Yet, I have hope, that I can not surrender. I have hope that many of us conscious folks can educate and enlighten those who cannot see our past and learn from our mistakes. here's the article: ______________________________________________________________ Obama election spurs race crimes around country By JESSE WASHINGTON, AP National Writer Jesse Washington, Ap National Writer – Sun Nov 16, 6:19 am ET Cross burnings. Schoolchildren chanting "Assassinate Obama." Black figures hung from nooses. Racial epithets scrawled on homes and cars. Incidents around the country referring to President-elect Barack Obama are dampening the postelection glow of racial progress and harmony, highlighting the stubborn racism that remains in America. From California to Maine, police have documented a range of alleged crimes, from vandalism and vague threats to at least one physical attack. Insults and taunts have been delivered by adults, college students and second-graders. There have been "hundreds" of incidents since the election, many more than usual, said Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate crimes. One was in Snellville, Ga., where Denene Millner said a boy on the school bus told her 9-year-old daughter the day after the election: "I hope Obama gets assassinated." That night, someone trashed her sister-in-law's front lawn, mangled the Obama lawn signs, and left two pizza boxes filled with human feces outside the front door, Millner said. She described her emotions as a combination of anger and fear. "I can't say that every white person in Snellville is evil and anti-Obama and willing to desecrate my property because one or two idiots did it," said Millner, who is black. "But it definitely makes you look a little different at the people who you live with, and makes you wonder what they're capable of and what they're really thinking. " Potok, who is white, said he believes there is "a large subset of white people in this country who feel that they are losing everything they know, that the country their forefathers built has somehow been stolen from them. " Grant Griffin, a 46-year-old white Georgia native, expressed similar sentiments: "I believe our nation is ruined and has been for several decades and the election of Obama is merely the culmination of the change. "If you had real change it would involve all the members of (Obama's) church being deported," he said. Change in whatever form does not come easy, and a black president is "the most profound change in the field of race this country has experienced since the Civil War," said William Ferris, senior associate director of the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina. "It's shaking the foundations on which the country has existed for centuries. " "Someone once said racism is like cancer," Ferris said. "It's never totally wiped out, it's in remission. " If so, America's remission lasted until the morning of Nov. 5. The day after the vote hailed as a sign of a nation changed, black high school student Barbara Tyler of Marietta, Ga., said she heard hateful Obama comments from white students, and that teachers cut off discussion about Obama's victory. Tyler spoke at a press conference by the Georgia chapter of the NAACP calling for a town hall meeting to address complaints from across the state about hostility and resentment. Another student, from a Covington middle school, said he was suspended for wearing an Obama shirt to school Nov. 5 after the principal told students not to wear political paraphernalia. The student's mother, Eshe Riviears, said the principal told her: "Whether you like it or not, we're in the South, and there are a lot of people who are not happy with this decision. " Other incidents include: _Four North Carolina State University students admitted writing anti-Obama comments in a tunnel designated for free speech expression, including one that said: "Let's shoot that (N-word) in the head." Obama has received more threats than any other president-elect, authorities say. _At Standish, Maine, a sign inside the Oak Hill General Store read: "Osama Obama Shotgun Pool." Customers could sign up to bet $1 on a date when Obama would be killed. "Stabbing, shooting, roadside bombs, they all count," the sign said. At the bottom of the marker board was written "Let's hope someone wins. " _Racist graffiti was found in places including New York's Long Island, where two dozen cars were spray-painted; Kilgore, Texas, where the local high school and skate park were defaced; and the Los Angeles area, where swastikas, racial slurs and "Go Back To Africa" were spray painted on sidewalks, houses and cars. _Second- and third-grade students on a school bus in Rexburg, Idaho, chanted "assassinate Obama," a district official said. _University of Alabama professor Marsha L. Houston said a poster of the Obama family was ripped off her office door. A replacement poster was defaced with a death threat and a racial slur. "It seems the election brought the racist rats out of the woodwork," Houston said. _Black figures were hanged by nooses from trees on Mount Desert Island, Maine, the Bangor Daily News reported. The president of Baylor University in Waco, Texas said a rope found hanging from a campus tree was apparently an abandoned swing and not a noose. _Crosses were burned in yards of Obama supporters in Hardwick, N.J., and Apolacan Township, Pa. _A black teenager in New York City said he was attacked with a bat on election night by four white men who shouted 'Obama. ' _In the Pittsburgh suburb of Forest Hills, a black man said he found a note with a racial slur on his car windshield, saying "now that you voted for Obama, just watch out for your house. " Emotions are often raw after a hard-fought political campaign, but now those on the losing side have an easy target for their anger. "The principle is very simple," said BJ Gallagher, a sociologist and co-author of the diversity book "A Peacock in the Land of Penguins." "If I can't hurt the person I'm angry at, then I'll vent my anger on a substitute, i.e., someone of the same race. " "We saw the same thing happen after the 9-11 attacks, as a wave of anti-Muslim violence swept the country. We saw it happen after the Rodney King verdict, when Los Angeles blacks erupted in rage at the injustice perpetrated by 'the white man. '" "It's as stupid and ineffectual as kicking your dog when you've had a bad day at the office," Gallagher said. "But it happens a lot. "
Oh for christ sake, they're just reactionary, isolated incidents. It's not like some powerful "movement." Of course there's still racism in our society, just like there's sexism, and homophobia, and all the other prejudices. It's never going to go away, and as long as the people holding those beliefs don't gain any position of political power, you shouldn't worry about it so much. Obama's election has done much more good for our country than the random violent reactions against him have. What did you expect? Suddenly the kkk disappears overnight? As long as they don't kill him (and most of them can barely read, so I wouldn't worry so much about them getting past secret service), I don't give a rats ass.
While, I agree that the OP came off as slightly naive for thinking that racism was dead just because Obama was elected, it doesn't stop that feeling of disappointment, sadness and anger when you hear about things like this happen. A very close friend of our family (one who was kind enough to let me into his home for the summer while I worked an internship at his farm) was assaulted Friday night by a white supremacist that lives right down the street from him. They were neighbors for decades. He knew there was a certain element of that sort in his neighborhood, but he never could have thought that he would be beaten and left for dead in a ditch less than 1000 feet from his home. What I'm saying is, for those of us for which race is not an issue, it seems so very senseless and evil, and it's disappointing to us that others haven't come as far in their acceptance of others to at least live and let live, even if they have their own personal beliefs that conflict with others'. Not to mention the fact that it's also terrifying to think that we could be targeted, not because we ourselves are of the "wrong color" in the eyes of these people, but because we believe in "live and let live" ourselves.
I agree. And the trend started to escalate with the Palin/McCain campaign. It's seems their campaign strategy made this sort of behavior acceptable. I find it very disappointing. And I can see it further escalating as the economic situation worsens and these same undereducated individuals lose their jobs and life savings. They will lash out, and they were told Obama and his supporters were responsible for it.
For being that widespread it's still isolated. These extremists crawl out of the woodwork whenever a non-white or non-Christian person receives power or fame or both. They haven't enough brain cells to rub together and actually do anything, they just run their mouths and vandalize property. And the media (READ: YAHOO) sensationalizes it to get peoples' attention. People are allowed to verbalize their opinions no matter how ridiculous they may be.
Not exactly isolated. Happenning all throughout the nation. I'd like to see this behavior treated liking smoking is treated. It's in fact more toxic.
You can't become addicted to racism unless you have a very weak mind. Wait, we're Americans. Never mind...
