Thursday, February 11, 2010
Some blacks back Tea Party, despite movement's racist reputation
Blackman Says: Well this is interesting. I wonder if these black Tea Party folks will call out the racist in the bunch.
__________________________________________________________
ad-hoc conservative protests against an expanded government role that started shortly after President Obama was inaugurated last year is growing into a "Taxed Enough Already" movement that is backing candidates for political office and influencing public policies. Among these movement conservatives are a small but increasing number of black conservatives and libertarians who - attracted to the tea party movement's call for smaller government, lower taxes, and less government spending - are getting involved in the protest movement.
Kevin Jackson, a former ACORN and union organizer who currently works as an advocate for the homeless in Charleston, S.C., began attending tea party events "because I saw the Left under Obama seeking to destroy the freedoms that we as Americans have fought so hard to have, and the Left's determination to take socialize, to over the state", he said.
Although he has been active in Republican Party politics, Ron Miller, an information technology consultant in Huntingtown, Md. who is running for the Maryland State Senate, said that the tea party rallies were his first foray into protest movement activities. "The movement embodied my beliefs in limited government, low taxes, individual liberty and free enterprise", he said. Miller organized and emceed the first tea party in Maryland last year, and has been a featured speaker at four tea party rallies. He has attended many other tea party events, including the large 9/12 March On Washington event last autumn.
As the tea party movement increasingly presses for changes in American politics, some observers have wondered if the movement is relevant to black America's aspirations, issues, and challenges. Jackson questions whether black America is organized around specific goals, contending that galvanizing around the interests of 40 million African-Americans is unrealistic.
However, Lenny McAllister, a political commentator and author based in Charlotte, N.C., who has spoken at various tea party rallies, sees a linkage between the tea party movement and black America's goals. "The vast majority of tea party activists focus on smaller government and on politics. I feel that it's my responsibility as an African American activist to talk about things that are bigger than that," he said. "I think a lot of tea party activists and also black conservatives seemingly miss that point: political activism must be coupled with community activism if smaller government is going to work 50 years post-[Lyndon B.] Johnson Great Society."
McAllister added that he believes that the focus shouldn't be on whether there are more black people in the tea party movement, but on a "smaller government, bigger people" approach. He argues that the tea party movement has focused a lot on the first half of the equation and not enough on the latter part, in articulating how smaller government remedies issues like black student achievement, single-parent households, crime, and entrepreneurship. "The issue is taking the message and crafting it to people who grew up in urban conditions and who deal with government", McAllister said. "And if you don't have a way to take the tea party movement and make it tangible to Charlotte, to Chicago, and other places, then that's a problem. You have to be able to cross that bridge."
A controversy has erupted over whether former Congressman and presidential candidate Tom Tancredo burned that potential bridge during his convention speech at the recent National Tea Party Convention in Nashville, Tenn. Tancredo drew accusations of racism when he stated that Obama was elected partly because "we do not have a civics, literacy test before people can vote....People who could not even spell the word 'vote' or say it in English put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House."
Jackson asserts that Tancredo's comments merely described much of the American electorate, and he supports such a voter litmus test. "Most of the people who vote are white, so he wasn't talking about black people. But if he were, I think it's a good thing that all voters have a basic literacy standard."
However, McAllister takes issue with Tancredo's comments. "Who determines the level of literacy, if you're a citizen? That's your right as an American", he said. "Somebody died for you to have that right, should you choose to exercise it. Sometimes it's that one issue that pushes you to vote. Putting in a civics standard and say we can't vote is wrong. Any African-American who believes so needs to take a look at history."
In response to critics who charge that Tancredo's comments demonstrate that the Tea Party movement has racist motives, Miller stated, "A truly racist movement would not have embraced me and other black Tea Party activists so enthusiastically. Yes, there are fringe elements that are probably racist, but they aren't the entire Tea Party movement - not even close", he said. "People come up to me at these rallies and thank me for my courage, because they know I'm going to catch hell from the black community for not falling in line. From where I sit, the liberals are the ones who keep bringing up race, not the tea party movement. We emphasize what brings us all together, not what separates us."
McAllister said that the media tends to show the more colorful and racially charged characters, but the average activist is a regular American. "People see and hear the extreme views of harsh constitutionalists, the 'Don't Tread Of Me' flags, and few black people. The media focuses on the fringes", he said. "In the middle are veterans, and people who are the grandparents of black children. I've seen it personally. For every instance of racism that I've seen and addressed personally, there are many more people who want to include African-Americans and have more dialogue." He added that a next step is "if the Tea Party movement is able to exemplify that more, then it can be even more effective than it's been today."
Jackson believes that the Tea Party movement's next steps should be to continue organizing to get conservatives on the ballot for this year's mid-term elections and "vetting to make sure they are real conservatives like Scott Brown".
McAllister envisions a long-term goal for the movement: sustainability. He contends that Tea Party activists must ensure "a platform of solutions that touches the communities where its policies will, one, most impact America to allow the viability of goals to be met; and, two, allow the tea party movement to be sustained and not just be a trend."
Angela McGlowan, a tea party circuit speaker who earlier this week left a position as a FOX News political commentator to formally announce that she's running for Congress in Mississippi's 1st Congressional District, has black Tea Party activists hopeful that it will lead to more visibility of black conservatives. Miller, who personally knows McGlowan, is excited about her bid for political office. "A new generation of black leaders from the center-right is coming onto the scene, and it's refreshing to see them unafraid to take a public stand for their beliefs
Monday, February 8, 2010
Friday, February 5, 2010
Controversial Tea Party convention aims to boost the movement
(CNN) - What's being billed as the first national Tea Party convention opens its doors Thursday night amid widespread interest and some controversy.
Organizers hope the three-day event will help strengthen the year-old anti-big-government movement. On its Web site, organizer Tea Party Nation says the event is "aimed at bringing the Tea Party Movement leaders together from around the nation for the purpose of networking and supporting the movement's multiple organizations' principal goals."
But there has been pushback against the convention and its organizers from both outsiders and some in the movement because of Tea Party Nation's for-profit status and because the price of entry attendees have paid for access to the workshops and seminars being held through Saturday.
Red State blogger Erick Erickson wrote that while he has good things to say about some groups within the Tea Party, "this national tea party convention smells scammy."
Mark Meckler said he and Jenny Beth Martin, co-founders of the Tea Party Patriots, aren't participating in the convention because "it wasn't the kind of grass-roots organization that we are, so we declined to participate."
Organizers say some 600 people have paid $549 each to attend the convention and that the event is sold out. But they add that tickets costing $349 are still available for Saturday night's banquet, where former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin will give the convention's keynote address.
Sherry Phillips, who along with her husband, Nashville attorney Judson Phillips, founded Tea Party Nation, said earlier this week in a message to supporters that "we fully expect to break even at this event. We may even make a few thousand dollars to cover local operating costs of TPN."
Phillips also fired back at her critics, saying, "We never did this to make us rich or famous. Quite the contrary, we are patriots who love our country, our members and the people who are coming to Nashville to attend this great event."
As for Palin, neither the convention organizers nor a spokeswoman for the former governor would confirm reports that the former governor is getting paid around $100,000 for her keynote appearance.
"I will not benefit financially from speaking at this event," Palin said in a statement this week. "Any compensation for my appearance will go right back to the cause."
As controversy surrounds the convention, tensions have been rising among Tea Party activists. Rival factions are battling over who will carry the Tea Party banner, and others worry that powerful groups are "Astroturfing" what they think should remain a grass-roots group.
Last week two major speakers scheduled for the convention dropped out of the lineup. Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota announced that they would not attend the convention, which is being held at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center in Nashville.
Blackburn was scheduled to serve as a featured speaker and introduce Palin. Bachman was scheduled to serve as one of the convention's kickoff speakers. Both are strong supporters of the Tea Party movement.
Both said the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct advised them not to participate because of the convention's for-profit status. And both said the canceling of their speeches is not a sign that their commitment to the Tea Party movement is fading.
But speeches from top conservative politicians are not the focus of the convention. Panels, sessions and workshops appear to be the bread and butter of this event. Among the sessions scheduled for Friday are ones on how to conduct voter registration drives and where to find conservative votes, women in politics, how to organize a Tea Party group, how to involve youth in the conservative movement, grass-roots "on the ground," how to unite state Tea Party groups, technology in the Tea Party movement, and why Christians must engage.
"This convention is a way to galvanize the conservative movement in a way that the general rallies do not," said Mark Skoda, who's serving as spokesman for the convention and who will be leading the panel on technology in the movement.
–CNN's Kristi Keck contributed to this report
Organizers hope the three-day event will help strengthen the year-old anti-big-government movement. On its Web site, organizer Tea Party Nation says the event is "aimed at bringing the Tea Party Movement leaders together from around the nation for the purpose of networking and supporting the movement's multiple organizations' principal goals."
But there has been pushback against the convention and its organizers from both outsiders and some in the movement because of Tea Party Nation's for-profit status and because the price of entry attendees have paid for access to the workshops and seminars being held through Saturday.
Red State blogger Erick Erickson wrote that while he has good things to say about some groups within the Tea Party, "this national tea party convention smells scammy."
Mark Meckler said he and Jenny Beth Martin, co-founders of the Tea Party Patriots, aren't participating in the convention because "it wasn't the kind of grass-roots organization that we are, so we declined to participate."
Organizers say some 600 people have paid $549 each to attend the convention and that the event is sold out. But they add that tickets costing $349 are still available for Saturday night's banquet, where former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin will give the convention's keynote address.
Sherry Phillips, who along with her husband, Nashville attorney Judson Phillips, founded Tea Party Nation, said earlier this week in a message to supporters that "we fully expect to break even at this event. We may even make a few thousand dollars to cover local operating costs of TPN."
Phillips also fired back at her critics, saying, "We never did this to make us rich or famous. Quite the contrary, we are patriots who love our country, our members and the people who are coming to Nashville to attend this great event."
As for Palin, neither the convention organizers nor a spokeswoman for the former governor would confirm reports that the former governor is getting paid around $100,000 for her keynote appearance.
"I will not benefit financially from speaking at this event," Palin said in a statement this week. "Any compensation for my appearance will go right back to the cause."
As controversy surrounds the convention, tensions have been rising among Tea Party activists. Rival factions are battling over who will carry the Tea Party banner, and others worry that powerful groups are "Astroturfing" what they think should remain a grass-roots group.
Last week two major speakers scheduled for the convention dropped out of the lineup. Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota announced that they would not attend the convention, which is being held at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center in Nashville.
Blackburn was scheduled to serve as a featured speaker and introduce Palin. Bachman was scheduled to serve as one of the convention's kickoff speakers. Both are strong supporters of the Tea Party movement.
Both said the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct advised them not to participate because of the convention's for-profit status. And both said the canceling of their speeches is not a sign that their commitment to the Tea Party movement is fading.
But speeches from top conservative politicians are not the focus of the convention. Panels, sessions and workshops appear to be the bread and butter of this event. Among the sessions scheduled for Friday are ones on how to conduct voter registration drives and where to find conservative votes, women in politics, how to organize a Tea Party group, how to involve youth in the conservative movement, grass-roots "on the ground," how to unite state Tea Party groups, technology in the Tea Party movement, and why Christians must engage.
"This convention is a way to galvanize the conservative movement in a way that the general rallies do not," said Mark Skoda, who's serving as spokesman for the convention and who will be leading the panel on technology in the movement.
–CNN's Kristi Keck contributed to this report
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Anti-Obama Protesters in Tampa
I know this is old news by now. I'm very late, but the Black Man has been busy.
Last week The President and Vice President came here to Tampa to hold a town hall meeting. Just so happened I had to drive by the University of Tampa that day, which meant I got to see all the anti-Obama protesters. What struck me the most was all the old white guys I saw protesting. Many were carrying signs with the usual right-wing slogans. You know the ones calling the President a Socialist or Marxist. I'm willing to bet my next paycheck that none of them would know a REAL socialist if one were to hit them up side the head with one their silly signs.
So here we have a bunch of retirees living off social security, medicare and their pensions (because they were able to stay at one job long enough to actually have one, and they retired before corporations started cutting back or eliminating pensions and replacing them with 401K's)in the streets protesting against a President and policies that he's trying to put in to place in order to ensure younger generations of Americans can enjoy the same security that they enjoy now.
Real good guys....Real good.
I don't agree with Obama 100% of time, and I am concerned about some of the spending I see going on in Washington. However I think it's just plain hypocritical to protest against "Big Government" while you're living off it at the same time. I guess they figure they got theirs......
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Alpha Phi Alpha to send humanitarian mission to Haiti
Fraternity to assess situation, develop long-term support plan
BALTIMORE--Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., the world’s oldest intercollegiate Greek-lettered organization of African Americans, will send a team of its members on a humanitarian mission, next week, February 1 - 5, to provide assistance to families of their members in Haiti. The delegation of Alpha men will also assess the situation and evaluate the need for long-term assistance and support for the Haitian people.
Leading this fact-finding mission will be Herman “Skip” Mason, Jr, (national) general president of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Mason will be joined by several members of the fraternity who are practitioners in the health and medical fields. This team of brothers will add to the fraternity members who are already in Port-Au-Prince working with the U.S. military and non-governmental organizations.
“We have a brother who is a doctor on the USNS Comfort working to save lives, and we have brothers who are on the ground too,” said Mason. “Our goal with this mission is to reinforce our powerful ties to this impoverished country, and help our members’ families there who have been impacted. If we can help them get back on their feet, they can in turn help others and the country as a whole.”
During this humanitarian trip brothers will explore ways to continue working in Haiti--including providing future medical support and participating in the rebuilding of the infrastructure.
Alpha’s main assignment in Haiti will be to locate and provide assistance to families of Alpha members affected by the earthquake. Brothers will also tour the capital city to see firsthand the scope of the damage and assess ways to participate in the rebuilding process, and also volunteer at a local mobile hospital where those with medical expertise on the trip can assist.
While raising over $25,000 for its Haiti disaster relief effort, the fraternity is also planning to “adopt” a school in Haiti. The organization sees this as a great opportunity for the first black intercollegiate fraternity to stand in solidarity with the first independent black Republic. Haiti will continue to need assistance after the aid workers have left and Alpha promises to position itself in such a way to help Haiti in the short term and in the years to come.
“As a brother of Alpha Phi Alpha who was born in Haiti, I am extremely proud of the work that Alpha has begun,” said Brother Sam Darguin, a Haitian-born member of the fraternity. “With the skills and talent of brothers within the fraternity I am confident that Haiti will benefit greatly. This is truly a demonstration of our organization living up to its motto of being, ‘servants of all and love for all mankind.’ ”
Other members of the delegation include: Joseph Gambrell, M.D.; Maurice Gilbert, M.D.; Ronald Peters, DrPH., associate professor, University of Texas Health Science Center and School of Public Health; Ricardo R. Jefferson, attorney at law and native of the Dominican Republic; U. Grant Baldwin, Jr., mental health social worker; Samuel Karl Darguin, partnership specialist, U.S Census Bureau; Jean McGianni Celestin, business development manager, writer and activist; Ferrel "FC" Bonner, cyber-security practitioner and information-security officer; and Bryan J. A. Kelly, director of communications for Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.
BALTIMORE--Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., the world’s oldest intercollegiate Greek-lettered organization of African Americans, will send a team of its members on a humanitarian mission, next week, February 1 - 5, to provide assistance to families of their members in Haiti. The delegation of Alpha men will also assess the situation and evaluate the need for long-term assistance and support for the Haitian people.
Leading this fact-finding mission will be Herman “Skip” Mason, Jr, (national) general president of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Mason will be joined by several members of the fraternity who are practitioners in the health and medical fields. This team of brothers will add to the fraternity members who are already in Port-Au-Prince working with the U.S. military and non-governmental organizations.
“We have a brother who is a doctor on the USNS Comfort working to save lives, and we have brothers who are on the ground too,” said Mason. “Our goal with this mission is to reinforce our powerful ties to this impoverished country, and help our members’ families there who have been impacted. If we can help them get back on their feet, they can in turn help others and the country as a whole.”
During this humanitarian trip brothers will explore ways to continue working in Haiti--including providing future medical support and participating in the rebuilding of the infrastructure.
Alpha’s main assignment in Haiti will be to locate and provide assistance to families of Alpha members affected by the earthquake. Brothers will also tour the capital city to see firsthand the scope of the damage and assess ways to participate in the rebuilding process, and also volunteer at a local mobile hospital where those with medical expertise on the trip can assist.
While raising over $25,000 for its Haiti disaster relief effort, the fraternity is also planning to “adopt” a school in Haiti. The organization sees this as a great opportunity for the first black intercollegiate fraternity to stand in solidarity with the first independent black Republic. Haiti will continue to need assistance after the aid workers have left and Alpha promises to position itself in such a way to help Haiti in the short term and in the years to come.
“As a brother of Alpha Phi Alpha who was born in Haiti, I am extremely proud of the work that Alpha has begun,” said Brother Sam Darguin, a Haitian-born member of the fraternity. “With the skills and talent of brothers within the fraternity I am confident that Haiti will benefit greatly. This is truly a demonstration of our organization living up to its motto of being, ‘servants of all and love for all mankind.’ ”
Other members of the delegation include: Joseph Gambrell, M.D.; Maurice Gilbert, M.D.; Ronald Peters, DrPH., associate professor, University of Texas Health Science Center and School of Public Health; Ricardo R. Jefferson, attorney at law and native of the Dominican Republic; U. Grant Baldwin, Jr., mental health social worker; Samuel Karl Darguin, partnership specialist, U.S Census Bureau; Jean McGianni Celestin, business development manager, writer and activist; Ferrel "FC" Bonner, cyber-security practitioner and information-security officer; and Bryan J. A. Kelly, director of communications for Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Adopting Haitan Children
Black Man Wonders are there any black families adopting Haitian Children? Every night I watch CNN and all I see are white families that have adopted these kids. Not that I'm upset about that. All that's important is that these kids are taken in to loving homes no matter what color the adoptive parents are. I'm just wondering where our folks are.....
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Some folks are never satisfied
Danny Glover is on Democracy Now! lamenting the presence of US military personnel in Haiti. The US is damned if they do and damned if they don't. My question is if not the US military then who? The Haitian government appears to be totally overwhelmed and non functioning at this point.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Obama declares war on Fox News (so they say)
The right-wing blogs have been hopping the last few days over comments an Obama Administration Official made this past Sunday. All the right wing blogs declare "Obama has declares war on FOX NEWS".
How Dare he!!?? They ask. My reaction is, it's about time! I ask why should he play nice with those guys anyway? From my perspective Fox News is basically right-wing talk radio on TV. They have a little bit of news sprinkled throughout, in an attempt to legitimize their claim that they are an actual "news" network. Furthermore To those that claim he's acting childish I would respond what was your opinion when Bush, Cheney and crew basically refused to go on any network EXCEPT FOX NEWS?
"What I think is fair to say about Fox -- and certainly it's the way we view it -- is that it really is more a wing of the Republican Party," said Anita Dunn, White House communications director, on CNN. "They take their talking points, put them on the air; take their opposition research, put them on the air. And that's fine. But let's not pretend they're a news network the way CNN is."
Read more here: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/10/12/white-house-escalates-war-words-fox-news/
Let's face it Ms. Dunn said what the majority of us already knew. Fox News is indeed a wing of the Republican Party and they always have been. There was a time when I think they really did try to give the appearance of being "fair and balanced" But not any more. They're so partisan now that they don't even try to hide it anymore. I'm glad somebody finally called these fools out for what they really are. Let the games begin.
How Dare he!!?? They ask. My reaction is, it's about time! I ask why should he play nice with those guys anyway? From my perspective Fox News is basically right-wing talk radio on TV. They have a little bit of news sprinkled throughout, in an attempt to legitimize their claim that they are an actual "news" network. Furthermore To those that claim he's acting childish I would respond what was your opinion when Bush, Cheney and crew basically refused to go on any network EXCEPT FOX NEWS?
"What I think is fair to say about Fox -- and certainly it's the way we view it -- is that it really is more a wing of the Republican Party," said Anita Dunn, White House communications director, on CNN. "They take their talking points, put them on the air; take their opposition research, put them on the air. And that's fine. But let's not pretend they're a news network the way CNN is."
Read more here: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/10/12/white-house-escalates-war-words-fox-news/
Let's face it Ms. Dunn said what the majority of us already knew. Fox News is indeed a wing of the Republican Party and they always have been. There was a time when I think they really did try to give the appearance of being "fair and balanced" But not any more. They're so partisan now that they don't even try to hide it anymore. I'm glad somebody finally called these fools out for what they really are. Let the games begin.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Dangerous hatred in the US?
Blackman says: Posted without comment.
By Rob Reynolds, senior Washington correspondent
Michelle Bachmann, the US Republican Representative for Minnesota, tells a radio interviewer she believes Barack Obama, the US president, plans to set up mandatory "re-education camps" to indoctrinate young Americans.
Glenn Beck, a television personality working at the Fox news network, says on the air that Obama is a "racist" with a "deep-seated hatred for white people".
Comparing Obama to Adolf Hitler, an Iowa man named Tom Eisenhower speaks up at a town hall meeting held by Republican Senator Charles Grassley, and says "The president of the United States, that's who you should be concerned about."
"I'd take a gun to Washington if enough of you would go with me."
Retired FBI agent Ted Gunderson, a prolific writer and speaker about conspiracy theories involving devilish sex cults and the Illuminati, tells a gathering of right-wing "Patriots" in Florida that the federal government has set up 10,000 internment camps across the country and is storing thousands of guillotines for mass executions.
Mel Sanger, a self-described "political researcher", offers visitors to his website a $24.97-report full of "cutting edge evidence" that Obama is the biblical Antichrist.
Tens of thousands of right-wing demonstrators march on the US Capitol waving signs reading "Bury Obamacare with Kennedy" and calling Obama a "bloodsucking Muslim alien".
Steven Anderson, the pastor of the Faithful Word Baptist Church in Arizona, preached a sermon last month entitled "Why I hate Barack Obama", in which he declared, "I'm going to pray he dies and goes to hell".
Old-fashioned racism
On August 22, I posted an article on this website (Fear, racism at town hall meetings) about the element of old-fashioned retrograde racism running through the outpouring of venom and hatred for Obama in town hall style meetings, ostensibly over his healthcare reform plans.
I received a lot of feedback from you, the readers - the overwhelming majority of which was positive, with a few obscenity-laced screeds thrown in.
The mainstream media in the US have been slow to catch up on the story of white racial hatred for Obama. But now the debate over the racist roots of the anti-Obama upwelling is out in the open, discussed on television networks and in newspapers.
"Some people just can't believe a black man is president and will never accept it," writes The New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd.
"There's something loose in the land, an ugliness and hatred directed toward Barack Obama, the nation's first African American president, that takes the breath away," offered Colbert King in the Washington Post.
The Southern Poverty Law Centre, an essential US institution that researches and exposes hate groups, notes "… unmistakable signs of a revival of what in the 1990's was called the militia movement," adding that "… the fact that the president is an African-American has injected a strong racial element" into the radical right.
The rage from the right has nothing to do with healthcare reform or any other factual policy issue. It is a concerted effort to de-legitimise Obama as president. Former President Jimmy Carter summed it up concisely in an interview with NBC News:
"I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man," Carter said.
"I live in the South, and I've seen the South come a long way, and I've seen the rest of the country that share the South's attitude toward minority groups at that time, particularly African-Americans.
"And that racism inclination still exists. And I think it's bubbled up to the surface because of the belief among many white people, not just in the South but around the country, that African-Americans are not qualified to lead this great country. It's an abominable circumstance, and it grieves me and concerns me very deeply."
Fearful times
Some believe the healthcare debate has re-ignited the racial debate [AFP]
Abominable - and dangerous. The simmering potential for political violence underlies the ugly jeers and insults.
They are a motley group: white supremacists, Patriots, Sovereign Citizens, anti-Semitic Holocaust deniers, Neo-Confederates, Skinheads, Teabaggers, end-times prophecy adherents, birthers, Minutemen, New World Order conspiracists, Oath Keepers - the list is long and depressing.
Thousands of videos posted to YouTube show white militia members playing soldier - with real guns.
What they have in common - besides hatred for non-whites - is their worship of firearms and their intense paranoia about the government. They are continually encouraged in their outrage by right wing media and radio talk show hosts.
In several recent instances, right wing rage has exploded in bloodshed. In April, Richard Poplawski, who frequented anti-government and white supremacist websites and feared Obama would take away his guns, allegedly ambushed three Pittsburgh police officers, killing them with a hail of bullets from his rifle, pistol and AK-47.
The same month, Joshua Cartwright of Okaloosa County, Florida, got fired from his job, beat up his wife and headed down to the local gun club. When two sheriff's deputies arrived to arrest him for assault, he pulled out a gun and shot both men dead.
Cartwright's wife said he feared the government was out to get him and was "severely disturbed that Barack Obama had been elected president."
Last July, Jim David Adkisson of Knoxville, Tennessee wrote a vitriolic suicide note denouncing liberals, democrats, blacks, and Obama, then allegedly marched into a Unitarian church and opened fire, killing two churchgoers and seriously wounding six.
Here in Washington in June, an elderly neo-Nazi named James von Brunn allegedly opened fire with a rifle at the US Holocaust Museum, killing an African American security guard. Police found a note in his car. "You want my guns, this is how you'll get them," von Brunn wrote.
"The Holocaust is a lie. Obama was created by Jews."
America, the sorry truth
Obama, centre front, was heckled during a speech to a joint session of congress [EPA]
While Republican spokespeople and elected officials scoff at the notion that racism is behind their protests, the spectacle of a white, Republican Congressman from the Deep South state of South Carolina shouting "You lie!" at the president from the floor of the House of Representatives blatantly revealed the sorry truth that this country has not entered a "post-racial" period, as some liberals like to believe.
We would like to believe that the racist right-wingers are just the leftover dregs of hate in a society steadily becoming more enlightened.
After all, Obama won the election last November by nine million votes. That means an awful lot of white people voted for him.
But while their numbers may be relatively small, the right-wing radicals - and the media bomb-throwers who fire them up - can do a lot of damage.
A few armed lunatics can alter the course of history. Think of Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber.
Think of James Earl Ray, who murdered Martin Luther King. Or think of John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln.
Those last two examples were not chosen at random.
By Rob Reynolds, senior Washington correspondent
Michelle Bachmann, the US Republican Representative for Minnesota, tells a radio interviewer she believes Barack Obama, the US president, plans to set up mandatory "re-education camps" to indoctrinate young Americans.
Glenn Beck, a television personality working at the Fox news network, says on the air that Obama is a "racist" with a "deep-seated hatred for white people".
Comparing Obama to Adolf Hitler, an Iowa man named Tom Eisenhower speaks up at a town hall meeting held by Republican Senator Charles Grassley, and says "The president of the United States, that's who you should be concerned about."
"I'd take a gun to Washington if enough of you would go with me."
Retired FBI agent Ted Gunderson, a prolific writer and speaker about conspiracy theories involving devilish sex cults and the Illuminati, tells a gathering of right-wing "Patriots" in Florida that the federal government has set up 10,000 internment camps across the country and is storing thousands of guillotines for mass executions.
Mel Sanger, a self-described "political researcher", offers visitors to his website a $24.97-report full of "cutting edge evidence" that Obama is the biblical Antichrist.
Tens of thousands of right-wing demonstrators march on the US Capitol waving signs reading "Bury Obamacare with Kennedy" and calling Obama a "bloodsucking Muslim alien".
Steven Anderson, the pastor of the Faithful Word Baptist Church in Arizona, preached a sermon last month entitled "Why I hate Barack Obama", in which he declared, "I'm going to pray he dies and goes to hell".
Old-fashioned racism
On August 22, I posted an article on this website (Fear, racism at town hall meetings) about the element of old-fashioned retrograde racism running through the outpouring of venom and hatred for Obama in town hall style meetings, ostensibly over his healthcare reform plans.
I received a lot of feedback from you, the readers - the overwhelming majority of which was positive, with a few obscenity-laced screeds thrown in.
The mainstream media in the US have been slow to catch up on the story of white racial hatred for Obama. But now the debate over the racist roots of the anti-Obama upwelling is out in the open, discussed on television networks and in newspapers.
"Some people just can't believe a black man is president and will never accept it," writes The New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd.
"There's something loose in the land, an ugliness and hatred directed toward Barack Obama, the nation's first African American president, that takes the breath away," offered Colbert King in the Washington Post.
The Southern Poverty Law Centre, an essential US institution that researches and exposes hate groups, notes "… unmistakable signs of a revival of what in the 1990's was called the militia movement," adding that "… the fact that the president is an African-American has injected a strong racial element" into the radical right.
The rage from the right has nothing to do with healthcare reform or any other factual policy issue. It is a concerted effort to de-legitimise Obama as president. Former President Jimmy Carter summed it up concisely in an interview with NBC News:
"I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man," Carter said.
"I live in the South, and I've seen the South come a long way, and I've seen the rest of the country that share the South's attitude toward minority groups at that time, particularly African-Americans.
"And that racism inclination still exists. And I think it's bubbled up to the surface because of the belief among many white people, not just in the South but around the country, that African-Americans are not qualified to lead this great country. It's an abominable circumstance, and it grieves me and concerns me very deeply."
Fearful times
Some believe the healthcare debate has re-ignited the racial debate [AFP]
Abominable - and dangerous. The simmering potential for political violence underlies the ugly jeers and insults.
They are a motley group: white supremacists, Patriots, Sovereign Citizens, anti-Semitic Holocaust deniers, Neo-Confederates, Skinheads, Teabaggers, end-times prophecy adherents, birthers, Minutemen, New World Order conspiracists, Oath Keepers - the list is long and depressing.
Thousands of videos posted to YouTube show white militia members playing soldier - with real guns.
What they have in common - besides hatred for non-whites - is their worship of firearms and their intense paranoia about the government. They are continually encouraged in their outrage by right wing media and radio talk show hosts.
In several recent instances, right wing rage has exploded in bloodshed. In April, Richard Poplawski, who frequented anti-government and white supremacist websites and feared Obama would take away his guns, allegedly ambushed three Pittsburgh police officers, killing them with a hail of bullets from his rifle, pistol and AK-47.
The same month, Joshua Cartwright of Okaloosa County, Florida, got fired from his job, beat up his wife and headed down to the local gun club. When two sheriff's deputies arrived to arrest him for assault, he pulled out a gun and shot both men dead.
Cartwright's wife said he feared the government was out to get him and was "severely disturbed that Barack Obama had been elected president."
Last July, Jim David Adkisson of Knoxville, Tennessee wrote a vitriolic suicide note denouncing liberals, democrats, blacks, and Obama, then allegedly marched into a Unitarian church and opened fire, killing two churchgoers and seriously wounding six.
Here in Washington in June, an elderly neo-Nazi named James von Brunn allegedly opened fire with a rifle at the US Holocaust Museum, killing an African American security guard. Police found a note in his car. "You want my guns, this is how you'll get them," von Brunn wrote.
"The Holocaust is a lie. Obama was created by Jews."
America, the sorry truth
Obama, centre front, was heckled during a speech to a joint session of congress [EPA]
While Republican spokespeople and elected officials scoff at the notion that racism is behind their protests, the spectacle of a white, Republican Congressman from the Deep South state of South Carolina shouting "You lie!" at the president from the floor of the House of Representatives blatantly revealed the sorry truth that this country has not entered a "post-racial" period, as some liberals like to believe.
We would like to believe that the racist right-wingers are just the leftover dregs of hate in a society steadily becoming more enlightened.
After all, Obama won the election last November by nine million votes. That means an awful lot of white people voted for him.
But while their numbers may be relatively small, the right-wing radicals - and the media bomb-throwers who fire them up - can do a lot of damage.
A few armed lunatics can alter the course of history. Think of Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber.
Think of James Earl Ray, who murdered Martin Luther King. Or think of John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln.
Those last two examples were not chosen at random.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
AP source: Census worker hanged with 'fed' on body
Blackman Says: Who is suprised by this? We all knew it was just a matter of time before one of these right-wing crazies decided to take matters in to their own hands.
So I guess we'll see Glen Beck and the rest of the right-wing crowd in full damage control tomorrow.
By DEVLIN BARRETT and JEFFREY McMURRAY (AP) – 4 hours ago
WASHINGTON — A U.S. Census worker found hanged from a tree near a Kentucky cemetery had the word "fed" scrawled on his chest, a law enforcement official said Wednesday, and the FBI is investigating whether he was a victim of anti-government sentiment.
The law enforcement official, who was not authorized to discuss the case and requested anonymity, did not say what type of instrument was used to write the word on the chest of Bill Sparkman, a 51-year-old part-time Census field worker and teacher. He was found Sept. 12 in a remote patch of the Daniel Boone National Forest in rural southeast Kentucky.
The Census has suspended door-to-door interviews in rural Clay County, where the body was found, pending the outcome of the investigation. An autopsy report is pending.
Investigators have said little about the case. FBI spokesman David Beyer said the bureau is assisting state police and declined to confirm or discuss any details about the crime scene.
"Our job is to determine if there was foul play involved — and that's part of the investigation — and if there was foul play involved, whether that is related to his employment as a Census worker," said Beyer.
Attacking a federal worker during or because of his federal job is a federal crime.
Sparkman's mother, Henrie Sparkman of Inverness, Fla., told The Associated Press her son was an Eagle scout who moved to the area to be a local director for the Boy Scouts of America. She said he later became a substitute teacher in Laurel County and supplemented that income as a Census worker.
She said investigators have given her few details about her son's death — they told her the body was decomposed — and haven't yet released his body for burial. "I was told it would be better for him to be cremated," she said.
Henrie Sparkman said her son's death is a mystery to her.
"I have my own ideas, but I can't say them out loud. Not at this point," she said. "Right now, what I'm doing, I'm just waiting on the FBI to come to some conclusion."
Lucindia Scurry-Johnson, assistant director of the Census Bureau's southern office in Charlotte, N.C., said law enforcement officers have told the agency the matter is "an apparent homicide" but nothing else.
Census employees were told Sparkman's truck was found nearby, and a computer he was using for work was found inside it, she said. He worked part-time for the Census, usually conducting interviews once or twice a month.
Sparkman has worked for the Census since 2003, spanning five counties in the surrounding area. Much of his recent work had been in Clay County, officials said.
Door-to-door operations have been suspended in Clay County pending a resolution of the investigation, Scurry-Johnson said.
The Census Bureau has yet to begin door-to-door canvassing for the 2010 head count, but it has thousands of field workers doing smaller surveys on various demographic topics on behalf of federal agencies. Next year, the Census Bureau will dispatch up to 1.2 million temporary employees to locate hard-to-find residents.
The Census Bureau is overseen by the Commerce Department.
"We are deeply saddened by the loss of our co-worker," Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with William Sparkman's son, other family and friends."
Locke called him "a shining example of the hardworking men and women employed by the Census Bureau."
Appalachia scholar Roy Silver, a New York City native now living in Harlan County, Ky., said he doesn't sense an outpouring of anti-government sentiment in the region as has been exhibited in town hall meetings in other parts of the country.
"I don't think distrust of government is any more or less here than anywhere else in the country," said Silver, a sociology professor at Southeast Community College.
The most deadly attack on federal workers came in 1995 when the federal building in Oklahoma City was devastated by a truck bomb, killing 168 and injuring more than 680. Timothy McVeigh, who was executed for the bombing, carried literature by modern, ultra-right-wing anti-government authors.
A private group called PEER, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, tracks violence against employees who enforce environmental regulations, but the group's executive director, Jeff Ruch, said it's hard to know about all of the cases because some agencies don't share data on instances of violence against employees.
From 1996 to 2006, according to the group's most recent data, violent incidents against federal Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service workers soared from 55 to 290.
Ruch said that after the 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, "we kept getting reports from employees that attacks and intimidation against federal employees had not diminished, and that's why we've been tracking them."
"Even as illustrated in town hall meetings today, there is a distinct hostility in a large segment of the population toward people who work for their government," Ruch said.
McMurray reported from Lexington, Ky. Associated Press writers Roger Alford in Frankfort, Ky., and Hope Yen in Washington contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
So I guess we'll see Glen Beck and the rest of the right-wing crowd in full damage control tomorrow.
By DEVLIN BARRETT and JEFFREY McMURRAY (AP) – 4 hours ago
WASHINGTON — A U.S. Census worker found hanged from a tree near a Kentucky cemetery had the word "fed" scrawled on his chest, a law enforcement official said Wednesday, and the FBI is investigating whether he was a victim of anti-government sentiment.
The law enforcement official, who was not authorized to discuss the case and requested anonymity, did not say what type of instrument was used to write the word on the chest of Bill Sparkman, a 51-year-old part-time Census field worker and teacher. He was found Sept. 12 in a remote patch of the Daniel Boone National Forest in rural southeast Kentucky.
The Census has suspended door-to-door interviews in rural Clay County, where the body was found, pending the outcome of the investigation. An autopsy report is pending.
Investigators have said little about the case. FBI spokesman David Beyer said the bureau is assisting state police and declined to confirm or discuss any details about the crime scene.
"Our job is to determine if there was foul play involved — and that's part of the investigation — and if there was foul play involved, whether that is related to his employment as a Census worker," said Beyer.
Attacking a federal worker during or because of his federal job is a federal crime.
Sparkman's mother, Henrie Sparkman of Inverness, Fla., told The Associated Press her son was an Eagle scout who moved to the area to be a local director for the Boy Scouts of America. She said he later became a substitute teacher in Laurel County and supplemented that income as a Census worker.
She said investigators have given her few details about her son's death — they told her the body was decomposed — and haven't yet released his body for burial. "I was told it would be better for him to be cremated," she said.
Henrie Sparkman said her son's death is a mystery to her.
"I have my own ideas, but I can't say them out loud. Not at this point," she said. "Right now, what I'm doing, I'm just waiting on the FBI to come to some conclusion."
Lucindia Scurry-Johnson, assistant director of the Census Bureau's southern office in Charlotte, N.C., said law enforcement officers have told the agency the matter is "an apparent homicide" but nothing else.
Census employees were told Sparkman's truck was found nearby, and a computer he was using for work was found inside it, she said. He worked part-time for the Census, usually conducting interviews once or twice a month.
Sparkman has worked for the Census since 2003, spanning five counties in the surrounding area. Much of his recent work had been in Clay County, officials said.
Door-to-door operations have been suspended in Clay County pending a resolution of the investigation, Scurry-Johnson said.
The Census Bureau has yet to begin door-to-door canvassing for the 2010 head count, but it has thousands of field workers doing smaller surveys on various demographic topics on behalf of federal agencies. Next year, the Census Bureau will dispatch up to 1.2 million temporary employees to locate hard-to-find residents.
The Census Bureau is overseen by the Commerce Department.
"We are deeply saddened by the loss of our co-worker," Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with William Sparkman's son, other family and friends."
Locke called him "a shining example of the hardworking men and women employed by the Census Bureau."
Appalachia scholar Roy Silver, a New York City native now living in Harlan County, Ky., said he doesn't sense an outpouring of anti-government sentiment in the region as has been exhibited in town hall meetings in other parts of the country.
"I don't think distrust of government is any more or less here than anywhere else in the country," said Silver, a sociology professor at Southeast Community College.
The most deadly attack on federal workers came in 1995 when the federal building in Oklahoma City was devastated by a truck bomb, killing 168 and injuring more than 680. Timothy McVeigh, who was executed for the bombing, carried literature by modern, ultra-right-wing anti-government authors.
A private group called PEER, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, tracks violence against employees who enforce environmental regulations, but the group's executive director, Jeff Ruch, said it's hard to know about all of the cases because some agencies don't share data on instances of violence against employees.
From 1996 to 2006, according to the group's most recent data, violent incidents against federal Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service workers soared from 55 to 290.
Ruch said that after the 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, "we kept getting reports from employees that attacks and intimidation against federal employees had not diminished, and that's why we've been tracking them."
"Even as illustrated in town hall meetings today, there is a distinct hostility in a large segment of the population toward people who work for their government," Ruch said.
McMurray reported from Lexington, Ky. Associated Press writers Roger Alford in Frankfort, Ky., and Hope Yen in Washington contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
