Moonhowlings

Continuing similar themes from last week:

From Reuters: (In its entirety)

Analysis: Race issues beset Obama’s “post-racial” presidency

By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON | Wed Jul 21, 2010 6:12pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Many supporters of Barack Obama hoped his election as America’s first black president might herald an era of post-racial politics, but race has been an issue his administration just can’t seem to avoid.

Division and tension between black and white Americans has cropped up repeatedly over Obama’s 18 months in office, hurting his popularity and distracting from his political agenda.

The issue surfaced this week when the Agriculture Department pushed a black official to resign after allegations she discriminated against a white farmer, only to apologize a day later for acting too quickly and without the facts.

Some said the White House was too eager to prove to its critics on the right that it does not favor blacks.

“The Obama administration lost some political capital because they acted without thinking things through,” said Andra Gillespie, a political scientist at Emory University.

Obama and race relations have often grabbed headlines.

Last July — in the heat of the White House fight for its healthcare overhaul — when Obama was subjected to scathing criticism for saying police had “acted stupidly” when they arrested Harvard University scholar Henry Louis Gates, who is black, on charges he was breaking into his own home.

More recently, the Justice Department dismissed voter intimidation charges against the New Black Panther Party, prompting criticism from conservative groups who said the black president was unwilling to prosecute fellow blacks for civil rights violations.

“When the right-wing noise machine starts promoting another alleged scandal, you shouldn’t suspect that it’s fake — you should presume that it’s fake, until further evidence becomes available,” columnist Paul Krugman wrote in The New York Times.

Read more…

I am actually horrified at Phillip Dennis’ rhetoric, starting the the double quarter-pounder and Rosie O’Donnell and finishing with him telling Hilary Shelton his organization is simply irrelevant and an extortion group. The sad thing is, I don’t even think Phillip Dennis realizes how inappropropriate he is.

How does someone tell the oldest civil rights organization that it is no longer relevant?

Phillip Dennis just made the NAACP’s case. Case closed.

Tom Hanks has set off a firestorm over racism that is impacting the new HBO miniseries, “The Pacific.” Listen to both videos:

Not smart, Tom. not smart. Maybe in 30 years he could say that but there are far too many people from that era still alive to say WWII was  racist. I thought we were at war with Japan because they bombed Pearl Harbor. I think most Americans thought the same. Was there racism, if you want to call it that, because we were at war with Japan? Of course. Caricatures developed immediately of our enemies in both war theatres.  Terms were used like Kraut, Japs, zipperheads, etc.  I don’t know if you can actually call it racism when you are at war with someone. I think it might take on a different term.  War words? 

Much of WWII involved racism. Racism is easy. When one has difficulty verbalizing why they hate another human being, racism is far easier than rational thought. And let’s face it, it is pretty difficult to kill someone, a lot of someones without a little hate being brought into the mix. However, WWII did not start because Americans hate the Japanese for racial reasons. Racial stereotyping certainly developed. However, in a world where the Chinese and Koreans were being killed and tortured it is pretty difficult to evoke racism.

It is also very difficult to paint Americans as racist when 6 million Jews were being annihilated across the Atlantic for racist reasons, even though they were the same race as their executioner. Go figure. Perhaps racism is definitely the wrong word.

Tom Hanks needs to reword his remarks. The “Greatest Generation” doesn’t need to go out of this world being called racist. The was lots of racism back then. I have my father’s letters lamenting that an Indian soldier could not go into a bar and buy a drink in 1945. There was no mention that our troops were segregated. I questioned my mother who didn’t have an answer. We have races of people being herded into concentration camps and killed then incinerated because they were ethnically different in the eyes of their captors. We have political enemies facing the same fate. We have women of similar racial background being pressed into prostitution because of their national difference. The world was turned upside down. Some of that same hatred lives on. Getting into whether something is or is not racist really helps nothing. The best thing to do is simply move on. Hanks has put his foot in it. He also discusses terrorism. He doesn’t want to go there either.

Tom Hanks has been a wonderful spokes person for the ‘Greatest Generation.’  I hope they don’t fire him and that he alters his message just a little bit since he has so many people upset.

From Yahoo News:

COVINGTON, La. – A Louisiana man accused of helping his father hide the body of a Ku Klux Klan recruit pleaded guilty Thursday to obstruction of justice and was sentenced to three years in prison, according to a prosecutor’s spokesman.

Prosecutors believe Shane Foster, 21, also helped his father clean the camp site in rural St. Tammany Parish in southeastern Louisiana where Cynthia Lynch, 43, was shot to death in November 2008, district attorney’s office spokesman Rick Wood said.

Foster’s father, Raymond Foster, 45, is set for trial April 5 on a second-degree murder charge.

What on earth?  What year is this?  Cynthia Lynch, 43, was shot to death in November of 2008.  Her crime?  She was trying to leave an initiation ritual and head for home.  She had hooked up with the Louisiana KKK group run by Raymond Foster via the Internet.  She was described as a troubled woman who was trying to fit in somewhere.  That probably fits the description of many people who are attracked to the KKK.  Just a group of misfits.

All too often groups like this are blown off.  Do-gooders try to tell us that the KKK is irrelevant nowadays and that any concerns about this organizaton are  simply an over-reaction.  This killing doesn’t sound like an over-reaction to me. 

Do these sentences sound a little on the lean side?  If you shoot someone to death, why is that second degree murder?  Another female, Danielle Jones, pleaded guilty to being an accessory.  She spent a year in jail.  Is Louisiana soft on crime or is it just soft on KKK krime?  How much a part of the south is the KKK in 2010?

KKK Pictures

Just in case anyone forgets who the Klan hates, here is a pretty good reminder. 

Creative Loafing Atlanta presents: The Georgia Knight Riders and Knights of the Ku Klux Klan rallied for a crowd of more than 500 on Feb. 20 in the town of Nahunta, Ga.
These good ole boys are all pleased with themselves.

How far have we come since that speech was given by Dr. Martin Luther King almost 47 years ago?  Has Dr. King’s dream been fulfilled or even come close?  Has prejudice been stamped out or is it seething right beneath the surface?  The term ‘racism’ is still thrown about, perhaps more than it was during Dr. King’s day.  Has it become a catch all? 

Stop! Doesn’t having an African-American president satisfy the dream?   We no longer have segregation.  Or do we?  Is there invisible segregation and if so, whose fault is it?  Perhaps we don’t even want to answer these questions.  Perhaps they make us as uncomfortable as discussing what Harry Reid meant by ‘Negro dialect.’

Finally, could the door to equality have ever been opened through the legislative process?  Was it necessary for the Courts  to open the door?   I remember seeing “Impeach Earl Warren” signs as a kid.  Were those the forerunners of the expression’ Judicial activism?’

For those of us who missed the speech in August, 1963…

Full Text of “I have a Dream”

Reprint of The Pointlessness of the Racism Debate by Lincoln Mitchell
Huffington Post

The question of whether or not some of the attacks on President Obama are racist is not likely to end anytime soon. There is little that can be done to persuade some supporters of President Obama that comparing the African American president to a witch doctor is not racist, or that the disrespect shown to Obama during his address to congress on health care would not have been on display if the president had been white. Similarly, critics of the president will continue to insist that this is simply all about the issues and that race has nothing to do with it.

Part of the difficulty is that on issues of race, there is a deep, but usually unspoken disagreement which runs through most of America. A substantial proportion of Americans see racism as something that is firmly in the past. This originates both from justifiable pride in how far we have come in this area, but unfortunately also prevents many people from recognizing or confronting the racism that still persists. Another large group of Americans sees racism as an ongoing problem which is less acute than a generation or two ago, but has certainly not gone away. The tension between these two views is apparent whenever a racial incident occurs; and it seems like half the country cries racism while the other half accuses the first half of playing the race card.

Read more…

And have the potential of biting a 17-term congressman in the butt.

The Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha saga continues. He can’t seem to quit putting his foot in his mouth. The Democratic congressman first got in hot water last week by explaining “There is no question that western Pennsylvania is a racist area.”

Quite understandably, his constituents from Western PA didn’t think much of this description. Rep. Murtha tried to clarify his statement by explaining that the older folks weren’t really racist, just redneck.

That should have reassured those constituents in question. {{sarcasm button on}} Still, Murtha predicts an Obama win in Pennsylvania.

According to ABC news,

The 17-term Democratic congressman told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in a story posted Wednesday on its Web site: “There is no question that western Pennsylvania is a racist area.”
Murtha said it has taken time for many Pennsylvania voters to come around to embracing a black presidential candidate, but that Obama should still win the state, though not in a runaway.

Nativist Letiecq Attempts to Intimidate Numerous Members of PWC Community

Just days after Help Save Manassas was classified as “an extremist organization that employs hateful rhetoric” by the Anti-Defamation League, the man responsible for earning this classification for his followers has sunk to a new low.

A private email I wrote eleven days ago found its way to Greg Letiecq, who has posted a new thread on his blog intending to intimidate and persecute, not only me, but everyone who was on the email list.

In it, I questioned the judgment of Gainesville District Supervisor John Stirrup, who tomorrow will ask his fellow Supervisors to vote to approve his appointment of Robert Duecaster to the Prince William County Strategic Goals Task Force. I have made no secret of my feelings about Duecaster’s racist writings, or his infamous outbursts before our Board of Supervisors (see previous thread). But now Letiecq is trying to intimidate and defame those who received the email (many of whom did not respond).

Supervisor Stirrup’s apparent trust in Duecaster — the only man in this county who has personally threatened the Board of Supervisors with more hatred and rage than Letiecq himself — is just one symptom of the toxicification of Prince William County at the hands of Letiecq, his blog, and his extremist organization. The Center for American Progress has documented how intimidation and incitement of racial conflict are common methods of attack for anti-immigrant organizations.

The persecution began last year, targeting the Hispanic community, though often worded to focus on “illegal” immigrants rather than the Hispanic community in general. But it did not stop when many members of the Hispanic community left the county. It did not stop when our county’s Citizen Satisfaction Survey revealed that both the Hispanic and the African American communities have lost trust in county government and the police force.

For more than a year, Letiecq has been targeting anyone who dares to oppose his relentless attempts to dominate our county government by exploiting his influence over Supervisor Stirrup and Chairman Corey Stewart. Now, he is not only targeting those who criticize him, he is targeting anyone who associates with his critics, or thinks about joining them.

Letiecq has made a habit of attacking me. But he knows I am not intimidated. He knows I will stand up to him.

Many of the those who received my personal email have not criticized Letiecq or taken any action to challenge his greed for power. By publishing their names without permission and “identifying” them, he has violated their privacy in a despicable attempt to make them appear guilty of some infraction, and bully them into silence.

I for one am not afraid of Greg Letiecq’s Neo-McCarthyism. And I am not afraid to say I oppose the appointment of Robert Duecaster to our county’s Strategic Goals Task Force. But more importantly, I oppose the persecution tactics Letiecq has employed to unduly influence this county government, its leaders, and its citizens.

P.S. Question for Greg Letiecq: Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?

Greg L said on 19 Aug 2008 at 12:37 am:
Monticup, I understand your frustration and outrage, but try to refrain from characterizing all illegal aliens as nascent criminals. Some are, but it would appear that they’re a pretty small minority. With somewhere around 12 million illegal aliens in the US by conservative estimates, if they were all predisposed to criminal behavior we’d be far worse off than we are. There are about 300,000 illegal aliens in Virginia, and we certainly don’t have a crime explosion that such numbers would create.

A big problem however is that of those 300,000 we have no idea who they are. Among them are certainly some of the worst folks you could imagine from both a crime and a national security perspective. In order to ensure these bad actors aren’t present, the lawful deportation of as many illegal aliens as possible is a way to ensure we remove those who pose the most significant threat as well as (perhaps more significantly) discourage other bad actors from unlawfully entering the country.

If we cannot control our borders, we are no longer a sovereign nation, and our democracy is in grave peril. As we seek to do so, we have to be certain that what we ask for is reasoned and responsible. We can’t do that very well by saying all illegal aliens are invariably rapists and murderers without undermining our arguments. There’s enough provable and unambiguous data out there to support our arguments without stretching so much, and in ways that can become counterproductive.

We have to maintain a higher standard than anyone else, and while it might not be fair, that’s just how it is. Let’s do our best to be better than those arguing the other side.

Acutally, it’s almost refreshing to see Mr. Leteicq make this kind of statement. It’s in sharp contrast to his infamous ‘Dog for Sale’ thread. Apparently he is coming to the realization that in order to be considered a rational voice in the immigration debate he can no longer permit the previously employed rhetoric and mischaracterizations of all ‘illegals’ as being rapists, murderers etc… To what extent this transformation is a result of our efforts might never be known but I feel confident that we have contributed to forming the terms of this discussion. Congratulations to everyone for their continued participation.

A letter to the editor from a local teen appeared yesterday in the Manassas Journal Messenger.

Suzie Eskelund
Published: July 20, 2008

I am a 17-year-old caucasian girl who has lived in Manassas my whole life. I just want to say thank you for allowing the white, self-righteous and supremacist legal citizens of this fine, upstanding county
to once again have the important jobs back, like fast food and construction. I know it has always been my dream to work the drive through at my neighborhood McDonald’s and now you have made that
dream more possible. I am so proud to be a part of a city that is taking a stand against those pesky brown people. I was riding in the car with my Hawaiian friend when we got pulled over so the nice
policeman could make sure she wasn’t an illegal Latina. I know that in my heart I couldn’t be more thankful for those new laws that you helped pass to racially profile everyone with dark skin. Gee, I don’t even know why I’m friends with her.

I know that no one who eats tacos and burritos can be a good person. I mean hey, I don’t want that new Chipotle on Liberia Avenue! These people just need to go back to Mexico and take their children.
They deserve to starve, be in constant danger, and have a poor education.

After all, they were born in an inferior country! I don’t want any new customs in my life.

I want to be closed-minded and be surrounded by my pasty friends forever. Please get that diversity away from me!

Now people say that all Americans immigrated here. Well that may be true, but at least all of mine spoke English when they came here! Oh wait… except for my Danish, French, and German relatives.
But no matter, at least it wasn’t Spanish. When I was in high school and I was trying to learn another language, I had the hardest time and struggled through all three years. I hardly remember any of that
language, but who cares? Learning a second language may be really hard for anyone, but it doesn’t matter if your first language was English.

Now I look around my upper middle-class neighborhood and see that there are far fewer children for my neighbors to play with. But I rest assured knowing that when they play tag, they won’t get tagged by Latino cooties anymore.

Next, we should give them disease-infested blankets; it worked when we wanted to get rid of Native Americans.

Thank you once again for your efforts to cleanse our community,

SUZIE ESKELUND
Manassas

If there’s rules then I’d like to see them changed so that the next time a citizen makes a racist comment they get called out. In my opinion, Bob’s talk was uncomfortable and made me cringe a couple times, but in comparison to some of the other things that I’ve heard from people standing at that podium, I’m not quite sure it rises to the standard of a public reprimand. As far as I know, this is the third instance of this happening since October.

1. The Hispanic lady that tells the board to kiss her a$$ to which John wants her deleted from future broadcasts.
2. Maureen Caddigan says ‘Can someone stop that woman from coming here?’ in response to Donna Widawski’s.
3. And now Bob Wills

Again, none of these incidents bother me more than these incidents which stand out in my mind.

1. The woman who said she doesn’t like it when a Hispanic can own homes and she can’t.[I mean what is that about? Let's do an exercise, re-read the previous sentence and substitute Black for Hispanic. Obviously offensive. Do people not get it?
2. Mattes' statement - It is scary, and she wouldn't be surprised, if these guys [daylaborers] came across the road & jumped a car and hijacked it.[Okay, worse case scenario, you have a group of men(Hispanic) loitering, looking for work, most likely in a state of mixed immigration status.]
3. Another lady who said she felt uncomfortable when the daylaborers nodded their heads at her.[Reminds me of Obama's grandmother admitting she felt uncomfortable with Black men.]

Providence, Rhode Island – All José Genao planned to do at the heating equipment supply store was buy a spare part for his boiler.  As he stood at the register speaking Spanish with a friend the store’s owner David C. Richardson demanded to see their Social Security cards.

According to The Providence Journal -

Genao, a Rhode Island state employee, is a native of the Dominican Republic and a U.S. citizen. He speaks fluent English. He said his friend — who declined comment — is also a Dominican native and U.S. citizen. “There is no problem with his status,” said Genao. “He is legal.” State records list both as registered voters.

When they didn’t comply Richardson removed from his wallet a membership card for ‘Rhode Islanders for Immigration Law Enforcement’, a group that seeks curbs on illegal immigration and told the men he was going to call Immigration Customs Enforcement and could make a citizens arrest.

Richardson, a Reform party member and former Senate candidate, said he was acting on civic duty. Genao accused Richardson of racial stereotyping, “all because we were speaking Spanish.”

When asked what made him think the men weren’t legal he responded -

“What proof is there? I think the majority of people who don’t speak English in Rhode Island — at least 51 percent or more — are illegal aliens,”

But even though Richardson said it is his legal right to demand a Social Security card — it may not be.   It appears Richardson has violated a state law (R.I. General Law 6-13-17) related to “unfair sales practices.”

Here’s a new item he can add to his list of accomplishments - thwarting a civil war… for now.  Is this guy a superhero or what?  How does he get it all done?

Here are the comments, as seen on bvbl.net -

Ari Stotle said on 16 Mar 2008 at 8:39 am:

Yesterday I was in Manassas and was disgusted by the number of seedy looking foreigners that couldn’t even look me in the eye when the opportunity presented itself.

It reminded me that they came from a different culture and don’t live by the same values & principles that we live by here in this nation. They violated our laws to get here, or after they arrived by remaining beyond their legal limits. They sponge off our hospital emergency rooms, only to walk away and never pay a dime, leaving us to carry the burden of their existence here in this country. Many will do whatever they need to do to survive, as demonstrated by their illegal entry in to our country.

People like Greg and HSM have become this countries first line of defense by promoting awareness, legislation and well…intolerance. It is that intolerance that may have thwarted a civil war..for now. As the economy worsens and the jobs for illegals are fewer, what will they do and where will they go?

Let’s dissect these comments.  We have ‘seedy looking foreigners’ that won’t make eye contact with this guy and he believes it’s because they don’t have the same ‘values & principles’ that he does.  (Honestly, I suspect there’s another reason there not making eye contact with him but let’s continue.)  So the people ‘look’ foreign, but he can’t state with any certainty that they ‘are’ foreign.  But surely they are ‘illegals’.  Hmm.  He’s not able to ascertain whether they crossed the border illegally or overstayed their visa but rest assured it’s one of the two.  Now his psychic(or psycho) abilities are really kicking in because he knows they’ve skipped out on paying their hospital bills.  But according to him, people like Greg have become our ‘first line of defense’ by ‘promoting intolerance’ and ‘may have thwarted a civil war… for now.’  Really?  Are these the ‘pearls of wisdom’ that BVBL figures are so worth preserving?