Althouse: "The Zimmerman family is in hiding because of the threats that have been made against us..."

April 10, 2012

"The Zimmerman family is in hiding because of the threats that have been made against us..."

"... yet the DOJ has maintained an eerie silence on this matter. These threats are very public. If you haven’t been paying attention just do a Google search and you will find plenty. Since when can a group of people in the United States put a bounty on someone’s head, circulate Wanted posters publicly, and still be walking the streets?"

A letter from some unnamed relative of George Zimmerman to Attorney General Eric Holder.

Good lord, what an ugly place we are in right now. Who would have thought that in the last year of Obama's presidential term, the public mind would obsess over race at this level? I'm recalling the media coverage of election night, 2008, and the inauguration, when there was a rhapsody of closure and a feeling — some called it "hope" — that we had entered a new era of harmony. How did we get sucked into some nightmare parody of the past? If it's not Obama's fault, can he at least do something to yank us up out of this awful place? In 2009 or even 2011, he would have given a speech. He would have believed he could rescue us with a speech, perhaps because we kind of thought he could. Maybe no one believes anymore. There's a hope vacuum, and look what's moving in.

199 comments:

Ross said...: Maybe we need another beer summit. That worked so well last time...; 4/10/12, 8:15 AM
sane_voter said...: If Neo-nazis were parading around and putting bounties on black people, you can bet Pres. Hopey Changey would talk about it.; 4/10/12, 8:15 AM
Mogget said...: If it's not Obama's fault, can he at least do something to yank us up out of this awful place?

Eh, personally I think he likes us in this place. However, it may be that he does not think he can get us out of this place, so he is not willing to expend political capital in an attempt. In any case, it is futile to look to Obama for relief.; 4/10/12, 8:15 AM
Matt Sablan said...: Holder's a little busy losing cases trying to fine protesters in front of abortion clinics to worry about something as trivial as death threats.; 4/10/12, 8:16 AM
rhhardin said...: The police acted stupidly.; 4/10/12, 8:16 AM
rhhardin said...: The more chaotic the country over anything but Obama's performance, the closer his re-election chances rise to 50%.

He's a third world leader.

Any price for his profit.; 4/10/12, 8:18 AM
Sofa King said...: Holder has been one of Obama's worst decisions.; 4/10/12, 8:18 AM
The Drill SGT said...: He could give that speech and would if he saw it was to his advantage, but it isn't.

Racial diversion is good for his reelection because he needs energy and another record black turnout with a 95/5 vote split.; 4/10/12, 8:19 AM
The Drill SGT said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/10/12, 8:20 AM
Matt Sablan said...: I don't think Obama is not saying anything for political advantage. He said his peace, I think, and feels no need to say anything else.

But, I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt. Which tells you that Holder has burned through what generous good will I give people.; 4/10/12, 8:20 AM
glenn said...: "Who would have thought that in the last year of Obama's presidential term, the public mind would obsess over race at this level?"

Me for one.; 4/10/12, 8:21 AM
David said...: Obama has failed to lead on issues of race as he has in most other areas. He watches, calculates, wades in and then runs away. A great leader would have developed a consistent message and sent the message, regardless of the ebb and flow of event and emotion. As usual, Obama has not functioned as a great leader.; 4/10/12, 8:21 AM
rehajm said...: He can't exactly run for re-election on his record of achievement- he needs the racial hatred in order to win the next election. We all abhor racial violence unless it helps our side...; 4/10/12, 8:21 AM
Brian Brown said...: Who would have thought that in the last year of Obama's presidential term, the public mind would obsess over race at this level?

Me, me, me, me, me!

Obama is a race hustler on par with Sharpton & Jackson.

His "reverend" of 20 years taught him all he needs to know.; 4/10/12, 8:22 AM
Mark O said...: Holder and Obama is of the opinion that civil rights laws protect only black Americans. There is no enforcement at DOJ of these laws to the benefit of white Americans. You can look this up.; 4/10/12, 8:23 AM
Moose said...: Why in god's name would he bother? Anything that makes the right look bad (and given the media - anything the right does on this issue will look bad) is good for Obama.
He's just going to let this thing fester until its ripe and stinky. He can only get good traction from this one.; 4/10/12, 8:25 AM
Christopher in MA said...: Who would have thought that in the last year of Obama's presidential term, the public mind would obsess over race at this level?

Anyone who knew that Little Black Jesus was a stone-cold liar when he claimed never to have heard any incendiary statements vomiting out of Jeremiah Wright's mouth in the 20 years his metrosexual coke-snorting ass sat in that "church," that's who.

And a look at both Ace and Insty today shows that NBC deliberately edited the Zimmerman tape.

When do we stop throwing up our hands at MSM bias and start hanging?; 4/10/12, 8:26 AM
Wince said...: Florida Statutes:

760.51 Violations of constitutional rights, civil action by the Attorney General; civil penalty.—
(1) Whenever any person, whether or not acting under color of law, interferes by threats, intimidation, or coercion, or attempts to interfere by threats, intimidation, or coercion, with the exercise or enjoyment by any other person of rights secured by the State Constitution or laws of this state, the Attorney General may bring a civil or administrative action for damages, and for injunctive or other appropriate relief for violations of the rights secured. Any damages recovered under this section shall accrue to the injured person. The civil action shall be brought in the name of the state and may be brought on behalf of the injured person. The Attorney General is entitled to an award of reasonable attorney’s fees and costs if the Department of Legal Affairs prevails in an action brought under this section.
(2) Any person who interferes by threats, intimidation, or coercion, or attempts to interfere by threats, intimidation, or coercion, with the exercise or enjoyment by any other person of rights secured by the State Constitution or laws of this state is liable for a civil penalty of not more than $10,000 for each violation. This penalty may be recovered in any action brought under this section by the Attorney General. A civil penalty so collected shall accrue to the state and shall be deposited as received into the General Revenue Fund unallocated.; 4/10/12, 8:28 AM
shiloh said...: Nothing new since the beginning of time ie people obsessing over race.

Just that some do it more than others ie conservatives at this blog. Usually a conservative initiates the conversation sayin' they have never had a racist thought in their life and that the racial problem is a Dem problem, rather than a Rep problem. With the conservative disingenuous sarcasm flowing throughout a political thread, like this one at a 90/10 conservative blog.

And so it goes as the self-righteous have their platform to inform and educate. :-P

Again, the John Birch Society sponsored 2010 CPAC. Shocking! :D; 4/10/12, 8:29 AM
Lyssa said...: This really could happen to anyone who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and of a disfavored race. It's truely terrifying.; 4/10/12, 8:31 AM
MadisonMan said...: The letter-writer asks good questions.

There is a huge lack of leadership on this matter, which is why groups like the New Black Panthers (sounds like a boy band to me) can rush in and fill the void.

I would expect the mayor of the town to be doing something to protect his citizens.; 4/10/12, 8:32 AM
Christopher in MA said...: "Race obsessed," leslyn (or Love or Jeremy or Gene or whoever you are)?

It wasn't Fox that edited the tape to make Zimmerman sound as if he'd said he looks black.; 4/10/12, 8:33 AM
Bob said...: It's Bush's fault. Has been since the inauguration.; 4/10/12, 8:36 AM
X said...: Who would have thought that in the last year of Obama's presidential term, the public mind would obsess over race at this level?

seriously? anyone who paid attention in the 2008 primary and saw people getting their j'accuse racist jones on.; 4/10/12, 8:37 AM
Chef Mojo said...: Shiloh,

Please make my day great, and for once, actually address the issue at hand without your allegedly clever misdirection. Could you do that? Just for curiosity's sake? I'm genuinely interested is seeing if you're something more than the boring, one trick pony you appear to be!

Cheers, blessings & :D back at ya!; 4/10/12, 8:38 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Who would have thought that in the last year of Obama's presidential term, the public mind would obsess over race at this level?

I did. The man is a race huslter, seething in hate and is purposely dividing the country in order to create chaos and to seize permanent power.

Don't be so surprised. All you had to do was just look at the man. Look at who he associates with, LISTEN to him and....get your head out of your nether regions.

And so.....now what are we going to do about it?; 4/10/12, 8:39 AM
dreams said...: No telling how many people voted for Obama while symbolically patting themselves on the back for being such a wonderful person voting for a black man for President. Not me, I didn't vote for him.; 4/10/12, 8:40 AM
Tank said...: Zero makes clear through his appointee, Holder, that they are with "their" people, the black vigilantes.

Anyone who thought Zero was different wasn't paying attention. More PC fantasy land make believe.; 4/10/12, 8:41 AM
dbp said...: Well, Obama did come out and talk about how Trayvon looks like what his son would look like if he had a son. That helped didn't it?; 4/10/12, 8:42 AM
Tank said...: Zero makes clear through his appointee, Holder, that they are with "their" people, the black vigilantes.

Anyone who thought Zero was different wasn't paying attention. More PC fantasy land make believe.; 4/10/12, 8:42 AM
Chef Mojo said...: Who would have thought that in the last year of Obama's presidential term, the public mind would obsess over race at this level?

Really, Althouse? You really stomped on the burning bag of poop on your front stoop?

Obama engineered this for a reason. The post-racial presidency was part and parcel with civility bullshit; a myth and nothing more.; 4/10/12, 8:42 AM
Patrick said...: Yes, we are still race obsessed. I believe there are two reasons for this - in no particular order. First, there are still racist people out there, and they are nasty, rotten souls.

Second, there are many, primarily in the Democratic party who have an interest in stirring up and highlighting racial tension, but actually helping to solve that tension would be against their interest. I've seen Sharpton stir up, and bring attention to many racial issues, even manufactured ones. I've never seen him do a damned thing to help resolve the issues.; 4/10/12, 8:44 AM
Lyssa said...: Leslyn: A Speech? Let's Speechify this away?

Yes, if the president of the US gave a speech reminding people of the importance of due process to our way of life, to let the justice system work, and that our law enforcement will not tolerate terroristic threats such as putting a bounty on a fellow citizen's head (and follow through), I do think that that would have an effect. The people doing this crap look up to the man, for whatever reason.

That is, if he actually believes this sort of thing.; 4/10/12, 8:46 AM
prairie wind said...: I'm recalling the media coverage of election night, 2008, and the inauguration, when there was a rhapsody of closure and a feeling — some called it "hope" — that we had entered a new era of harmony.

Rhapsody, closure, hope, new era of harmony... Come on, Crack! Where are you??; 4/10/12, 8:47 AM
Anonymous said...: '...Usually a conservative initiates the conversation sayin' they have never had a racist thought in their life..."

It's those conservative 'thoughts' that are so vexing. Thus the need for some Federal thought-police to unmask these poseurs and a Re-education Department to realign their thinking.; 4/10/12, 8:49 AM
Quaestor said...: You are such an incisive and analytic thinker, shiloh. Perhaps you, as one of the few followers of Althouse with any integrity and human decency can explain to the knuckle-dragging conservative troglodytes how the leaders of the New Black Panther Party can offer a bounty on a person who is neither a fugitive nor the subject of an arrest warrant, which in the circumstances amounts to solicitation to commit a felony, specifically kidnapping, (18 USC § 373) and yet remain free of any enforcement action from the DOJ?; 4/10/12, 8:50 AM
rhhardin said...: The more politically correct you are, the more race obsessed you are.

The paradox is that the un-PC don't give race a thought.

They think past it.

As in, for instance, wondering why the blacks have such awful leaders.

It's because they're PC too.; 4/10/12, 8:55 AM
pm317 said...: How did we get sucked into some nightmare parody of the past? If it's not Obama's fault, can he at least do something to yank us up out of this awful place? In 2009 or even 2011, he would have given a speech. He would have believed he could rescue us with a speech,

Oh, come on, Ann. You didn't see this coming? That Obama was plastic Jesus and that he is all about just him. He was never into bringing harmony between races and being a post-racial president. If ever, he made people like you guilty so you would vote for him. Now of course, he can't afford to lose the AA vote. Why would he start singing Rodney King, can't we all get along together?; 4/10/12, 8:56 AM
traditionalguy said...: If you want the opinion of a clearly insane, irrational, neurotic, likely stroke victim, then keep reading. If not scroll past.

The marked improvement in race relations since Obama's election raised hopes in black minds that they were finally to recieve the same protections as whites have recieved.

Zimmerman's stupid shooting in the dark would have meant little to anyone if legal process had been used and black children's shooting deaths were actually were being treated as worthy of equal legal protection.

Oops. That was too hard for Florida to even attempt. Which a month later resulted in an out cry for justice.

Oops. The Zimmermans must now act as they are victims who claim to have been targeted for lynching if anyone makes justice demands.

In fact it is the Martins who have been rational, polite, restrained and smart through this of their son's death that was covered up by the Police Chief and DA.

It has been the Victim Status Claiming Zimmerman family who have been putting out a race war confrontation with lynch mobs meme for sympathy to get their stupid son out of routine legal trouble.

The result has been a drumbeat of racism cries to incite all loyal whites to war is playing perfectly into Obama's hands. He can now use his smile to send his message out to the independents, who elected him for being black 3 years ago, that he is the solution to the racial tension that seemed to go away but now is back again.

Obama sincerely needs to thank the Zimmerman's for their tactics that have prevented a Judicial determination of their son's acts and made it into a defend the white race issue.; 4/10/12, 8:57 AM
Hagar said...: I think Holder could wind up with a nervous breakdown, but for the White House it is just useful for the coming election.; 4/10/12, 8:57 AM
Rialby said...: I did. It's his fault.; 4/10/12, 8:59 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I don't know how many of you are watching the video clip I put up, but it's truly sad -- for anyone who has ever loved/liked Obama -- to watch that now.; 4/10/12, 9:00 AM
JimMuy said...: I suppose Althouse still stands by her assertion that Obama's "my son would look like Trayvon" was a good thing.; 4/10/12, 9:01 AM
Ann Althouse said...: If Obama or his campaign advisers are looking at the racial discord in this country and thinking this is going to help the reelection... I hope at least Obama thinks: this isn't the way I want it to happen.; 4/10/12, 9:02 AM
rhhardin said...: Mark Steyn sides with Derbyshire, with the same point as I had, namely it's an excellent place to start a discussion.

With a couple of back-and-forths, the PC-obsession puzzle could have been solved, starting with what seemed to be its opposite.; 4/10/12, 9:02 AM
Rialby said...: I have to believe this is just comment bait because Ann cannot truly think the answers to those questions are not straightforward. The fact is that Obama ran on race, won because of race and needs race to win again. He will do whatever he can to ensure that race is relevant to the election.

Had they not seized on the killing in Sanford, they would have seized on the murders in Tulsa.; 4/10/12, 9:03 AM
bagoh20 said...: I love how we are sometimes admonished here to not be suckers, to use our heads, to not fall for the propaganda, to be a careful consumer of the information out there, to use "cruel neutrality". Maybe an example of such would help us. We aren't all such quick studies. I'm having trouble seeing how it helps. It certainly makes sense that it would help you cut through to the truth, but I just ain't seeing it yet. Can I get a tutor to help me?; 4/10/12, 9:03 AM
Rialby said...: "I hope at least Obama thinks: this isn't the way I want it to happen."

Exitus acta probat; 4/10/12, 9:04 AM
Sorun said...: Obama & Holder are one-trick ponies. They only know how to blame stuff on white people. If they can't do that, they can't do anything.; 4/10/12, 9:07 AM
pm317 said...: Ann Althouse said...

I don't know how many of you are watching the video clip I put up, but it's truly sad -- for anyone who has ever loved/liked Obama -- to watch that now.
----------------------

Ann, give us, Hillary supporters from primary 2008 credit for seeing the real Obama. We wrote about this outcome time after time -- I personally have written posts for another blog during that time. Many of you were wrapped up in Clinton hate so much so that you didn't want to give her a chance and you gave the wrong candidate the opportunity of a life time and what has he done with it? Now you feel sad?! No, you should feel shame, guilt for hoisting this plastic Jesus on all of us.; 4/10/12, 9:07 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Hate sells - just ask Rev. Wright.; 4/10/12, 9:07 AM
rhhardin said...: On the video, gender difference is pretty important, apparently.

Women are a Linda Lovelace of hot buttons.; 4/10/12, 9:10 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: You bought all that bull crap in that speech? Seriously? You a law professor ;-)

It is full of nothing but Glittering Generalities. Anyone with a semblance of critical thinking skills would have/should have been able to see that there is no there there. A speech full of nothing but hot air.

If Obama or his campaign advisers are looking at the racial discord in this country and thinking this is going to help the reelection.

Of course they are. This is the plan. To divide the country into warring factions. Class warfare. Racial warfare.

Then....steal the election through fraud.

Fraudulent donations through, ONCE AGAIN, allowing illegal campaign donations on the internet by removing the required verification safeguards.

Fraud in voter registration

Fraud in not allowing states to institute voter ID.

Fraud fraud fraud. THIS is what you voted for and what you evidently are still lusting for.

WAKE UP!!; 4/10/12, 9:10 AM
Petunia said...: Oh, good lord, this was entirely predictable. Anyone who didn't see Obama for exactly what he is way back in 2008 either wasn't looking or didn't care to look because it would have burst their pathetic hope and change bubble.; 4/10/12, 9:14 AM
Fr Martin Fox said...: I'm curious: have the Zimmermans, or their allies, started stoking up Hispanic anger?

President Obama has to hope and pray they don't. If some Hispanic Sharpton or Jackson comes on the scene--if Mr. Zimmerman is arrested again--won't that be lovely?

It would serve this Administration right, given their craven manipulation of this situation.; 4/10/12, 9:15 AM
Patrick said...: I watched the first few minutes, it was all I could take. I noted his railing against cynicism, but really he's done little since the election to give us reason for anything but cynicism. Perhaps he wanted better than he has delivered, especially on race issues. Perhaps he even thinks that what he is doing helps, rather than hurts race relations. But, many of his supporters do not want race relations to be better. Their livelihoods depend upon racial animosity, and they do not want it to go away. If he wants to make a change, he can start by shutting them down.; 4/10/12, 9:16 AM
Tim said...: Ann Althouse said...

"If Obama or his campaign advisers are looking at the racial discord in this country and thinking this is going to help the reelection... I hope at least Obama thinks: this isn't the way I want it to happen."

Fair enough - we all "hope at least Obama thinks: this isn't the way I want it to happen" - but chances are, given his silence since, he's made his choice: ...but I'll take it anyway."

Simply put, it's a math problem. He got 53% of the voters to buy into his sham, and now, the sham having been exposed, he knows he isn't going to get all those votes again. So he goes his base, figures the Republican base won't be so jacked up for Romney, and figures "I need to get them all fired up, argue Romney turns back the clock, favors the rich, and then take my chances."

So, in order, the most reliable cohorts of his base are Blacks and single white women. We can all complete the picture from here.

And yes, it is that cynical.; 4/10/12, 9:16 AM
Known Unknown said...: Methinks PT Barnum would have a field day with you, Madame.; 4/10/12, 9:19 AM
Tom Spaulding said...: for anyone who has ever loved/liked Obama

I don't love politicians. I don't project the "Hopes of a Nation" onto one man. I don't feel sad when liars are exposed as liars. I don't act surprised when unskilled, naive, un-vetted charlatans gain massive political power and have no idea how to govern or solve a single problem.

And I truly don't understand why any rational person would.; 4/10/12, 9:20 AM
bagoh20 said...: I'm sure most of us have interracial personal relationships among our friends or work associates. How does that almost always seem to work out just fine without much friction, and with everyone treating each other as equals?

Can you imagine among your interracial group that you would elevate a person based on race or talk about race in condescending ways where one person in your group was coddled or treated like they needed special help from the rest of you because of his race.

How do you think that would work out for the group?

How do we treat each other instead that creates the more cordial, friendly and supportive situation of our personal relationships?

I'll tell you. You treat each other as equals with race being a problem that other, stupid people have. When it comes to race, you either completely ignore it or you make fun of the concept even to the point of ribbing each other about it, including, yes, even the terrifying racial jokes, which go all directions without hurt.
In short, you acknowledge race, but treat it like the stupid concept it is, something fools take serious and a relic from the past which smart decent people we are beyond.; 4/10/12, 9:20 AM
Tim said...: bagoh20 said...

"I love how we are sometimes admonished here to not be suckers, to use our heads, to not fall for the propaganda, to be a careful consumer of the information out there, to use "cruel neutrality". Maybe an example of such would help us. We aren't all such quick studies. I'm having trouble seeing how it helps. It certainly makes sense that it would help you cut through to the truth, but I just ain't seeing it yet. Can I get a tutor to help me?"

Yes.

First, reject all advice on how to think from anyone who voted for Obama.

They failed.

Why would anyone ever listen to them for anything but entertainment value?; 4/10/12, 9:22 AM
Known Unknown said...: "I don't know how many of you are watching the video clip I put up, but it's truly sad -- for anyone who has ever loved/liked Obama -- to watch that now."

Cults of personality are terrible things, no matter where on the political spectrum one exists.

I have never loved a politician nor will I ever. I keep a skeptical distance from them, left or right.

First off, they're human beings — fallible creatures who will make mistakes and missteps.

Secondly, to believe that an omnipotent central presence can be the solver of problems when people's problems are infinite is folly.; 4/10/12, 9:22 AM
Shanna said...: If it's not Obama's fault, can he at least do something to yank us up out of this awful place?

He already took a side. That was his contribution.; 4/10/12, 9:23 AM
James said...: >>Lyssa said:

This really could happen to anyone who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and of a disfavored race. It's truely terrifying.<<

What could?; 4/10/12, 9:27 AM
Rialby said...: Look in my eyes, what do you see? Cult of personality. I know your anger, I know your dreams. I've been everything you want to be. I'm the cult of personality. Like Mussolini and Kennedy. I'm the cult of personality.

Neon lights, Nobel Prize. When a mirror speaks, the reflection lies. You won't have to follow me. Only you can set me free.

I sell the things you need to be. I'm the smiling face on your TV. I'm the cult of personality. I exploit you, still you love me. I told you one and one make three. I'm the cult of personality. Like Joseph Stalin and Gandhi.; 4/10/12, 9:29 AM
ricpic said...: It's all about revving up Barry's base. Deaths by demagogy are perfectly acceptable collateral damage.; 4/10/12, 9:30 AM
Rialby said...: You gave me fortune. You gave me fame. You gave me power in your God's name. I'm every person you need to be. I'm the cult of personality.; 4/10/12, 9:30 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: I'm curious: have the Zimmermans, or their allies, started stoking up Hispanic anger?

@ Fr. Fox.

They don't need to. There already exists a lot of friction and animosity between the Hispanic community and Blacks. They are not 'friends' or likely to be anytime soon.

Obama may think that because Hispanics are classified as minority, that he can herd them around with the same tactics and impunity as he can Blacks, but he is wrong.

Their social dynamic is different from Blacks. "Hispanic" is a very diverse group, not monolithic and to think that Obama can make an alliance between the groups is delusional.; 4/10/12, 9:32 AM
ricpic said...: ...have the Zimmermans, or their allies, started stoking up Hispanic anger?

La Raza can't get excited about a White Hispanic. And that's no joke.; 4/10/12, 9:36 AM
James said...: As an aside, over the weekend NBC ran a piece on To Kill a Mockingbird. This year is the 50th anniversary of the movie and the White House hosted a special screening of the remake last week.

During the piece the actress who played Scout gushed how Obama told her at the screening that To Kill a Mockingbird was his favorite movie and that it was one of his inspirations for studying law.

I also seem to recall her recounting that he made a connection between TKTM and Trayvon Martin, but I'm less certain about this. I thought it all quite odd and spent some time Googling "Obama favorite movie." I came across lots of mentions of the movies he enjoys but To Kill a Mockingbird is on none of those lists.; 4/10/12, 9:36 AM
SGT Ted said...: This is how it works when you have a racist Attorney General of the United States. He obviously despises white people and elevates blacks over them when it comes to the law.; 4/10/12, 9:38 AM
The Unknown Pundit said...: Without AfAm's voting for Democrats at a 90-95% clip, the Democrats would find themselves in the electoral wilderness. The Democrats therefore do everything they can to retain this voting block. One of the ways they've done it over the years is to portray their opponents as racists.

I actually find it amusing that the good Prof. seems genuinely befuddled by our continuing racial problems and distractions given the Left's constant beating of the racial drums.

I recall a Republican led initiative back in the 1990's in California to re-work the method of teaching English to non-English speaking students. California was grauduating immigrant students that couldn't speak or read English. English speaking students whose families had lived in California for generations were being placed into Spanish-only classes because their last names were Latino. It was a real mess.

The Republican plan was to reform the cirriculum so students would be mainstreamed into English speaking classes within 2-3 years. Pretty simple really.

Of course, to the Left, these reforms weren't just mis-guided, unworkable, etc. No, they were racists too. Evidently the fact that a very nice wealthy Republican business man thought our public schools should teach English to immigrants more quickly than before makes it racist.

The measure passed and proved to be quite successful at taking non-English speaking students and getting them ready to join the rest of the student body. A couple of years after the reforms were in place and working, one of the SF papers did some follow-up interviews with a few of the reform measure's most vocal opponents. They were all surprised the reforms were working so well.

But none of them ever apologized for all the awful things they said about Ron Unz and the other Repubs that led the way on the popular and successful reforms.

Being on the Left means never having to say your sorry.; 4/10/12, 9:38 AM
Luke Lea said...: Obama's problem is that he publically identifies exclusively as a "black" American and plays that role whenever these kinds of controversies come up. (Remember the Skip Gates case, and the Bell case down in Louisiana before that?)

Instead of identifying with one race he should re-write his original keynote address to the Democratic Party: "There is no black America, there is no white America, there is only the United States of America." An even handed approach would not only be just but politically expedient. Isn't that obvious? It should be.; 4/10/12, 9:39 AM
Quaestor said...: Ann Althouse wrote:
I hope at least Obama thinks: this isn't the way I want it to happen.

I believe it's a vain hope. The Obama campaign has been draped in messianic trappings from the very beginning, if not in accordance with Obama's specific wishes then at least with his acquiescence. I'll give you ab example. In 2008 decent people were outraged by this vile use of children by Obama's myrmidons. Perhaps he had nothing to do with it beforehand, perhaps he was ignorant of the planning and execution, but by the same token he did nothing to discourage or suppress its publication after the fact, nor did he disavow that disgusting spectacle as something more befitting a totalitarian dictator than the apology of someone seeking the highest office of a free republic. Giving him the benefit of every doubt rendered Obama nothing more in my judgement than a feckless tool in the hands of the enemies of liberty.

A messiah believes he is indispensable to the happiness of his people, that the alternative to his mission is ruin and damnation. When one sees the world in this light any measure useful to the messiah's goals are both just and necessary.; 4/10/12, 9:42 AM
Fr Martin Fox said...: DBQ, Ricpic:

I'm not that good at prognostication, but here goes...

In the event Mr. Zimmerman is arrested and charged, let's see if someone tries to take advantage of this. I agree, La Raza may not care; but if I were looking for a career as a race hustler, this is an opportunity.

When it happens, watch Obama and Holder & Co. to wake up suddenly and start bleating about civility.; 4/10/12, 9:45 AM
SGT Ted said...: There already exists a lot of friction and animosity between the Hispanic community and Blacks.

Thats the dirty little secret of minority on minority racism and ethnic cleansing of ghetto neighborhoods by Mexican drug gangs in Southern California that would make a Klanner blush that is completely ignored by the Liberal Establishment still bent on blaming whites for ghetto violence in 2012.

They also hate on gays much in the same manner and that is ignored or excused too.

They'll blame white Mormons, Catholics, Baptists for the voluntary actions and outspokeness of black community Church leaders and their congregations who openly oppose gay rights.

It fits right in to Eric Holders racist template of Blacks = good people, whites = closet racists.; 4/10/12, 9:47 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: If the Black Panther bounty succeeds in inspiring someone to actually kill Zimmerman, what will that do for Obama's chances in Nov?

Do we call that "hope" or "change"?; 4/10/12, 9:47 AM
bagoh20 said...: As I watch the video, I'm struck by how much power and opportunity this man was given, how much freedom he had at that time to do great things. Then I think of the man we gave it all to, what his history was, his resume, his real ideas which were revealed before and only occasionally during the campaign. This man was uniquely the wrong person to pull the sword from the stone, but even more flawed is the idea that a single man would ever fulfill that fantasy.

While he could never heal the divides single-handed, but he could have made enormous difference in the right direction if he simply refused to take sides other than the side of justice and right as laid out in the constitution.

One of his biggest failures was the New Black Panthers voter intimidation. He should have jumped on that. When he did not, he set a bad example, and signaled a lack of respect for all of us, and an unwillingness to face up to the challenges before him.

We simply gave an enormous job to a very small man with a speech writer. I hope we can move on from this mistake and take this responsibility seriously now.; 4/10/12, 9:47 AM
cubanbob said...: Get ready for November. Unless there is an unprecedented landslide for the republicans the democrats are preparing for another myth of how the election was stolen.; 4/10/12, 9:47 AM
Original Mike said...: "Who would have thought that in the last year of Obama's presidential term, the public mind would obsess over race at this level?"

Me; And a lot of other posters here as well, during the 2008 campaign.; 4/10/12, 9:48 AM
Rialby said...: "Do we call that "hope" or "change"?"

Change. From live to dead.; 4/10/12, 9:52 AM
SGT Ted said...: Evidently the fact that a very nice wealthy Republican business man thought our public schools should teach English to immigrants more quickly than before makes it racist.

Dude, that was about the money they were going to lose, because each of those non-english speaking students brings in half again more money from the state and feds than an ordinary student.

The gravy train was going to come to a halt for the LAUSD packed with the children of illegals if they actually learned to speak English. The LAUSD had dumped them in classrooms under a ESL curriculum that guaranteed they wouldn't learn Eglish very fast, if at all.

Its always about getting more of other peoples money with the neo-commies who call themselves liberal.; 4/10/12, 9:55 AM
LordSomber said...: Since it's an election year, I was waiting for a racial incident to be ginned up by the media. And it happened. I'm sure there will be another between now and November.; 4/10/12, 9:59 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Thats the dirty little secret of minority on minority racism and ethnic cleansing of ghetto neighborhoods by Mexican drug gangs in Southern California that would make a Klanner blush that is completely ignored by the Liberal Establishment still bent on blaming whites for ghetto violence in 2012

Absolutely. The media and leftists ignore this because it doesn't fit into their preconceived world view of White people bad oppressors---Minorities oppressed and good.

Now we also have the Black community race hustlers like Marion Barry ginning up racial hatred against "dirty Asians" Gee. Where is Obama to heal the rift on this one?

I remember back in the LA riots after the Rodney King fiasco, that the stores owned by those same Marion Barry named dirty Asians were specifically targeted for looting.

However, since the Koreans and Vietnamese who owned those stores had come from an already totalitarian and oppressive regime...they were prepared. With armed guards, shotguns, rifles and AK47's on top of their establishments: ready and willing to mow down the restless natives.

20 years later....same shit....same people....same answer.

I was rooting for the Koreans. I still am.; 4/10/12, 10:04 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: It is Obama's fault. He hired an attorney general obsessed with white "racism" and and indifferent to black criminals. Look at the way Justice turns a blind eye to the Black Panthers, and how Holder plays "see no evil, hear no evil" when it comes to vote fraud. Obama ONLY speaks up when the "victim" is black and he can step in and appear to comfort the afflicted while fanning the flames of hatred toward all whites. Obama is not just a racist: he's an evil racist bent on stoking as much animosity among races as possible in his one term as Chief Executive.; 4/10/12, 10:06 AM
pm317 said...: Ann Althouse wrote:
I hope at least Obama thinks: this isn't the way I want it to happen.
---------------

You think when it happened the first time, it did differently? You have forgotten all the 'you're racist if you didn't support Obama' statements.; 4/10/12, 10:07 AM
Lyssa said...: James said (quoting me): This really could happen to anyone who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and of a disfavored race. It's truely terrifying.<<

What could?

We could find ourselves in a situation where a person of a different race was severely injured or killed, which may or may not be our fault, but with no benefit of a trial or legal process, find a media anxious to lie and distort to blame us, and find ourselves at the wrong end of lynch mobs and bounty hunters, threatening not just us but our families, with no law enforcement willing to stand in the way and no due process or justice.

Seriously, have you just not been paying attention?; 4/10/12, 10:15 AM
grackle said...: I'm recalling the media coverage of election night, 2008, and the inauguration, when there was a rhapsody of closure and a feeling — some called it "hope" — that we had entered a new era of harmony. How did we get sucked into some nightmare parody of the past?

With all due respect what's happening now is not "some nightmare parody of the past." It's standard Progressive stategy, tactics and technique - replete with Sharpton fanning the flames just as Sharpton did in 1987 with the Tawana Brawley hoax.

Back then we had a President who had more sense than to interject himself into the controversy. As for the "rhapsody" during Obama's inauguration - the rapture was mostly confined to the folks who voted for Obama - some of who knew full well what to expect from Obama and who are quite happy with race-baiting, some others who naively bought into the hope and change crap.

The rest of us were a bit more sober in our mental state when Obama won the election. And we are not now surprised at the MSM's multiple race-baiting duplicities, Obama's flame-fanning public pronouncement and other idiocies from various Lefty quarters.

We will not be surprised if Zimmerman is rail-roaded into prison by fearful(of the mob screaming for Zimmerman's hide to be nailed to the wall of racial hysteria) or simply opportunistic local legal authorities.; 4/10/12, 10:15 AM
Hagar said...: Obama is not trying to solve problems, but rather trying to create problems that the people are then going to have to solve, which in theory is going to lead to a just society.

The Weatherman was/is not a "black" organisation.; 4/10/12, 10:20 AM
pm317 said...: Lyssa said...
----------------
In James' defense(I had the same question), your comment was confusing and hard to tell if you were talking about Martin or Zimmerman. But no worries.; 4/10/12, 10:23 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: One of the upsides of being older is that you have seen this before. The downside is...you really don't want to see it againdeja vu

History repeating itself...over and over.

Not planning to go near any large cities until well after this election....and maybe not ever again, depending on how it turns out.; 4/10/12, 10:26 AM
Original Mike said...: ""Who would have thought that in the last year of Obama's presidential term, the public mind would obsess over race at this level?""

During the campaign, a lot of claims of racism were made by the left in response to policy criticisms of Obama. I knew then that my initial hope of an Obama election soothing racial tensions were naive.; 4/10/12, 10:31 AM
Balfegor said...: Re: Mogget:

Eh, personally I think he likes us in this place. However, it may be that he does not think he can get us out of this place, so he is not willing to expend political capital in an attempt. In any case, it is futile to look to Obama for relief.

I don't think he likes us in this place. Although he seems to have been sympathetic to the original "racist shooting narrative", I don't think he explicitly endorsed it to the extent he did in the the circus around Professor Gates getting arrested for disorderly conduct.

I think what benefits him on the margin, electorally, is to have race salient in the minds of the white electorate, so that voting for him can be a symbolic rejection of those other whites, who are nasty and racist. And maybe having Al Sharpton or someone like that saying crazy things from time to time, so he can benefit from an implicit contrast that media commentators will occasionally make explicit for anyone who missed it the first time around.

Now, though, it's a Hispanic shooting a Black, and while you could force that into a pretty nasty narrative, if you really wanted to, Blacks vs. Hispanics is not a narrative the President (or the Democratic party) wants to introduce into the national discourse. Nor is "NBC fabricated audio evidence to suggest a man was racist."; 4/10/12, 10:31 AM
Caroline said...: '...Usually a conservative initiates the conversation sayin' they have never had a racist thought in their life..."

Right; he "initiates" the conversation right after he is branded a racist.

Interesting ploy; smear conservatives as racists and then call them race-obsessed when they dare to defend themselves.

It's contemptible.; 4/10/12, 10:33 AM
James said...: >>Lyssa said:
...Seriously, have you just not been paying attention?<<

What do you think?; 4/10/12, 10:35 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: Look at the way Justice turns a blind eye to the Black Panthers, and how Holder plays "see no evil, hear no evil" when it comes to vote fraud.

The later being why it is so hilarious that those guys were able to get Holder's ballot last week at his polling place by just giving his name and address.; 4/10/12, 10:36 AM
RonF said...: Who would have thought that in the last year of Obama's presidential term, the public mind would obsess over race at this level?

The public mind obsessed over race at this level during the election, so I can't see how this would be a surprise. The left blogosphere was full of accusations that Obama was so clearly the superior candidate that anyone who voted against him HAD to be racist, there was no other possible explanation for anyone to oppose him.

I'm recalling the media coverage of election night, 2008, and the inauguration, when there was a rhapsody of closure and a feeling — some called it "hope" — that we had entered a new era of harmony.

That was the picture that the MSM painted. They were very careful to only show us those who were rhapsodic. But that feeling wasn't shared by about 50% of the country, a great many who were angry to be portrayed as racists and were fearful of what Obama and a Democratic Congress would bring. They had their say in 2010, though.

How did we get sucked into some nightmare parody of the past?

It's not a parody of the past, it's the reality of the past. And our future, as long as people see race as the definitive characteristic of their identity and the overriding reason to support a candidate regardless of his or her political positions or their likely effects.

If it's not Obama's fault, can he at least do something to yank us up out of this awful place?

Sure. He could give a speech condemning groups like the New Black Panthers and reminding people that rushing to judgement is mob rule, not democracy. He could also send the DoJ against that group as an object lesson. But he won't. Why? Because he doesn't want to yank us out of the awful place. He sees it as being to his advantage. Welcome to politics Chicago-style. He's worried about being re-elected. He doesn't give a damn about George Zimmerman or his family. Unlike Trayvon Martin, they don't look like him.

In 2009 or even 2011, he would have given a speech. He would have believed he could rescue us with a speech, perhaps because we kind of thought he could. Maybe no one believes anymore. There's a hope vacuum, and look what's moving in.

He believes in using a racial narrative to gain political advantage. When a speech helps him with that, he'll give it. When it won't, he won't. Giving a speech to reduce racial polarization right now will hurt him with his base, so he'll keep his mouth shut.; 4/10/12, 10:37 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: it's a Hispanic shooting a Black, and while you could force that into a pretty nasty narrative, if you really wanted to

Of course you wouldn't know THIS if you listened to the MSM much.

Mr. Zimmerman is a WHITE hispanic. George first name and a Jewish sounding or White person sounding last name. Ooooh a twofer.

The hispanic side of Mr. Zimmerman is completely submerged under the White/Racist meme.

As I have said before, if his name was Jorge Garcia.....would we even be discussing this.

No, we would not. Obama got lucky.; 4/10/12, 10:37 AM
Caroline said...: "The more politically correct you are, the more race obsessed you are."

This bears repeating.; 4/10/12, 10:40 AM
Kirby Olson said...: He only cared about Trayvon because he looked like him. Anybody who doesn't look like him, he doesn't care about. Zimmerman looks different, therefore anybody can kill him, especially if those doing the killing look like him.; 4/10/12, 10:40 AM
Brennan said...: "Hope and Change" were ginned up slogans that any drunk would have sniffed out. That is if the drunk was getting tipsy on underground on Wabash St in Chicago.

Chicago is not a peaceful place. It's a war zone with window dressing.

The kid with no experience had tons of help along the way and David Axelrod guided him to this destination.; 4/10/12, 10:44 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: What is interesting is just the opposite of what Fr. Fox posited - that the Hispanic establishment has almost studiously avoided the ethnic issues here and has kept completely quiet, providing absolutely zero support for Zimmerman, despite him being just as Hispanic as Obama is Black (actually, maybe more, since his mitochondrial DNA is Hispanic, while Obama's is White).

But, if they can make a viable threat, by, for example, having Zimmerman's Hispanic relatives go on TV with this, then maybe they can get some positive response by the Administration, and, esp. Holder's DoJ. Last thing that the Dems want this election year is Black/Hispanic friction, with the Dems heavily on the side of the Blacks, who are going to vote for Obama, regardless. The question is how to frame or phrase the issue so that the Hispanics are brought into this.; 4/10/12, 10:44 AM
Anonymous said...: But "the public mind" is made up of political opportunists like Obama and Sharpton, media that need bleeding headlines, and professional do-gooders. They are obsessed, we aren't! The rest of us, the real people, have moved beyond race long ago.

IMHO Obama is a community agitator whose agitation has spun out of control. But he's using all the discord for his own purposes, just like he has for his entire career. Yes, there is eerie silence on Panther threats, and eerie silence on the several payback beatings by blacks since Trayvon's death.

I believe there will be riots and discord come election day. And the fault for that is on Obama, not the public. Maybe then we can recognize his racialism as the disgrace that it is.; 4/10/12, 10:44 AM
Balfegor said...: However, since the Koreans and Vietnamese who owned those stores had come from an already totalitarian and oppressive regime...they were prepared. With armed guards, shotguns, rifles and AK47's on top of their establishments: ready and willing to mow down the restless natives.

I am not the best person to make this argument, since I regularly refer, in jest, to native-born Americans as "natives." But I don't think that locution is appropriate to this situation.; 4/10/12, 10:46 AM
edutcher said...: Interestingly, Gallup's approval poll for Zero (useless, registered votes) notes he's losing Hispanic support.

Ann Althouse said...

Good lord, what an ugly place we are in right now. Who would have thought that in the last year of Obama's presidential term, the public mind would obsess over race at this level?

In the weeks before the election, I can recall several articles saying he would set race relations in this country back 50 years (not unlike the last Spanish Viceroy's estimate of Santa Anna, "This young man will cause all Mexico to weep").

And, as I remember '62 quite well, that's just about right; 4/10/12, 10:47 AM
Smilin' Jack said...: I'm recalling the media coverage of election night, 2008, and the inauguration, when there was a rhapsody of closure and a feeling — some called it "hope" — that we had entered a new era of harmony. How did we get sucked into some nightmare parody of the past?

You mean like, say, St. Petersburg, 1917?

The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.; 4/10/12, 10:50 AM
Peano said...: I'm recalling the media coverage of election night, 2008, and the inauguration, when there was a rhapsody of closure and a feeling — some called it "hope" — that we had entered a new era of harmony.

Those were the blind, stupid true believers. Anyone with an ounce of sense felt despair and dread for what was to come.; 4/10/12, 10:52 AM
Lyssa said...: Pm317 said: In James' defense(I had the same question), your comment was confusing and hard to tell if you were talking about Martin or Zimmerman. But no worries.

OK, fair enough. Apologies for being snotty, James.

And, of course, what happened to Martin could happen to anyone, too. Maybe not exactly, if he was the agressor (about which I am not expressing an opinion), but we're all always at risk of having our lives threatened by a misunderstanding, a blood thirsty punk, an innocent accident, or someone with more anxiety then sense.

But we've always known that, and no one's actively pushing it. This seems more terrifying because it is being pushed so strongly, by so many with real power, and it goes in such strong contrast to what we know is good and right in the American justice system.; 4/10/12, 10:53 AM
Dawnfire82 said...: "Racial diversion is good for his reelection because he needs energy and another record black turnout with a 95/5 vote split."

This.; 4/10/12, 10:54 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: @ Balfegor

Perhaps you are right, I was attempting some parody and levity and the other descriptions of the crowd and their depraved actions were worse.

Actually, given the uncontrolled (and encouraged) venom coming from the New Black Panthers, Obama, the DOJ......I'm tired of playing nicey nice and pretending that what is happening in front of my face, isn't happening.

Political correctness is a tool used by the foolish.; 4/10/12, 10:54 AM
Original Mike said...: "Those were the blind, stupid true believers."

I think there was a lot of self-delusion. Good people who wanted to believe.; 4/10/12, 10:57 AM
RonF said...: Barack Obama was a "community organizer" who failed to put together any projects that had any lasting effect in his community. Then he decided to run for political office, finally succeeding when he managed to successfully challenge enough of his primary opponent's nominating petition signatures that they got thrown off the ballot (winning the Democratic primary is tantamount to election in a majority-Chicago district).

As an Illinois State Senator, his job was to shut up and vote the way he was told by the Senate Majority leader. Oh, sure, you'll get to lead the charge on a bill or two, and you can even vote against them if a) you need to look good and b) they're sure they've got plenty of votes lined up. But otherwise it's go along to get along in the Illinois General Assembly.

Then he got elected Senator because the Illinois GOP would literally rather lose an election than to support a non-establishment incumbent - especially after that incumbent put a U.S. Attorney General in that was nobody's buddy and who did his job to the tune of putting some 60+ corrupt elected officials and lobbyists in jail, including our last two governors. So the GOP shot themselves in the foot, emptied the gun in their foot, reloaded, and emptied it into their other foot. They forced the incumbent to quit. Then they put up a candidate that had gone through an ugly divorce with a sex symbol TV actress. When he quit in the middle of the campaign they put up a extremely conservative candidate who lived in Maryland at the time they nominated him. Oh, and the State GOP chairman had to resign because he was caught using State employees to run his political operation on State time and money, and NO ONE WOULD TAKE THE JOB for 30 days in the middle of the election! So Obama cruised to election.

He's a Chicago politician through and through. He can't lead a starving dog to a pound of hamburger. "Love" or even "like" are fine on a personal basis, but have no place being associated with him politically.; 4/10/12, 10:57 AM
Christopher in MA said...: What's the matter, leslyn? Offended at the term Little Black Jesus? Would you have preferred "chimp," which was your tribe's preferred perjorative for Bush?

After eight years of the crap you swine spewed at him, ask me if I care.

Screaming "RACIST!" doesn't work anymore, honeybun. Card's played out, band's broken up, show's over.

It only works on guilty whites and Democrats who - and from a purely political viewpoint, I must admire it - have pulled off the greatest con job in American history, convincing millions of people that the party which started the Civil War birthed the Klan, opposed the Civil Rights Act and murdered, set loose dogs and fired water cannons on Freedom Riders actually loves blacks.; 4/10/12, 11:09 AM
Brian Brown said...: From this morning's news:

Sanford police car shot near Trayvon Martin scene

Such a racial healer, that Obama...; 4/10/12, 11:10 AM
Cedarford said...: Bruce Hayden said...
What is interesting is just the opposite of what Fr. Fox posited - that the Hispanic establishment has almost studiously avoided the ethnic issues here and has kept completely quiet, providing absolutely zero support for Zimmerman, despite him being just as Hispanic as Obama is Black (actually, maybe more, since his mitochondrial DNA is Hispanic, while Obama's is White).

But, if they can make a viable threat, by, for example, having Zimmerman's Hispanic relatives go on TV with this, then maybe they can get some positive response by the Administration, and, esp. Holder's DoJ. Last thing that the Dems want this election year is Black/Hispanic friction, with the Dems heavily on the side of the Blacks, who are going to vote for Obama, regardless. The question is how to frame or phrase the issue so that the Hispanics are brought into this.

========================
Pretty simple, Zimmerman's lawyers have his Peruvian mother start giving interviews galore on spanish-language outlets like Telemundo talking about what a good son he is and how the media ignores black on Latino crimes.

How the Obama Administration ignores blacks making threats on her sons, and her own life. How she is now in fear and hiding from angry blacks.
How Latinos need to stand up to the criminals who prey on immigrants.

(Obama forgets that Latins are now the 2nd largest ethnic group in America..he takes them for granted and forgets they are quite divergent in many aspects from blacks of similar socioeconomic class. Or, as mentioned, how established latino neighborhoods that once lived alongside the black underclass have concluded that cleansing the black element out will reduce crime.); 4/10/12, 11:17 AM
Chef Mojo said...: Screaming "RACIST!" doesn't work anymore, honeybun. Card's played out, band's broken up, show's over.

Language matters. When the left has debased the meaning of racism to include simple political opposition, it's time to stick a fork in it. It's done. It's meaningless.

Go ahead and call me "racist." See if I give a fuck.; 4/10/12, 11:21 AM
PatHMV said...: Remember when you defended the President's comments on this matter a week or so ago? I pointed out then that the President's remarks were conspicuous, and bad, because of what they left out. Namely, a call for calm, a reassurance to those who were literally getting up in arms about it, and a reminder to that segment of our population that justice would be served, but that we must all be patient and let the system work. He left that part out, in my opinion, because he wanted to foment the crisis in order to gain political advantage. It was recklessly irresponsible.; 4/10/12, 11:23 AM
Blue@9 said...: Good grief, this country is losing its fucking mind over this shooting. Look at what this bullshit has now brought us. It doesn't matter what the facts are anymore--beliefs have taken hold and attitudes have hardened.

Can you imagine what's going on through prosecutors' minds right now? If they don't charge Zimmerman, they're looking at possible riots and even exposing themselves to this kind frothing hatred. If they do charge him, they'll be accused of succumbing to political pressure.

Great job, race-hustlers. Thanks for turning this into a "teachable moment" before most of the facts are even known.; 4/10/12, 11:24 AM
Balfegor said...: Cedarford:

Or, as mentioned, how established latino neighborhoods that once lived alongside the black underclass have concluded that cleansing the black element out will reduce crime.)

I, uh . . . given that the people on the forefront of these low-level ethnic cleansing efforts are members of criminal gangs themselves, I rather doubt they have much of an interest in reducing crime, as such. If they weren't also targeting innocent Black civilians, it would be easy to assume they were motivated solely by the desire to drive out criminal rivals.; 4/10/12, 11:25 AM
SGT Ted said...: However, since the Koreans and Vietnamese who owned those stores had come from an already totalitarian and oppressive regime...they were prepared. With armed guards, shotguns, rifles and AK47's on top of their establishments: ready and willing to mow down the restless natives.

I deployed for riot duty for that one. We would wave to the armed Koreans as we drove by to secure other areas. The Koreans knew they were targets of black racist hostility to their success in black neighborhoods. They planned accordingly.; 4/10/12, 11:29 AM
KCFleming said...: Our fragile experiment in representative democracy is over.

The left has pretty much won; only Justice Kennedy siding with Obamacare and one more presidential election to mop it up.

Now we are balkanized by race and class and gender and sexuality.

The next step is not harmony but violence. No wonder ammo and gun sales are up.

Thanks, Mr. President.; 4/10/12, 11:29 AM
mrkwong said...: I'm pretty confident that the 'white Hispanic' meme was concocted with the explicit intent of attempting to shield the administration from Hispanic backlash in the expectation that the DOJ would leap in and file hate-crime charges against Zimmerman. I would not even bet against it having been discussed or even coordinated at some level with DOJ.

We've heard it before that this administration has elected to walk away from the white working class, in favor of solidifying its support among the Prius-class urban white elite and its favored ethnic bases. I'm sure the administration would prefer to do this quietly, but their silence on the NBPP bounty shouts to the treetops where their priorities are.; 4/10/12, 11:38 AM
Dante said...: Consider what it meant to you when Obama said "If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon?"

You might think of it as a man expressing his deep sympathy to a person who has lost a son.

Now imagine you are a NBP, so insanely angry with hate you put out a $10,000 wanted dead or alive poster, and you hear those same words. Now how are you going to interpret those words?

P.S. I sometimes get a kick out of the verification words. Last one was "porkinfo"!; 4/10/12, 11:42 AM
Nora said...: I was watching Obama since his appearance at the Democratic Convention in 2004. He started his speech then with a reference to his race.

"In 2009 or even 2011, he would have given a speech. He would have believed he could rescue us with a speech, perhaps because we kind of thought he could."

He is busy giving speeches at fundrizers. Is he at the WH at all?

I think that Obama is interested in in any social unrest. I'm expecting some turmoil starting in summer, that will be much worse than OWS, with Socialist Internacional/anarchist involment. I think that people should get ready to it. I suspect that Obama and lefties tactic for victory will involve scaring people into voting for Obama. His faithful spin team, aka media, will threated people that if a Republican gets into WH, more disturbances, i.e left wing banditism, will follow. ... and Obama will remain quiet in the best case, and actively supportive in the worst.
I think that him signing an order that gives him extra powers in emergency was not excidental, and the media' virtual gag on it also.; 4/10/12, 11:43 AM
Cedarford said...: Balefegor -
You kind of miss that gangs form in neighborhoods not just for criminal activity, but "protection".
Protection is important. It wins gangs community support. Sometime in the late 80s, early 90s, enough Latins were in the SW that they decided they would have better and safer communities and schools if the blacks left majority-hispanic neighborhoods.
Now, as DBQ can vouch, you have largely black-free barrios in LA, where it is known to black thugs they take their life in their hands venturing in to do rapes, armed robberies, sell drugs.
To be sure, the Latin gangs benefit because they sell drugs instead of the blacks and get a bit of consideration and protection money from businesses and illegals......but violent crime is way down. No more blacks killing Latin bodega storekeeps, no more black youths jumping illegals and robbing them, no more black on latin rapes.
And it is just "outsider" American blacks. Asians, whites, hispanics with mixed blood and a few righteous blacks that are intermarried are welcome.

The story in some Asian gangs out West...and in Florida, the Carribean black neighborhoods, is the same. The gangs formed in large part to protect the people from American black thugs to win support...and of course keep the blacks out of the local drug trade and shakedowns..; 4/10/12, 11:43 AM
bgates said...: Who would have thought that in the last year of Obama's presidential term, the public mind would obsess over race at this level?

When you turn the faucet to "Hot", and hot water comes out, does that surprise you?

How did we get sucked into some nightmare parody of the past?

By Obama and his supporters, sucking.; 4/10/12, 11:48 AM
Brian Brown said...: leslyn,

The last two-term President of the party you vote for proudly gave J. William Fulbright, an unapologetic segregationist the Presidential Medial of Freedom, and the party you vote for sent a former KKK Kleagle to the US Senate for over 30 years.

Democrats elect racists.

Thanks for participating.; 4/10/12, 11:49 AM
gerry said...: Thje NAACP was originally an anti-lynching society. We need the same thing now for persons of non-color, to defend them against the hate of persons of color. How about NAANCP?; 4/10/12, 11:51 AM
Rabel said...: Jay said:

"From this morning's news:

Sanford police car shot near Trayvon Martin scene"

It was across the steet from Zimmerman's "gated community".

Car was unoccupied, left in a school parking lot as a deterrent. Ghost cars, or something, they call them.

Police responded when residents reported shots fired.

I suspect the Ninja Nazis. You can't see them or hear them because they're Ninjas, but they're there. Lurking, silent, deadly.

Someone was able to get off six shots within steps of Zimmerman's neighborhood. Police only knew when residents called it in.

Can we all, Red and Yellow, Black and White (and White Hispanic) agree that the Sanford PD is something less than a crack outfit. Or possibly a bunch of incompetent idiots.

Yesterday they closed the PD because of six protesters out front.

The police Chief put himself on paid leave when the Martin shooting went national, because...?; 4/10/12, 11:53 AM
Lawyer Mom said...: But why would he pull us out of this place just as it seeps over into Mormon space?
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mckaycoppins/romney-faces-challenge-on-mormonism-and-race; 4/10/12, 11:57 AM
Kirk Parker said...: "He doesn't give a damn about George Zimmerman or his family. Unlike Trayvon Martin, they don't look like him."

Well, the president really deserved the benefit of the doubt here: I doubt he really gives a damn about Martin or his family, either, beyond the fact of how they might be made useful to him.; 4/10/12, 11:58 AM
sakredkow said...: Obama can't solve our racial problems! Boo hoo!; 4/10/12, 12:01 PM
Moneyrunner said...: Ann, Of course you expected more of Obama during the 2008 campaign. Why would you not? You were tired of Bush and knew, just knew, that having that stupid Sarah Palin a heartbeat away from the presidency would be a disaster, after all she said she could see Russia from her house.

Meanwhile, a lot of us were wondering what Obama’s background was; who he associated with (because we had never heard of him before) and you can tell a lot about people by seeing who they have around him. That’s when we noticed Reverend Wright, his self-described spiritual advisor, Tony Rezko, Bill Ayers, the Chicago machine who sponsored him. And at first we wondered why more was not being made of this and then became infuriated when he was given the rock star treatment. No one since Tiger Woods have had such media treatment.

But we figured that if we saw his ethical flaws, his race-based politics, his embrace of terrorists who just happened to live in his neighborhood, that smart people like you would also see and vote for the lesser of two evils. We were wrong. But just in case, here’s a reminder.

Unknown, Untested, Inexperienced ... Chicago Machine Pol is the Next President of the US for the Next 4 Years.; 4/10/12, 12:03 PM
Nathan Alexander said...: How did we get sucked into some nightmare parody of the past? If it's not Obama's fault, can he at least do something to yank us up out of this awful place? In 2009 or even 2011, he would have given a speech.

The fact that this entire thread (and any other mention of Obama's involvement in other threads of the same topic) have gone without mentioning President Obama's previous connection to Derrick Bell's Critical Race Theory just shows how badly Senator Obama was vetted by the Media.

Of course, with her dishonest defense of Critical Race Theory, Soledad O'Brien created the strong impression it was an active whitewash of President Obama, not an incompetent failure to vet.

So that's how we got here: someone with extremely distasteful racist views was elected President of the US in 2008, in part because active care was taken to conceal his past.; 4/10/12, 12:03 PM
Fr Martin Fox said...: Bruce:

About Zimmerman's group possibly ginning up Hispanic rage...

It's simple really: that's where the rewards are.

If you play by the rules you're a sucker. If you don't, the government and the media will cater to you.

Sooner or later, someone in the Hispanic community is going to respond to the reward-system.; 4/10/12, 12:05 PM
bgates said...: The Confederacy had no political parties.

The states that made up the Confederacy gave most of their electoral votes to a Democrat in 1860. The Vice President of the Confederacy was elected to Congress as a Democrat before and after the Civil War. You suck.

Stephen Douglas rallied the Democrats behind Lincoln when Ft. Sumter was fired upon.

Except for those Democrats doing the firing, and the rest of the Democrats in the Confederacy. He probably did ok with the Democrats who later became the Copperheads.

The Ku Klux Klan was started by six confederate veterans/college students/Democrats.

Lyndon Johnson, a Democrat, signed the Civil Rights Act.

Once it got through Congress, with essential support from Republicans.; 4/10/12, 12:05 PM
Blue@9 said...: About Zimmerman's group possibly ginning up Hispanic rage...

It's simple really: that's where the rewards are.

If you play by the rules you're a sucker. If you don't, the government and the media will cater to you.

Pretty much. They'd be fools not to do so at this point. It's their only defense against being labeled white supremacists.; 4/10/12, 12:12 PM
Hagar said...: Lyndon Johnson, a Democrat, signed the Civil Rights Act.

Correct. And they have never forgiven him for it.

And let's look at that era of civil rights: It turned the political parties in circles. Before then blacks were Republicans and white southerners were Democrats, now it is the opposite.

Incorrect. Southern Blacks turned Democrat a long time before that, but I have never seen a good explanation for it. Perhaps it had to do with the Great Flood of 1927, Herbert Hoover throwing them under the bus, and Franklin Roosevelt promising them the moon and a chicken in every pot.

Southern whites always were a rather conservative lot (that is why all the "comity", etc. in Congress in those days. Other than on segregation, the Republicans and conservative Democrats agreed on many issues), and once Jim Crow was dead, they held their noses and went to voting Republican.; 4/10/12, 12:13 PM
Rabel said...: Kirk Parker:

"I doubt he really gives a damn about Martin or his family, either, beyond the fact of how they might be made useful to him."

Exactly.

You could substitute Ann Althouse for Martin. If she ever comes to understand that, she'll understand how we got to this "ugly place" we're in.

But that's just my opinion.; 4/10/12, 12:14 PM
damikesc said...: If Obama or his campaign advisers are looking at the racial discord in this country and thinking this is going to help the reelection... I hope at least Obama thinks: this isn't the way I want it to happen.

Professor, if he wins, he doesn't care how he does it.

This is a guy who thought it was vital to have a sealed divorce record unsealed to eliminate a rival.

Man, his "he looks my son" comment was, as per usual, bone-headed and idiotic.

Stop rewriting history. The Confederacy had no political parties.

They were ALL Democrats, hate to break it to you. Large swaths of the South didn't even hold Republican primaries until the 1950's because, literally, nobody was a Republican who they'd allow to vote.; 4/10/12, 12:17 PM
DADvocate said...: Who would have thought that in the last year of Obama's presidential term, the public mind would obsess over race at this level?

You have an immature, narcissist for a president. A guy who gave Hillary the finger during a debate while pretendintg to scratch his nose. The left wing have been spewing hate for over a decade.

There's no surprise here. The only question was what would be at the focus of the dispute. Age? Gender? Race? Religion? What would be the reasn for the Kristallnacht?; 4/10/12, 12:20 PM
Tank said...: Wow, and here I thought diversity was our strength.

I must of missed a memo or two.

Black vs. White.
Rich vs. Poor.
Brown vs. Black.
1% vs. 99%.

Damn confusing for us Tankers.; 4/10/12, 12:21 PM
shiloh said...: With the conservative disingenuous sarcasm flowing throughout ...

Yep, Althouse's conservative flock never disappoints! And of course has all the answers to America's race problem. Indeed, always black and white w/no grey area.

Althouse, you knew about Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright in 2008, so please tell us again why you voted for Obama? :-P Rhetorical.

As Crack used to mention, momentary delusions of grandeur lol.; 4/10/12, 12:22 PM
Brian Brown said...: Rabel said...

Can we all, Red and Yellow, Black and White (and White Hispanic) agree that the Sanford PD is something less than a crack outfit. Or possibly a bunch of incompetent idiots.

As compared to what? To Chicago?

Three months into 2012, Chicago has seen 114 homicides, representing a 35 percent spike in the city's murder rate compared to the same period last year.

Oh, and the Chicago police chief had to resign. Would you like me to make similar postings about LA, Philadelphia, Detroit, or DC?

Further, I don't want a society where police are on every corner.

Do you?; 4/10/12, 12:23 PM
MnMark said...: @bagoh20:
How do we treat each other instead that creates the more cordial, friendly and supportive situation of our personal relationships?

I'll tell you. You treat each other as equals with race being a problem that other, stupid people have.

...until the hurricane hits, after which you get the hell out of New Orleans before a group of blacks finds you wandering in the wrong neighborhood...

...or until you have children and need to move to a white area or send them to a private school so that the quality of their education and their personal safety is assured...

...or unless you're a tourist wandering at night in South Florida and get into a black neighborhood where you are stripped, robbed, and executed...

...or unless you're at the Wisconsin State Fair and a mob of blacks come running in your direction, robbing and beating white people in their path, laughing and shouting with glee...

...etc etc etc etc.; 4/10/12, 12:26 PM
Unknown said...: "Since when can a group of people in the United States put a bounty on someone’s head, circulate Wanted posters publicly, and still be walking the streets?"

Since Obama's inauguration.; 4/10/12, 12:29 PM
Quaestor said...: shiloh wrote:
Yep, Althouse's conservative flock never disappoints!

I could say the same about you. At 8:50 CDT I asked you explain something to me and the other troglodytes, yet you chose to ignore my request. May I draw the obvious conclusion?; 4/10/12, 12:32 PM
Anonymous said...: You can't argue with someone's feelings. I realized that when I noticed how the faces of my family would light up every time Obama's name was mentioned.

I hope for the best for this nation, and everyone in it.; 4/10/12, 12:32 PM
Brian Brown said...: ...or unless you're at the Wisconsin State Fair and a mob of blacks come running in your direction, robbing and beating white people in their path, laughing and shouting with glee...

Which is why in l'affaire Derbyshire, the left merely shouts "racist"! and engages in no real critique or discussion on the matter.; 4/10/12, 12:35 PM
shiloh said...: "...until the hurricane hits, after which you get the hell out of New Orleans before a group of blacks finds you wandering in the wrong neighborhood..."

5 New Orleans cops sentenced in Katrina-era slays

"Five former New Orleans police officers were sentenced Wednesday to prison terms ranging from six to 65 years for their roles in deadly shootings of unarmed residents on a bridge after Hurricane Katrina.

Kenneth Bowen, Robert Gisevius, Anthony Villavaso and Robert Faulcon were convicted of firearms charges in the shootings. Retired Sgt. Arthur "Archie" Kaufman, who was assigned to investigate the shootings, was convicted of helping orchestrate the cover-up."

Interesting Black cops can be just as corrupt as white cops! Who knew ?!?; 4/10/12, 12:36 PM
Richard Fagin said...: "Who would have thought that in the last year of Obama's presidential term, the public mind would obsess over race at this level?" Anyone with a reasonable capacity to judge personality and make inferences about a person's attitudes based on the character of his friends and associates.

The warning signs were clear and unambiguous prior to the 2008 election. The President himself has done little else but obsess over race and class since his trip through law school.; 4/10/12, 12:38 PM
pst314 said...: "Good lord, what an ugly place we are in right now. Who would have thought that in the last year of Obama's presidential term, the public mind would obsess over race at this level?...In 2009 or even 2011, he would have given a speech."

Anyone who had paid serious, careful attention to Obama's history knew that he was not a healer or bridge-builder. Those who said otherwise were at best deluded.; 4/10/12, 12:38 PM
shiloh said...: "May I draw the obvious conclusion?"

That I skip over your posts, just like Fen, edutcher, Alex, Jay et al? You may indeed! :); 4/10/12, 12:39 PM
Rabel said...: Jay asked me:

"Further, I don't want a society where police are on every corner.

Do you?"

Around the Zimmerman neighborhood, right now?

Absolutely.; 4/10/12, 12:40 PM
William said...: I'm sympathetic to Zimmerman. If, back when, I had a son with Justice Sotomayor (because she couldn't afford the exorbitant expense of birth control pills in law school), he would look like George Zimmerman.....The amount of hate being directed at Zimmerman is out of all proportion to his crime. He may have behaved clumsily that night, but he's not the Grand Kleagle of the KKK......I voted for David Dinkins as Mayor of NYC. He seemed like a decent man of courtly manners. Koch had had some contentious relations with the black community. It was felt that Dinkins would help to soothe things over. No such luck. Dinkins, like most blacks in publc life, could not find it in his heart to criticize the bomb throwers in his own community. Things got way out of hand. I just don't think electing a black executive does anythng positive for improving community relations.; 4/10/12, 12:49 PM
rcocean said...: "The states that made up the Confederacy gave most of their electoral votes to a Democrat in 1860. The Vice President of the Confederacy was elected to Congress as a Democrat before and after the Civil War. You suck."

Exactly. Almost all the Confedrates were Democrats before and after the Civil War.

People also forget that deep souht states like South Carolina voted for Al Smith, Stevenson, JFK and Carter. BTW, Texas voted for Humphrey, JFK, LBJ and FDR.

A large # of Southerners were New Deal democrats and Segregationists. See Fulbright, Gore, and Huey Long.; 4/10/12, 12:49 PM
Revenant said...: Obama doesn't care about white people.; 4/10/12, 12:50 PM
MnMark said...: @Pogo:
Our fragile experiment in representative democracy is over.

The left has pretty much won; only Justice Kennedy siding with Obamacare and one more presidential election to mop it up.

Now we are balkanized by race and class and gender and sexuality.

The next step is not harmony but violence. No wonder ammo and gun sales are up.

Thanks, Mr. President.

I think you're right that violence is coming, but it's not Obama's fault, particularly. Whether he was president or not, these conflicts would have come up in one way or another.

Western society is in the process of finding out happens when one implements the Marxist/liberal ideal of non-discrimination, of equality as the highest value. It is a nice idea in theory, but it is not congruent with the realities of life. But white people are the most idealistic race on earth, which is both one of our greatest strengths (giving us the least corrupt societies, for example, or spurring us to eliminate slavery not just in our own countries but around the world) and one of our greatest vulnerabilities. Because we are willing to die for an idea if we think it is what is right, and a lot of white people have decided that believing that race doesn't matter is the right thing to do, even if it gets them beaten, robbed, or killed. Even if it means whites will be a minority in the country their forefathers conquered and established for them and even if they are treated the way whites are treated in Zimbabwe and South Africa, other places where white liberals insisted that whites give up control.

We are in the grip of white leftist fanatics, teamed up with all the anti-white, anti-male, anti-straight interest groups. Their numbers are growing too fast for us to change it peacefully via the ballot box. And it will take a tremendous amount of suffering for white liberals to begin to question the validity of the ideals.

I think all a sensible person can do is keep their head down, save their money, and be looking for someplace to bug out to ten or twenty years from now when the demographics tip us into South Africa-dom.; 4/10/12, 12:51 PM
JohnJ said...: "I hope at least Obama thinks: this isn't the way I want it to happen."

…and then lets it happen.

There is an air of insolence about Obama that perfectly fits the smirking pubic image. That others see that same presentation as hip and photogenic explains how we got where we are.; 4/10/12, 12:53 PM
Anonymous said...: Who would have thought that in the last year of Obama's presidential term, the public mind would obsess over race at this level?

Seriously, Ann, your judgement sucks at times. Obama associated with known race hustlers. In fact, they form his political base. We've known this for some time now due to his "spiritual advisor", his association with ACORN, etc. He's made a best effort at identity politics, his identity being black. This became cristal clear when his AG referred to blacks as "my people" rather than all Americans, which the AG is supposed to represent, as "his people".

Obama has done his level best at politicizing race as much as possible. This is just a culmination of his actions (Black Panthers, the white cop "acting stupidly", etc).

Grow up, Ann.; 4/10/12, 1:01 PM
Sofa King said...: Perhaps what we need, is some sort of...National Brotherhood Week!; 4/10/12, 1:02 PM
DADvocate said...: Obama doesn't care about white people.

I guarantee you that Obama's mother taught him that white people are bad and that she and a few others are rare exceptions. I've seen plenty of white people who lived similar lifestyles to her's who preached that.; 4/10/12, 1:06 PM
Andy Freeman said...: > I'm recalling the media coverage of election night, 2008, and the inauguration, when there was a rhapsody of closure and a feeling — some called it "hope" — that we had entered a new era of harmony. How did we get sucked into some nightmare parody of the past? If it's not Obama's fault,

IF? Seriously?

How many smacks with the clue-bat does it take?

Is there some sort of contest to be the last rube who self-identifies?; 4/10/12, 1:09 PM
Original Mike said...: "I hope at least Obama thinks: this isn't the way I want it to happen."

He could give a "healing" speech now. He hasn't.

'Nuff said.; 4/10/12, 1:10 PM
Caroline said...: "Liberals" and "progressives", particularly in the Northers states where I grew up and currently live, like to pat themselves on the back for being so much better than their "conservative" and Southern counterparts when it comes to race. They are full of it. There is just as much racism up here, maybe more than in the South. We certainly seem to be more segregated here than in the South.

To borrow a phrase that a black woman recently used on my sister, I'm a "passer"; someone who passes for "white", while being ethnically Puerto Rican/Irish. As such I have been told to my face how some "progressive" New Yorkers really feel about hispanics and other races.

It's been my experience that a "conservative" person is no more likely to be racist then a so-called "liberal". There are racists of every color, creed, ethnicity and political persuasion. Anyone who claims otherwise is a liar with an agenda, or a fool.

But I believe, as my husband put it, that racism is primarily an old-person's disease, which is dying with them. And I want to believe that the majority of mixed-race and mixed-ethnicity people, like myself, despise the race-mongers like Sharpton, and reject them and their hateful trade.

As for Obama, he turned me off the moment he called his grandmother a "typical white person". IMO, no true "post-racial" person would ever use a phrase like that, especially about a family member; unless they were joking. I listened to Obama say it; he wasn't joking.

(I hesitate to post this because it is personal, and I generally don't like getting personal. I may end up deleting it.); 4/10/12, 1:19 PM
Amartel said...: Dear Obama Voter:

He's a pretend friend and doesn't like you any more than he likes me. Try to get your head around this. I'm a McCain voter and admittedly have my own issues but at least I never deluded myself into thinking that my candidate was my friend, my buddyroo, my boy/girlfriend, as opposed to the anything other than the least worst candidate for the country.

Obama's not going to come over to your house on TV and chat reassuringly about [anything], certainly not race relations. Been there, done that, um, no. Race relations is the first in a long, long line of topics that he is only willing to understand from one perspective, his perspective. What he cares about is being reelected and pleasing the fine people in his inner circle (not you) who assembled him from parts scattered across various communes and campuses, raised him, groomed him, scripted him, credentialled him, covered for him, etc. If that means overdrawing the old race card then so be it. This administration never met a debt it didn't want to compound.

It is foolish to believe that a person is somehow above taking advantage of racial prejudice just because he or she is black/not white. People believe this out of a generous impulse but that doesn't make it a correct impulse. It's flat out crazy to continue believing it given what we now cannot avoid knowing about Obama's long association with Rev. Wright and similar grools, his reaction to the Gates arrest, Trayvon Martin, his ability to transform any basic interaction into a jumping off point to talk about Barack Obama, cool black guy.

This isn't just a cult of personality, it's a cargo cult of personality. Oh, look, a clean, articulate black guy washed up on our shores, let's pretend he's perfect and worship him as a god in order to absolve our societal sins. Gross. One black guy was never going to heal race relations in America but it would have been so much better to have a real person not a phony godhead. Race relations will only continue to improve through individual interaction and honesty and/or when we all get bored with it and find something else to divide us.; 4/10/12, 1:19 PM
Kirby Olson said...: How do you best organize a community? Through hate! Hitler used it. Obama used it. They used different demographics, but it's the same tactic: us vs. them.; 4/10/12, 1:21 PM
WildWillyC said...: Love this blog. Prof A. throws out a topic, then steps aside and lets us students hash it out.

Southern history: first Republican elected to statewide office in Texas was John Tower(1961)--he took LBJ's seat. :-) Before that, only Repub from Texas in Congress was from a predominately Black district near Houston.

1964 Voting Rights Act: half of the Democrats in Senate refused to support it; Everett Dirksen helped LBJ line up Republican votes to pass. Fat lotta good that did us that November!

Today: independents and Dems are wrestling with a great dilemma -- how do I vote against our First Black President?

(Cue the Buffalo Springfield song...); 4/10/12, 1:22 PM
Christopher in MA said...: Stop rewriting history.

Perhaps you should read history. Or better yet, start with the dictionary. Look up the word "Copperhead." Once you've done that, perhaps I'll be interested in debunking the rest of your nonsense.

Just like the race card, the lies of the "Southern Strategy" and "Dixiecrat Democrats turned Republican" are past their sell-by date. You may believe them - you have every right to your own opinions - but you have no right to your own facts.; 4/10/12, 1:36 PM
Balfegor said...: leslyn:

The KKK member was Robert Byrd, who remained a Democrat until the day he died (in 2010). As far as I know, Thurmond never joined the KKK.; 4/10/12, 1:39 PM
Blue@9 said...: This has certainly been my experience. Also, white Southerners tend to have more generalized racist views ("Blacks are... "), but in actual practice tend to be less racist (usually because they actually live amongst and interact with black people). White Northerners give great lip service to the notion of racial equality, but they're also more likely to live in segregated enclaves where they never associate with black people.

The shitty thing about "progressive" racism is how dehumanizing it is for a person of color. It's not that they think you're bad or genetically corrupted, but that your color determines how you should think. God help you if you're a conservative person of color--that's when the knives come out and you get called a race traitor.; 4/10/12, 1:45 PM
KCFleming said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/10/12, 1:48 PM
KCFleming said...: Don't forget Washington D.C. Councilman Marion Barry!

This week he made these remarks about the Asian shop owners who operate many small stores in the District:

"We got to do something about these Asians coming in and opening up businesses and dirty shops," ..."They ought to go.

I'm going to say that right now. But we need African-American businesspeople to be able to take their places, too."; 4/10/12, 1:49 PM
Scott M said...: Disengaging. I think it's become a distraction to the thread.

That's as white a flag as you're likely to get.; 4/10/12, 1:53 PM
KCFleming said...: @Scott M.

Heh.; 4/10/12, 1:54 PM
Shanna said...: Also, white Southerners tend to have more generalized racist views ("Blacks are... "), but in actual practice tend to be less racist (usually because they actually live amongst and interact with black people).

I think southerners tend to have a lot of experience living with, working with, going to school with black people and they know (without needing a talk from their parents) that you want to stay away from dangerous situations and people (and they do exist, there are place in Little Rock I don't go walking around) but the people you work with/live next door to/go to church with, etc... are perfectly fine. It's not, pardon me, a black and white issue.

But the civil war will never die for some people.; 4/10/12, 1:54 PM
ken in tx said...: I have had black supervisors and black female supervisors who were totally competent in their positions. I have also had black co-workers who were totally incompetent who were never called out on it. One of them could not understand a plain English sentence, and refused to follow a plainly written rule, and insisted that you were a racist if you objected.; 4/10/12, 2:00 PM
Kirk Parker said...: Leslyn,

Sorry, not Thurmond. Try Robert "Half of West Virginia is Named After Me" Byrd.; 4/10/12, 2:19 PM
Brian Brown said...: Don't know about Fulbright, but as to the other:

Of course you "don't know about Fulbright" you ignorant twit.

The party you vote for depends on that ignorance.

PS: I was referring to Senator Robert Byrd.

Duh.; 4/10/12, 2:25 PM
Brian Brown said...: leslyn said...

Disengaging. I think it's become a distraction to the thread.

Hysterical.

In other words, you've been revealed to be a silly hypocrite and you're left with nothing to say.

PS: Bill Clinton has said J. William Fulbright was his political mentor.

Isn't that nice?; 4/10/12, 2:29 PM
Shanna said...: PS: Bill Clinton has said J. William Fulbright was his political mentor.

That's because he was from Arkansas.

Speaking of, has anyone outside of the state heard about the soon to be 'Bill and Hillary Airport'? Lots of people are annoyed at the 'hillary!' part.; 4/10/12, 2:34 PM
Christopher in MA said...: Disengaging. I think it's become a distraction to the thread.

Just write Pwned. Do not want next time. Far fewer words to type.; 4/10/12, 2:58 PM
Sigivald said...: I'm recalling the media coverage of election night, 2008, and the inauguration, when there was a rhapsody of closure and a feeling — some called it "hope" — that we had entered a new era of harmony.

If you don't know who the dupe is, it's you.

Media rhapsodies of hope and harmony?

They only last until Their Guy encounters reality and disharmony helps the narrative again.; 4/10/12, 2:59 PM
Andy Freeman said...: > Lyndon Johnson, a Democrat, signed the Civil Rights Act.

And the majority of votes against it were cast by Democrats.

The military was segregated by noted progressive, Wilson.

Jim Crow was the creation of Democrats and strongly supported by progressives of the era, who thought that it didn't go far enough. The progs were pushing eugenics, noted prog Holmes writing that three generations of imbiciles was enough - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_v._Bell .

Bull Connor was a prominent Dem, who was a delegate to conventions and so on.

The Dems didn't throw out the segregationists - they kept electing them until they retired.

MLK was a Republican.; 4/10/12, 3:05 PM
LTC John said...: "I'm recalling the media coverage of election night, 2008, and the inauguration, when there was a rhapsody of closure and a feeling — some called it "hope" — that we had entered a new era of harmony. How did we get sucked into some nightmare parody of the past?"

Wilful ignorance. Those of us who had to suffer the rise of this miserable figure (try reading an old Chicago Sun Times column-fellation of State Senator O!bama) Were worried we were seeing Carol Mosley Braun part II in the Senate - God help us, we didn't think it could get worse... when voting for President, try learninng something about the person, go beyond emoting about them or slurping up wroshipful coverage by sympathetic media types.

Thus endeth the lesson.; 4/10/12, 3:18 PM
wildswan said...: A man was going down from San Francisco to LA when he got off the freeway at the wrong exit and fell in among the Watts rioters. They beat him and stole his wallet and left him lying there. A TV news crew in a helicopter saw this and broadcast it and then flew away. The police in that precinct saw the broadcast and refused to go out to assist the man. Three people who lived in the area recognized their neighborhood. They came out of their houses, put the man back in the truck and drove him to the hospital. One drove, one held the man, one stood on the running board and gave directions to the hospital. The truckdriver, the news crew and the police were white, the rescuers were black. Who was a neighbour on that day?; 4/10/12, 4:30 PM
CWJ said...: I am SO late to the party. So many very interesting comments to comment upon or amplify but one stood out for me.

Quaester@9:42am

"A messiah thinks that he is indispensable ..."

There's the give away. My messiah thought himself not only dispensable, but that it was essential.

Our politicians are the last people to whom we should look for transcendance or anything other than the most banal inspiration.; 4/10/12, 4:55 PM
Saint Croix said...: Is it just me or did this story shift when the media discovered that Zimmerman was not white?

They were so happy with their story. (Happy in an outraged kind of way, of course!) Innocent black child is shot by evil white guy. Not just white, German.. A neo-Nazi! In the South, no less. Oh, they were so happy. The New York media was ready to bring back the death penalty.

And then, more racial facts came in. Oops! They screwed up his racial classification. So of course the media tried to spin it. He's a "white hispanic."

But that's not going to work. Is Obama a white black? No. Nobody in the media calls Obama a white black. So why is Zimmerman a white hispanic?

White hispanic was just a stalling tactic, as the media tried to wrap their heads around the fact that they might be lynching an innocent hispanic.

Hey, he's a minority, too! Part of the rainbow coalition. He's not white, he's brown!

The white guys in the media started flipping on the story. So we get the even-handed article in the New York Times. NBC fires somebody. "We got to be fair. He's brown, damn it!"

Once the brown facts come out, suddenly Obama does not want to talk about this case anymore. Has nothing more to say. Poor Black Child, Shot By Neo-Nazi Obama likes that story.

Race War in the Rainbow Coalition. Ugh! Doesn't like that story at all. Now Obama officially wants this case to go away.

Anyway, Jorge, I would start giving interviews in Spanish if I were you, amigo.

Me? I'm working on my suntan. Going to try to pass. At least until November. No habla! No habla!; 4/10/12, 5:05 PM
SukieTawdry said...: Obama obviously feels the situation as it is plays to his advantage.; 4/10/12, 5:06 PM
Revenant said...: Democrats may have first elected Thurmond, but the party then bore little resemblance to the party which emerged from the civil rights era, as evidenced by the switch to the Republican party.

Thurmond was certainly a repugnant individual, but that still doesn't hold a candle to Byrd's position as a Klan leader. He belonged to and enthusiastically recruited for a domestic terrorist organization that murdered blacks and civil rights workers. All Thurmond ever did was talk a lot of racist nonsense. Thurmond's biggest sin was filibustering the CRA -- but Byrd did that too.

You can say all you want that the Democratic Party "changed", but the truth is that Thurmond was the ONLY one of the CRA filibusterers that jumped parties. The rest -- including Byrd and Al Gore Senior -- remained Democrats in good standing until the day they died; 4/10/12, 5:36 PM
SukieTawdry said...: Blue@9 said...This has certainly been my experience. Also, white Southerners tend to have more generalized racist views ("Blacks are... "), but in actual practice tend to be less racist (usually because they actually live amongst and interact with black people). White Northerners give great lip service to the notion of racial equality, but they're also more likely to live in segregated enclaves where they never associate with black people.

My mother's people lived in the segregated south but I was raised in the integrated north. I had far more interaction with black people when I visited the south in the 50's than I did living in the north. In fact, until we moved back to NYC in the early 60's I did not encounter black people on any kind of regular basis up north and we lived in places like Cincinnati, Detroit and Chicago.

Due to conditions immediately following WWII, I was born in the house (well, I was born in a hospital, but you know what I mean) that my mother had been born and raised in. The woman who had helped raise her and my uncle came out of retirement to help with me. Her name was Willie Mae. When I was three months old, my father came down to move us home to New York. As he carried me out to the car, Willie Mae followed pleading with "Mr. Chet" to not take "her baby" up north to live with "all those wicked Yankees." (I can quite imagine the reaction to my mother's having married one.)

I do not believe that I ever met a black man from the south but living in the northeast who did not want to go back "home."

When I was in Beaufort, SC, a few years back, we had a great evening sharing a patio dining area with a group of blacks who were in town for the Gullah Festival (Beauford is otherwise very white). One of the women had been born and raised in San Francisco but moved to South Carolina in her 30's. I remarked that it must have been quite a culture shock at first, but she said, no, that the south from the beginning just "fit her like a glove."; 4/10/12, 5:47 PM
Blue@9 said...: I think southerners tend to have a lot of experience living with, working with, going to school with black people and they know

I think this is just it. It reminds me of Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing where the one Italian dude is talking crap about blacks before it's pointed out that he loves black athletes and half his friends are black--they have a general notion of "bad blacks," but all the ones they know aren't like that.

My anecdote: My ex's grandmother lives in Oklahoma, and she's a lovely churchgoing widow, apart from the fact that she's a "typical white person" (as Obama would put it). Doesn't use the n-word, but certainly doesn't refrain from talking about blacks-this and blacks-that. But a few years ago a black woman in her church was having problems, so granny took her in and let her stay in the guest house out back, rent free. Granny babysits the woman's kids, knits them clothes, checks their homework, talks about how wonderful and lovely is this hardworking family. It's still bizarre to me, but it doesn't seem atypical in the South. (not that OK is really the South, but they have a lot of cultural overlap); 4/10/12, 6:32 PM
Blue@9 said...: Is it just me or did this story shift when the media discovered that Zimmerman was not white?

It was pretty inevitable. Virtually every liberal/left political position can be determined by a simple identification of the victim and the villain. Poor/rich, black/white, muslim/christian, and so on. It doesn't matter what a person actually does, because moral worth is determined by a surface-level application of the victim/villain labels.

Seriously, if Zimmerman were a poor, transgendered woman refugee from a right-wing dictatorship, the narrative would have looked very very different. Right now we'd be talking about the plight of transgenders in our hateful American society.; 4/10/12, 6:40 PM
Peano said...: How did we get sucked into some nightmare parody of the past?

How did you get sucked into voting for this abortion of a president? Because you're a self-deceiving ditz -- and you had a lot of company. As ye sow ...; 4/10/12, 6:45 PM
Ernst Stavro Blofeld said...: I doubt that this outcome is the result of conscious planning by Obama. In the electoral calculus an incumbent really doesn't want to see race riots on his watch. It's more that it's his default go-to mental pose. If there's a problem involving a minority it must be the result of a racist establishment, and of course everyone is waiting to hear what he has to say about that. (not so much in reality).

But it had the unexpected (to him) result of lashing his prestige to a bunch of race hustlers like Sharpton or the NBPP. He doesn't have an easy way to distance himself from them now.; 4/10/12, 7:56 PM
Ernst Stavro Blofeld said...: I doubt that this outcome is the result of conscious planning by Obama. In the electoral calculus an incumbent really doesn't want to see race riots on his watch. It's more that it's his default go-to mental pose. If there's a problem involving a minority it must be the result of a racist establishment, and of course everyone is waiting to hear what he has to say about that. (not so much in reality).

But it had the unexpected (to him) result of lashing his prestige to a bunch of race hustlers like Sharpton or the NBPP. He doesn't have an easy way to distance himself from them now.; 4/10/12, 7:57 PM
Kirk Parker said...: Leslyn,

Oh, you're upset because you think you can just unilaterally order people to stop talking?

Sorry: beclown yourself, and the mockery will linger for quite a while after you've left the room. Thurmond, indeed.; 4/10/12, 8:19 PM
Martin said...: This is all just the inevitable consequence of having a community organizer as President. No surprise to anyone who has been paying attention since 2007.; 4/10/12, 9:59 PM
Micha Elyi said...: Ann, give us, Hillary supporters from primary 2008 credit for seeing the real Obama.
pm317

Alas, pm317, Hillary Clinton is made of the same stuff as Obama - only feminist-flavored. Had she gotten elected instead of Obama, she would have gotten her man-hate on and acted much like Obama has. Don't believe it? Consider this: Hillary Clinton has never talked about equal rights for men and equal rights for only half the population is an oxymoron.

Meanwhile, turning from the hypothetical Hillary-world that was not realized and back to this one in which a black man is "The Man" (per Wanda Sykes), the race card is overdrawn and will now be refused at more and more of the best places. And the statute of limitations on Jim Crow has been reached.; 4/11/12, 4:21 AM