This is not surprising. -------------------------------------- Election spurs 'hundreds' of race threats, crimes By JESSE WASHINGTON, AP National Writer Jesse Washington, Ap National Writer – 2 hrs 19 mins ago Cross burnings. Schoolchildren chanting "Assassinate Obama." Black figures hung from nooses. Racial epithets scrawled on homes and cars. Incidents around the country referring to President-elect Barack Obama are dampening the postelection glow of racial progress and harmony, highlighting the stubborn racism that remains in America. From California to Maine, police have documented a range of alleged crimes, from vandalism and vague threats to at least one physical attack. Insults and taunts have been delivered by adults, college students and second-graders. There have been "hundreds" of incidents since the election, many more than usual, said Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate crimes. One was in Snellville, Ga., where Denene Millner said a boy on the school bus told her 9-year-old daughter the day after the election: "I hope Obama gets assassinated." That night, someone trashed her sister-in-law's front lawn, mangled the Obama lawn signs, and left two pizza boxes filled with human feces outside the front door, Millner said. She described her emotions as a combination of anger and fear. "I can't say that every white person in Snellville is evil and anti-Obama and willing to desecrate my property because one or two idiots did it," said Millner, who is black. "But it definitely makes you look a little different at the people who you live with, and makes you wonder what they're capable of and what they're really thinking." Potok, who is white, said he believes there is "a large subset of white people in this country who feel that they are losing everything they know, that the country their forefathers built has somehow been stolen from them." Grant Griffin, a 46-year-old white Georgia native, expressed similar sentiments: "I believe our nation is ruined and has been for several decades and the election of Obama is merely the culmination of the change. "If you had real change it would involve all the members of (Obama's) church being deported," he said. Change in whatever form does not come easy, and a black president is "the most profound change in the field of race this country has experienced since the Civil War," said William Ferris, senior associate director of the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina. "It's shaking the foundations on which the country has existed for centuries." "Someone once said racism is like cancer," Ferris said. "It's never totally wiped out, it's in remission." If so, America's remission lasted until the morning of Nov. 5. The day after the vote hailed as a sign of a nation changed, black high school student Barbara Tyler of Marietta, Ga., said she heard hateful Obama comments from white students, and that teachers cut off discussion about Obama's victory. Tyler spoke at a press conference by the Georgia chapter of the NAACP calling for a town hall meeting to address complaints from across the state about hostility and resentment. Another student, from a Covington middle school, said he was suspended for wearing an Obama shirt to school Nov. 5 after the principal told students not to wear political paraphernalia. The student's mother, Eshe Riviears, said the principal told her: "Whether you like it or not, we're in the South, and there are a lot of people who are not happy with this decision." Other incidents include: _Four North Carolina State University students admitted writing anti-Obama comments in a tunnel designated for free speech expression, including one that said: "Let's shoot that (N-word) in the head." Obama has received more threats than any other president-elect, authorities say. _At Standish, Maine, a sign inside the Oak Hill General Store read: "Osama Obama Shotgun Pool." Customers could sign up to bet $1 on a date when Obama would be killed. "Stabbing, shooting, roadside bombs, they all count," the sign said. At the bottom of the marker board was written "Let's hope someone wins." _Racist graffiti was found in places including New York's Long Island, where two dozen cars were spray-painted; Kilgore, Texas, where the local high school and skate park were defaced; and the Los Angeles area, where swastikas, racial slurs and "Go Back To Africa" were spray painted on sidewalks, houses and cars. _Second- and third-grade students on a school bus in Rexburg, Idaho, chanted "assassinate Obama," a district official said. _University of Alabama professor Marsha L. Houston said a poster of the Obama family was ripped off her office door. A replacement poster was defaced with a death threat and a racial slur. "It seems the election brought the racist rats out of the woodwork," Houston said. _Black figures were hanged by nooses from trees on Mount Desert Island, Maine, the Bangor Daily News reported. The president of Baylor University in Waco, Texas said a rope found hanging from a campus tree was apparently an abandoned swing and not a noose. _Crosses were burned in yards of Obama supporters in Hardwick, N.J., and Apolacan Township, Pa. _A black teenager in New York City said he was attacked with a bat on election night by four white men who shouted 'Obama.' _In the Pittsburgh suburb of Forest Hills, a black man said he found a note with a racial slur on his car windshield, saying "now that you voted for Obama, just watch out for your house." Emotions are often raw after a hard-fought political campaign, but now those on the losing side have an easy target for their anger. "The principle is very simple," said BJ Gallagher, a sociologist and co-author of the diversity book "A Peacock in the Land of Penguins." "If I can't hurt the person I'm angry at, then I'll vent my anger on a substitute, i.e., someone of the same race." "We saw the same thing happen after the 9-11 attacks, as a wave of anti-Muslim violence swept the country. We saw it happen after the Rodney King verdict, when Los Angeles blacks erupted in rage at the injustice perpetrated by 'the white man.'" "It's as stupid and ineffectual as kicking your dog when you've had a bad day at the office," Gallagher said. "But it happens a lot." ___
I know what it is, I'm not black but I'm Muslim and same things have been done to my family after September 11.
I think things could've been a lot worse. Put this into perspective... 'Hundreds' of cases in a country of 350 million. Even thousands might be tolerable given the precedence. The worst of this might not be over, but I can't see how dwelling on this will do anything significant.
I expected this and the worst is yet to come. The real test will be when Obama takes a controversial stand on a divisive issue and the country is split in half.
I don't doubt that such threats have been made but much of the evidence seems anecdotal and fears of a wave of racism due to Obama's election might be exagerated.
So instead we should become alarmist about these incidents? And FYI there are have been racism directed at Asians, Vincent Chin ring a bell, and I'm sure if there was an Asian-American elected president there would probably be reports of racist threats along the lines of having a gook in the highest office. As I said while I don't doubt that such incidents are happening the evidence so far is all anectdotal and I don't think this is yet some widespread wave of racism. Racism certianly continues but I'm not sure whether Obama's victory is leading to a surge of racism.
Just wait until his approval rating drops to low levels sometime during his presidency. Plus, don't exaggerate by using the term "widespread wave" of racism. Some surge of racist incidents is likely. The election was only 6 days ago and Obama has laid low ever since. Obama will eventually tick off a large number of people with something he does. Even my very very anti-Obama assistant told me she is embarrassed by the amount of racist talk in her family since the election. If you include private racist conversation in your definition of racism, it's already started. Give the outward manifestation some time. It will come.
Though if a president does something unpopular there will always be a negative view of that president and criticism couched in some respect to that person's background. For instance I've heard lots of disparaging remarks regarding Texans over the last eight years. Should I read that as a wave of anti-Texan bias that was waiting to be brought out by GW Bush? As far as a widespread wave. My point is exactly that this isn't a widespread wave but several anecdotal incidents. My argument is to not make this out to be widespread wave.
Considering there are probably millions of racists and anything racist will make the news since it can now be directed at Obama I am pretty shocked there is not more than these small incidents. It might be because most violence comes from young people and most young people like Obama. Who knows.
Give me a break and stop being silly. Comparing Bush being a Texan to Obama being black is idiotic. There is no comparison and you know it. If you really believe your illustration applies then you have zero understanding about race in America's history and present. Perhaps I'm unaware that Texans were brought over in slave-ships and legally owned as slaves, at one time only counted as 3/5 of a person, were segregated from other U.S. citizens (including in the military), were blasted with water-cannons, lynched/hanged and forbidden to marry people from other states at various points in American history. Nobody mentioned a "widespread wave" of racism but you. You created the straw man and then tore it up. Maybe it's just me, but I haven't heard much about a fear of a wave of racism. Most of what I've read is about how positive the effect of Obama's election would be on race relations. Racist incidents have increased. Simple as that. We'll see if it continues as a trend, dies out or flares up a lot worse.
You said it better than I ever could. I'm not sure if all blacks will be targeted with a policy Obama pushes, but whatever the given result, it's not like it's something we can prepare for like hurricane or forest fire relief.
That has nothing to do with it. Obama is considered a n*gger by a good number of racist Americans. That is all that matters with regards to racism in this country. Just read the OP, look at some of the Youtube videos of McCain/Palin supporters that were filmed before their rallies, go to a few racist websites or just read what lots of people have said if you don't believe me. Or just talk to some people.
If you read my previous post you will see that I do not doubt there are racists, in fact I said millions. But I doubt it has anything to do with slavery.
Yes that is true racism isn't exactly regionalism but you seem to be saying that if Obama does something unpopular you will see a lot of racism. My view is if any president does something unpopular you will see them criticised and often that criticism is based on something in that president's makeup. So if Obama does something that is unpopular I'm sure you will hear some racist criticism. Is that due to innate racism or is that due to Obama is a black president and people are reaching for somesort of simplistic and crude, epithets to use at him? I'm not sure what you are disagreeing with me here as we seem to be in agreement that these incidents aren't an indication of a lot of racism. My argument is that while such incidents might be happening there we shouldn't blow this up to be something more than it is. You seem to agree.
