After Obama's win, white backlash festers in US
The election of a black president triggered at least 200 hate-related incidents, a watchdog group finds.
By Patrik Jonsson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
from the November 17, 2008 edition.
Atlanta - In rural Georgia, a group of high-schoolers gets a visit from the Secret Service after posting "inappropriate" comments about President-elect Barack Obama on the Web. In Raleigh, N.C., four college students admit to spraying race-tinged graffiti in a pedestrian tunnel after the election. On Nov. 6, a cross burns on the lawn of a biracial couple in Apolacon Township, Pa.
The election of America's first black president has triggered more than 200 hate-related incidents, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center – a record in modern presidential elections. Moreover, the white nationalist movement, bemoaning an election that confirmed voters' comfort with a multiracial demography, expects Mr. Obama's election to be a potent recruiting tool – one that watchdog groups warn could give new impetus to a mostly defanged fringe element.
Most election-related threats have so far been little more than juvenile pranks. But the political marginalization of certain Southern whites, economic distress in rural areas, and a White House occupant who symbolizes a multiethnic United States could combine to produce a backlash against what some have heralded as the dawn of a postracial America. In some parts of the South, there's even talk of secession.
"Most of this movement is not violent, but there is a substantive underbelly that is violent and does try to make a bridge to people who feel disenfranchised," says Brian Levin of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. "The question is: Will this swirl become a tornado or just an ill wind? We're not there yet, but there's dust on the horizon, a swirling of wind, and the atmospherics are getting put together for [conflict]."
But postelection, at least two white nationalist websites – Stormfront and the Council of Conservative Citizens – report their servers have crashed because of heavy traffic. The League of the South, a secessionist group, says Web hits jumped from 50,000 a month to 300,000 since Nov. 4, and its phones are ringing off the hook.
"The vitriol is flailing out shotgun-style," says Mr. Levin. "They recognize Obama as a tipping point, the perfect storm in the narrative of the hate world – the apocalypse that they've been moaning about has come true."
Supremacist propaganda is already on the upswing. In Oklahoma, fringe groups have distributed anti-Obama propaganda through newspapers and taped it to home mail boxes. Ugly incidents such as cross-burnings, assassination betting pools, and Obama effigies are also being reported from Maine to Alabama.
The Ku Klux Klan has been tied to recent news events, as well. Two Tennessee men implicated for plotting to kill 88 black men, including Obama, were tied to the KKK chapter whose leader was convicted in a civil trial in Brandenburg, Ky., last week, for inciting violence. The murder last week in Louisiana of a KKK initiate, allegedly killed after trying to back out of joining, came at the hands of a new group called Sons of Dixie, authorities say.
In an election in which barely 20 percent of native Southern whites in Deep South states voted for Obama, the newly apparent political clout of "outsiders" and people of color has been unnerving to some.
"In states like Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama, there was extraordinary racial polarization in the vote," says Merle Black, a political scientist at Emory University in Atlanta. "Black Americans really do believe that Obama is going to represent their interests and views in ways that they haven't been before, and, in the Deep South, whites feel exactly the opposite."
And from :
CNN:future of the ku klux klan
November 14, 2008
CNN reports on KKK lawsuit.
and from HateWatch of The Southern Poverty Law Center
Trial Day 3 Update: SPLC Wins $2.5 Million Verdict for Teen in Klan Case Sonia Scherr on November 15, 2008
BRANDENBURG, Ky. — In a blow to one of the nation’s largest Klan groups, jurors yesterday awarded more than $2.5 million to a teenager who was assaulted by Klansmen at a county fair in rural Kentucky.
The verdict is expected to shut down the Imperial Klans of America (IKA), which has 16 chapters in eight states. “We intend to collect every dime we can on the judgment and do everything within our power to put the Imperial Klans out of business,” said Southern Poverty Law Center President Richard Cohen at a press conference after the verdict announcement.
The SPLC sued IKA leader Ron Edwards of Dawson Springs, Ky., contending that members of his Klan group attacked a 16-year-old U.S. citizen of Panamanian descent because they thought he was an “illegal spic.” Also named as a defendant was Jarred Hensley of Cincinnati, who served nearly three years in state prison for assaulting the teenager at a county fair in northwest Kentucky.
...The IKA, which formed in the mid ‘90s, is a particularly dangerous group. Its welcomes violent skinheads and declares on its website that “the IKA hates Muds, spics, kikes and niggers.” Each spring at its 15-acre compound in Dawson Springs, Ky., the IKA hosts Nordic Fest, a weekend of music and speeches calling for the murder of Latinos and other minorities. The main defendant in the case, IKA founder and leader Edwards (called the “Imperial Wizard” in Klan parlance), arrived at his deposition in February with the words “Fuck S.P.L.C.” tattooed on his shaved head.
Besides demolishing the IKA, the SPLC hopes the case will shine a spotlight on the growing problem of hate and violence aimed at U.S. Latinos. Bias crimes against Latinos rose 40% between 2003 and 2007, according to the latest FBI statistics. Furthermore, the SPLC counted 888 hate groups last year, an increase of almost 50% since 2000 that’s been driven by anti-immigrant fervor.
Some of the racially motivated incidents have been reported and posted on YouTube so here are is a sampling :
Black Teen Beaten With Bat Over Obama Victory
November 09, 2008
Furious that Barack Obama had been elected president, four white teens beat a black Muslim with a baseball bat on Election night on Staten Island, the teen says.
Ali Kamara, 17, told police he was walking home at about 10 p.m. on Tuesday, when four white men leaped from a car and attacked him.
In the next case six whites and one black man beat two latinos ,killing one of them. Yes sometimes African-Americans are guilty of Hate Crimes.
7 Teens Savagely Attack 2 Latino Men, Murdering 1
BlackTubeChannel
Added: November 10, 2008
PATCHOGUE, N.Y. (CBS) ― It's a crime making national headlines; Seven Suffolk County teenagers charged in a brutal apparent hate-crime killing in east Patchogue will be arraigned on Monday.
They drove the streets, according to Suffolk County Police, looking for trouble. And late Saturday night, seven teenagers found it.
NOTE From BlackTube Channel: One of these idiots appears to be BLACK!!!!!!
CNN:Baylor University Baptist School Hangs Noose on Tree For Obama
Nov. 6, 2008
40 Cars Hit With Racist Vandalism, Death Threats
November 12, 2008
New York --- An estimated 40 cars, were vandalized with racist death threats against Obama. Some of the vandalism included sexual messages. Now the secret service is getting involved.
Racist School Principal Compares Obama to "The Jeffersons"
November 12, 2008
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. ---- Stephen Lewis, an elementary school principal who moonlights as a newspaper columnist, is in hot water for writing a racist newspaper column about president-elect Barack Obama.
Just think... these are the people in charge of our children!
Texas Southern University Fires, Racially Motivated
From: BlackTubeChannel
Added: November 14, 2008
Monday, November 10th, 2008. There was a fire on Texas Southern University campus. However the local news stations did not report this story until November 13th, 2008. It is believed that the fire was set intentionally.
In light of the hate crimes being committed nationally after this recent presidential election it is believed that this incident might be a hate crime as well.
Written by Benisato
NOTE: There is addition news coverage, that I was unable to capture, where fire chief, who happens to be white, said that he believes the fires are being set as a form revenge. However, he did not elaborate. And as far as I'm concerned, he didn't have to. Obama's victory has put a target on our heads
What is also disturbing is how many incidents are not being reported as Hate Crimes because targeted individuals are afraid to report incidences such as these and how many are not reported because local law enforcement don't take these incidents seriously ( or are racist themselves ). Here is an example where the police did not take the incidents seriously .
An incident occured in Louisiana in June of this year but the police were unresponsive claiming that spraying Graffiti ie KKK & using the N word and death threats and such was not necessarily a Hate Crime.
Denham Springs, Louisiana police say they aren't sure if racist grafitti and threats amount to a hate crime.
A woman who is said to be the target of a hate crime, says her neighbor was seen walking up and down the street carrying an ax handle, and screaming that she was going to kill her, and Sen. Barack Obama. So far the police have been unresponsive.
Racist Vandalism In Louisiana and Barack Obama Death Threat
And here's one for the books Skin Head complains about too many non-whites on jury- well African Americans still often are tried by all white juries -
Skin Head's Attorney Says Too Many Blacks on the Jury-Nov.14 2008
Memphis --- The attorney who represents (him ), Daniel Cowart; says that too many blacks sat on his client's jury.
... Cowart was arrested previously for making death threats against black students and president-elect Obama.
Fraternity members at La Salle University attacked and beat up four black students.
4 Black Students Attacked by White Mob, Over Obama's Victory- November 13, 2008
New York --- La Salle University officials said they are working to identify all the students allegedly involved in a racial attack on four freshman but the reported victims said it's not happening fast enough
4 White Students Suspended for Noose and Racial Slur-November 13, 2008
EVANS, Ga.- Four Evans High School students have been suspended.
The freshmen made a racial gesture during a shop class.
They say the students made a noose and hanged it around an oil can. Then, they made a racial comment to a fellow classmate.
NOTE: This same school recently had an incident where a white student brought a hunting rifle to school. The boy was also suspended, but the white folks in his town think that his punishment is too harsh, and that he should be allowed to return to school early.
also see at Human Rights First .org : 2008 Hate Crime Survey: Usa
II. Violence Based on Racism and Xenophobia
Monitors in the United States generally categorize incidents of racist and xenophobic violence by victim’s race, ethnicity, or national origin, although there is often considerable overlap of these categories. Attacks motivated by racism and xenophobia are also often fueled by religious antipathy, gender bias, or other forms of prejudice.
The highest levels of violent hate crime continue to be directed toward members of the African-American community and others of African origin. In the latest report, covering 2006, the FBI found that over a third of the total victims of hate crime violence were targeted because of antiblack bias. A high incidence of racist attacks on black Americans is also reported by municipal and county hate crimes monitors.
In other racist and xenophobic attacks, hate crimes targeting people of Hispanic or Latino origin rose nationwide by one third since 2003.
Racist violence also targeted people of Asian origin. These included attacks on persons of South Asian origin, who were sometimes targeted in the belief they were Muslims and from the Middle East.
A. Hate Crimes Targeting Black Americans
A review of the record of antiblack hate crimes in 2007 and the first half of 2008 reveals a pattern of both serious crimes—including murder, sexual assaults, and beatings—and of everyday violence affecting daily lives of ordinary people, often at the hands of neighbors, coworkers, or fellow students; in their homes, schools, churches, and elsewhere in their own communities.
In many cases, hate crimes against black Americans echoed past policies, practices, and societal norms of racial segregation. Black families faced harassment and violence expressly intended to drive them out of particular neighborhoods; black workers were made unwelcome in predominantly white workplaces, black students faced harassment and violence at schools, and black churches were targeted for racist graffiti and arson.
The FBI’s hate crime report for 2006 recorded 3,332 victims of antiblack bias crimes, in 2,640 incidents. This represented 66.4 percent of the victims of racial bias crimes, and 34.5 percent of the 9,652 victims of hate crimes overall. Of 2,042 total offenses, 65 percent were crimes against persons (in contrast to 56.5 percent of such crimes among hate crime offenses overall). Higher rates were reported only in anti-Hispanic crimes (72.8 percent) and sexual orientation bias crimes (71 percent). The FBI breakdown identified one antiblack bias homicide and three cases of forcible rape. There were 395 cases of aggravated assault, 564 of simple assault, and 1,079 of intimidation. Crimes against property totaled 1,088, including 9 cases of arson and 980 cases of “destruction/damage/ vandalism.”
and so it goes,
GORD.
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