"Isn't this a little late? this happened weeks ago," wrote Jstern1 on December 1, regarding a diary entry about a racist facebook page. "This is month old news," said another writer.
We wish things were that simple when it comes to race relations in America. Unfortunately blog entry by Carmen Dixon of BlackVoices shows how rising racial animosity, including such facebook pages, is a national trend.
"Bb-b-b-b-b-ut," wrote blogger BinkyBoy. "But the Conservatives have all told us that now that a black man has been elected President that racism is most surely gone from our society. And we've never known Conservatives to be wrong, so how do we go about explaining this enigma?" he wrote sarcastically.
"Isn't this a little late? this happened weeks ago," wrote Jstern1 on December 1, regarding a diary entry about a racist facebook page. "This is month old news," said another writer.
We wish things were that simple when it comes to race relations in America. Unfortunately blog entry by Carmen Dixon of BlackVoices shows how rising racial animosity, including such facebook pages, is a national trend.
"Bb-b-b-b-b-ut," wrote blogger BinkyBoy. "But the Conservatives have all told us that now that a black man has been elected President that racism is most surely gone from our society. And we've never known Conservatives to be wrong, so how do we go about explaining this enigma?" he wrote sarcastically.
"In the weeks following Barack Obama's election, hateful racial incidents have surged. Some are more ominous than others, some with more impact, some just kinda stupid and annoying.
Some examples:
Idaho school kids chant "Assassinate Obama" on a school bus and school officials are slow to (barely) react," Dixon said.
"They just hadn't heard anything like this before," said Matthew Whoolery and his wife. "They were chanting on the bus, 'Assassinate Obama. Assassinate Obama.' Then adding in a name sometimes of a classmate on the bus, 'Assassinate Obama and Kate.'" The Whoolery's explained to their kids what assassinate means then contacted the school about what was happening.
"I think the thing that struck us was just like, 'Where did they get the word and why would they put that word and that person together?'" said Whoolery.
Other examples from around the nation are equally ugly:
According to honkytalkantiracism.blogspot.com, young white people (mostly young men) on Facebook post racial slurs and even assassination threats against President-elect Obama, and the young man of color who exposes them is threatened with account suspension.
Here is an excerpt from a soldier in uniform:
Taylor West wrote at 1:51am: "What do we do!?! The antichrist is in Office now!!! KILL OBAMA!!! I didnt get to vote out here, but I hate that Obama won. I dont want some dude with the name Hussein, as my president. He dont even stand up for the national anthem. I swear on everything hes a terrorists."
And according to the Associated Press:
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."
Howard Witt of the Chicago Tribune reports that Klan membership is up, and the Southern Poverty Law Center is alarmed while the FBI and Secret Service are investigating:
"We've seen everything from cross burnings on lawns of interracial couples to effigies of Obama hanging from nooses to unpleasant exchanges in schoolyards," said Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, based in Montgomery, Ala. "I think we're in a worrying situation right now, a perfect storm of conditions coming together that could easily favor the continued growth of these groups."
The FBI is investigating the recent Klan-related incidents to determine the extent of any possible conspiracies. And the Secret Service is monitoring the apparent sudden surge in hate incidents "to try to stay ahead of any emerging threats," according to spokesman Darrin Blackford in Washington.
"It's that last graph above that caught my attention," Dixon said. "It's
good to know that the FBI and Secret Service are investigating any
conspiracies or coordinated activity against our President-elect. I for one completely believe that Barack Obama will serve out the full term(s) of his presidency in good health. I am not worried and have pretty much read about these incidents with some head shaking and eye rolling in response. None of it surprises me. But it occurred to me that ignoring these incidents won't make them go away. What will make them "go away" to some extent is for each of us committed to anti-racism to make it very clear to those around us that racist talk or actions will not be tolerated. Don't stand for it. And if you hear something threatening, call law enforcement and report it. Obama campaigned on YES WE CAN. We proved we could. Don't let it slip now. Stand up and speak out."
Idaho Press Tribune Managing Editor Vickie Holbrook asks us to "zip back to the May primary." The Press Tribune editorial board interviewed the Republican candidates who wanted a legislative seat. "One of the contenders was long-time Canyon County Commissioner Matt Beebe. Part of the interview touched on illegal immigrants.
What Beebe said was a bit shocking.
In fact, you can tell by my awkward verbiage that I was a bit shocked ...", Holbrook said.
What was said included this dialogue:
Read the print version here
toward the middle of a blog entry about Commisioner Steve Rule's racist email.
In short, to be an American, you must look and sound like Idaho Republican Matt Beebe.
Back to Rexburg, we called on local leaders to take the reigns and speak out against racism.
"Rexburg's mayor wrote a very eloquent statement on this," blogger Julie in Boise responded --
It's available here.
We had read the statement by Rexburg Mayor Shawn Larsen. It was well done.
By the way, Rexburg, Idaho is one of the few UNIVERSITY communities in the United States that did not even acknowledge Martin Luther King Day until a couple of years ago. Recently, a few brave, enlightened, and creative Brigham Young University-Idaho students started it themselves and had a small celebration.
By comparison, please go to the Boise State University website and type in Martin Luther King. See the great web pages that come up about the week long events for human rights, the national speakers that come in, the marches, the artists, the authors, the discussion groups, the links to literature, and more.
A nice letter is a good start. But there is much work to be done in
Southeast Idaho, which has the resources of FOUR academic campuses if higher learning (Idaho State University/Idaho Falls, University of Idaho/Idaho Falls, Eastern Idaho Technical College, and BYU-Idaho); in short, thousands of students and hundreds of faculty are around.
And the incidents don't end there:
Canyon County Commissioner Steve Rule forwarded a derogatory e-mail about Michelle Obama's election-night dress (black with a red splattering of color in the front) to 26 people, including Canyon County government e-mail accounts, according to columnist Jill Kuraitis, at NewWest Boise.
"The county needs to get some sensitivity training for employees, and it needs to start with the county commissioners, Holbrook said.
Here's a place to start.
Some racists out here may think that they are lving in their own private Idaho, but the Rule incident and his non-apology made national network news on Keith Olbermann's show.
The simple diary entry in question was merely a test post to begin this discussion. Racism had a beginning, and needs to have an end. We are not are "too late" to oppose this trend.
For further discussion, see:
http://www.123idaho.blogspot.com/
Because Idaho needs your help.