[UPDATE]:
Heh. George Zimmerman’s Brother Not Really Helping.
————————————
George Zimmerman’s brother, on Twitter this afternoon:
Oh, I see what you did there. So the reason two Georgia teenagers allegedly committed this horrific crime is because they’re black? That’s the only reason?
And you wonder how a black kid carrying Skittles and ice tea would get shot for no reason in a Florida neighborhood.
By the way, Robert Zimmerman’s Twitter feed is a veritable cesspool.
Filed under racism
While the City of Memphis has approved the KKK’s permit to hold a rally on March 30, the racists and extremists will descend on Montgomery Bell State Park right outside of Nashville a week later. The event is the American Renaissance Conference (be forewarned: that link goes to the conference website). This comes after Stormfront and other white supremacist groups held their international conference in the east part of our state last fall.
Apparently the racists, bigots and hate groups view Tennessee as a friendly, welcoming place for their gatherings. I wonder why that is. People of Tennessee, is this okay with you? Gov. Haslam, is this how you want the world to view our state? Tennessee legislators, do you think affiliating our state with racism and intolerance makes us an attractive place to do business? Yes? No? Because you are making taxpayer-funded state facilities available for this meeting:
That “beautiful, government-owned facility” is Montgomery Bell State Park, according to Not In Our State, a grassroots group planning to meet at the same time and at the same place to “confront racist dialogue and action in the state of Tennessee.” As they write:
American Renaissance is not your average white-supremacist group meeting in the backwoods. The individuals that participate in this organization have political, economic, and academic sway in their communities. Their conference, held April 5-7 at Montgomery Bell State Park in Dixon, Tennessee, is purposely in the public eye, where they believe their hatred and pseudoscience will go unopposed.
Speakers include Roger McGrath, who teaches history at California State University, Northridge and Pepperdine University (which in itself is amazing. This is okay with these institutions? In 2013?), and the infamous John Derbyshire, fired from National Review for fearmongering about scary black people. For American Renaissance, what Derbyshire wrote was actually “sensible”:
It’s amazing to me that our state legislature can hold pointless, grandstanding votes on anti-UN nonsense like Agenda 21, but a bunch of intolerant bigots and extremists hold a gathering at a taxpayer-funded state facility and no one can be bothered to make even the slightest gesture in objection.
This is wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. The more Tennessee is associated with bigotry and intolerance, the more we are dragged down, economically and socially. It’s obvious that the reason these groups find Tennessee a friendly place for their kind is because of the actions of some prominent legislators — actions like this, where the state House passed a bill banning local communities from renaming Confederate historic sites, but punted on a Democratic amendment that would also ban renaming sites named for Civil Rights leaders. This is a clear message to groups like Stormfront and American Renaissance, but keep in mind, it’s also a clear message to every prospective employer who might have thought Tennessee was a good place to relocate.
Tennessee, when are you going to speak out? When will you say, enough? We are not a haven for hate? Ever? Or is it just, *crickets*?
[UPDATE]:
Memo to Chief Justice John Roberts, who yesterday wondered if the South is more racist than the North. You sure as hell don’t see these conferences in Detroit. Maybe there’s a reason for that, ‘mmm’kay?
Filed under racism, right-wing hate, Tennessee
Yet another irresponsible gun owner’s negligence goes unpunished:
CHATTANOOGA — A Hamilton County grand jury has chosen not to indict a grandfather after his 2-year-old grandson accidentally shot himself with the man’s pistol.
The Hamilton County District Attorney’s Office had pursued a charge of criminally negligent homicide against Stan Nowell. The grand jury last week issued a no true bill, meaning they did not believe there was enough evidence against Nowell to take the case to trial.
[...]
Two-year-old Brennan Nowell shot himself on Dec. 20 after his grandfather left a .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol on a chair.
Stan Nowell is a pastor and a missionary who started Forgotten Child Ministries, an organization that helps street children in Honduras.
Well I give the DA’s office props for trying. By the way, here’s a picture of Stan Nowell from the Forgotten Child Ministries LinkedIn profile:
Stan Nowell
Here’s a similar case of gun negligence. Remember Jamal Woolford Sr.? He’s the guy who was in bed (possibly asleep, I’m not sure) when his 4-year-old son found his dad’s loaded .44 and accidentally killed himself. The bullet also wounded the boy’s mother. Woolford was arrested, charged, and put on trial, facing 100 years in prison if found guilty of all the charges. Here’s his picture:
James Woolford Sr.
Notice anything different? (By the way, Woolford was acquited of the manslaughter charge this week, but found guilty of reckless endangerment and other charges, including a cocaine charge unrelated to the gun incident. So he’s going to jail anyway.)
I know, I know … different cases, different states, you can’t compare them. But it does seem to me, just from perusing the headlines, that white people are not charged in these gun negligence cases as often as black people are. I wonder if anyone has looked into whether there is indeed racial disparity in gun accident convictions?
Filed under gun control, gun violence, racism
Hello, Blah People! In case any of you started getting uppity now that Obama got his second term and having a black president is the new normal, Tennessee would like to put you in your place.
Let’s start with Memphis, where the chairman of the city’s parks and neighborhoods committee decided to school everyone on what a great guy Nathan Bedford Forrest was:
“When he came back from the war he promoted the progress of black people in this community,” Boyd said. “He promoted black people. He gave them jobs in places he owned businesses.”
That’s the same Nathan Bedford Forrest who co-founded the Ku Klux Klan in Pulaski, TN. Well done, Mr. Boyd! You made a Memphis Councilwoman cry.
Of course, we in Nashville have no reason to gloat. We have a privately-funded park adorned with a hideous statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest right where everyone driving south on I-65 can see it — people like this poor lady who works in Brentwood and found a racial slur scrawled on the hood of her car while she was at work on MLK day.
Tennessee, still racist after all these years.
Every now and then a member of the conservative establishment unknowingly shares the truth about their worldview.
Today, The Corner linked to a conversation with Jonah Goldberg and John O’Sullivan on “the problem of demographics for the Republican coalition.” The pull-quote in the link explained that if the GOP is to win over asian-american and latino voters, it must “persuade them to think of themselves primarily as Americans.” I can’t understand why they’re having trouble, given this keen understanding of the voters they’re trying to reach.
The full quote is at the link, but it basically says the same thing, just more words. Most liberals jumped on this as two top conservative pundits once again being clueless, patronizing and racist toward ethnic voters. And yes, assuming Asian Americans and Latinos don’t think of themselves as “American” is clueless, patronizing and racist.
But let’s flip this argument over. Jonah Goldberg, John O’Sullivan and the editors of The Corner are saying that any group which views itself as American must by default be Republican. It is inconceivable to them that any person who views him or herself as American could be a liberal. Let that one sink in for a minute.
This is what happens after a generation of political warfare, of convincing yourself and everyone else that you own the flag, you own patriotism, you own soldiers home from war, and babies, and Christmas, and success, and Mom and apple pie — in short, everything the culture ever identified as part of being “American.”
And of course we’ve heard hints of this before, from the likes of Glenn Beck, Michele Bachmann, Allen West, Ann Coulter and the rest of those folks in the crazypants corner of the GOP. It is, in fact, what’s behind all of that birther nonsense. But usually the GOP establishment swoops in to do damage control, either disavowing the statement or wresting a retraction from the poor GOPer who forgot he or she was supposed to speak in dog whistles. Rarely is it put so bluntly by a member of the conservative elite.
The Republican Party will never open its tent in any meaningful way as long as the nut of their worldview is that they own being American. Until they start seeing those citizens who think (and vote) differently from them as also being American, they will not be a viable alternative to anyone outside the 27%.
In February 2012, conservative author Bruce Walker wrote this:
The data is consistent, overwhelming, and clear. Conservatives are the Real America. Leftists are colonial governors, small in number, controlling through fear and intimidation from heavily guarded forts at the chokepoints of society, unable to persuade more than a slim minority of Americans to follow them, and protected from the destruction of their own administration. Our campaign against the left is nothing more or less than a national liberation movement. We, not they, are America.
Walker is a nutjob, who writes, lives and breathes on conservatism’s radical fringe — but, sadly, that fringe has been allowed to permeate conservatism’s epicenter. Walker’s “we are the real Americans” perspective is clearly part of the conservative DNA. And guess what: Walker was convinced that Republicans would win big in November, because his unskewed polls told him America is a conservative nation (BTW, I link to Walker’s columns because they are truly hilarious. Go over and read a few, have a good laugh.)
And therein lies the problem. Republicans don’t just need to expand their political tent; they need to expand their concept of what it means to be an American. I’m just not sure they can do it. They’re going to continue to believe their dog whistles speak to everyone, when they just speak to the 27%; they’re going to continue to slip up and oopsies say something boneheaded like, “Latinos need to think of themselves as American before Republicans can reach out to them.” And crackpots like Bruce Walker are going to continue to write laughably out of touch articles proving how hermetically sealed the conservative bubble truly is.
It may take an entire generation to fix what ails the GOP.
Filed under conservatives, racism, Republican Party
People are wondering what this whole Tucker Carlson-Matt Drudge-Fox News fail parade could possibly be about. The video is old, was well-covered in 2007 (even by Tucker Carlson!) and isn’t the shiny-sparkly game changer that had been promised.
But people, it’s not about you. It’s a wingnut dog-whistle for “reparations,” as the Fox chiron Tweeted by Salon’s Alex Seitz-Wald makes clear:
“Katrina victims shortchanged by government”? Oooooh. I get it! It’s another way of saying if Obama is re-elected, he’ll make sure black people get your money because of slavery ‘n stuff.
This is a classic dog whistle and what’s really curious to me is that it’s being used at all. Is the Fox/Drudge/Carlson crowd worred the folks to whom this message is directed — i.e., the racist base — won’t bother to vote? What do they know that we don’t?
It’s really quite puzzling that they keep throwing more red meat to the far right, the folks you’d think were pretty convinced that Obama is a danger to the republic on account of being a Socialist-Muslim-wealth-redistributing-blackety-black man. You’d think they’d be trying to appeal to the less crazy people. But maybe there are none.
Maybe there really are no undecided voters left in this election and all the Republicans can do is try keep their side motivated with crap like this.
Filed under 2012 presidential election, politics, President Barack Obama, racism
You’d think some people would self-edit themselves, but no, not this California rodeo announcer, who thought this joke was too good not to share over the PA system:
According to Wilson, the joke as told by the announcer, went something like this: Playboy is offering Ann Romney $250,000 to pose in the magazine and the White House is upset about it because National Geographic only offered Michelle Obama $50 to pose for them. “I can’t speak for the board, but I myself think that this is unacceptable behavior or conduct by the announcer,” said Mike Barrett, Creston Classic Rodeo board member. “I find it offensive, and I think that it’s conduct unbecoming the rodeo announcer.”
Ha ha so funny I forgot to laugh. /sarcasm
According to the story, audience members were stunned, and rodeo board members are demanding an apology.
Creston, California is in San Luis Obispo County, on the central coast. It’s horse, ranch and wine country — a gorgeous part of the state completely undeserving of such a hateful display.
Filed under racism
Hey everyone! If you ever wanted to know what a nature walk led by ex-Ku Klux Klan Grand Wackadoo David Duke would be like (and who hasn’t, I ask you?), now’s your chance! Stormfront and other white supremacist groups will hold an international conference right here in East Tennessee next week, and yes, one of the featured events is a Duke-led “informal nature walk through the Smokies.”
Aw that’s so cute. Don’t get your white sheets dirty, folks!
Yes, if you’re going to hold an international conference of white supremacist groups, what better place than Tennessee? After all, we’re pretty much racism central here:
More than 30 white supremacist organizations currently operate in Tennessee, representing the five contemporary strains of white supremacists, according to the Anti-Defamation League. They include neo-Nazis, racist skinheads, “traditional” movements such as the Ku Klux Klan, racist prison gangs and “Christian identity” groups that espouse the belief that God favors white people.
The Stormfront gathering will probably draw from all but the prison groups, Pitcavage said.
I’m hoping that Gov. Haslam condemns this meeting in no uncertain terms. I mean really, we’re not that hard up for tourism dollars, are we?
I dunno, but if there’s one thing this whole Joe Ricketts fiasco shows us it’s how much the Republican Party has lost its grip.
I’ve just started reading Paul Krugman’s 2007 book The Conscience Of A Liberal (I know, I’m behind on my liberal canon) which is an excellent read. I was struck by this:
Today leading figures on the American right are masters of what the British call “dog-whistle politics”: they say things that appeal to certain groups in a way that only targeted groups can hear — and thereby avoid having the extremism of their positions become generally obvious. [...] But in the early days of the National Review, positions were stated more openly.
Thus in 1957 the magazine published an editorial celebrating a Senate vote that, it believed, would help the South continue the disenfranchisement of blacks:
The central question that emerges — and it is not a parliamentary question or a question that is answered by merely consulting a catalog of the rights of American citizens, born Equal — is whether the White community in the South is entitled to take such measures as are necessary to prevail, politically and culturally, in areas in which it does not predominate numerically? The sobering answer is Yes — the White community is so entitled because, for the time being. it is the advanced race …
National Review believes that the South’s premises are correct. If the majority wills what is socially atavistic, then to thwart the majority may be, though undemocratic, enlightened. It is more important for any community, anywhere in the world, to affirm and live by civilized standards, than to bow to the demands of the numerical majority, in which case it must give way, and the society will regress; sometimes the numerical minority cannot prevail except by violence: then it must determine whether the prevalence of its will is worth the terrible price of its violence.
The “catalog of the rights of American citizens, born Equal” dismissed by the editorial would, presumably, be the document known as the Constitution of the United States.
This is the National Review, circa 1957. Advocating white supremacy over blacks, because black people are “socially atavistic” and whites are “enlightened.” Whites must maintain control of society through policies like Jim Crow, they say, because society will regress if blacks are allowed a seat at the table. In 1957 it was perfectly acceptable for the intellectuals at the National Review to openly espouse such White Supremacist views.
Post Civil Rights era, such views have been pushed underground. They’re still there, of course, but you didn’t openly say such things. No, you spoke in code. You make reference to “welfare queens,” for example.
Until we got our first black president, that is. Not long ago National Review writer John Derbyshire was fired for a column (published in another magazine) basically espousing the same views as that 1957 editorial, and he’s since gone full-on white supremacist on the pages of Vdare. Pat Buchanan wrote an entire book espousing racist fearmongering about “the end of white America.” They aren’t hiding this stuff anymore. It’s out there.
So I have one question: what the hell happened? Republicans have ditched the dog whistles, they’re speaking in fucking tornado sirens. Birtherism and attacks on black churches and references to President Obama being “a Kenyan” and “a food stamp president,” not to mention the racist photos featured at conservative think tanks like the John Locke Foundation: they’ve ditched the code and are just letting it all hang out, and it doesn’t seem Karl Rove or other party apparatchiks have any control over it.
Is this what the Tea Party has done? Is it people like Rush Limbaugh who constantly rail against “political correctness” deciding, fuck it, I’m a racist bigot and I’m proud of it? Is it the internet giving more people a venue to spout their racist views?
Is it that the rest of us are more savvy to these dog whistles and see them for what they are?
When did the Republicans decide to ditch the dog whistles?
[UPDATE]:
Next time someone starts a sentence with, “I’m not racist…” think of this lady (h/t, John Cole):
Filed under racism, Republican Party
