A particularly sickening example of the horrible stuff swirling around the halls of political discourse, by the way, is the reaction of some on the Right to 10-year-old Malia Obama wearing a T-shirt with a peace symbol on it during the Obamas' trip to France. It's a T-shirt. It's a kid. Political statements in pink glitter really ought not incur the vitriol of the bigot. But those who took umbrage at this little girl's T-shirt, presuming it to be an overt political statement in poly/cotton, pale in comparison to other conservatives, for whom the Obamas are just a Black family representing what they believe to be the innate scariness of Black people.
This vicious bigotry is documented in the July 12 edition of the Vancouver Sun, which reports some of the more despicable comments from right-wingers who see only the Obamas' race when analyzing the T-shirt choice of a beautiful little girl and the conduct of her beautiful family. Quoting the Sun directly:
"A typical street whore." "A bunch of ghetto thugs." "Ghetto street trash." "Wonder when she will get her first abortion."
These are a small selection of some of the racially-charged comments posted to the conservative 'Free Republic' blog Thursday, aimed at U.S. President Barack Obama's 11-year-old daughter Malia after she was photographed wearing a t-shirt with a peace sign on the front.
The thread was accompanied by a photo of Michelle Obama speaking to Malia that featured the caption, "To entertain her daughter, Michelle Obama loves to make monkey sounds." Though this may sound like the sort of thing one might read on an Aryan Nation or white power website, they actually appeared on what is commonly considered one of the prime online locations for U.S. Conservative grassroots political discussion and organizing (copied from The Vancouver Sun, copyright July 12, 2009)
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I think I'll pour a glass of wine while I await a horrified response from the Religious Right to this sample of racist hate . . .
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4 comments:
Free Republic, Little Green Footballs, etc. are full of people who love to hate nothing more than criticism of war. They are bloodthirsty warmongers. To them, Ron Paul is a four-letter word. I'm sure they hate people like Ron Paul, Lew Rockwell, and Laurence Vance even more than they hate Obama. At least in Obama they have a fellow warmonger. The vitriol directed at the daughter is because of the implied criticism of American warmongering. I hate to say it but basically war is all that America has left to export.
Gee, glad to have you back. I think.
Keely
One more thing, DN. How is it that the comments about "whores" and "ghetto trash" and inevitable abortion, all directed at a little girl, further a discussion about war? You say "the vitriol directed at the daughter is because of the implied criticism of American warmongering." I say you've dodged what you know to be a direct, specific, racist attack on an 11-year-old. Why is that?
Keely
Keely, I didn't even go look at the actual comments. I was commenting based on generalities, because I am well familiar with the sorts of things that are generally said at those places and the sorts of people that generally frequent those websites. I don't doubt that there are people who hate her because she's black.
That said, the Obamas themselves have to share some of the blame for their pushing the politics of racial identity in the first place. (E.g. Michelle Obama's senior year thesis at Princeton. And many other examples could be given.)
Not that I identify myself this way, but I don't have any doubts about what Keely would call me if I happened to identify myself as a "white community organizer."
White people venting their spleen in an ugly way against a black girl in an online forum is ugly. No argument there. But how about a little balance? I mean, how about just an itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini of balance on this sort of issue? Because while white people are saying ugly things about a black girl, black people are ganging up on white people and stomping on their faces. Yet the latter gets no notice, while the former gets people all upset and bent out of shape.
No racism here folks, nothing to to see:
http://www.akronnewsnow.com/news/itemdetail.asp?ID=33435
There is FAR MORE violence by blacks against whites than the other way around.
I'm all for calling sin sin. But let's not selectively focus only on one aspect of a problem while ignoring other aspects that are even more serious.
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