A letter to the editor in the September 17-23 issue of the North Fork Journal, Rockingham County, Virginia [no web presence]:Recently, I and my wife noticed this sign in a field at Fulks Run. Painted over the Barack sign were the letters KKK.Another recent letter in the Fort Worth Star Telegram notices the impact of racism on this election:
My wife is from Puerto Rico (a U. S. territory) and has lived in central Florida for twelve years. She has seen the face of the KKK actively. She has also received death threats while running for local office. In nearby St. Cloud, a cafe was called the Koffee Kup Kafe.
The only head covering she expected to see here was that of the Mennonites, which would have been a good thing.
It is hard for our generation, in our community, to understand what those three letters mean. Ask an older person who is a minority, or anyone else who has really seen the face of hatred. Threats have been leveled at Barack, and by extension, his supporters. My wife is NOT the only minority in this community.
It is neither funny nor trivial. It is NOT what our community is about, and we need to stand against this hatred in the MOST VOCAL MANNER POSSIBLE! Our community needs to publicly stand against hatred and threats of violence! We need to organize and event to express this within our community.Bruce Ritchie
Criders
September 05, 2008[The last sentence kind of muddles up Mr. LaFond's message, but the point he's making is obvious.]
How racism works
What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review? What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class? What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said "I do" to? What if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after she no longer measured up to his standards?
What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to pain killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization? What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard? What if Obama were a member of the "Keating 5"? What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?
If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?
This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.
Jesus' General has a handy spinner to help racists who claim their opposition to Obama is not because he's black.
Go check out the opening segment of Bill Moyers Journal for September 12, 2008. Right-wing talk show hosts seething with eliminationist rhetoric aimed at liberals. [Audio mp3 here. (no idea if this is a permanent link)]
Go check out David Neiwert's series "Eliminationism in America": Parts I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX and X, and Appendix.
A recently opened exhibition for artist/illustrator Arthur Szyk [Bilder gegen Nationalsocialismus und Terror -- Deutsches Historisches Museum] has this pertinent image:
Vergib ihnen nicht, oh Herr, denn sie wissen, was sie tun!…Do not forgive them, O Lord, for they do know what they do!
New Canaan, 1949
--'humble, earnest Christians' do not engage in armed rebellion against the government to protect chattel slavery...
