Racial slur, threat against Obama at UA

[sabra]

Source: AP

TUSCALOOSA — Marsha L. Houston, a professor at the University of Alabama, was so happy Barack Obama won the presidency that she put up a poster of the soon-to-be first family on her office door after the election.
First, someone ripped down the poster. When she put up another, someone scrawled a racial slur on it along with a death threat against the first African-American to win the White House.

“It seems the election brought the racist rats out of the woodwork,” Houston, who is black, said in an interview Thursday.
The slur and threat that defaced Houston’s poster was but one of a string of racist taunts and menacing on U.S. campuses in the wake of Obama’s historic victory, which apparently pulled the hood off old-fashioned hate.

Juicycampus.com, a Web site where students from some 500 schools nationwide post comments anonymously, is littered with hundreds of racist rants and death threats toward Obama, whom exit polls showed was favored by young voters by a 2-1 margin over Republican John McCain.


Read more: http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20081117/NEWS/81116004

[smoogatz]

1. Cowards.

Crawling, slimy, stinking cowards. Back under your rocks, you despicable pieces of shit.

[Hulk]

17. It's what racists are.....cowards. Why else the sheets and hoods?

They are basically ugly, sick and twisted individuals. ANYONE who believes any of the teachings of Christ, and then hates a person simply because of the color of their skin, is such an "anti-Christ" that it isn't funny.

And where the hatred is the worst, the morons are clinging to their bibles and listening to their religious and right wing hate radio THE MOST.

Sick, cowardly ugly humans. COWARDS to the end. I would be willing to bet my life savings that 99.9% of them are right wing, fascist repugs as well. Says a lot for a party when the base is made up of such ugliness.

[KakistocracyHater]

37. National Geographic magazine had an article

on giraffes-apparently there are 5 or 6 different "patch patterns" on their fur; in the wild each giraffe kept to its own 'patch', only in "prison"-or zoos, as they call them, do giraffes mix with giraffes that have different patches. This is 1 more example of my idea that racism is older than Humanity & can be widely seen in other mammals.

[Sabriel]

2. As a college instructor myself...

I don't agree with putting overtly partisan things around one's work space. That, of course, doesn't excuse the vandalism or the intent.

[Betsy Ross]

10. What is partisan about putting up a picture of the President-Elect?

Prior to the election, it would be partisan.

[postman07]

11. I don't agree either but

You know if McCain won. There would be McCain stuff all over the place and it would just be called "honoring the president elect" Its the Repub double standard

[EFerrari]

19. In the classroom, no. The office is different.

My professors had stuff all over their offices and that was actually one way I got news, lol, by reading their walls. :)

[NashVegas]

39. Any Other Previous Election, I'd Agree

If only because he's not president YET, so portraits in the classroom are inappropriate.

But? This is historic. If people can't dance at this revolution, what's the point?

[EFerrari]

45. Well, college classrooms are usually shared among many teachers

unlike offices.

[smoogatz]

22. As a college professor myself

I support those of my colleagues who choose to adorn their office doors/bulletin boards with whatever the hell they want: free speech and all that.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

38. It was her office door and she was entitled to put it there

My university professors all had their own posters on their office doors and walls.

[wtmusic]

3. An inexpensive little motion-activated suveillance cam

is wonderful for shedding light on these cockroaches.

[iamjoy]

14. The Good Thing About This

Of course, death threats against the President are wrong. It's never okay to threaten bodily harm to the President or his family.

I do see the silver lining, however, in the racial slurs and insults about Obama. As callous as this sounds, such slurs are evidence that racism is not dead in this country. I remember during the campaign season, some of the so-called experts had said that one concern with Obama being elected was it would cause people to become complacent about racism and think it was no longer a problem in our society.

I think the reaction by some to Obama's successful candidacy shows us that racism is very much alive in the good ol' US of A. Some may need that reminder.

I desperately hope most of the people making these threats are just venting frustration and don't really mean any physical harm. I also am very grateful to the law enforcement protecting our President-elect (and his family) and fervently wish they will stay several steps ahead of the crackpots who are serious.

[qwlauren35]

40. Interesting Take

I definitely didn't get the impression that racism was dead. That was quite clear in looking at what happened in Indiana, and Alabama's numbers make it pretty obvious.

But *I* and other African-Americans I know felt a sense that perhaps racism isn't quite as bad as we all think it is.

[iamjoy]

42. Of Course You Didn't

Of course if you are African American you know full well that racism isn't dead - you've probably experienced it first hand within the past few years.

I meant there are probably a lot of white people in this country who just don't believe racism still happens. These are well meaning people, but they're just a little blind to it. Maybe because they are not racist they don't think it's a problem. Or maybe because it's not overt many people miss it.

Alabama always votes Republican anyway. Even though he scares me because he is so socially conservative, we should take heart in Bobby Jindal getting elected in Louisiana a couple of years ago - a non-white won the governor's race in the deep South.

[JonQ]

33. That's how the caught the perpetrator in a hate crime at

George Washington University. A student complained that skinheads were drawing swastikas on her dorm room door. Turns out, from the surveillance camera, she going out there and drawing them on.

Ouch.

There have been more than one instance of faux-hate crimes in the last couple of years. So I'll remain skeptical, and refrain from passing sweeping generalizations on all accused parties for the moment.

[dysfunctional press]

4. she should put up another poster...but have a hidden camera pointed at it...

and find out who the fuckwad is.

[Bolo Boffin]

5. I come from Alabama.

FROM emphasized.

I had the banjo surgically removed.

[AZ Criminal JD]

20. Let's hope you don't come back

[Bolo Boffin]

30. Still got family there, your rotten luck

I bet you root for Auburn, too.

[AZ Criminal JD]

36. Actually I used to work for bama and my office was a block from the stadium

[olddad56]

27. How old did you escape?

[Bolo Boffin]

31. First time was 20 years old, then back in, then 26 years old

I'm 41 now. Fifteen short years and what a trip this last time was.

[QC]

32. You think moving to the People's Republic of Bushistan is an improvement? n/t

[Bolo Boffin]

34. At least it's a little more spread out around here.

An actor can't hardly help where he lands, sometimes.

Hey, we almost elected an openly gay mayor here in Dallas! True, once people started finding out he was openly gay, strictly a service to the community by his opponent, he lost the runoff. But we almost did!

[gratuitous]

6. Don't touch stuff that doesn't belong to you

Honestly, what kind of parents don't teach their kids to keep their grimy hands off of other people's things? I remember college professors with all sorts of things on their doors. Some of it made me smile, some of it made me nod ruefully, some of it made me think, and some of it I disagreed with. But I would never have dreamed of touching or defacing a scrap of it. But then, my parents were liberal do-gooders who hated America, not like the fine upstanding folks who send their offspring to the University of By-God Alabama.

[DBoon]

7. tolerance is not a right wing virtue

liberals believe in respecting differing opinions

right wingers believe in attacking anything they don't agree with

[YDogg]

9. Ahem.

My parents are "fine upstanding folks who send their offspring to the University of By-God Alabama."

None of the three of us exhibit the racist tendencies described in this news report. But then, none of us exhibit your provincialism, either.

[gratuitous]

26. Then obviously I wasn't referring to your parents, was I?

If they instructed you in the proper respect for other people's property, apparently your parents aren't part of the problem, are they? Although your professors haven't quite yet instructed you in the art of reading for context or critical thinking. Perhaps next term?

Sheesh. :eyes:

[YDogg]

29. And neither are most of the other parents who send their kids to The University of Alabama.

There are idiots everywhere.

Sheesh. :eyes:

[OwnedByFerrets]

8. As I keep repeating, until there are jail sentences for these

crimes, they will continue.

[woundedkarma]

13. Aren't death threats against the president a crime?

I thought that the FBI (or Secret Service?) was required to investigate all death threats made against a president? Doesn't that include president-elects? I hope it does.

[OwnedByFerrets]

35. I sure as hell thought so.

[Ysabela]

12. Solution: Put a camera up and catch the racist kids red-handed and embarass them. n/t

n/t

[The Doctor.]

16. No, send them to jail.

It's illegal to make any kind of threat against a President.

[The Doctor.]

15. WTF is wrong with these people?

Their fears are so unfounded... even borderline psychotic.


Fuckers called for people who merely criticized Bush to be tossed in GITMO... or executed. Now they turn around and make death threats against a guy who's done nothing to harm the nation.

These fucking idiots don't realize he's our best chance at putting this nation back together again. All because they're fed a constant stream of bullshit.

[Acadia Blue]

24. They are ignorant and fundamentalists.

[SemperEadem]

18. IP addresses... I guess these hate mongers are too stupid

to know that they can be found--I'm sure a court order will force juicycampus to turn over their servers for the IP addresses. Law enforcement can confiscate these people's computers and find the information necessary to identify these dimwits as the authors of the messages... just because you delete something from your computer doesn't mean it's not on your computer. A good computer forensics tech can find it.

[old mark]

21. The people that did this are traitors to the United States and

should be in prison.

mark

[Acadia Blue]

23. The old south and still has: ignorance and

a willingness to vote against their own interests because rich people convince them that they will somehow be better if they can keep other people down.
About 30 to 40 something percent of southerners voted for Obama. About one-half of those were white college educated people.

[NashVegas]

41. A Mean Streak

Otherwise, I think the South is the best shot we have for a honest conversations on race and racism. Up north it's swept under the rug.

[really annoyed]

43. Can we please not have a pissing contest about who is most racist?

The North/South racism thing is old, k? This type of behavior is not acceptable ANYWHERE and needs to be dealt with.

[NashVegas]

44. Yeah, Let's Just Not Discuss It

And let's not discuss the fact that racism and bigotry exhibits itself in different ways in different parts of the country, and let's make sure no one ever has to get upset, so we can make sure it's never resolved.

[AlabamaBrightBlueDot]

25. I live in Tuscaloosa and...

although there are ongoing racial behaviors that are more prominent now it seems that most of what we are experiencing deals with nasty letters to the editor of the local paper and the kind of behaviors that are in this article. I have not heard of any violence (per se)nor had my signs, stickers, etc., removed or defaced.

Those people who live in the southeast KNOW racism is a way of life to many, but, in my lifetime we have seen an abundance of progress as well.

[Blue_Tires]

28. you stay classy, tide

[yurbud]

46. great sig line pic!