White extremists lash out over Obama's election

[sabra]

Source: Baltimore Sun/LA Times

The Ku Klux Klan is emerging from decades of disorganization and obscurity, and the turnaround is acutely evident -- more than 200 hate-related incidents have been reported since the Nov. 4 election.

Reporting from Bogalusa, La. - Barely three weeks since America elected its first black president, noose hangings, racist graffiti and death threats have struck dozens of towns across the country.

More than 200 such incidents -- including cross burnings, assassination betting pools and effigies of President-elect Barack Obama -- have been reported, according to law enforcement authorities and the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups.

Racist websites have been boasting that their servers have been crashing because of an exponential increase in traffic.

And America's most potent symbol of racial hatred, the Ku Klux Klan, is reasserting itself in a spate of recent violence, after decades of disorganization and obscurity.

...

"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."


Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/politics/bal-klan1124,0,6364005.story

[Lerkfish]

1. and the main stream press is right there, pushing the meme.

[Demeter]

2. See If Local Enforcement Steps Up to Bat

If not, all hell breaks loose.

Without tacit permission and assistance from the authorities, the Klan won't go far. Nor any other white supremacy group.

[azurnoir]

15. It is likely that

at least some of "local" law enforcement are members of Klan, it was quite common in the'60's and apparently not much has changed

[yardwork]

20. Into the 1980s at least in parts of North Carolina and probably to this day.

[Cassius23]

3. Took them long enough....

I expected the racist backlash to happen soon after Obama was nominated.

[MineralMan]

4. Very disheartening...

But it depends on the region, it seems to me. In most places, the racism is still pretty much buried and kept out of the daylight. It's still there, though.

[underpants]

5. Uh-huh "servers have been crashing because of an exponential increase in traffic"

Uh yeah, sounds like glorious self promotion on par with professional wrestling-evangelical preachers-or right wing talk radio

Nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd (real or imagined)

[HerbieHeadhunter]

6. Yep, from near my neck of the woods....

http://www.mcrecordonline.com/index.php?id=1863

The owners of a Huntsville motel insist their decision to replace the United States flag with a Confederate flag following Barack Obama's victory last week in the Presidential election had nothing to do with race.

In a written statement to The Record, the owners of the Faubus Motel did say that the reason for the change in flags was politically driven.

...

"On election night, we lowered Old Glory from our flag pole because we are no longer the land of the free and the home of the brave (except for our military)," the letter stated. "The sound principals for which Old Glory stood have been abandoned. We raised the rebel flag of the Old South in protest. Since political correctness forces people into a limited frame of reference, we wish to say this loud and clear, this was not about race. We resent having a Marxist in the White House no matter color he is. If Mr. Obama had tried to enter the White House as an ordinary citizen, he would not qualify for a security clearance because of his past associations. We decided if Obama can refuse to properly salute the flag and his buddy, Bill Ayers, could stand on the American flag in a trash-filled alley, then we could take Old Glory down in honor and respect.

"We are angry with a biased, agenda-driven media. We are angry that for the past eight years President Bush and the Republican Party have been blamed by the Democrats and their cohorts in the media for the incomplete and irresponsible way that the group A.C.O.R.N. let down potential voters in the state of Florida in 2000. A.C.O.R.N. has used our tax dollars to carry out, contrary to the law, a partisan "get out the vote" effort of scandalous proportions. The other arm of this nefarious organization bullies and harasses banks and lending institutions to make the risky loans that have jeopardized our nation's financial security. We are outraged that the Democrats, who portray themselves as the great defenders of the night to vote, did not feel compelled to ensure the rights of our military to be guaranteed their full privileges during the election.

[unpossibles]

11. wait!

they blame FL 2000 on ACORN!??!?

[droidamus2]

12. Why don't they just admit it

These people should just admit that they have never accepted that they lost the Civil War and they will not stop fighting until they have forced society to be run in their warped image. As far as the KKK as long as they stick to words, as reprehensible as their sentiments are, then they are covered by the 1st amendment. As soon as they step of the line to action they should be stepped on hard. We have to make clear to them that we do not agree with what they say and we won't allow their kind of intimidation and
violence to occur without severe penalties.

[yardwork]

18. It's not just the south. The Klan's numbers are highest in the midwest.

Indiana, Ohio, Illinois - those states have always had a lot of Klan activity, and they were part of the Union during the Civil War. Western states like Idaho also have their share of white supremacists. It's never been as simple as a north/south divide and it's definitely not as simple as the Civil War lines.

[Alter Ego]

13. Dear Racist Motel Owners,

The South lost, get over it.

Kisses,
Everyone else

[yardwork]

17. Bat shit crazy.

[NickB79]

27. What the hell does a Confederate flag have to do with objecting to "Marxism"????

Why didn't they fly a hammer-and-scythe, Soviet flag instead, if it really wasn't about race? Unless, of course, they already had a Confederate flag conveniently lying around, just as a coincidence :eyes:

[ninety lives]

34. That's a good question...

I always associate red-baiting with the midwest and west.

[qwlauren35]

28. I Don't Think These People Are Racist.

They've just bought into the most insideous snow job (pardon the pun) that has ever been perpetrated by an opposing party in my short political lifetime.

They believe Obama is a Marxist, and that Ayers is a terrorist.

Given that there are African-Americans who bought into the "Babykiller" mantra, I am convinced that some people bought into the labelling tactic of the McCain-Palin campaign, and it has nothing to do with racism.

Right after 9/11, many Americans ditched their fear of black people in exchange for a fear of Muslims, Middle Easterners... and "terrorists". Many Arab-Americans became the targets of hate crimes. My Middle Eastern roommate's tires were slashed.

That picture of Obama with a head scarf and the issue of his middle name have nothing to do with race. Xenophobia and religious prejudice are different issues altogether; they just have the same roots.

[RamboLiberal]

30. LOL - Read some reviews of this rathole motel

“The rudest place in Arkansas!”

We were driving to Branson, MO for a family vacation. I have a 8 month old baby and a 8yr old son.
My 8 yr old son had been in a night time auto accident a few weeks before. He had begged to still go to Branson so we kept our plans.
About 10 pm he got nervous and asked for us to stop for the night.
We were near Hunstville so we pulled in looking for a place. The first place was rude and told us they were booked. The Fabuas place had a note on the door stating their prices (which are high) and saying if you don't like it don't ring!!
When the old man answered the door I asked if he had a room with two beds. He said yes but not for Smokers! (my husband was standing outside the truck smoking).
I told the man he would not smoke in the room and that I had two kids that just wanted to go to sleep. He told me to bad!
When I turn around and told my husband over the truck running.
The inn keeper told us he had people sleeping and to leave before he called the cops!

“Are there cameras in this motel?”

I decided to move to Huntsville and booked a room here to have a place to stay while I searched for property and a house. I checked in on Friday night, left the do not disturb sign on my door because I wanted no one in my room and turned on the A/C as it was stuffy and hot in the room. I went to my girlfriends home and stayed there for a while. When I got back to the motel, the sign was gone, the A/C was turned off and the owner had put a space heater in my room and left it going. The next morning I put the do not disturb sign out again, turned on the A/C and went to get the room for another night. In the office he commented on how late I was out the night before and asked me where I had been. Later that morning, my girlfriend met me at the motel and we went to view property together. We got back to the motel at about 5 pm that evening very tired and went in to talk over what we had seen that day. As we sat there, I leaned over and kissed her and then leaned in and kissed her again. Not two seconds later the phone rang and the owner said, " We will have none of that here" Those were his exact words. He then proceeded to tell me that my girlfriend needed to leave or he would call the cops and have her thrown out. His reason was that I had rented the room as a single person. I told him she would mot be spending the night and was only there briefly until we went to dinner. He insisted and I hung up on him. I then began searching the room for cameras or something that would explain why he called at the moment he did and why he made the statement he did. After I lifted about the third picture/mirror, the phone rang again. My girlfriend answered it and he asked her if this was 116. She answered that it was and he told her she needed to get in her car and leave immediately. She questioned him on it and he told her to leave or he would call the cops and have her thrown out. She hung up on him. About 10 minutes later a police officer knocked on my door and I invited him in and we explained everything to him. He agreed that the owner could not make her leave and said he would have a talk with him. The owner left us alone after that and about 30 minutes later, after putting the sign on the door again and turning on the A/C, we went to dinner. That night when I got back to my room, the sign was still there, but the A/C was off and the door left unlocked. I found this man to be extremely rude, and very nosy. He asked questions he had no right to ask, and entered my room even though he knew he was not wanted. How embarrassing it was to have to speak to the police and deal with that kind of mess because I chose to stop at my motel room to rest and clean up before we went to dinner.

“Do Not Stay Here”

"My family has an eighty year friendship with the Faubus family who no longer is associated with this motel. The current owner needs to remove the Faubus name and the picture of the late Governor Faubus from their office. The rooms are marginally clean, the owner is extremely rude (leaving nasty notes in the room what not to touch), the check out time is 10:00 am which created a huge hardship for my family that was there for a funeral. The owner refused to make any concession even though we had checked in at almost 9:00pm the night before. When asked why the checkout was so early the owner told me it was because, "We don't have south-of-the-border people to clean their rooms, we do it ourselves." We will never stay at this motel again."

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g31688-d270817-r10237325-Faubus_Motel-Huntsville_Arkansas.html

[superconnected]

32. Demented.

[jbane]

33. Hate radio talking points

These folks just can't think for themselves so they let Rush and Hannity do it for them,

[goforit]

7. OLD news remade to sensationalize the demented in society.

[CountAllVotes]

8. these old idiots need to GET OVER IT

and if they aren't with us they are against us!

:dem: :kick:

[Rebubula]

9. One small point...

...at least we know where these idiots stand.

There are tens of thousands more that feel the same way, but do not don the robe.

I would not shed a tear if I heard all the Feds swooped into these racist compounds and found all of them dead\had to shoot it out and killed them all. I wish this type of ignorance and hatred would die out quicker than it is...I grow weary of these assholes.

'Quick to Judge, Quick to anger and slow to understand.
Ignorance and prejudice and fear walk hand in hand'

Witch Hunt
Rush

[Auggie]

10. It's okay with me if Secret Service protection of the President-Elect triples...

[HopeHoops]

14. These people think Jesus (who lived in the Mid East) was white, blonde, and had blue eyes.

Oh, and dinosaurs were on Noah's arc, which was roughly the size of the junk food section at WalMart.

[yardwork]

19. They think that God wrote the Bible in English just in time for the Pilgrims to discover America.

[yardwork]

16. Hate groups have been increasing rapidly in number since 2000.

I don't know whether the Bush administration stopped intervening or whether they tacitly encouraged them or whether the rise of hate radio and hate internet sites has played a part, but the number of organized hate groups is way up since 2000. The Southern Poverty Law Center monitors these things (the government doesn't seem to have been doing much about it since 2000 anyway).

So it's not surprising that there are more and more hateful incidents.

[peaches2003]

21. They are just beginning to realize it is true

that BO will be President of the US. They are irrational haters and I fear for the worst as Jan. 20 approaches and they realize they are powerless to stop the inauguration from happening.

[defendandprotect]

22. Let's be sure this doesn't get used as a COVER for some

otherwise inspired violence against Obama --

[anonymous171]

23. Bring it on motherfuckers.

[Odin2005]

24. Bring it on you racist fucks. Obama will have the National Guard and Homeland Security on your asses

These Nazi terrorists need to be crushed once and for all. I want these MFers heads on pikes just as much as I want Osama's.

It's no use reasoning with people who prefer shooting you over being convinced by you.

[martymar64]

25. If any domestic group like the Klan engage in terrorist activity . . .

then I will have no objection to responding with the full force of our military, including armor and airpower. If they want to wage war against this government, we'll treat them just as if their name was Al Qaeda.
Not even the best armed "aryan" group could effectively defend against an Apache or A-10 Warthog strike or hold up against a few M1 Abrams and Bradley Fighting Vehicles.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

26. Charge every last one with felony hate crime

and ensure that they do not vote for at least 10 years.

[bluestateguy]

29. With the new powers of the USA Patriot Act

The Obama Administration could effectively put these groups out of business for good, and jail all of their members for life without a trial.

[ryanmuegge]

31. What a bunch of idiots. They're so angry about such a benign individual.

They just want something to hate and be pissed about, like all fundamentalist Christians (that's the ideology that these white supremacist groups use to baselessly legitimize their bigotry).