This is no joke. My kids are coming home from their schools saying other kids are saying that Obama

[Beausoir]

will be the target of harm.

It started about a week before the election. My 6th grade son said some of his classmates were moaning that Obama would take away all the guns.

My FIRST!!! grade twins reported the same thing from their classmates. First graders.

This morning, my 6th grade son told me that those same children were claiming that Obama would be the target of harm. He used the "A" word which I don't feel comfortable typing here.

I'm not prone to over reaction. This scares me.

Hearing that word coming out of the mouths of children was extremely upsetting.

[d_b]

1. where do you live?

Mars? Alaska?

[Beausoir]

3. Rural Minnesota. Hunters. Red. Not all of us, but hunting is huge up here.

[bunkerbuster1]

6. If it makes you feel better, my kid's heard some stupid crap in a racially diverse school...

This was some weeks ago, already, and it wasn't real nasty, just trash-talk to the effect that he shouldn't be President because of his brown skin.

what can I say? Kids eat the stupid crap their parents feed them. This won't be the last stupid crap heard about Obama.

[d_b]

21. right right.

AK here. I share your pain.

[ogneopasno]

54. Where are you at? In my part of rural NE Minnesota, there's been some stupid racial chit-chat from

elementary-school-age kids, but in the pretend elections held in the classrooms, Obama won handily every time. And he won the county, too.

Kids are stupid. I remember saying really, really dumb things when Reagan was shot, when I was 8.

[Beausoir]

66. North Central.

[ogneopasno]

67. Up the shore. How 'bout this rain?

:hi:

[Beausoir]

68. Just pouring today! Better than the Blizzard over in NoDak.

:toast:

[ogneopasno]

71. It'll come, it'll come.

[Divernan]

55. Anonymous calls to FBI & Secret Service: "Parents at "x" school are discussing assasinating Obama."

Please check this out with the principal." Keep it that short and simple.

The feds will have to follow up on this. Puts tremendous pressure on the principal, who will pass it on to the teachers. Then a couple of home visits from the Men In Black should cause the trashtalking parents to STFU!

[ananda]

2. They're hearing it from the adults around them.

It will pass eventually.

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. Right-wing talk programming.

That's the source, IMHO.

[Sabriel]

5. Considering that we just talked about this yesterday, it's no surprise

My partner and I discussed this horrible possibility with our daughter (9), because she's well aware of the history of the 1960s.

[Beausoir]

7. How did you handle that discussion?

[Sabriel]

11. Actually, she brought it up

"I hope he doesn't get assassinated by someone who hates black people" were her exact words.

She's read A LOT, that one, so it's like talking about it with any other well-informed person. Love her!

[Solomon]

35. "that one" she's in good company!

:thumbsup:

[RayOfHope]

8. Our local high school principal had to send an email to staff yesterday

my husband and I both teach. The HS principal sent an email to staff which said that many students were using racial slurs against Obama in wake of his election and that it will NOT be tolerated and they'd better do whatever they could to get that shit to stop. (our town is 98% white in southern MO).

An kindergartner in my school told the art teacher that 'Obama is a baby killer'. WTF, these ignorant f-ed up parents :eyes:

[Maat]

30. That happened to my niece (7).

She goes to a private Episcopalian school, which we thought was fairly liberal. We were wrong. For days, she has been told that Obama is a "baby-killer." My sister had a talk with the teacher, who, basically, exposed herself as a bigot, because she looked blankly in response, and declined to do anything. The kids are refusing to play with my niece. She is coming home crying. My sister is exploring other school alternatives.

[Bread and Circus]

47. My eight year old daughter also was told Obama is a baby

killer at school. She told them they were liars! I think kids are hearing this in church here in rural Southern Michigan.

[Maat]

63. I believe that they are hearing it in church ....

in Southern California!

How sick!

[phantom power]

9. The bummer is...

all the fearmongers will have until January 20 to sit around and telling themselves ghost stories about how Obama is going to take their guns, and send in the jackbooted thugs to steal their money and use it to buy cadillacs for welfare queens, or whatever the hell it is they spend their time worrying about.

I have to assume that when Obama takes office, most of these people will calm down when they see that he isn't going to repeal the 2nd amendment and make us all be communists as part of his first-hundred-days.

Until then, they're free to make up any shit they want, and it will be unfalsifiable.

[RedLetterRev]

51. That Second Amendment thing was brought up to me yesterday

by an IM buddy who knows that I'm ordained, a gun-owner, and gay. She's a fundie (bless her heart) but somehow doesn't see the cognitive dissonance in her friendship with me. Whatever... she's sweet but swayed by a not-so-sweet church.

The first time she ever touched on politics with me was she expressed "some reservations" about our new POTUS and I'd better do my hunting now before he took our guns away. And she was worried about his Muslim upbrining... Sigh, oh FSM, here we go, I thought, and I didn't want to get into a tear with her. She's going through a lot right now and I really didn't to hurt her feelings -- but I wasn't going to let beeyess pass unchallenged, either.

I responded as gently as I could: "Now Dear One, (1) he was raised and still is a church-going Christian man with a Christian family; (2) he's a constitutional lawyer who vocally supported the Supreme Court decision to overturn the gun ban in DC; (3) he's not stupid -- touching the 2nd Amendment or Social Security is political suicide and he's smart enough to know that; and (4) {the big one and I knew this would hit home} G'd wouldn't put someone in charge of the {cue the stirring music} greatest country in the world if He didn't mean for him to be there."

She said, "Oh, I never thought of it that way." We finished the conversation on a sweet note.

You just have to use the right words. Job one: get them to think and use non-threatening terms to do it.

[MarkInCA]

10. I would report it to school authorities.

However, not knowing your area, that may bring too much grief.

Keep educating your children. Bigotry comes from ignorance and fear.

[jobycom]

20. She could report in general terms, not pointing out anyone in particular.

Just speak to the principal for a moment, saying "My kids have been coming home with stories about the N word being used and people making threats about Obama. Do you already have a policy to correct this behavior, or are you working on one? I've heard that a lot of schools have been sending out memos emphasizing that these are not joking matters and will not be tolerated."

[Tuesday Afternoon]

12. I have been hearing it every day for over a year now...

I think I am numb to it. :(

[jobycom]

13. That's the way things are.

Kids talk, they try to shock each other. It's one of their first experiments with power. Some are reflecting what parents or older siblings are telling them. The ones who are talking aren't really a danger.

Just teach your kids to behave better than the other parents teach theirs, and be happy in that.

As for the fear for Obama, it's real. There was a UK article posted yesterday about the extreme efforts the SS is taking. There was a lot of the same fear for Clinton, but this is even worse. Fortunately, the SS has no sense of humor about this, and has been on the job for months now. The article described the preparations for Obama's acceptance speach, down to using laser sights to mark all possible lines of fire from nearby buildings, and creating a safe zone for Obama and Biden to stand in--behind a lot of glass, needless to say.

They are on this. They won't let their guard down. He's probably the most protected man in history at this moment. Most of the people who want to harm him are the hot-headed moran variety, and they won't have the ability to get through the defenses. Those with more sophisticated plans also have more chance of exposing themselves in preparation. So don't worry about it too much. They've got him covered.

Ignore the nasty folk, and teach your children that they are better than that. That's the best any of us can really do. The rest is in the highly capable and highly paid hands of the SS.

[NAO]

14. Guns, not race, seems to be the fear and source of hate

When I hear right wing fear mongers complaining these days, it's not racial. It's usually about "he will take away our guns" or "he is a socialist" or "he will silence Christians".

I get the feeling that the same things would be going around if we had just elected an old white guy who was a "liberal".

[gravity]

18. They just won't admit their racists

Race has a lot to do with it. They would whine about a liberal, but the level of hate would be much lower

[NOLALady]

31. If it was an old liberal white guy,

I doubt if there would be skinheads on trial for an attemted assasination, or the emergence of nooses, etc.

[Jed Dilligan]

52. Take it one step further and you get to race.

Why do they so desperately feel the need to have guns? It isn't JUST about hunting.

[ieoeja]

53. "Obama agreed with the Supreme Court's ruling that said the DC gun ban was unconstitutional."

Repeat that everytime you here someone call Obama a gun-grabber.

[madmom]

15. NW Ohio, the kids here are fantastic, at least the ones being vocal. They were and still

are a BIG part of Obama's ground game here!

[Nye Bevan]

16. Wow- both my kids came home yesterday saying the same thing

One goes to elementary school and one to middle school. My daughter said that there had actually been an incident that day where someone threatened Obama with a gun, which I found absolutely incredible. She was so adamant that I sat her down in front of Google News to show her that nothing like that had happened that day.

This is so weird- it's not like Obama is unpopular here in CT; the middle school had a mock election for the kids and Obama won about 90% of the vote. I am baffled as to what is going on here.

[demokatgurrl]

17. This is a function of our climate of fear

Look how many things we, and our children, are taught to be afraid of.
Not to mention some of the garbage that gets tossed around in some homes.
The best you can do is try to somehow convey that to them- that we live in a time when people are taught, partly by our government, to be afraid. Obama offers us hope that we can let go of some of that fear.

[Divernan]

58. "Climate of fear" was hallmark of the McCarthy redbaiting years.

We can thank Sarah Palin & John McCain & their hate and fear rhetoric. I don't care how gracious he was in his concession speech; you can't put the genies of racism and hate back in the bottle. And it's being revealed by the McCain staff that they failed to control what Palin was saying in her speeches.

[kelliebrat]

19. My 6th grade twins have been hearing the same

Some of the crap these kids come up with is creepy. One boy told one of my sons that "you cannot be a Christian and be a Democrat. Republicans are chosen by God and Democrats are terrorists"...They've also heard that "Voting for Obama proves you hate America and you AND Obama should be shot" and "There is a special place in hell for Obama voters" .....gotta love those "Christian Values" the little darlings are learning at home...

[Lars39]

22. Talk with your kids about the Secret Service.

Your kids need some easily remembered talking points to rebut and reassure the other kids. Sometimes all it takes is one little voice to change the tone of the conversation.

[Beausoir]

34. That is precisely what we did! We explained the Secret Service and what they do.

[Divernan]

57. One thing the Secret Service and FBI do is INVESTIGATE such trashtalk.

[Life Long Dem]

23. That's cold.

[NOLALady]

24. My daughter is a high school senior.

She's hearing much of the same thing at school. It started after the election.

He will take away ALL of the guns...

He will remove "In God We Trust" from money. Her response, "So what if he did? What difference would that make? We can still spend it".

He will take "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance...

The Mother of one of the kids said she would harm my daughter if she found out she'd voted for Obama. (Of course, she said she was just kidding)

She said the black kids are jubilant and wearing Obama gear. The white kids are preaching the doom and gloom points they heard at home. In her words...They are ALL going REALLY crazy.

[bdamomma]

41. this thing about a Democratic President taking away guns is

so full of it, Democratic leadership has never taken away someone's guns.

[adadem]

25. happening here, too

My son (HS junior) came home all pissed off yesterday at the rw lies going around.
He stood up for Obama and spoke the truth. He's pretty shy so I was very proud of him.

Biggest lie here appears to be that Obama was not born in USA and is a illegal president.

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

26. "You have to be carefully taught"

It's so sad that ignorant people (and I use that term very loosely) teach their children such scary and harmful crap.

[Danieljay]

27. Lars Larson, Sean Hannity, Dan Savage, etc. are all saying that Obama will take guns.. door to door.

These bastards are stirring this up.

Shame on them.

[Chan790]

33. Did you mean Michael Savage...

the old Savage Weiner?

Dan Savage is a sex-columnist/blogger from Seattle and as far as I know he's as liberal as I am.

[Mrs. Overall]

28. Both of my kids came home yesterday saying the same thing--

We live in Western WA State. Our county went for Obama by 54%.

My daughter is in high school and my son is in middle school and both of them came home upset yesterday saying that many kids were saying that Obama will not live through his first term.

[WherestheOutrage]

29. My Sons (8thand 5th Grade) in suburban Cincinnati

My 8th grade son reported that his teacher suggested that Obama was of the "Muslim race". My son, who watches Olbermann and Maddow with me, knew that this was incorrect, and corrected the teacher, informing her that a Muslim is a person who follows the teachings of Islam, and that Obama is African American, with a caucasian mother and an African father.

My 5th grader reported kids were making very troubling threats which I won't repeat here. Suffice it to say that we are disappointed, and are addressing the commentary to the principal.

[Fire Walk With Me]

32. This is part of the work Obama mentioned being ahead of us.

I hope that we find a path of ease and grace on this one.

[pipi_k]

36. The shit is starting...

I had hoped it wouldn't, but apparently there are lots of really angry and disturbed people out there who aren't going to let this go


Springfield, Mass...

a black congregation saves up for 20 years to build another church, which was in the construction process

well the other night it was torched

this didn't happen in some low income neighborhood...it's a fairly decent neighborhood...suburban...

it's been termed a "hate crime" and is under investigation


OK I'm not religious and have no use for religion, but still...

these people saved for 20 friggen years to build a new church...


abominable

:(

[NOLALady]

56. I'm willing to bet

if someone asked them why they targeted the Church, they would tell you it's because of their fear. You know, like the one about how we must understand their fear of voting for a black man.

Yet, if McCain were elected, I doubt if they would have to fear that their Churches would be bombed or burned.

[woodsprite]

37. I was talking to our friend last night and told her

that if I so much as hear the freepers at work talking about harming a single hair on Obama's or Biden's heads, I'm reporting them to the Secret Service. I'm also going to report them if I see them bringing guns to work and 'trading' them over lunch hour. I've given the administration 1 warning that if I see this I will go directly to the Secret Service or the FBI (in the event of gun trading).

I also told my friend that I'd report my MIL if she makes verbal threats to our President/VP-elect. Probably wouldn't win any awards from my hubby on that, but tough.

Actually, my friend (who is related to our Lt. Gov), said that I should have reported the freeps at work already since it makes it an uncomfortable work atmosphere. After one of the college rampages, the freeps sat there vocally (in open cubbies) discussing how much damage teflon coated bullets would do to a human. We work at a college. There was more than just me that was horrified at their conversation. They have been reported to Admin, but Admins said that if they're just talking, it's freedom of speech.

[Avalux]

38. My 12 year old daughter came home yesterday saying the same thing.

Several kids at her school told her Obama won't be president very long. :-(

We had a conversation about it because she was upset.

[cwydro]

39. I don't like this kind of talk.

It is stupid.

[my3boyz]

40. My son who is in 5th grade told me that the kids were saying

that it did not matter that Obama won. He said they said someone was just going to kill him and then McCain would be president.

[bdamomma]

44. oh that is cold and very disturbing.

[bdamomma]

42. these kids are only repeating what they are hearing from their

own parents.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

43. The "A" word? Assassination?

The word is hardly a secret. Two would-be assassins were just indicted today. It's all over the news.

[Roxy66]

45. My 7th grade son came home saying the same things..and yesterday he said his teacher

started talking about the in-school election they had on Tuesday...and she asked him and his friends why they would vote for Obama because he is a Muslim and terrorist lover. I called the Principal and had to leave a message for a call back. I will be meeting with his Special education teacher in a few hours and sparks are gunna fly...by the way the "teacher" who said this is is one of his reading teachers!! I live in Ontario, Oregon. (Eastern Oregon)

[Ozma]

70. I suggest you simply ask for the teacher to resign immediately. Due to

total incompetence in the subject she is teaching.... she obviously cannot read!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If she doesn't resign immediately, take it to the school board and have her fired.

These people should not be teaching in our schools.

[Mother Of Four]

46. My two older kiddos are having some problems at school too-

:hug: to you...let's hope all this ends soon.

[Lilyeye]

48. These racist pieces of shit are really in full force.

It breaks my heart that these young children are learning this hate.

[Zookeeper]

49. My middle-school son wore an Obama button to school...

the day of the election and a girl (he didn't know) ran up to him in the hallway, borderline hysterical, and said, "Why are you wearing that?!? Take that button off!!!!!!" He said she acted like he was putting the whole school at risk of a lightening strike from God.

A friend of his said, "Well, I hope you enjoy our new socialist government."

And on election night, when Obama's win was announced, he received text messages with "jokes" involving fried chicken and stereotypes about Blacks not working.

I haven't heard about any threats at this point, though.

[reflection]

50. My eight-year old

told me that her best friend said "Obama is going to kill all the unborn babies."

We had a very long discussion after that. We talked about fear, human nature, and the concepts of truth and individual thought.

I'm virtually certain I sent her to bed smarter that night than she was. It's sad that I can't protect my little ones from lies, but at least I can use them as teaching moments.

[Monty__]

59. Not even close to that level

but I have a friend who I knew was conservative but after the election her "signature" on her emails is "God Save Our Country"

[five_horizons]

60. My kids have heard pretty much everything mentioned in this thread

I have two in middle school and two in grade school. The middle schoolers have heard the most vicious stuff.

My son is in 8th grade, and he basically lost a friendship over the election. His best friend's parents are hardcore fundies, and this kid kept spewing all of the muslim-terrorist-not born in America nonsense. My son kept telling him he had no idea what he was talking about. The arguments got worse day after day until finally my son decided he wasn't going to be friends with him anymore. It's really kind of sad because these two have been best pals since 3rd grade.

On a much lighter note... When my 10 year old woke up on Wednesday morning, the first thing she said to me was "Did Obama win?" I told her yes, and she said "Oh no! That means we have to start going to school on weekends!" Apparently that's the rumor at her grade school, that Obama is going to make kids go to school 7 days a week. :eyes:

[RamboLiberal]

61. Story on Pittsburgh radio this morning of some parent

who had to keep her 12 or 13 year old out of school Wed cause he was so enraged that Obama won. Gee, wonder where he learned that hatred??????

One good thing is the racists are out of the closet for all of us to note and avoid. I got my list of those I know at work.

[progressivebydesign]

62. Everyone who is experiencing this needs to contact the Principal, or School District.

Time for some REAL education on our history, and some re-training for some of these teachers. If you belong to a church, then I suggest you talk to your clergy about a sermon this week.. about right vs. wrong, and hate vs. love.

[yardwork]

64. Hate radio. I recommend that you call the principal and ask him/her to make an announcement.

If that doesn't work, take it up the food chain to the superintendent and then school board. Children are mimicking what they're hearing at home from their parents, and their parents are mimicking what they're hearing on the radio and Faux News.

[olegramps]

65. Anyone, regardless of their age should be reported if they make any threat regarding Obama.

If the FBI starts paying visits to those families that are generating this type of behavior, I am confident that they will think twice about spreading assassination threats in the future. It could be especially threating to anyone who holds a security clearance.

[cwydro]

69. Oh dear.

Children are saying stupid things.

Jesus.:eyes:

[Alter Ego]

72. Your kids have classmates whose parents are uneducated, retarded racists.

[philk17088]

73. oh yeah

Same here. Our fundie chrito-fascist neighbor's kids telling my 8 year old that Obama was a drug dealer and he kills babies and won't be around very long.