By MARC McDONALD
The Jena case shows how racism is alive and well and on the rise in America. And it's clear that the policies of George W. Bush are to blame.
There have been many troubling signs that racism has been rising in the past few years. It's hard to pinpoint exactly where this latest wave of bigotry emerged from----but I think one ominous sign occurred when Bush was campaigning for president in 2000.
If you recall, during the campaign, Bush made it a point to stop by Bob Jones University, where he praised the officials at that school (which incredibly still had a ban on interracial dating). This, no doubt, played real well to the "I don't want my white daughter dating a Negro" racist crowd---but the rest of us were shocked and appalled.
And although we were dismayed, we really weren't surprised. After all, anyone who has followed Bush's career certainly wasn't surprised by the Bob Jones University episode.
Those of us here in Texas remembered all too well the shocking 1998 lynching of James Byrd, Jr. which occurred when Bush was governor here.
In 1998, Byrd was chained to a pickup by three white supremacists and dragged to his death in the town of Jasper, Texas.
In the aftermath of the Jasper lynching, a grass-roots effort in Texas urged the state to pass a hate crimes act to help prevent future atrocities. However, the bill failed to pass in the Texas Legislature after Bush refused to support the bill.
Since the Supreme Court appointed Bush to the White House in 2000, he has presided over a rising wave of bigotry and racism in America.
Indeed, Bush and the rest of the NeoCons have exploited the issue of racism and turned it into a valuable wedge issue to capture the votes of millions of angry, frustrated white males in our society who feel victimized by affirmative action and "political correctness."
The fact is, bigotry sells in America today. It's the reason talk radio's Neal Boortz can have a lucrative career after saying that Rep. Cynthia McKinney "looks like a ghetto slut." It's the reason that CNN's Glenn Beck can get away with calling the predominately African-American victims of Hurricane Katrina "scumbags."
In Bush's America, African-Americans are incarcerated at vastly higher rates than whites. Studies show that black people get much harsher prison sentences than white people for doing identical crimes. Blatant racism permeates our justice system, our legal system, our schools---in fact, every American institution. And let's not forget the 2000 election, in which hundreds of thousands of black people were denied the vote.
The appalling plight of poor black people in Bush's America was briefly brought to white, middle-class America's attention during the Hurricane Katrina crisis (but I doubt it came as much of a surprise to black people across America). And I doubt
the Jena case comes as much of a surprise to any African-Americans who have lived in Bush's America the past 7 years.
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11 comments:
By dividing those who would oppose the administration, the opposition is weakened. Where I live, it's hispanics and native americans that are marginalized. But it's the same strategy.
You sound like you know a lot about the struggle us black folks have to deal with every day. You must have lots of black friends, right? I'll bet you have black friends over for dinner all the time, right? You have probably dated black wome, right? Wait...that is going to far. Even black men don't date black women. But you would hire one to clean your house if she wouldn't steal, right? Right? When is the last time you actually spoke to a black person that you did not pay afterwards?
With your Texas background you need to write a book focusing on the treatment of blacks in Texas under Bush and how it has been spread by The present administration.
re:
>>>And please do not continue to
>>>say whites get lesser sentences
>>>for the same crimes. That is a
>>>lie, and you cannot support it
>>>with facts.
Uh, if you bothered to read the article, I backed it up with facts. Go to the link I included to the ACLU site.
You really need to open your mind and get your info from other sources than Rush.
Oh, and before you slam the ACLU---note that Rush himself has praised the ACLU (he's still grateful to them for going to bat for him in his drugs case).
re:
>>You sound like you know a lot
>>>about the struggle us black
>>>folks have to deal with every
>>>day.
I have never claimed this, nor would I ever claim this.
re:
>>>You have probably dated black
>>>women, right?
Actually, I have. I came close to marrying an African-American woman years ago, before she called it off.
I'm unclear as to what the point of your comment is. This is a progressive blog---if you don't like what you read here, there are plenty of Bush-loving, nutcase, Nazi right-wing blogs out there to choose from, if that's what you'd prefer. On the other hand, if you'd like to submit an article on the "struggle that black folks have to deal with every day," please do, and I'll consider running it here.
I think your article should at least mention Bush's strategy in appointing minorities such as Condoleeza Rice and Alberto Gonzales to such important positions. In my opinion, he uses such strategies to appear to favor equality, and I'm not sure African Americans are seeing through his facade.
To the person who wrote: "If white people were spending more time raping, murdering and stealing, you would find more of them in jail as well." One of the most important issue in this debate is not just that there are more Afr. Americans in jail, but also the fact that the same crime in the same circumstances receives completely different sentences based on the color of the person who committed the crime. And before you say that is not true, look it up.
re:
>>>They want the current
>>>generation to pay for the
>>>mistakes of the past.
To use a nice, polite word like "mistake" to refer to horrors like slavery, lynching and Jim Crow is like calling the Holocaust a "mistake."
(Incidentally, more Africans died in the slave trade than in the Holocaust).
Frankly, I don't know of any black people who expect White America to ever "pay" for the horrors of the past. A few radicals have spoken of reparations for slavery (but even they know goddamn well that this will never ever happen).
Black people don't EXPECT anything from this government. (And I think the Katrina fiasco showed that they're correct not to expect anything---not even a helping hand from the government during the worst natural disaster in the history of the U.S.).
A lot of black people wondered "What on earth are my tax dollars being used for?" during Katrina. I think it's obvious now where most of our tax dollars go (the Iraq War fiasco and corporate welfare for Bush's wealthy allies and contributors).
re:
>>>And hundreds of thousands of
>>>black people in Florida were
>>>NOT denied the vote in 2000.
I suggest you read the reports by Greg Palast like this one that document how enormous numbers of black people have been denied the vote in America.
This really poses a danger to all Americans---we're reaching the point where most Americans simply won't trust our nation's election system any more. And like the old saying goes (roughly speaking), when the ballot box no longer works, it's time to reach for the ammo box.
Some of us are already at this point, (as we are shocked and horrified at the Nazi fascist regime that has seized power in this nation).
I also suggest you get your news and views from some other source than Rush.
I suggest you go to moorelies.com and check out the story behind the Florida voting debacle.
re:
>>>I suggest you go to
>>>moorelies.com and check out the
>>>story behind the Florida voting
>>>debacle.
LOL, I don't understand why you NeoCons don't just point people to the source of your lies: Rush Limbaugh's site. All nutcase fringe sites like Moorelies.com do is regurgitate what they hear from the Fat One himself.
You really weaken your cause to be taken seriously by recommending a sewer of NeoCon lies like that.
Moorelies.com is filled with nutcase NeoCon filth ("John Kerry is a traitor") that only a dwindling number of Kool-Aid drinkers take seriously these days.
John Kerry a "traitor"? He's an American war hero, who served his country in combat and was wounded in action for Chrissakes!
You guys kill me with this delusional BS. Your comments seem to be made outside of the real world. As if racism, more specifically institutional racism doesn't exist. They only teach it as social fact in every university in the U.S. As far as the comment that nooses hanging from a tree do not warrant an ass woopin. Are you serious? Where are you from? Don't kid yourself that is a personal attack of the most serious type. I don't think you should attempt to trivialize or make it out to be no big deal( yeah that sort of thing is entirely acceptible). I would dare to say that it is alot more offensive than say a black man saying hello to a white women, in which case many black men were hung for or beatin nearly to death for in this nations history. You people speak of racism as though it is simply an act, a word that is isolated and random. No racism is not found in policies, practices, institutions, social classes, crimes, our legal system, etc.. not here in the U.S. Who ever said that our legal system treats minorities the same as whites is freakin off in lala land. You can't be serious. Get a formal education it will help you out with your problem. Knowledge has been known to cure blindness.
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