The American Spectator

Frank Parriott| 10.17.08 @ 2:01PM

Little Green Footballs has the story here: http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/31602_Twelve_Years_Old_and_Racist

Sam Hines| 10.17.08 @ 3:03PM

I think your discussion of racism is poorly misdirected. Racism is something that not everyone understands. Unfortunately, you are one of those individuals.

The term racism was not coined until the civil rights movement took this country by storm in the 60’s. Simply put, it described the attitude and behavior of whites against blacks in this country. The very center of racism is power and that will never change. Just like sexism, the power of one to do or cause harm or hardship against another person because of race or gender is clearly evident. Racism and sexism are always in the eye of the beholder and never in the eye of the doers. You do not understand racism because you have never been a victim.

I would never comment on something that I know little about. Yet, you and the others who think you know are always doing it. It is insulting to tell a culture of people what is offensive and what is not. That is not your decision, but theirs.

If you want to truly know what we consider to be racism, spend time in the black community and talk to people about the different signs, innuendos, code language that we take offense to. Once you are fully enlightened, you can begin to discuss racism in a way that might make some sense.

Quin Hillyer| 10.17.08 @ 3:36PM

Sorry, Sam, but I've encountered that line before. It's totally bogus. Racism isn't about power, it's about attitude and behavior. And look, buddy, what do you know about me to assume that I haven't spent time in the "black community"? You're just flat-out wrong. Yes, I'm not black. But I've spent my share of time with people in the black community, and spent plenty of time fighting against racists, and received threatening phone calls from Klan types because of it.

Michael Roush| 10.17.08 @ 5:24PM

Nobody can deny that race is an issue in this election. Obama may become the first president of the United States who is black. To pretend that this is not upsetting to some is ludicrous. I have met people who admit that they will not vote for Obama because he is black. I admire their honesty; not their values. Mr. Hillyer is right to admonish us not to make assumptions about others because we might end up being very wrong. Being adults, however, we can all acknowledge the fact that some people are racist. The McCain campaign has given these people some very convenient code that allows them their racist attitudes while plausibly denying them. They talk about terrorism and the fact that Obama is an Arab in spite of well publicized evidence to the contrary. If you have trouble accepting this, I invite you to do a little research on Tucker Eskew in South Carolina in the 2000 GOP primary. He knows a little something about racist campaigning and he is running Sarah Palin's campaign

Quin Hillyer| 10.17.08 @ 6:18PM

Sorry, Mr. Roush, but that's BS about Tucker Eskew. The ILogic that becomes a smear (a smear you must have read somewhere like the NYT and believed, but it is not true; I'm not accusing you of being the smearer) goes something like this: Eskew worked in S.C. for Bush in 2000. Bush ran a hard campaign against McCain in S.C. in 2000. SOME reports came in that SOME people were spreading false rumors about McCain in 2000 in SC. SOME of those false rumors involved, SUPPOSEDLY (no proof was ever offered), the charge that McCain fathered an illegitimate black child (a horribly cheap shot based on McCain's admirable adoption of his daughter from.... where, India, is it?....). Therefore, Eskew is somehow adjudged to have been involved with a racist campaign against McCain. Well, that's just BS. The logic doesn't follow. The causality is so spurious as to be laughable. I happen to know Tucker Eskew. I know the charges not to be true. I know him to be about as personally decent, and above that sort of thing, as just about anybody in politics. And if Eskew really were the one behind those (alleged) attacks, do you think McCain would let Eskew ANYWHERE near his campaign? Of course not. Some acceptance of former rivals onto one's team is understandable in politics, but nobody, especially not somebody who holds grudges like McCain does, would allow somebody who did such a vile thing anywhere near him. Yet Eskew was the first one the McCain people recruited to be Palin's top staffer, and he is her top staffer now. Case closed.

Dennis Morris| 10.17.08 @ 8:28PM

I'm Puzzled. If there are people who won't vote for Obama because he is black, why does McCain have to encourage them? In code no less. I'm sure most of them realize that Obama is black and that John Mc Cain isn't.

Michael Tobias| 10.17.08 @ 9:31PM

Wow, obviously I am a virgin when it comes to detecting racism. I never knew about all of the hidden racists out there using secret handshakes and speaking in codes.

Taking Mr. Roush's point first. There are people who will not vote for Barack Obama because he is black. Just as there are those who will not vote for Hillary Clinton because she is female, or Mitt Romney because he is a Mormon or for Barack Obama because he is the closest thing to a card carrying Marxist that either major party has ever fielded, or for John McCain because he is white. This is simply known as discrimination. And everyone practices some form of discrimination, including Mr. Hines and Mr. Rousch. Institutional discrimination is another thing and if that discrimination is based upon race, gender, religion or age, it is illegal in the U.S.

As to Mr. Hines contention that a white man, such as myself, can not understand racial discrimination because I have never been the victim of it, I am sorry to disappoint him, but I was passed over for several job positions and promotions because of racial and gender quotas. This occurred over the course of the last thirty years. There, my brother, I am down for the struggle. I believe, Martin Luther King believed, in a colorblind society. Where everyone is judged on their character and ability rather than the color of their skin or their gender.

As for codes, liberals always see codes in the things that conservatives say because liberals are the ones who continually use coded phrases to say something one way while they mean it another. This is known as transference, in psychological circles. Conservatives usually come right out and tell a person his face why they don't like him.

Michael Roush| 10.17.08 @ 10:31PM

It was Bangladesh, Mr. Hillyer. I can tell that you are well versed on this incident. We were talking about BS?

Michael Roush| 10.17.08 @ 10:49PM

Obama is a card carrying Marx? Mr. Tobias, what do you think the Bush administration has been instituting the past few weeks? And for whose advantage?

Mike| 10.18.08 @ 8:10AM

Nov 5th will be the day that the shoe really drops, "my friends". And no, I don't believe "my friends" is a racist code word that McCain uses :-)

If McCain wins, we'll have "100 days" of articles like this one. We'll have "100 days" of Fox News anchors either "gloathing" (Sean Hannity), or being "covertly-hostile" (Bill Orielly).

If Obama wins, we'll have "100 days" of MS-NBC anchors either "covertly-gloathing" (all of them), or being "overtly-hostile" (Keith "Best Persons in the WORRRRRRRRLD!" Olbermann).

Either way, an "all-time, 1-day record" will sadly be achieved on the "US HATE index".

If America wasn't ready for a minority (i.e. woman of any race, non-white male) to be President of the U.S., then "they" (no, make that the collective "we") wouldn't have let Obama win the Democratic nomination.

Why can't we just let Nov 4th be like the "Super Bowl"? Why can't we just gather around all the great 1080p HDTVs we've bought, and enjoy all the "cool" commercials that corporations paid "a trillion dollars per minute" to have aired? Why can't we just scream at the top of our lungs, when "our team" scores a touchdown (i.e. wins a state)? Why can't we just "go back to the everyday world" when the scoreboard sign reads " QTR: 4, Time Left: 00:00 minutes"?

I'll tell you why we can't do that. Because, there have been too many symbolic "German Shepards" and "waterhoses" unleashed on Americans, of every racial/ethnic/sexual orientation! Because there have been too many Enrons and Katrinas, in the last 200 years! Because folks are tired of all the rhetoric-filled blog sites, like this one!

I suspect that Obama will win this "Super Bowl", but I still want to watch the game and do all the fun stuff I mentioned in my earlier paragraph, including "going back to the real world" when the game clock reads 00:00 in the 4th quarter :-)

BTW Mr. Hillyer, what did you hope to achieve with this article? Do you feel that you achieved it?

Esteban| 10.18.08 @ 8:53AM

Some 90% of blacks will vote for Obama, according to polls. Many freely admit they are voting for him because he is black. This is a race-based preference for Obama, and therefore racist. No? Why not? At the very least it has a "disparate impact" against the white candidate, regardless of intent and is therefore equally insidious, no?.

Suppose a white person said he/she is voting for McCain because McCain is white. Racist? Why? Because it is a preference based on race? What's the difference?

This game set up by the Jesse Jackson, AL Sharpton, and Jeremiah Wright types is rigged beyond shameful. But then they have no shame.