Will White America be able to forgive Kanye West's "assault" on Taylor Swift?
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White and Southern Congressman Joe Wilson yells out "you lie" while African American President Barack Obama addresses Congress and the old ghosts begin to rise:
Boy, Oh, Boy
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: September 12, 2009
Surrounded by middle-aged white guys — a sepia snapshot of the days when such pols ran Washington like their own men’s club — Joe Wilson yelled "You lie!" at a president who didn’t.
But, fair or not, what I heard was an unspoken word in the air: You lie, boy!
http://www.nytimes.com/...
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Two white people posing as reporters posing as a pimp and prostitute receive advice from black employees at several ACORN offices around the country on how to conceal their illegal business from the I.R.S. and file for mortgage assistance and the old ghosts rise:
Three Strikes And You're Out, ACORN!
Now that a third ACORN video has surfaced, a pattern emerges of ACORN workers willing to help people engage in prostitution, tax fraud, housing fraud, and even human trafficking. Under federal law, a RICO investigation is now warranted. Three strikes and you’re out, ACORN.
http://www.foxnews.com/...
How does the ACORN situation damage race relations? The unspoken implication is that all ACORN employees are dishonest and, dare I say, that goes especially for President Obama:
The Decline and Fall of ACORN (and Obama Too)?
Last year ACORN's man, Senator Barack Obama, was elected President of the United States.
But less than nine months after he was inaugurated, ACORN stands publicly exposed as a criminal enterprise and---surprise!--President Obama is imperiled.
http://www.webcommentary.com/...
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Abusive and abrasive Tea Partiers converge on Washington, D.C., and while they are yelling about everything from taxes to Texas, many believe that the underlying thread of their rants is race:
Tea Party Inspired by Racial Fears
Posted by Nathaniel Hoffman on Sun, Sep 13, 2009 at 11:44 AM
When the majority of American voters selected Barack Obama as President of the United States of America last year, we caught a brief glimpse of post-racial America.
It lasted a few weeks, at least.
But the racial tension that has accompanied each major period of American history is again emerging under a new guise: The Tea Party/9-12 Project/Continental Congress '09 marches this weekend represent the new racist vanguard in America, uniting the anti-Muslim sentiments which followed the 9-11 attacks, Joe Wilson's singular obsession with undocumented immigrants receiving health care, and though in some ways subconsciously, a reaction to the nation's first black president.
http://www.boiseweekly.com/...
And now, as if on cue, black hip-hop artist Kanye West stormed the stage at the MTV awards and confiscated the microphone from white country singer Taylor Swift and humiliated her in front of some 11 million viewers. Why is this episode the most severe blow to our already beat up race relations? Because the MTV episode involved music and race, two things many people feel very personal about.
Usually entertainment fluff can be blown off as light news made by egomaniacs. But why the West-Swift event probably won't pass by so quickly or quietly is that it evoked another old ghost from our American past: the fear of a black man assaulting a white woman.
Our history is full of stories of black men being lynched for assaulting white women. Some would argue that even today our jails are full of black men who committed crimes against whites in general and often white women in particular.
And, to make matters worse, not only was a white woman "taken" by a black man on TV, the woman was a Country music singer. I would argue that Country music is probably the most segregated music industry. I would also argue that many of the Tea Partiers are Country music fans. Had Swift been a leather clad Rock and Roller, maybe West's behavior would not have such a huge impact. But Country music considers itself very traditional and I'm not sure the Tea Party crowd is going to take kindly to a black man "having" their white woman in front of the world.
The charges are already flying on the Internet (just Google it). "Kayne West hates white people!" is the general theme. Of course not many are publicly supporting West, but if the assault against him continues down the racial path, I'm sure there soon will be people coming out saying that even though West was wrong, he exposed an underlying racism to the MTV awards being handed out, i.e. Swift got that award because she was white.
The Tea Party crowd are already soaked in hatred like a pile of dry wood soaked in gasoline. All they need is someone to come along and throw a lit match in and the flames of violence could start burning out of control. And that match is out there in the form of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Fox News, and a host of others.
I think President Obama took a step to defusing the MTV incident by calling West a "jackass" (off the record). But I have my doubts that those who are looking for a racial battle will allow this episode to die on the president's words alone. I fear that they will form an old fashioned lynching party and our country may be the one swinging from the tree.
Update: For those who are saying that I somehow am creating the racial tension involved in this story, please read the comments on the Youtube video: