http://talkingpointsmemo.com/...
"Well, this is a problem. I did a little bit of research, more whites believe in ghosts than believe in racism. That's why we don't have — that why we have shows like Ghostbusters and don't have shows like Racistbuster," Abdul-Jabbar said on ABC's "This Week." "You know, it's something that's still part of our culture and people hold on to some of these ideas and practices just out of habit and saying that well that's the way it always was. But things have to change."
I have to say he's got a point. Particularly when Justice Sotomayor says essentially the same thing in her dissent on the Michigan Affirmative Action case and the
Right-Wing goes ballistic about it - because clearly "Racism is Over" right?
In concert with Kareem, a Christian Radio host actually claimed - just before the Bundy and Sterling situations exploded in the public consciousness, that White People were No Longer Racist, Unless Black People MAKE THEM Racist.
Sandy Rios, of American Family Radio, was offended when a listener suggested she was racist toward black people, who she blamed for inciting white racism.
“I think the racist garbage coming from the — uh, a lot of blacks right now who are just filled with bitterness and rage is just amazing to me,it’s causing white citizens to become more racist than they ever were.”
Yes, right, bitter black people are turning white people racist. That perfectly explains Cliven Bundy and Donald Sterling.
What the Sterling situation shows us is that what happens behind closed door among the 1% is not exactly what happens out in the open, particularly when they're discussing and making decisions about how they're going to treat the rest of us. Isn't this what we saw with Mitt Romney's 47% Tape?
I've seen the Reality-Show/Documentary Mitt on Netflix and nowhere does he even attempt to explain or address what he said on that tape. Rather than face the reality of his own views Romney would rather pretend it didn't happen. He would rather pretend he didn't say it at all. But he did.
And Don Sterling did say what the tape shows he said. But rather than address it, the Right-Wing in this country reflexively made excuses and rationalizations for it - claiming for example that he was Set-Up by Magic Johnson.
RUSH: All right. Well, this is a fascinating theory. This is a fascinating theory. And, Neil, I’m glad that you held on through the break so I could dig deep, explore further. I really… You know, you got it. I really appreciate that you’re in the audience, and I’m taking under close advisement your requests that I don’t cross the line so I stay here and entertain you every day, and not give them a chance to take me out.
I appreciate that. I really do. But you’re on a tear. This is fascinating. So here. Let me sum up Neil’s theory. Sterling’s 81 and has dementia. By the actuarial tables, he’s gonna die sooner than later. The NAALCP and all the charities have gotten as much money out of the guy as you’re gonna get. They bled him dry. He’s had to pay for all of his past transgressions.
He’s paid up. He’s donated here and he’s donated there to cover things up, and now it’s time to get his team. So they get this groupie to go in there and become his sugar baby. She’s got this tape recorder, and her story is that he asked her to tape him because his memory’s failing and he thinks he says brilliant things and he wants to be able to remember ‘em.
In truth, the whole thing is a setup ’cause this is a groupie. This babe knows all kinds of athletes. She hangs around with Dodgers players. She’s in a picture with Magic Johnson. That’s what ticked the guy off, don’t forget. That’s what ticked-him off: She’s in a picture with Magic. So now they bled the stone dry. He’s donated as much as they’re gonna get. They want to get the team before he can bequeath it to his family, and he’s being set up.
And you have people like William Gheen, head of the Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (which has been listed as a Hate Group by the SPLC) posted in support of Sterling arguing that we should be more concerned that “black mobs” he imagines “hunting white people” across the nation are the real thing keeping the country from racial “equality.”
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/...
“I’m more worried about the new black mobs roaming many US cities targeting and beating the crap out of white people playing the Polar Bear/Knockout game than some rich old guy’s insensitive, yet 1st amendment protected, comments to his girlfriend in a private phone conversation that would be illegal to record in most states!” Gheen vented. “White guy makes a comment on the phone about blacks and the media goes crazy and everyone is out to destroy him. Black mobs form across the nation hunting white people and the media helps conceal the atrocities. Equality? Don’t think so.
And then you have World Net Daily complaining that Donald Sterling was the "victim" of
Thought Police on the Loose.
Say the “N” word, and you’re finished – unless, of course you’re a person of color who claims dibs on the use of that word, anytime, anywhere.
Say something that even smacks of criticism of people of any other color than white, or any other nationality than American, or any status other than legal American citizen – and you’re finished professionally and otherwise.
Say something that indicates you do not go along with the party line about total acceptance of anything gay, and you will find you do not have the right to participate in our current culture.
It’s not hard to find examples, which in itself, is frightening.
It's "frightening" to think you might be held responsible for words? And also, actions? That people who disagree with you might cause consequences for you?
No, that's not frightening - that's the price exacted for exercising your right to speech. People get to Speak Back, in various ways.
Of course, this person also defended Cliven Bundy.
He spoke of the breakdown of black families, the number of single parent families, the high incidence of black abortions, the number of blacks in prison, unemployment and dropout levels.
All illustrate a breakdown of black culture because of government dependence.
No, it’s not “slavery,” but it really is, just with a different face.
No, it's not. It's really, really not Not NOT "Slavery".
If people don’t go along with the “accepted” view on anything controversial, you’re fair game to be denounced, insulted and deprived of your property and your career.
We’re not on a slippery slope; we’ve slid nearly to the bottom.
This is also known as the
Invisible Hand of the Free Market. Too bad it has a tendency sometimes to squish loudmouth assclowns flat.
So we've got the Thought Police here? Check. Slavery? Check. What's missing - oh yeah, Nazism.
When the government gets full control of all the information in our medical, school, IRS and all other records, we will have no privacy or secrets, we’ll not be permitted to think anything the government doesn’t first approve and we’ll have turned into a regime Hitler could only have dreamed about.
There it is - HITLER! Check.
It's been a long long road where the Right-wing has pushed toward the idea that fighting and standing against Racism - IS Racism. This is the trope they've long laid out about Affirmative Action, even when it's being implemented to specifically correct deliberate and proven racial discrimination and segregation.
Rand Paul is not the first person to suggest that the Civil Rights Act should be repealed. That premise is at the heart of - now indicted - Libertarian author Dinesh D'sousa's book "The End of Racism".
The annual income of African Americans who are employed in full-time jobs amounts to about 60 percent of that of whites.
* The black unemployment rate is nearly double that of the whole nation.
* One third of blacks are poor, compared with just over 10 percent of whites.
* One half of all black children live in poverty.
* The infant mortality rate for blacks is more than double that of whites.
* The proportion of black male high school graduates who go on to college is lower today than in 1975.
* More young black males are in prison than in college.
* Homicide is the leading cause of death for black males between the ages of fifteen and thirty-four.
* Although African Americans make up 12 percent of the population, they, account for more than 35 percent of all AIDS cases.
* The life expectancy of black men is sixty-five years, a rate lower than any other group in America and comparable to that of some Third World countries.
* Nearly 50 percent of all African American families are headed by single women.
* More than 65 percent of black children born each year are illegitimate.
What, if not racism, has caused these terrible problems?
...
The case for holding white racism and its historical legacy responsible for the contemporary hardships of blacks is a strong one. Film producer Spike Lee argues that "when you're told every single day for four hundred years that you're subhuman, when you rob people of their self worth, knowledge and history, there's nothing worse you can do." As Lee suggests, unlike other immigrants, African Americans did not come to this country voluntarily; they were brought here in chains. Slavery lasted for more than two and a half centuries, during which most blacks found their lives largely bent to the wills of their masters.
...
In addition to these documented incidents, many African Americans argue that white racism now operates in the form of "code words" and institutional standards that disguise deeply bigoted sentiments that dare not speak their name. "It is unlikely that racism is declining in the United States," Alphonso Pinkney writes. "The most obvious cases of gross discrimination and segregation have somewhat abated, but the basic racism remains." Ralph Wiley argues, "When they want to say niggers, they say crime. When they want to say niggers, they say welfare. When they want to say niggers, they say drugs." Summing up both the direct and indirect evidence for the pervasiveness of bigotry, political scientist Ronald Walters said at a recent lecture, "Look at Bensonhurst. Look at Howard Beach. Look at Susan Smith blaming a black man for abducting her children when she drowned them herself. If white racism is not to blame for black problems, you tell me what is."
We've now seen that this last section - which D'sousa
scoffs at - is absolutely correct.
Ultimately, after laying out the case as it has been argued by people such as Spike Lee, he blames all of lingering racial issues on blacks and liberal policies (just like the Christian Radio Host) and says that the only way to fix them is to completely erase the concept of Race from our government by Repealing the Civil Rights Act - but not in our private sector.
They argue that without the coercive influence of the government outlawing Racism, it simply isn't possible for a racist to maintain a business in today's climate - that the Invisible Hand would clearly shut such a business down almost immediately. That is of course why this guy has been in business for the past 44 years...
http://www.rawstory.com/...
[Disabled Former Customer] Matt Gard claims that the owner of Gary’s Chicaros restaurant, Gary James, banned him from the restaurant because of his wheelchair. James, however, says otherwise: “He created an issue. You only have one time here. You create an issue, you’re out forever.”
...
James doesn’t deny that he thinks some people shouldn’t patronize his restaurant. “Well if you work, you own a business, pay your taxes, you’re more than welcome here,” he told KFOR. “If you’re on welfare, stay at home and spend my money, there. I don’t deal with these people walking down the street with no jobs on welfare.”
Gard also claims that James has routinely turned away customers for decades. “He doesn’t like certain people of race, color, ethnicity,” Gard said of James.
James told KFOR that he’s owned Gary’s Chicaros for 44 years, so he “think[s] I can spot a freak or a f*ggot.”
The restaurant’s official t-shirt ["Where Great Whites Gather"] makes it clear that a “f*ggot” isn’t welcome in James’s establishment. It features that word, the N-word ["Nigger Free Zone"] , and threatens violence against Muslims, Democrats, and members of many minority groups.
Yeah, some people more likely to be believe in
Casper the Friendly Ghost than believe that people like this guy - actually continue to exist. In fact, some people's
career depends on making people believe that.
Vyan