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    • Post-Election Racism: What Future Are We Building?

    Posted on | November 15, 2008 | No Comments

    From the Houston Chronicle (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/6114464.html)

    “Someone once said racism is like cancer: It’s never totally wiped out, it’s in remission.”

    If so, America’s remission lasted until the morning of Nov. 5.

    The day after the vote hailed as a sign of a nation changed, black high school student Barbara Tyler of Marietta, Ga., said she heard hateful Obama comments from white students, and that teachers cut off discussion about Obama’s victory.

    Tyler spoke at a press conference by the Georgia chapter of the NAACP calling for a town hall meeting to address complaints from across the state about hostility and resentment. Another student, from a Covington middle school, said he was suspended for wearing an Obama shirt to school Nov. 5 after the principal told students not to wear political paraphernalia.

    The student’s mother, Eshe Riviears, said the principal told her: “Whether you like it or not, we’re in the South, and there are a lot of people who are not happy with this decision.”

    Other incidents include:

    —Four North Carolina State University students admitted writing anti-Obama comments in a tunnel designated for free speech expression, including one that said: “Let’s shoot that (N-word) in the head.” Obama has received more threats than any other president-elect, authorities say.

    —At Standish, Maine, a sign inside the Oak Hill General Store read: “Osama Obama Shotgun Pool.” Customers could sign up to bet $1 on a date when Obama would be killed. “Stabbing, shooting, roadside bombs, they all count,” the sign said. At the bottom of the marker board was written “Let’s hope someone wins.”

    —Racist graffiti was found in places including New York’s Long Island, where two dozen cars were spray-painted; Kilgore, Texas, where the local high school and skate park were defaced; and the Los Angeles area, where swastikas, racial slurs and “Go Back To Africa” were spray painted on sidewalks, houses and cars.

    —Second- and third-grade students on a school bus in Rexburg, Idaho, chanted “assassinate Obama,” a district official said.

    —University of Alabama professor Marsha L. Houston said a poster of the Obama family was ripped off her office door. A replacement poster was defaced with a death threat and a racial slur. “It seems the election brought the racist rats out of the woodwork,” Houston said.

    —Black figures were hanged by nooses from trees on Mount Desert Island, Maine, the Bangor Daily News reported. The president of Baylor University in Waco, Texas said a rope found hanging from a campus tree was apparently an abandoned swing and not a noose.

    —Crosses were burned in yards of Obama supporters in Hardwick, N.J., and Apolacan Township, Pa.

    —A black teenager in New York City said he was attacked with a bat on election night by four white men who shouted ‘Obama.’

    … What are we teaching our kids? What kind of adults are we raising them to be? What kind of future are we building?

    Children mimic the behavior of – and repeat what they hear from - the people around them. The only way to diminish hate among our kids, then, is to make sure we don’t practice it ourselves. What kind of example are you setting? What do you say or do when you’re around others? Do you honestly think your kids aren’t listening?

    WWJD isn’t just a tagline for bumper stickers. Think about it. Then ask yourself: What Would YOU Do?

    Category: politics
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