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Showing posts with label racialdiscrimination. Show all posts
Showing posts with label racialdiscrimination. Show all posts

Destructive Flash Mob at Walmart in Jacksonville Florida

Do these individuals realize that they will drive businesses out of minority neighborhoods? Many people will pay higher prices from this destruction. One wonders if Obama's rhetoric that businesses are these greedy people who haven't worked hard encourages this type of behavior. This Walmart was apparently just two miles from a house party that police had broken up earlier in the evening. A newspaper story is available here:
A huge house party broken up by police in a North Jacksonville subdivision didn't end there Saturday night as hundreds of young partygoers ignited a flash mob at the Lem Turner Road Walmart Supercenter.

They caused havoc that was recorded and posted on YouTube until Tuesday afternoon, while one person reported being shot during the party.

The Sheriff's Office said investigations into both are "active and ongoing." The shooting is being investigated by the aggravated battery unit detectives while patrol officers follow up on the Walmart incident.

Walmart spokeswoman Dianna Gee said she learned of the incident Saturday night, then spoke with the shift manager at the 12100 Lem Turner Road store. She said the YouTube video is being reviewed, and that the employees did as they were trained by steering clear of the chaos and calling police.

"The actions of these teenagers was deplorable and put at risk the safety of innocent bystanders, staff and customers," Gee said. "We are committed to assisting law enforcement in any way we can to identify the people responsible for the commotion, including acts of vandalism and thefts at the store." . . .

Chris Matthews says criticisms of Holder over "Fast and Furious" are due to racism

Chris Matthews says criticisms of Holder over "Fast and Furious" are due to racism


Chris Matthews (at 6:38): “I don’t want to start too much forest fire here but it is my instinct: is this ethnic Mr. Mayor?”Willie Brown: I think that it has some ethnic flavor to it.  It will be interpreted by some in that vein.  And yYou have to be very careful in a Democracy that you don't give people the opportunity to make that case factually.  And what DI is doing is in fact giving some individuals the opportunity to make that case . . . . Matthews: Well I just do it because it smells like it to me. . . .
Matthews isn't the only one making this claim.  Al Sharpton has made a similar claim here. 


Holder also made the claim to the New York Times: "This is a way to get at the president because of the way I can be identified with him, both due to the nature of our relationship and, you know, the fact that we're both African-American."
More on Elizabeth Warren

More on Elizabeth Warren

Cherokee Genealogist debunks Elizabeth Warren's claim to be a Cherokee. Listen to this at WRKO. There is also more evidence of her using it for personal advantage. From ABC News:
A 1997 piece from the Fordham Law Review lists Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren as the “first woman of color” hired by Harvard Law School, according to reports. The article, which was unearthed by Politico, was titled ”Intersectionality and positionality: Situating women of color in the affirmative action dialogue.” The author, Laura Padilla, who now serves as the Associate Dean of California Western Law School in San Diego, CA., reportedly based her description on a phone conversation with then Harvard Law spokesman, Mike Chmura. . . .
In addition, there is the claim that Elizabeth Warren plagiarized her contributions to a book.
Liberals say that it has been OK to classify yourselves as a minority if you have "one-drop" of minority blood

Liberals say that it has been OK to classify yourselves as a minority if you have "one-drop" of minority blood

I guess that I missed the memo that it was OK to classify oneself as a minority with "one-drop" of minority blood.  I really get the impression that this is just trying to cover liberal's tracks on Elizabeth Warren and give her cover.  It seems that if I had done that (and I am 1/32nd American Indian), there were be few claiming that was the right rule to use.  Here is a piece that refers to the "one-drop" rule.  Had I heard of the "one-drop" rule?  Sure, but I thought that this rule was surely objectionable to liberals.  Apparently, I was completely wrong.


Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren used to be listed as white, but changed it to native American after she became an academic

Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren used to be listed as white, but changed it to native American after she became an academic

Why would she classify herself as white through law school and starting at the University of Texas and then classify herself as Native American after that?  Could it be that she learned how to play the affirmative action game?  From the WSJ:


Democratic Senate hopeful Elizabeth Warren listed herself as white in personnel records at the University of Texas and declined to apply to Rutgers School of Law through a minority program, records show.
Ms. Warren, a Harvard Law School professor, is in a tight race with Republican Sen. Scott Brown, who has criticized her for listing herself as a minority in a professional directory from 1986 to 1995 and this week called for her to produce employment records.
. . . . a genealogy expert has said she is at least 1/32 Cherokee [ERROR: he said that she was 1/32nd, but this assumes that the Cherokee was 100% Native American].
The Brown campaign and GOP operatives have raised questions over whether she claimed to be a minority to boost her career.
The University of Texas at Austin, where Ms. Warren worked from 1983 to 1987, released documents showing Ms. Warren listed herself as white on employment records.
In her application to Rutgers Law School, she marked "no" when asked if she was applying as a minority, according to documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal. . . .
Harvard University had touted Ms. Warren as a minority in 1996 when the school came under fire from critics who accused it of being too white and too male. The university has declined to say why it designated Ms. Warren a minority.
Meanwhile, a second school, the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where Ms. Warren taught from the late 1980s through the mid-1990s, designated her as a minority in a 2005 diversity report that is available online. . . . .

Scotland Yard ban word "whitelist" because it is deemed racist

Scotland Yard ban word "whitelist" because it is deemed racist

From the UK Sun:

The computer term whitelist — used to denote a list of acceptable contacts — has also been outlawed.
In an email, Scotland Yard warned staff the words were no longer “appropriate”.
Security services chief Brian Douglas wrote: “IB (Information Board) are uncomfortable with the use of the term Whitelist (and I presume Blacklist).
“I am sure we can appreciate the sensitivity around the use of such terminology today so please ensure it is no longer used.” He suggested using green and red list instead.
Sources at the Met — where 20 officers are under investigation over alleged racism — branded the decision “bizarre”. . . .
Racial attacks in revenge of the Trayvon Martin Case

Racial attacks in revenge of the Trayvon Martin Case



Might this be the time for Obama to calm racial anger?  Has the media hyping of the case and misinformation has endangered lives?

Gainesville, Florida:


The reported beating in Gainesville of a white man by a group of black men who yelled “Trayvon” before the attack last week resonated on the Internet on Tuesday, though police locally were still hoping for someone to come forward with information about the assailants. . . .
Gainesville police said they consider the beating Saturday to be “racially motivated” and apparently done in retaliation for Martin’s death.
The 27-year-old victim, who was described by police as “visibly intoxicated,” said he was walking home on Southwest 23rd Terrace after a night out at midtown bars when, at about 2:45 a.m., a vehicle pulled up to the intersection with Southwest 32nd Place.
According to a police report, the victim said “five to eight black males, unknown age or description, jumped out of the vehicle at the intersection and told (him) he was walking too slow and then started yelling, ‘Trayvon.’ ”
The victim said he was punched in the face and fell to the ground, where he was “struck numerous times in the face.” He estimated the attack lasted five minutes.
The men got back in the vehicle and headed north on 23rd Terrace, which runs between Archer and Williston roads. . . .
Oak Park, Illinois:

A teen charged with a hate crime in Oak Park says he attacked and beat up his victim because he was angry about the Trayvon Martin case.
Alton Hayes III, 18, of Oak Park, is charged with attempted robbery and aggravated battery. He is also charged with a hate crime.
Hayes and his 15-year-old alleged accomplice are African-American, while the victim is white.
The Oak Park-River Forest Patch reportsaround 1 a.m. April 17, Hayes and the Chicago boy walked up behind the 19-year-old victim in the 1600 block of North Kenilworth Avenue in Oak Park.
Police say Hayes and his accomplice and pinned the victim’s arms to his side, police said. Hayes then picked up a large tree branch, pointed it at the man and said, “Empty your pockets, white boy,” police said.
The two allegedly rifled through the victim’s pockets, then threw him to the ground and punched him “numerous times” in the head and back before running away, police said. After being arrested, Hayes told police he was upset by the Trayvon Martin case, and said he beat the victim up because he was white, Cook County State’s Attorney’s office spokeswoman Tandra Simonton said. . . .
Mobile, Alabama:
A white Alabama man’s brutal beating by a mob is not being investigated as a hate crime, despite eyewitness reports that one of the assailants referenced Trayvon Martin during the attack.
The attack on Matthew Owens, 40, is currently being investigated as an assault, said Ashley Rains, public information officer for the Mobile Police Department, to Fox News.
Owens, of Mobile, remains in serious condition after cops say about 20 African-American adults showed up at his home Saturday and beat him with chairs, pipes, brass knuckles and paint cans.
Owens’ sister and another witness say that as the group left, one assailant said: “Now that’s justice for Trayvon” following the assault. . . .
Furious neighbors say that no matter what was said, the attack had nothing to do with Martin. . . .


Toledo, Ohio:
A 78-year-old Ohio man says he was a victim of a hate crime when he was severely beaten by group of youths -- who allegedly said "this is for Trayvon," referring to the unarmed black Florida teen killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer.
The man, Dallas Watts of East Toledo, told police he was walking home Saturday afternoon when he was confronted by six youths, both white and black, ages 11 to 17, FoxToledo.com reports. One of the youths allegedly said "take him down."
Watts said he told the youths, "Why me? Remember Trayvon." He told FoxToledo.com that he meant it in a "peaceful way," since he had nothing to do with the Florida killing. But police suggest the youths may have misinterpreted Watts' words as threatening.
"[Get] that white [man]. This is for Trayvon ... Trayvon lives, white [man]. Kill that white [man]," the boys are quoted as saying in a police report cited by the Toledo Blade. . . . 


Grand Rapids:

. . .  on the weekend of March 24th and March 25th at least seven white people were brutally beaten by mobs of blacks in Grand Rapids, MI. Five of the victims filed police reports. At least two other victims exist, and there are probably others. The local media has refused to report the cruel attacks and the authorities are resisting any serious charges.
I talked with one of the victims, 37 year old Jacob Palasek. He is a full time student and does computer work part time. He was attacked by a wolf pack of thugs on the corner of Sixth Street and Broadway in Grand Rapids, Michigan just after midnight on March 25th. The location is a mix of stores, offices, and residential neighborhoods. Jacob lives near where he was attacked.
As he was walking to his apartment, he saw three black males loitering. One was on a bicycle. The suspect on the bicycle rode up beside him. Suddenly the thug smashed him in the side of the head with a chain. He was hit two or three more times in the head with the chain before he broke loose and ran to the nearest home. He knocked on the door, hoping the owner would call the police.
All three of the black males then attacked him on the porch. They yelled “this is what you deserve you white piece of shit.” Jacob was hit in the head with the large chain more times. Jacob broke free again and hid behind a dumpster. The attackers initially chased him, but broke their pursuit and walked away. There were some cars driving by and the thugs may have thought a driver was calling 911.
All seven known victims were attacked within about six blocks of where Jacob was attacked. The victims were in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. Some of the victims were attacked during the day in broad daylight. . . . 
Norfolk, VA?:
Two weeks have passed since reporters Dave Forster and Marjon Rostami - friends to me and many others at the newspaper - were attacked on a Saturday night as they drove home from a show at the Attucks Theatre. They had stopped at a red light, in a crowd of at least 100 young people walking on the sidewalk. Rostami locked her car door. Someone threw a rock at her window. Forster got out to confront the rock-thrower, and that's when the beating began.
Neither suffered grave injuries, but both were out of work for a week. Forster's torso ached from blows to his ribs, and he retained a thumb-sized bump on his head. Rostami fears to be alone in her home. Forster wishes he'd stayed in the car. . . .
Forster and Rostami's story has not, until today, appeared in this paper. The responding officer coded the incident as a simple assault, despite their assertions that at least 30 people had participated in the attack. A reporter making routine checks of police reports would see "simple assault" and, if the names were unfamiliar, would be unlikely to write about it. In this case, editors hesitated to assign a story about their own employees. Would it seem like the paper treated its employees differently from other crime victims? . . .
Forster and Rostami wondered if the officer who answered their call treated all crime victims the same way. When Rostami, who admits she was hysterical, tried to describe what had happened, she says the officer told her to shut up and get in the car. Both said the officer did not record any names of witnesses who stopped to help. Rostami said the officer told them the attackers were "probably juveniles anyway. What are we going to do? Find their parents and tell them?"
The officer pointed to public housing in the area and said large groups of teenagers look for trouble on the weekends. "It's what they do," he told Forster.
Could that be true? . . .
Police spokesman Chris Amos said officers often respond to reports of crowds fighting; sirens are usually enough to disperse the group. On that night, he said, a report of gunfire in a nearby neighborhood prompted the officer to decide getting Forster and Rostami off the street quickly made more sense than remaining at the intersection. The officer gave them his card and told them to call later to file a report.
The next day, Forster searched Twitter for mention of the attack.
One post chilled him.
"I feel for the white man who got beat up at the light," wrote one person.
"I don't," wrote another, indicating laughter. "(do it for trayvon martin)" . . .
Forster and Rostami, both white, suffered a beating at the hands of a crowd of black teenagers. . . .
Now it comes out that in this Norfolk, Va. case the police originally listed this as a hate crime.



More info is available here.


Sanford, Florida? (Speculative)
A witness told deputies he heard someone screaming for help and saw two men pull the victim from his vehicle. He said he watched as one man held the victim and the other beat him in the head with a hammer.
After they dragged the victim into the woods, the men drove away in his sport utility vehicle, which was later found abandoned about a half-mile away on Garbo Jack Lane.
Investigators got a break in the case Thursday, when a tip to Crimeline named Bender and gave the street name of the second suspect.
On Friday, investigators learned Israel's fingerprints had been found both inside and outside of the victim's vehicle.
The witness was shown photo lineups and picked out Bender and Israel as the men he saw beating the victim. He said Bender was the man wielding the hammer. . . .
The two attackers are black and the victim is white, but that isn't what is interesting here.  I haven't been able to confirm the following claim here in a solid news source, but if true, this would be important:
Shortly following Rev Al Sharpton’s Anti-George Zimmerman rally in Sanford, FL, two Sanford teens,   enraged by hate and racism at the rally, decided to burglarize, terrorize and beat a white man to near death with a hammer. . . .


Other stories are available here.

Is Elizabeth Warren serious about her explanation for why she classified herself as an American Indian in Law School Directories?

The reporter's question here is such a softball.  I have a hard time believing that the reporter is at all serious.  How does someone with 1/32nd American Indian ancestry really list enroll as being a member of a tribe?  How do they list themselves as being an Indian?  Warren's claim that she didn't expected any affirmative action gain from her listing and that she just did it to meet other people with tribal roots is bizarre.  Again, I am 1/32nd American Indian and it has never crossed my mind to list myself down as American Indian.

In the youtube videos below a couple of points have come out.  1) That she is 1/32nd Indian may be questionable because the ancestor was apparently not in the Cherokee census. 2) Warren used to claim that she was a descendant from the Delaware tribe, not Cherokee.



From the Boston Herald:
Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren, fending off questions about whether she used her Native American heritage to advance her career, said today she enrolled herself as a minority in law school directories for nearly a decade because she hoped to meet other people with tribal roots.
“I listed myself in the directory in the hopes that it might mean that I would be invited to a luncheon, a group something that might happen with people who are like I am. Nothing like that ever happened, that was clearly not the use for it and so I stopped checking it off,” said Warren.
The Harvard Law professor argued she didn’t use her minority status to get her teaching jobs, and slammed her Republican rival U.S. Sen.Scott Brown for suggesting otherwise. . . .
As to her attacks on Scott Brown, all he has done is say that he isn't going to get involved in all this.

Some other videos
James Taranto on the issue.

High cheek bones?

This is her answer after 5 days?

Apparently it isn't clear that she is 1/32nd Indian.  Apparently, Warren originally claimed that she was part of the Delaware tribe, not Cherokee.

An analysis of the situation.

Ignoring a reporter's questions
More on Elizabeth Warren claiming to me a Native American Minority

More on Elizabeth Warren claiming to me a Native American Minority



The claim is that new research claims that she is 1/32nd American Indian.  In fact, I am 1/32nd American Indian, but I never, ever thought for a second of putting it down that I was a minority American Indian because of that.  With her listing herself as a minority in the law professor directory and having listed that at the University of Texas, University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard, does anyone possibly believe that she didn't know that universities were making a big deal about having a very rare American Indian on their faculty?
Baylor Law admissions data leaked

Baylor Law admissions data leaked

See Ted Frank's discussion here.
But Baylor itself does see a big disparity in another metric. I sorted the 431 students with "LSAT Index" scores. (An LSAT Index adds the LSAT to 10 times the GPA.) The top quartile is above 202 (e.g., 3.9/163 or 3.5/167); the median in 199 (e.g., 3.3/166 or 3.8/161), the bottom quartile is below 197 (e.g. 3.6/161 or 3.3/164). Baylor did not vary from the LSAT index often, only 2% of the class was below 193 and the lowest index was 189. In the top quartile (and stretching down to the top 128 admittees), there was a single African-American. So it's not accurate to say affirmative action makes little difference. The 4.0/170 white with a 210 Index gets a full scholarship to Baylor Law. The 4.0/170 black with a 210 Index might get the same offer, but doesn't accept the full scholarship to Baylor Law: she presumably has better options available to her. One would expect a 4.0/170 African-American to end up at a top-14 law school. Moreover, the 3.7/167 African-American generally isn't accepting the offers to attend Baylor Law, either. If we expect the top 10% of the class and the editorial board of the Baylor Law Review to be much more likely to come from the top quartile of applicants, African-Americans are going to be even more underrepresented than that 3%. If nothing else, larger bumps of affirmative action are having an effect on Baylor Law's diversity. But the real difference was in the scholarship money. Though non-Asian minorities had slightly lower Index scores on average, they averaged $24,231 in scholarship money; whites and Asians averaged under $20,000. It's unclear to what extent Baylor Law considers financial need in scholarship money, but it's clear that merit makes a big difference. Over 90% of students with Index scores above 206 got full scholarships (the three who didn't were white); less than 3% of students with Index scores below 202 got full scholarships, and all seven were African-American or Hispanic. . . .
Congressional Democrats from Florida sponsor Resolution blaming Trayvon Martin's shooting on "Racial Bias"

Congressional Democrats from Florida sponsor Resolution blaming Trayvon Martin's shooting on "Racial Bias"

Racial bias? Where is the evidence of that? This resolution selectively picks that some parts of Zimmerman's statements to police were accurate. Mr. Emanuel Cleaver from Missouri was the sponsor and Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, and Ms. WILSON of Florida were the co-sponsors. All are Democrats. The resolution is available here:
Honoring the life of 17-year-old, Trayvon Martin, urging the State of Florida and others to repeal the Stand Your Ground law, and admonishing involved parties to pursue full investigations into all homicides, regardless of defenses asserted by the offender. Whereas on February 26, 2012, Trayvon Martin, an African-American youth, was horrifically shot and killed while walking from his local 7-Eleven in Sanford, Florida, because he was viewed as ‘suspicious' by George Zimmerman … Whereas Zimmerman's unfounded assumptions and racial bias led to the use of deadly force; Whereas a month after the crime, Zimmerman remains free and still bears a concealed weapons permit and the legal right to carry a gun; Whereas Trayvon Martin's brutal death and the inconceivable fact that his killer remains free should not be ignored . . . Whereas Stand Your Ground laws dramatically and recklessly expand the right of citizens to use deadly force in self-defense, and have been the subject of national scrutiny in the wake of Trayvon Martin's death; Whereas the Stand Your Ground laws were drafted by organizations, corporations, and individuals that ignored advice from experts explaining that such laws would compromise public safety, disproportionately impact communities of color, and would result in offenders circumventing prosecution; Whereas an attempted expansion of the Stand Your Ground laws doctrine has resulted in the collaboration of the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which promotes conservative public policy by affecting change in State legislatures;. . . . Whereas the 2005 passage of Florida's Stand Your Ground law resulted in similar statutes being passed in 16 other States: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives-- (1) admonishes any State, local agency, or official acting to obstruct an open investigation or failing to fully execute their official duties in the investigation of the events surrounding the death of Trayvon Martin; (2) condemns all relevant parties for their roles in proposing Stand Your Ground legislation and similar legislation that compromises public safety and the integrity of the prosecutorial system; (3) condemns unfounded reliance on Stand Your Ground laws to protect actions that extend far beyond historical use of self-defense; (4) urges any State legislature considering Stand Your Ground legislation to reject such proposals; and (5) urges the repeal of the Stand Your Ground law in every applicable State, including Florida.
Discrimination against black congressmen?

Discrimination against black congressmen?

Is the fact that black congressmen are being charged with ethical violations evidence of discrimination or something else? The black officials think that the disproportionate rate that they are being charge evidence of discrimination. But they need a lot more evidence than just saying that there are differential rates that they are charged, such as the underlying rate that the black and other congressmen really do commit ethical violations. From The Atlantic:

. . . "I think," Cleaver said, "the facts speak for themselves."

The facts say this: African-Americans make up 10 percent of the House, but as of the end of February, five of the sitting six named lawmakers under review by the House Ethics Committee are black. The pattern isn't new. At one point in late 2009, seven lawmakers were known to be involved in formal House ethics inquiries; all were members of the Congressional Black Caucus. An eighth caucus member, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois, had also been under investigation, but his probe was halted temporarily while the Justice Department undertook an inquiry of its own.

All told, about one-third of sitting black lawmakers have been named in an ethics probe during their careers, according to a National Journal review.

Only two members of Congress have been formally charged with ethics violations in recent years and have faced the specter of public trials -- Reps. Charles Rangel of New York (censured) and Maxine Waters of California (investigation ongoing). Both are black. There are no African-Americans in the Senate. Remember the most recent black senator, Roland Burris of Illinois? Reprimanded by the Senate Ethics Committee in 2009.

Those are the facts, as Cleaver said. The question is why so many African-American members have been in the ethics spotlight.

In interviews with more than a dozen members of the CBC, an unsettling thread emerges: They feel targeted. . . .

Obama sets up website specifically for African Americans to support his campaign africanamericans.barackobama.com


Would it be appropriate for a White candidate to set up a website entitled WhiteAmericans.candidatename.com? For a candidate of Asian decent to set up a website AsianAmericans.candidatename.com? For Hispanics or any other group? Probably I am being overly sensitive, but this seems at be divisive.

Racism in South African Politics

Racism in South African Politics

This story is about Lindiwe Mazibuko, the leader of the Democratic Alliance. From the New York Times:

SHE has unmistakably African roots, from her birthplace (the kingdom of Swaziland) to one of her native tongues (isiZulu) to her mocha skin.

But for many people, Lindiwe Mazibuko is just not black enough.

During a parliamentary session this year, a government minister here called her a coconut (white on the inside, brown on the outside). One political opponent described Ms. Mazibuko as the tea girl, or servant, for the leader of the country’s chief opposition party. Twitter users have flung racial slurs at her, called her a token and said she was naïve. . . .
British Poll Shows Large differences Perceived Intolerance Towards different Groups

British Poll Shows Large differences Perceived Intolerance Towards different Groups

It is interesting how small a share of the population these different minority groups make in the UK. Pakistanis make up 1.9% of the population in 2009, Bangladeshis make up 0.7%, and Blacks of all types make up 2.9% (African blacks make up 1.5%). I can't easily find the share for Romani, so I assume that it is very small. I thought that discrimination might be related in someway to their population shares, but that isn't immediately obvious from the data. See the poll data here:

More than half of respondents (54%) believe the UK is an intolerant society towards people of Romani origin, and almost half (49%) believe Arabs face comparable treatment. Other groups perceived to be receiving intolerance are Pakistanis (43%), Bangladeshis (37%) and Black Africans (30%). . . .
A lot of Blacks voting for Obama because he is black?

A lot of Blacks voting for Obama because he is black?

Apparently many blacks think that others voted against Obama because he was black. So it is their duty to vote for Obama because he is black. My guess is that a lot more whites voted for Obama, not against him, precisely because he is black to help heal the racial problems in this country. From the Washington Post:

For several months, radio host Tom Joyner has pleaded with his 8 million listeners to get in line behind the first black president.

“Stick together, black people,” says Joyner, whose R&B morning show reaches one in four African American adults.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, an ally of President Obama who has a daily radio show and hosts a nightly cable television program, recently told the president’s black critics, “I’m not telling you to shut up. I’m telling you: Don’t make some of us have to speak up.” . . . That message is pointed at racial unity much more than it was in 2008 . . .

Corry McGriff, 42, said the call to stick together resonates with him, and McGriff has begun telling his friends that they have a responsibility to support the president, too. “We need to keep him in there. By him becoming president, he is showing African Americans that it can be done,” said McGriff, who works for a federal defense contractor. “He helped the race. ”

Kychelle Green, 18, a nursing student at Norfolk State University, agreed. “You know it’s not really his fault that things aren’t changing,” she said. “He’s really trying but he can’t change every rule on his own. Now people are trying to criticize him because he is African American.”

Green said she listens every morning to Steve Harvey, who is among the radio hosts who are promoting the message that Obama deserves support.

Warren Ballentine, a black talk radio host based in North Carolina who has interviewed Obama about a dozen times, speaks about the president’s accessibility. “It’s not like he is not hearing black America,” he said.

Ballentine specifically reminds his listeners of the racial undertones he saw in the 2008 campaign.

“It’s almost like we’ve forgotten what this man had to go through to get into the office. We need to remember the hatred and vitriol that came out.” . . .
Hugh Hewitt Corrects the Record on the Washington Post Sliming Rick Perry on Race

Hugh Hewitt Corrects the Record on the Washington Post Sliming Rick Perry on Race

Hugh Hewitt's piece is available here.

There is no hint of prejudice or race-baiting in Rick Perry's long career in the public eye. But the Washington Post puts the story of a fallen rock with a deeply offensive name at an obscure hunting camp on its front page in a stunning attempt to injure Perry by association with a name no one is quoted saying he ever used or did anything other than cause to have painted over.

The Post article has to be read in its entirety to grasp just how thin is the connection between Perry and the rock with the offensive place name, but here is the key line in the article: "Of those interviewed, the seven who said they saw the rock said the block-lettered name was clearly visible at different points in the 1980s and 1990s. One, a former worker on the ranch, believes he saw it as recently as 2008."

Many, many people were interviewed for the story. Only seven recall seeing the rock, and not one of them connect Rick Perry to it, nor do any of the people --either from among these seven or who knows how many more were contacted for the piece-- tie Rick Perry to offensive comments, language or actions. Though a lot of space is devoted to this story, no detailed reporting on what the seven saw and when they saw it is included, which allows for incredible supposition about the ambiguity to take root. Thus a story that could have major implications for the presidential campaign in 2012 is built on anonymous sources whose stories aren't even detailed. . . .
Chicago ordered to hire black fire fighters so that their share of the jobs better reflects their share of the population

Chicago ordered to hire black fire fighters so that their share of the jobs better reflects their share of the population

Hiring by racial quotas still occurs. The question is how this fits in with past Supreme Court decisions. He here something that I published in 2000 in Economic Inquiry explaining this issue:



Yet, since Richmond v. Croson [1989], the Supreme Court has held that these preferences must pass the difficult "strict scrutiny test" and will be invalidated unless they promote a "compelling" governmental interest. Remedial efforts to rectify past discrimination will only be approved if narrowly tailored to correct specific instances of discrimination. . . . "The [strict scrutiny] test also ensures that the means chosen 'fit' this compelling goal so closely that there is little or no possibility that the motive for classification was illegitimate racial preference or stereotype." . . . In the case of police, this means that minority police officers are being employed not because diversity is intrinsically valued but because it is believed to help lower the crime rate.




Now from the Chicago Sun-Times:



When results from the 1995 entrance exam were disappointing for minorities, the city established a cut-off score of 89 and hired randomly from the top 1,800 “well-qualified” candidates.



In 2005, a federal judge ruled that the city’s decision had the effect of perpetuating the predominantly white status quo, since 78 percent of those ‘“well-qualified’’ candidates were white.



Currently 19 percent of Chicago’s 5,000 firefighters and paramedics are African-American. The force is 68 percent white and 11 percent Hispanic.



“By comparison to the Police Department, African-Americans are dramatically under-represented. There will [now] be 111 additional African-Americans. That’s a very good thing,” Karsh said. . . .
Racial Violence in Wisconsin

Racial Violence in Wisconsin

 

This is pretty scary. Why would groups of blacks just start attacking white people? One white man gives them a cigarette and things that he is just being friendly and then they attack. Other people sent to the hospital. Some of this might be due to the high black teenage unemployment rate, which is a tragedy, but one wonders what more is involved. One hopes that something more is involved.



Witnesses Describe Mob Attacks Outside Wis. State Fair



Witnesses describe mobs, some people claim racially-charged attacks



State Fair melees produce 11 injuries, 31 arrests



UPDATE: Just one arrest? Here is a new story available from WLS.



The investigation into 11 of the violent incidents on the opening night of the Wisconsin State Fair has resulted in the arrest of a 16-year-old African-American who reportedly told investigators he targeted whites.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was asked on WLS Radio’s Roe and Roeper Show Friday if he thought the crimes warranted hate crime status, “I think it is absolutely outrageous, it is a hate crime, and I would imagine the prosecutor will be very aggressive on this. There is no tolerance whether it’s white on black or black on white, there shouldn’t be any tolerance in general for that kind of problems.”

. . . The Milwaukee teen was booked on suspicion of attempted robbery and robbery. Police recommend that he face additional penalties for hate crimes.

Police say the teen told investigators whites were chosen because he considered them "easy targets."

On opening night of the fair last week, 31 people were arrested and at least 11 people were hurt. The West Allis Police Department has said race was a factor in the 11 violent incidents it's investigating. . . .
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