Why we should be happy that the racists are out of the closet

WWW--There's a theme I keep coming across with some of my compatriots on the progressive left, and I think that it's unnecessary: the fear of traditional American racism coming out of the closet. These people are literally the lunatic fringe now, but they're white and they're loud, if not proud (OK, they're that too, just without any basis). The problem--mainly--is our reaction to them, and reaction in itself is the problem, there's too much of it. We need to be more proactive about these people rather than reactive, and that's not an endorsement of Scientology. That's why I support the legal actions of the SPLC and its director, Morris Dees. His targets seem to understand intuitively, as some of the mentally ill do, that he's got their number and that he's using the proper cure. This provokes very dramatic responses.

Just looking at the words behind the anagram tells you where they're coming from at the SPLC: The Southern Poverty Legal Center. I have had great admiration for Mr. Dees and his work for ages, and the key to his work and that of his great staff has been in tracking these groups and bringing them to the attention of the public while going after the very worst, the most dangerous of them, in the courts rather than in the streets where they're only going to be emboldened by physical attacks. Hate movements thrive on the victim mentality, but we should also remember that these folks are victims in their own right, frequently victims of poverty that breeds this form of mental dysfunction. Dees knows that this isn't simply a Southern problem, but an American one, and while it is a bit alarming that these groups have grown in numbers since the election of a black president, it's also a reason to be thankful for the fact that we have one. They're out of hiding and easy targets again, just as they became so in the 1960s. They were always out there, their number haven't really grown.

The Civil Rights movement of that decade (really beginning in the mid-1950s and cresting roughly ten years later) brought the flat-heads out of the woodwork. The ranks of the KKK swelled as they had with the great influx of European immigration during the 1920s and "White Citizens Council" offices sprang-up everywhere...and they lost, badly, to the civil rights workers and activists because history and moral authority weren't on their side. Crucially, the federal government was pressured into action and the FBI unwillingly had to conduct a barely submerged war on the Klan and other hate groups. Indeed, non-violence proved to be a vital tactic, but so too did African-American groups like the Deacons for Justice and the original Black Panthers in the South with their militancy and their rifle clubs, meant to protect black communities from terror tactics. But the real fight was won in the legislative arena and the courts and the laws are still on the books to this day and aren't likely to be rolled-back anytime soon. That's not to say we shouldn't be vigilant, however.

In the 1990s, the late Stokely Carmichael, one of the founders of SNCC and one of the central players in the rise of black nationalism said that the problem had become deeper, that racism had "gone into hiding" and was therefore harder to combat, and he was right. Racism became institutionalized and very much a phantasm, a free-floating force that was almost impossible to pinpoint, let alone to fight with traditional methods. That has changed now that the loons have come out of the woodwork and are now shooting their mouths off, not to mention committing some very heinous acts of violence again. But that's what people do when they're desperate and feel they have no other options. They'd better enjoy the fun while it lasts, because it's not going to for very long.

In other words, they feel very threatened in their racist beliefs and identities, and that's a good thing since those culturally pathogenic personalities can ultimately be isolated and marginalized out of existence. These small, reactive faux-personalities--once again--intuit this and that's when the fear comes, when the ego externalizes its innermost and darkest tendencies. The shadow side externalizing itself can be dealt with by civil society more easily. Now they're visible targets, even their goons they've embedded within the military. But we tend to take these revelations the wrong way, we react, and we become part of the fear. This is a mistake. We know who they are now, we have their number, and it's time to go round-'em-up when they misbehave. We can also make sure that they never come into being by fighting for social and economic justice. Poverty is a breeding ground for this kind of faux-personality.

A recent cross-burning in my community has had some alarmed, but I'm not especially worried. As much as I have a problem with the FBI on other issues, they're good at criminal investigations like this and they're likely to find out who was behind it. When-and-if they do, the perpetrators are going to be dragged into court and could face real jail time if not civil penalties, meaning heavy fines that have shut them down in the past. We should also keep in mind that not all rabid racists are poor and that this is a pathogenic cultural stream predicated on keeping things as they've been in America since the beginning: oligarchical and unequal. The name Tony Zirkle should come as a good example of the privileged racist flake.

Economic elites must become racists by-definition in order to hold onto that power, something that they're more-than-willing to do. The reality is that they're more frightened of the rest of us, these groups, and while it makes them dangerous, they're still marginal. Nonetheless, vigilance and awareness is the key, and now we have the added advantage of visible targets.

THE LONG BEACH HATE CRIMES: THE DEAFENING SILENCE OF BLACK LEADERSHIP, THE PRESS, AND THE LEFT

Long Beach, California--I'm pleased with the convictions of the nine defendants, with eight getting the "enhanced" charges for hate crimes. When you attack people unprovoked, hurling such racial-epithets as: "white bitches," "we hate white people," "I hate f*cking white people," and more, you're targeting someone because they are different. Regardless of their color, they are being treated as they should be--as profoundly disturbed criminals who should be jailed until they can prove they're normal:

All 10 minors, nine girls and one boy ages 12 to 18, were charged with felony assault for the beating, which took place around 9 p.m. in the 3800 block of Linden Avenue, an affluent section of Bixby Knolls popular with trick-or-treaters for its lavish displays. A hate crime enhancement was added to eight minors' charges, stemming from victim and witness statements that several youths within a crowd of 20 to 40 people yelled racial slurs as the victims were pelted with newspapers, fruit and pumpkins, then beat to the ground with fists, feet, a skateboard and tree branches. (Free Republic, 01.26.2007)

It took the L.A. Times over a month to publish the epithets in-full, particularly the "white bitches" comment. There's no excuse for their behavior, yet the mainstream media has shown a strange reluctance early-on in the story to classify the vicious attacks as "hate crimes," yet that's exactly what they were.

While the Black communities in California seem divided on the event, prominent Black leaders in southern California have called them that with some minor-exceptions. So what gives? These defendants are not "victims" in the incident, and there is even evidence that a few of them are in gangs and have possibly been protected by others through witness intimidation (of another Black teen whose car was totaled in the alleged incident--they declined to testify afterward).

Where's Jesse Jackson? Where's Al Sharpton, CORE, the NAACP, or the SCLC? Nowhere. Jesse Jackson ancient comments that "Black people cannot be racist" has never been taken-seriously, or his "hymietown" statements, but why the silence?

In fairness to Jesse Jackson, he's been ill since last week and had to cancel a visit to Ohio. But how would he and other Black "leaders" classify this incident? Their silence speaks volumes. We had an explosion of moralism over a comedian using the word "nigger" recently, and other comments directed at two Black hecklers in a club, but the sound of crickets over this story of a Black-on-White hate crime. The hypocrisy is obvious and pathetic. There is the possibility that because this crime plays-into Black racism, speaking-out against it by these leaders would be viewed as a betrayal--they don't see any material gain in condemning it. But this is just one incident of Black-on-White crime that got little notice or comment.

During the morning-hours of June 16th, 2002, a Black man whose wife had died and had recently learned he had contracted HIV (and a colorful criminal record stretching-back to 1985), shot three white people, and even terrorized a Japanese-American:

The gunman was identified as Steven Johnson, 34, a black man who has AIDS and who, the police said, told investigators he was bent on killing as many white people as he could. ...As this was happening, witnesses say Johnson was quoted ranting about white people and vowed revenge for thousands of years of suffering [?!]," Commissioner Kelly said. "He also mentioned that this was, quote, `fun,' and that a real man chooses when he dies. (NYT, 06.17.2002)

Read the article--nobody, and I mean nobody, wanted to assign the event the moniker of a "hate crime", and that's wrong. If a group of young White men had done this, it would have rocketed around the globe overnight in the world press. As a matter of fact, this was the case with Tawana Brawley, an ambulance Al Sharpton once chased over a cliff. Is it that this kind of story just doesn't sell? It's possible, but there is a definite reluctance here for fear of being labeled "racist." This writer has no-such fears in this area, and insists on a reasoned approach rather than a double-standard.

Perhaps the problem in the neighborhoods of Long Beach is one of poor role-models and poor models of manhood; but how often does anyone ask about environmental questions when Whites attack Blacks? We should, while still recognizing that there is no excuse based on the facts of the crime.

I grant the history of slavery has caused incredible damage to Black Americans, it is undeniable--but what does that have to do with the facts surrounding this case in Long Beach? Either you believe in justice, or you don't. It's like being pregnant. There are no half-way measures here when an unprovoked violent crime has occurred. I will also grant there have been stories that there might have (a big "might") been irregularities in the early identification of the suspects. That's what appeals are for, and not every single suspect was convicted on the hate crimes charges. On the other hand, the judge in the case barred significant DNA evidence of blood on one of the defendant's jeans from a victim. (LA Times, 12.14.2006) The excuse? "Too time-consuming." Jesus.

Justice Department statistics now state that Black-on-White hate crimes make up 20% of the 10,000 reported each year. This is an emergent phenomena, and a troubling one. Another troubling trend is the increase of Latino-on-Black crimes that are predominantly gang-related, something that has even had coverage right here in Michiana.

Standing-up for the guilty to serve an agenda--even a good one--only feeds the Right the ammunition they want. Because of the Left's tendency towards mythology, rationalization, and delusion (just like the Right's in many-respects), they're getting that ammunition. The most-pressing problem is Latino-on-Black (and vice-versa) hate crime, which increased in Long Beach in 2005 according to the LA Human Relations Commission that was founded in-the-wake of the 1965 Watts riots:

"This month, the authorities reported that crimes in the city motivated by racial, religious or sexual-orientation discrimination had increased 34 percent in 2005 over the previous year [Ed.--No final stats for 2006]." (IHT, 01.17.2007)

We are a silly species, and hell is other people.

Free Republic:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1774400/posts

NYT, June 17th, 2002:
http://www.angelfire.com/pa/sergeman/issues/shootsthree.html

Earl Ofari Hutchinson at Alternet:
http://www.alternet.org/stories/45807/

LA Times on Barred Evidence in the Long Beach Trial:
http://www.topix.net/content/trb/0044260246419346595823647812750701184887

LA Human Relations Commission Report on Hate Crimes in 2005:
http://lahumanrelations.org/publications/docs/2005HCR.pdf