Who Are These People?

I made a post a while back about a young white guy who was picked up by the FBI for burning a cross in one of his neighbors' yards. If you didn't see it, scroll down the page until you see Bitch Please, Redux.

As I noted in the post, the boy's mother insisted that he wasn't a racist, and to buttress her point she pulled out the old stand-by excuse that the young fella had "black friends." We've all heard that one before.

Anyway, this weekend I read over that woman's comments again, and also checked out what some of y'all wrote on the subject. It got me thinking about a post I wrote a whille back about the different definitions that white people and black people have for friends.

I want to go revisit that concept because of something said by The Uppity Negro in his comments. See, I can actually understand how an average white person might be confused about whether the average black person is their friend. Y'all may laugh and joke at work, occasionally share a sandwich and generally have a cordial relationship. It's easy to mistake that kind of interaction for friendship, particularly if you're looking for a way to increase your minority friend count with the least amount of effort.

But, in the case of somebody who burns crosses, I wonder exactly what type of black person is associating with them enough to give them the impression that they have black friends.

WNG said that there are racists at her job who would probably call her a friend, although she despises them. However, I would wager that WNG's racist co-workers have never done anything that rises to the level of cross burning because if they had, I have no doubt that she would have made sure they never called her friend again.

Cross burning is one step below lynching in my book. If you're bold enough to set fire to cross in my front yard with a bunch of friends, I'd wager that you and those same friends would drag me from my home or car and string me up given half a reason.

tSome of y'all may think I'm going to far, but let's be clear, this isn't some crazy idea created in the mind of a black radical. No, this is a carefully reasoned opinion based on historical fact. Throughout history, burning crosses have served as racial fire alarms for black folks; we know that gunshots and night riders are never far behind that lovely lawn ornament.

The type of white person who engages in cross burning has such an overriding dislike for black people that even the most assimilated Negro would have a hard time being comfortable around them. That type of loathing seeps from your pores and forms a "hatred blackhead" that is damn near impossible to miss.

How blind would a black person have to be to miss those feelings and go out to the local pub for a beer with Mr. or Mrs. Cross Burner? Ward Connerly blind? Shelby Steele blind?

It really is amazing to me that this cross burner's mother felt comfortable saying that he has black friends. In fact, the woman's comments are a sad commentary on the self-hatred that is still all too prevalent in the black community because she had to have seen her son socialize with some black person to reach that conclusion.

That any of us would willingly associate with someone who shared these sort of views, or the views held by Pat Buchanan and other less violent racists, really disturbs me. It shows the "sickness" in us is full-blown; that the infection is putrid. I see it when Fox News trots out their pet Negroes, and I see it on inner city streets when I watch certain black folks interact with each other. It seems like some of us dislike ourselves so much that this cross burner's feelings don't even bother us.

Shit, there was probably some black person nodding along to every hateful word cross burner spewed because that Negro was convinced that he/she was a different sort of black person.

I really wish I could slap the stupid out of them.

How Much is That Doggie in the Window?

Just about $8 billion dollars, but let me tell this story from the beginning.


When I was a little boy, my mother took my brother and I to the local SPCA. We walked down the rows of dogs in cages and picked out a black Labrador mix that was to be our first pet. I liked that dog; I've always liked dogs. Sure, I never really walked him and only played with him sporadically, but when I did interact with that dog I loved it.

Unfortunately, the dog needed more attention than my T.V.-addicted family wanted to give it, and soon began digging holes in our backyard to entertain itself. This drew the ire of my father, who gave the dog a "whipping" with his belt, and eventually brought him back to the SPCA. That made me sad, but, as is the habit of children, I got over it and went on to live my life.

Some of y'all may be wondering why I just told you that story. Well, I wanted to make sure all of you knew that I don't hate animals, in fact I'm quite fond of dogs. However, some of the comments I'm going to make in this post may imply that I have a dislike of animals, and I wanted to clear that up.

Leona Helmsley was rich. She was very, very rich. She was also mean, nasty and possibly a little crazy. Why do I think she was crazy? Well, according to the NY Times, she left $12 million to her dog, and then asked that another $5 billion to $8 billion be given to the dogs of the world. Yep, that's what she did.

*Sigh*

Just when I had convinced myself to stop getting all outraged by the ridiculous things people do, something like this happens. Really y'all, I like dogs, but come on. Did she really have to give all that money to dogs with all the human beings struggling to survive in this world? I know it's her money, but this just seems foul.

I respect that in a capitalist society the accumulation of wealth is viewed as a God-given right, I really do. Like most folks, I'm trying to live the good life myself. Yet, when your wealth skews your perception so much that you think canines deserve billions of dollars, well... Really, why didn't she think this money would do more good in inner city schools, or drug treatment programs? What about HIV research or ending global hunger? Did she really believe that helping dogs was more important than helping humans?

You know, one Christmas, my mother-in-law gave me a book about injustice. In the book, the guy talks about the economic conditions in America and compares them to some place in Central America. He said that in the Central American country, the economic divide is so wide that all the wealthy people must live in giant enclaves enclosed by walls and patrolled by private security firms armed with machine guns. He said that when they or their children want to leave those areas, they take an armed guard and travel in armored vehicles.

I could see that happeneing one day soon in America.

Really, unless we address the wealth disparity, the kind of disparity that would make a woman think it's ok to leave a dog millions, then eventually anarchy is coming to our country. Even with the opiates of television and drugs, poor people are eventually going to get fed up with being fed this false vision of America and decide they want the good life no matter what. And when that violence comes, the only hope for the rich will be using their money to shield them from danger in military compounds. It's not that far-fetched, most gated communities in America are on that path already.

What is the solution? I don't agree with the judge's decision to try to get around Helmsley's wishes and avoid giving the money to dogs even if that move serves the greater good. It doesn't seem right that people would ignore her wishes for the wealth she acquired. However, she is dead, and dead people really don't deserve to have much sway over a world they no longer inhabit.

I would prefer if we as a country came together and agreed that something is wrong when 1 percent of Americans control a lion's share of the country's wealth. I think we all need to stop aspiring to be in that one percent. Then, we need to work together to make sure that future generations do not face the same wealth disparity by closing tax loopholes, establishing more rules about passing wealth from generation to generation and improving the education and quality of life of all citizens. Those may seem like lofty goals, and they are, but you have to set the bar high if you ever want to find out how high you can jump.

Dogs are cool, but people are better.

A Tale of Two Americas

This is a familiar story.

You've all heard it many times. Some of the main characters change, but the ending is almost always the same. Since I'm sure most of y'all are familiar with the tale, you won't mind if I spill the beans on the ending.

Niggers get fucked.


Tale number one begins slightly less than a year ago, when Joe Horn saw some damned illegal immigrants breaking into his neighbor's home. Horn, being the good, hard-working American that he is, jumped on the phone and dialed 911 to notify the authorities of what was happening.

Unfortunately, Horn wasn't pleased with the possibility that these foreigners might be able to get away with their crime before the police could arrive to catch them. So he told a 911 dispatcher that he was going to go outside and kill them.

That's right, for stealing a television, their punishment was to be death by shotgun. I wonder what the Indians think about that? Anyway, the stalwart Mr. Horn charged out to his front yard, after loading up his trusty shotgun, and took two lives with two shots.

Bang, bang, they're dead.

For his trouble, Mr. Horn became both a national hero and villain. He was vilified by those who dislike vigilante murder, and lauded by those who think the damn spics are taking over the country. Eventually, a jury of Mr. Horn's peers found him not guilty of all charges.


Tale two does not end so swimmingly.

John White lives in a suburb with a lot of white people. His son is friends with the children of these white people. One day, his son attended a party where said children began to threaten him with violence. It seems that one of the female white children believed that Mr. White's son had written some disparaging comments about her on a social networking website (allegedly threatening to rape her) and called upon her male white counterparts to defend her honor.

Unfortunately for Mr. White's son, he did not write those comments, someone else posing as him did. This did not stop said white youths from menacing him to the point that he felt the need to leave the party and return home to his father and his father's guns.

However, the white youths, imbued with a sense of courage and power thanks to alcohol and drugs, decided they were going to drive to Mr. White's house and exact their revenge on his son. They were even so gracious as to phone ahead and tell Mr. White's son what was going to happen. The boy, being of somewhat sound mind, notified his father of the impending visit. Mr. White armed himself with a weapon.

When the white youths arrived on Mr. White's front yard, they commenced to yell racial epithets at he and his son to display their anger. Mr. White brandished a gun at one of the youths, that youth reacted in a belittling manner. Mr. White shot and killed him. Mr. White was convicted of second-degree manslaughter and is awaiting sentencing.

The case stirred up a ton of racial animosity within the New York suburb where Mr. White lived, as he sought to classify the youths as a young lynch mob, and their supporters cast them as misguided teens looking to defend a young white maiden's honor.

So ends tale two.

This is my tale of two Americas. I know which one I live in, do you?

Bitch Please, Part Two

I think I might make this a regular feature when I run across stories that just defy racial logic.

Here is today's offering:

Link.

Now, I'm still trying to figure out what this little white dude thought was funny about burning a cross in a single mother's yard. What's the joke because my black ass just doesn't get it. To me, if you burn a cross in the yard of somebody who just moved into your neighborhood you're saying that you don't want them there and they need to leave. That's it.

And check out his mother playing the "He has black friends" card while she tries to convince the world her son is not racist and provide him with an alibi for the actual arson.

I wonder what her son would have to do to be considered racist?

Lynch a nigger?