Obama Victory Triggers Racist Backlash: At Least 200 Incidents Reported

Atlanta - In rural Georgia, a group of high-schoolers gets a visit from the Secret Service after posting "inappropriate" comments about President-elect Barack Obama on the Web. In Raleigh, N.C., four college students admit to spraying race-tinged graffiti in a pedestrian tunnel after the election. On Nov. 6, a cross burns on the lawn of a biracial couple in Apolacon Township, Pa.

The election of America's first black president has triggered more than 200 hate-related incidents, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center -- a record in modern presidential elections. Moreover, the white nationalist movement, bemoaning an election that confirmed voters' comfort with a multiracial demography, expects Mr. Obama's election to be a potent recruiting tool -- one that watchdog groups warn could give new impetus to a mostly defanged fringe element.

Most election-related threats have so far been little more than juvenile pranks. But the political marginalization of certain Southern whites, economic distress in rural areas, and a White House occupant who symbolizes a multiethnic United States could combine to produce a backlash against what some have heralded as the dawn of a postracial America. In some parts of the South, there's even talk of secession.

Keep reading

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HuffPost's Greg Mitchell -- Racial Incidents and Threats Against Obama Soar: Here Is a Chronicle

Comments

[Canuck27]

It's not about North or South, black or white, young or old or ying or yang and it never has been. It's about fear or love Choose.

[n4m]

Exactly!

[111]

These hate crimes are also taking place in NY and Maine and NJ, etc. So it is not just people in the south that have this rage.

In the west Arizona passed HRC 2034 a few years ago stating its intention to dissolve the current federal government if the federal government declares martial law or attempts to confiscate guns.

In 2005 Vermont was talking about secession in relation to the continuation of the war in Iraq .

The Lakota nation has been talking about secession and we all know about that group in Alaska.

The Southern US is beautiful and has some wonderful people there.

[Scarllatti]

The problem is that these hill.billies feel threatened by your existence while you hardly notice that they exist while you are busy fending for your family and future.

It is because they have a lot of idle time on their hands that they remember to ha.te.

Busy people hardly have time for these type of reasoning.

[Macklyn]

The irony of many of the posts on this topic is staggering. Please, continue to demonstrate how we came together to win this election just to go back to our old ways of "us and them". Just because a state voted red does not mean its residents didn't volunteer, donate, make calls, etc. all of which were critical to Obama's victory.

Your welcome.

[Thecuddlyleft]

I think many of you are taking this too personal. for the 10th time, we aren't saying that the whole south is bad or all southerns. It's mostly tongue in cheek. I just don't understand why you guys are getting defensive. We are taking shots at the ignorant racist type. So if that ISNT you then don't get mad. I just don't get it, unless you have those kinds of people are family or friends I don't see why you are getting offended! Racist are everywhere of course, but the ones in the south are more vicious and out there because most fair minded southerners have duck and hide or try to cover or make excuses for their bigoted family members or friend. call them out and stop them from making the south into a laughing stock.

[Macklyn]

And taking shots is a good thing, you don't get why this gets taken personally? My whole point is that this behavior of "taking shots", typecasting, tongue in cheek digging is exactly the covert bigotry and bias that emboldens the overt hatred and bias we are trying to change in the South, in the USA and world. You, are not helping with innocent, "it's all in fun" disclaimers. For the 10th time everytime you make a blanket statement about an ethnic group, region, religious or political group, you are part of the problem, not the solution.

[boing007]

In some parts of the South there's even talk of secession.

Let them talk. Talk is cheap. Move to Alaska.

[myangeldog1]

I second that motion! There's plenty of room and they would be able to see Russia from the couches on their front porches.

[CamJam]

And today on the news, a so-called "Christian" church has an outlandish claim on their Street sign!

See the sign and read more about it here
http://www.kwch.com/Global/story.asp?S=9359028

I almost want to contact them, but feel it wouldn't make a difference because they are truly ignorant. This isn't free speech they are pulling it is a lie, smears against our President Elect and it incites hate. I think this time the IRS should revoke their tax exempt status - Enough is enough!
http://www.spiritonecc.org/

[JackND]

Secession? Go ahead...Obama would like nothing better than to be Lincoln II.

[island-in-alabama]

Except there's that whole war and people dying thing that basically sucks all around.

How about we just remain One Nation, Indivisible with Liberty and Justice, and just jail the lawbreakers? After all, hate crime is crime, as is sedition.

Those of us who live in the South would really appreciate some support against a small number of loud-mouthed, idiot secessionist morons, instead of people encouraging them with good riddance posts.

FWIW, not every Republican vote represents a bigot. A dumb vote perhaps, but people need to be careful about painting the entire South with a broad brush.

[lionzion]

lol..you so right..civil war II here i come!..and bang Obama face on mount rushmore!

[DeAnnaClaudette]

If my party had spent months calling the opponent a Muslim Terrorist, I may be inclined to want to be violent my darn self. I mean seriously, what did McCain and Palin think was going to happen when they started talking about Obama "palling around with terrorists" and having him referred to as "Barack Hussein Obama." Those nut jobs threatening him believe that, not only was an "inferior" black man elected as President, but a Muslim Terrorist! Of course they are all revved up, as ignorant as it may be.

[island-in-alabama]

It is a crying shame that McCain and Palin could do this without fear of being sued for slander, or jailed for incitement.

They are part of a hate machine. The right-wing talk radio folks do most of the fomentation, and then all the Republican candidates have to do is press scared, ill-informed people's buttons with associative language. It's absolutely shameful.

The corporate media enables them with their mindless coverage. That they treated this as mere campaign tactics and not as hate speech is an injustice. False equivalence makes these folks a modern day fifth column.

Obama won this election in spite of the MSM. Imagine this election without the blogs and the late night shows to tell America the truth.

[emmaspeaks]

And this is a surprise ...how?

[Raleigh Dave]

I am quite sure they all voted for McSame

[Scarllatti]

These folks are tooled by Fox "news", Rush Limburgh and their gang. Go to any spot in Atlanta and you will see the TVs tuned permanently to Fox "news".

I had to ask the Manger at a dealership to change the channel for me while I waited to pick up my car for an oil change one time. So disgusting.

[DXM]

"In some parts of the South, there's even talk of secession."

I am split on this: Part of me feels like saying "good, don't let the door hit you in the a$$ on the way out". Another part feel like saying "good, just try to secede and you will be tried and executed for treason during a time of war". Either way, the country is far better off without narrow minded people like this.

[island-in-alabama]

And what do you propose to do with the non-bigoted people in the South?

I think there are better ways to fight narrow mindedness that to double down on it by proposing we divide our country based on it.

You do know that there's plenty of bigots in blue states as well I trust?

Maybe we could try beating the bad ideas with better ones... Just a thought.

[DeAnnaClaudette]

Oh good lord. I am still in the south. Don't leave me here with the Hillbillies!

[clarinetmama]

Please do.... Lincoln should've let you go 147 years ago. And while you're at at you can also have Utah, Idaho, Alaska, the Dakotas, and anyone else who is shaded in red.

[island-in-alabama]

No, Lincoln should NOT have abandoned the Union, which would have let the bigots win.

It appears we've got lots of people on this thread who are ready to do Rove's work by encouraging the (physical) division of our nation. So, is the South now the Sudetenland, to be offered to the bigots so they'll leave the rest of America alone?

Why not address the bigotry head on? It would be far better for all Americans, including those millions who live in the South, but are not bigots.

[lisalovesamelie]

Really! I live in the South, as I have my entire life, and while I find bigotry and prejudice disgusting, I like living in the south. It is my right as an American citizen to live in this country where I choose. Why should I have to worry about my nation's central government abandoning my family and me? I don't think so! Let them try to secede and be accused of treason, as they should be. If they hate it so much now let them all move to some other place outside the United States. Me? I prefer to stand up for my country.

[JohnJames]

Quite a few people posting here write of better education for Southerners as a solution. Well, guess who'd be screaming bloody murder at the idea of the federal government getting involved in their schools? Their schools are pathetic and they want to keep them that way - education would threaten the Southern worldview.

[island-in-alabama]

You've never been in a Southern school have you?

Every time a parent sets foot in a Southern school, they are dealing with requests for money, to try and improve the funding of the school. There are lots of Southerners who believe education is extremely important.

Painting all Southerners with the same broad brush is a form of bigotry itself.

[JohnJames]

Southerners want good schools as long as nothing taught in them could draw into question Adam and Eve, the story of Noah's ark, that the earth is 6000 years old and God loves the USA above all nations.

[abrock12]

Have you any idea of the South other than the extremes you see in the news?

[Scarllatti]

This post is idi.otic as anything I have ever read. Who cares about these pin.heads? They cannot do more than a d.e.ad rat in 2008 America. NEVER AGAIN!! They will get a terrible response if they do not check their inordinate stupidity.

Who marginalized them? Who made them "poor" when they considered themselves stupidly "superior'?

They all need to be flushed out of their rat-holes and brought back to real civilization. America has moved on and these hillbillies have the option to follow or take a walk.

[cdlryan]

Get the South some jobs/careers that offer a decent income and an education. When you see this level of....hate and ignorance its a lack of education. Stop the cycle.

[Thecuddlyleft]

sorry cd, but education and jobs will not cure a feeling that you are superior or that some people are inferior. racist are not just a bunch of stupid hillbillies. That is just one facet. Island-Alabama i'm sorry, but you have to love this country more than you love your state or region and the way you are defending the south means you must have some racists in your family. if i'm wrong then so be it, but doth does protest too much. Rail against your southern neighbors, friends, family etc. i don't want or need any bigots as friends, family, or whoever. I for one find it hard to believed that racism can be cured with a wave of prosperity. if that was true then there wouldn't be any wealthy bigots and that's not true.