Race-Based Protests Directed At Obama Go Beyond Health Care Town Halls

Race-based attacks and criticism of President Obama have been on the rise during the dog days of August. And they're not just happening at health care town hall protests.

A reader sent over a picture of a group of protesters camped outside Rep. Susan Davis's (D-Calif.). "Neighborhood Day" event this past week, brandishing signs calling the president a Black Supremacist and suggesting he's a Nazi disciple.

"Black National Socialism Is Not Utopia," reads one poster.

Another has a picture of Obama's former preacher, Jeremiah Wright, juxtaposed with a picture of Adolph Hitler and one of picture of Obama and Wright together. "Obama's Church: Black Supremacist," it reads.

The protesters, the reader writes, were small in number. But their presence outside the event indicates that four weeks into August, the highly personal and often racially tinged vitriol directed at the president shows no sign of abating.

Earlier this week, Idaho Republican gubernatorial hopeful, Rex Rammell, said he'd buy a license to hunt Obama. Meanwhile, Rep. Lynn Jenkins, (R-Kans.) expressed her wish that the Republican Party would find a "great white hope" to take on the president in the next election.

Asked about Jenkins' comment on Thursday, White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton gave the freshman congresswoman a pass for the eyebrow-raising remark.

"I saw that report," said Burton. "I also saw that her spokesperson backpedaled and said that that was a poor choice of words. We obviously give Congresswoman Jenkins the benefit of the doubt."

Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[Rainmakr44]

04:33 AM on 09/01/2009

Racism is dead. From here on out blacks must get used to being treated as "The Powers That Be"..no more phoney accusations of racism, One look at America is proof that blacks can do and be what they want. Expect to be treated as equals and not victims, except by Liberal whites who have used and taken blacks for granted for decades. Know that disagreeing with a person of color has nothing to do with race. Shouting racism has become so stale and over used it's almost comical . Time to man up, and look inward at your own culture. Whites did it, and now it's time for blacks to drop the wearisome tactic of blaming race as a factor for black failure. I'm glad we have a black President, but angry and ashamed he's turning out to be weak and apologetic. 9 TRILLION dollars??? I'm sorry, I don't care what color your are I'm not remaining silent when a President tries to bury us with that much debt. I turned against Bush because he turned his back on Conservative values. Blacks are going to have to learn when you get to the top people don't care about color, it's culture. Every President is attacked for their policies. Bush was demonized. Sorry, game over. Any arguements, and angry meetings, are all a part of the game, and race is not a factor. He's "my" President, too. I have every right to attack his strategies without that tiresome old racism charge.

[KidMohair]

02:11 PM on 08/31/2009

RepubliKLAN nimrods keeping the lie-machine cranking.

[Rainmakr44]

12:40 PM on 08/31/2009

It's not all that bad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY

[Dark Sphere]

01:22 PM on 08/31/2009

Ranmakr44, keep up the posts, I appreciate them.

How is your situation?

[Rainmakr44]

02:34 PM on 08/31/2009

Hey Brother,
Ditto on your posts. I appreciate intelligence and style combined. I don't know which is going to kill me first...this cancer, or the Liberal mindset. lol. I'm happy I stayed alive long enough to see a black President, but am "really" disappointed in his policies. People like you give me hope. Take care, Ray..

[TanzaniteDiamonds]

08:13 PM on 09/01/2009

Great video Rainmakr44! Loved it. Thank you so much for the YT link.

[swarn61]

08:42 AM on 08/31/2009

Well, this is certainly no surprise......there are so.....many people (and you see who they are from the picture) who are upset with President Obama for the mere fact that he is black. Everytime I think that this country has made some strides against ignorance, I'm reminded that we really have not. It's really sad. What I find and know to be true, is there is a fear that since the President is black, he is going to somehow change the course of our country to where blacks are on top and take over. That even sounds ignorant, but it is so true. I just don't understand how people can be so silly. I knew that this would happen, one minute some are about to burst a blood vessel speaking about healthcare reform, then THE REAL DEAL COMES OUT.......IT'S REALLY NOT ABOUT THAT AT ALL....IT'S ABOUT HAVING A BLACK PRESIDENT. That's what is been about all along.....some are just getting brave at this point to lash out and voice their racist rants using healthcare reform as a platform. Those of you protesting are just showing how TRULY IGNORANT and UNEDUCATED that you are. Why don't you picket about some of the REAL injustices going on in our society...how about domestic violence, child and elder abuse....why not picket and lend a voice to those things.......oh I forgot, those causes can lead to positive results and many of you want to "stay in the negative.

[Haitiana4Obama]

12:14 PM on 08/31/2009

Well stated. Co-sign.

[Rainmakr44]

01:20 PM on 08/31/2009

Forgive me for talking to you like a "equal human being." What you are seeing is the "End of Racism." Whites have been so afraid to criticize blacks for any reason, for fear of being labeled Racist, especially Liberal whites. It's over. For years we have allowed blacks to accuse, demean, insult all because they felt white guilt. We now have a black President, A black on the Supreme Court, Secretary of State, there are Mayors, Congressman, blacks are Police Chiefs, Fire Chiefs, CEO's, in every branch of our Government, interracial marriage is hardly even noticed. America, through years of fighting, changing laws, and cultural attitudes have almost totally eliminated racism. I see more racism coming from blacks towards whites. White America looked inward and saw it's ugly flaws,then took on the task of changing them, now it's time for blacks to take that same inward look. You have redefined racism so many times it has become almost comical. The accusation of "Racism" is ineffective, and stale. There is a path that awaits blacks that will demand courage, and new strategies. What you see now is "Culturalism."
Whites are going to treat you as equals.

[ladydragon]

07:25 AM on 08/31/2009

To my White Brothers and Sisters:
these kind of people were always there, don't try to act like you didn't know. You knew as well as African Americans that this was going to happen if Barack Obama became President, that the worst of the worst was going to come out into the open. Sarah Palin and John McCain during their campaign rallys made it ok for this type of language and racial hatred to come out into the open, they said nothing and did nothing to stop it. You have the "birthers" such as that lunatic from Az talking about how terrified he is of Pres. Obama, to Limbaugh whipping up the crazies out there on the edge and just waiting. this IS your fault ! if you stand back and say nothing or don't report someone to the authorities for making "vailed" threats to the President than you are just as guilty. I don't see anybody of color standing on the street calling the President a Nazi, Hitler, Socialist, or the "N" word

[okie59]

09:23 AM on 08/31/2009

You are absolutely right. All Americans, and especially our spineless media, should stand up and expose these people (Limbaugh, Palin, Fox, etc.) as racists or worse - people who pander to racists in order to further their career ambitions.
But we all must also do what we can to show our support for the work the president is trying to do. By quietly standing by we are allowing these lunatics to dominate all news coverage. I attended a town hall meeting on health care reform last week not to ask questions but just to counter the hordes of crazies that showed up to disrupt the proceedings. There were at least as many pro-Obama attendees as anti-Obamas however a small but loud and crazy band of Limbaugh dittoheads managed to give the impression that the entire community was rabidly against any health care reform. And out of the entire crowd of about 1,000, I only saw 2 or 3 African-American brothers and sisters in attendance.
In order to counter these well-organized racist groups that show up everywhere with their hate-speech signs next to their American flags, we also must communicate, organize, and demonstrate-in all colors and in far larger numbers.

[Haitiana4Obama]

12:19 PM on 08/31/2009

It will never happen, unfortunately the same people who line the pockets of Limbaugh and Palin also fill the coffers of our esteemed media. So I highly doubt they'll come out in fully expose the loons and racists for what they are...while the neo-cons have their Great White Hope to look forward to, we only have Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and MSNBC on a rational news day.

[sybergirl]

06:35 AM on 08/31/2009

I wonder what kind of signs these people toted around in the sixties... Especially the older ones. I'd dare guess they didn't exactly "fight" for civil rights...

[Rainmakr44]

12:23 PM on 09/19/2009

Note to sybergirl:
I never carried a sign...ever. How old are you? Do you even know what the cultural war was about? It was about hundreds of helmeted Police marching down High St in Columbus, Ohio. It was about being dragged by your hair to a Paddy wagon, and cop cars being destroyed with bricks, ribs broken with nightsticks. You wouldn't have lasted with your professional signs. They would have been ripped out of your hand and beaten with them, by a Society not ready for change. You will never experience being in a Black Panther's house and having a Redwood, Calif Swat team with their cop cars on the lawn..shotguns aimed at the front door, Bull Horns yelling out threats. I have to laugh at what you now call a violent protest. I don't think you believe in anything enough to put your life at risk. You are typers. Your idea of protest is writing a scathing post.

[boredwell]

02:58 AM on 08/31/2009

Though there is no mass reverse discrimination as a result of Obama's election and presidency, these protesters BELIEVE the reverse, IE, Sotomayor's nomination hearings; the birthers. The problem is they don't FEEL it. Though it's a collective ad hominem, I would suggest that the only discrimination which these placard carriers have experienced is due entirely to their lack of larger world education. The boilerplates tropes scrawled on these placards attest to an all-encompassing provincial "I vs Them" literacy.

[sparkandy]

06:30 AM on 08/31/2009

Just curious. What exactly is 'reverse' discrimination? To me that's like saying 'reverse' cavities, or 'reverse' sleeping.

[MaeS]

09:13 AM on 08/31/2009

It is a way of describing the racism of the powerless against the powerful. For example, slaves probably didn't think too highly of white people as a group. This is technically racist, but so what?

Plus, the whole notion of reverse racism really upsets the average conservative, so that is an added bonus.

We'll see if I can post on this thread again. Got scrubbed last night (for being too liberal?!? completely at random?!? who knows...)

[Anonani]

02:34 AM on 08/31/2009

Citizens of the United States of America is this a country that in 2009 will silently tolerate bigotry and hate-filled rhetoric under the protection of our Constitution? These people wrap themselves in the flag and believe that they are untouchable. As a nation, we have got to do something about this!

[Knowledgeseeker]

11:52 PM on 08/30/2009

I'm tired of the racism in this country.

[ColdSnowMan]

10:53 PM on 08/30/2009

The president isn't black.

The president is an American who is colored black.

[SJBrown]

11:12 PM on 08/30/2009

Colored? Who "colored" him?

BTW, there are Black Americans, you can be Black and American at the same time.

[DangerousDave]

07:55 AM on 08/31/2009

You Can?! Don't tell the pro-America parts of the country

[Haitiana4Obama]

12:21 PM on 08/31/2009

Actually he's a biricial man of multi-ethnic origin, President Obama is THE MELTING POT, something we all should celebrate.

[SJBrown]

03:53 PM on 08/31/2009

President Barack Obama is a black man. In this country, we self identify and he identifies as black.

[2008CaliforniaFan]

10:46 PM on 08/30/2009

{.... You might not believe THIS ...}
Some of the Palin Fans are not even trying to hide their hate.

See what AKM posted today.
Bumpers sticker being sold at the Alaska State Fair

Look at the picture...Please send this story to everyone you know.

http://www.themudflats.net/2009/08/30/seen-at-the-alaska-state-fair/

[Ventura Co Ca]

10:54 PM on 08/30/2009

Where's the tie to Palin? The Alaska state fair?

[Ventura Co Ca]

10:59 PM on 08/30/2009

No comment?

[MaeS]

10:19 PM on 08/30/2009

Well, I guess I am out. My posts are disappearing and everything new I write seems to vanish.

Tanya and KidMo, I am fanning you on the way out the door. Keep up the good fight.

Mae

[KidMohair]

10:20 PM on 08/30/2009

Thanks Mae!

Ciao Bella!!

[Tanyars5]

10:24 PM on 08/30/2009

all right Mae....catch u on another thread!

[berrycooda]

08:53 PM on 08/30/2009

Doesn't help when the Media shows the people with these signs.
Only perpetuates the problem. Why give them any attention.

I still hear a lot of comments by TV show hosts etc remarking that we
have a black President.
If we are trying to get past that, then stop bringing it up and giving people who don't notice it, reason to wonder if there really something to be concerned about.
God created everybody...not just one color. It is up to everyone,
black or white to stop making it a racial issue.
We are all different as far as culture and our habits, but yet we are
all the same in God's eyes.
So...stop making it an issue and maybe people will stop it as well.

[KidMohair]

09:01 PM on 08/30/2009

So let's sweep rac~ism under the rug and maybe it'll go away, huh?

How's that worked so far?

I've got an idea, how about you get off your cowardly @$$ an do something?

How's about you MAN UP and STAND UP against the RogerOgdens hmmm?

[berrycooda]

09:07 PM on 08/30/2009

Aren't you the smart a$$...
What have you done lately if you think nothing is working.

Racism is going both ways and it is up to the blacks and whites to change attitudes.
Some people carry a grudge and don't even know what they are carrying it for.
Some are just opinionated like you and comment on other peoples comments.
If you are so smart...try doing something about it instead of
showing your ignorance by trying someone else look the same as you.

[SJBrown]

09:09 PM on 08/30/2009

Who didn't notice that President Obama is Black?
Making race an issue? This is America and it is an issue. It is what it is.

[KidMohair]

08:22 PM on 08/30/2009

I offer this to those folks that mono this site...

I am not in favor of having a President who thinks the End Times are likely to come during their term, perhaps triggering them to go into their End Times mode, Especially, I am not comfortable with the idea of a President with a religion whose End Times belief is that their church will rule the US/World as a theocracy as is the idea with BLT and Mormonism. Obama said in front of an adventist (Apostolic) church in South Caroline in Oct of 2008 that he was confident that they could create a "kingdom on Earth," which in BLT means the utopian theocracy which will be created after the defeat of the white man (Antichrist) and under the rule by the Black Messiah. His religion is supremacist in that sense that the black man will defeat the white man in the End Times.

This is just my personal preference. Apparently, many of you are perfectly fine with a President transforming the World into a millennial theocratic kingdom and that is your good right to desire to have this kind of 'change'. So, you may very well be in the same boat as the rest of us, when the black End Times come. That is really the only part that I look forward to.

This is an abomination. The person who spewed this is allowed to post here, while DECENT people are severely edited.

[Tanyars5]

08:36 PM on 08/30/2009

decent people need to start to boycott media that enable hate

[mag68]

04:14 PM on 08/31/2009

you are the worlds biggest hypocrite

[ColdSnowMan]

10:47 PM on 08/30/2009

So Kidmohair, you are saying you were uncomfortable having George Bush as president?

Because he openly claimed to believe all those things.

[KidMohair]

11:11 PM on 08/30/2009

I an saying that I was incensed to have George Bush as president.

[KidMohair]

08:09 PM on 08/30/2009

Just a reminder that persecution of anyone by dint of their religion qualifies as sedition, a crime until recently, punishable by death.