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Somewhere other than Sarah Palin threads. I'm always blocked on all threads that in any way pertain to Sarah Palin. Every post on these threads gets moderated and few ever see daylight. It is blatant censorship!
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What Glenn Beck and His Followers Are Really Afraid Of And Why!
In 1992 (only 17 short years ago) David Duke ran for governor of Louisiana and won a majority of the white vote. Duke's past association with the KKK was no secret and he made no efforts to conceal it. Four years earlier in 1988, when Bush I defeated Gov. Dukakis for the presidency, he did it largely on a racially loaded ad that emerged in the last days of the campaign and played on an age old fear of the Black rapist free to terrorize white women. In the ad, a black man, is shown coming out of prison. It was a reminder of the case of Willie Horton, a Black man, who, after being paroled by the Massachusetts authorities, raped a white woman. The basis for the efficacy of this ad was constructed far earlier.
In 1915 a devastating movie about the history of Reconstruction, "Birth of a Nation," appeared. Directed by D.W. Griffith, it was the first Hollywood epic and one of the longest silent films ever made. The story was based on Thomas Dixon's racist novel of the previous decade, "The Clansman," which paints a sympathetic picture of the rise of the first installment of the KKK during and after Reconstruction. From this movie, which was seen nationwide by millions, came the generalized and universalized view of the Black rapist. During the Civil War when all the men were gone and all the women were left at home with the slaves not one slave was ever charged with rape. Once the slaves were free such rapes suddenly became a near daily occurrence in the South. These mostly fictional rapes, most recently characterized in the movie "Rosewood," were responsible or said to be responsible for much of the violence against Black people in the south from 1867 to 1950.
Griffith's film, which was boycotted by a nascent NAACP in cities like Chicago, Boston, and New York, was seen and praised for its historical accuracy by then president, Woodrow Wilson, and was also viewed by the nine Justices of the Supreme Court and other notable political figures and praised by the Chief Justice The film is problematic on several levels not the least is the strange mixture of subject matter, problematic representations and technical breakthroughs. In making the film Griffith pioneered many of films modern techniques including low shots, long shots, close-ups, fade-outs and other techniques including using the action within the film to advance the story line. More troubling for today's audiences, it features white men in blackface playing all the important black roles while crowds of rowdy, lazy, and generally offensive Black men are shown plotting and scheming on ways to take over the South with the help of corrupt Northern politicians. Many of today's lingering black stereotypes can be traced back to this film. It is still available today on DVD.
So when people ask, as Greg Mitchell does here, "but why and on what basis are they scared?" One must look at history. Nothing is more historical than the socially constructed category of race in America. There is no other concept in our culture that has morphed from one
