More of that nonexistent racism in the U.S.

On a regular basis, conservatives (and liberals on occasion) claim that the United States is a post-racial country. In other words, racism, racial discrimination, and prejudice based on race are all things of the past. Leaving aside the fact that people who feel this way have an incomplete understanding of racism (seriously, they need a 101 lesson), these ignoramuses are also blind to the individual examples of racism (rather than institutional or structural) that occur all the damn time. Here are just a few of the latest incidents:

NYPD officials embarrassed and powerless as cop blog fills up with racist comments

[We]ek after week, racist posts appear on Thee Rant, a blog for current or former New York City police officers: African Americans are called “apes;” a retired officer says one of the blessings of retirement is not having to work the Puerto Rican Day parade, with its “old obese tatted up women stuffed into outfits that they purchased or shoplifted at the local Kmart store; a Middle Eastern cab driver berated by an officer is termed a “third worlder” who should have his “head split open.”

And week after week, the department’s top officials are, at once, embarrassed and powerless.

“It’s very disturbing stuff. Outrageous stuff,” said Stephen Davis, the chief spokesman for the NYPD. “We see it. It’s a problem.”

At the heart of the problem are the limits the department faces in what it can do.

“Monitoring these things is challenging,” Davis said. “There are privacy issues involved. We can’t go and peel back email names and tags and try to find out who these people are.”

The issue of the blog, started by former NYPD officer Ed Polstein in 1999, has gained notoriety most recently after a white South Carolina police officer shot a black man to death. Shortly after a video of the officer appearing to shoot the fleeing man in the back went viral on the Internet, Thee Rant blew up with comments.

“Cop looked good in his stance,” read one post.

Polstein, who did not respond to requests for an interview, has said previously that anyone wishing to post on the blog has to provide proof that they are a current or former member of the NYPD. But whether they are, and how many have signed up, are among the many mysteries surrounding Thee Rant. The blog says it garners 120,000 page views daily.

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Officers arrest Kent man who threw a rock at a child and hurled racial slurs at him

Kent Police arrested a man for investigation of disorderly conduct after he reportedly called a 6-year-old African-American boy a “monkey,” and threw a rock at the child as he walked past the man’s home.

When officers arrived at about 6:44 p.m. on April 4 to the house in the 2900 block of South 256th Street, they found about 10 people, mostly African-Americans, gathered outside the man’s West Hill home, according to the police report.

A grandmother reported she had walked past the man’s place with three young grandchildren and the man yelled from his porch, “I don’t know what to call you people, gooks or monkeys.”

The grandmother and mother of the children confronted the man a bit later and he continued to use racial slurs.

The man told police he threw a rock at a dog to keep it out of his yard. He denied using any racist terms. He said he asked them if they spoke English or Spanish. An officer noted the man seemed to be clearly intoxicated as he talked to police.

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Deli owner who hung ‘White History Month’ sign struggling to keep business afloat

Flemington’s Jim “Jimbo” Boggess spent February feeling left out that African Americans get a month honoring their heritage, so he decided to declare March “White History Month.” Using his deli shop as a pulpit, he hung a sign in the window on the first of the month announcing that — unbeknownst to the rest of the world — March would be a time to celebrate white people.

The sign created an immediate backlash and Boggess’ deli was inundated with angry calls and messages. For his part, Boggess seemed baffled by the whole thing. Speaking with NJ.com after five days of scandal, Boggess said it was just a misunderstanding:

“Boggess explained yesterday, ‘I love everybody, and everybody should celebrate what they are,’ and ‘I shouldn’t have to feel bad about being white….’

‘I never meant it to be a black/white thing. I only meant it to be a white thing.’ But some people ‘twisted the meaning’ of the sign…”

This guy is deluded. He didn’t give this sufficient thought. He didn’t actually stop and think WHY a White History Month is necessary. Contrary to the beliefs of many white people in the United States, there is no need for a ‘White History Month’. White history is not ignored. It is not whitewashed. It is not downplayed. White history is taught in public and private schools at all levels of learning. White people have not had their achievements and accomplishments overshadowed and overlooked. White people have not been subjected to systemic oppression and discrimination nor have their children grown up in a society where they are devalued.

Needless to say, customers stopped showing up to Boggess’ shop. He eventually took down the sign, but the damage to his reputation was already done. Now, just a month and half later, Boggess says he’s essentially bankrupt.

Salivating at the sight of an anti-gay pizza shop getting close to a million dollars in just a few days (and all for simply saying they would hypothetically discriminate against gay people), Boggess set up his very own GoFundMe account, where he made a pitch to conservatives that he is another victim of political correctness gone amok.

This too, is pathetic. Boggess is not a victim of anything, certainly not of “political correctness gone amok”.  I’m not even sure how that would work, given that politically correct is defined as:

[…] an attitude or policy of being careful not to offend or upset any group of people in society who are believed to have a disadvantage.

His business dried up. People stopped coming to his establishment. That has absolutely nothing to do with anyone being “PC”.  What a nitwit.

* * * *

 Cop who shot and killed Rekia Boyd cleared of all charges

After just four days, a judge found Chicago Police Officer Dante Servin not guilty on charges he shot and killed Rekia Boyd, a 22-year-old unarmed woman. Servin was off-duty when he opened fire during a confrontation with a group of people three years ago.

Servin, a decorated police officer who remained on the force but was stripped of his powers and assigned to desk duty during the proceedings, was charged with involuntary manslaughter. The judge ruled there was no evidence of reckless conduct in the case, which would have been required for the involuntary manslaughter charge and others, and dismissed the charges.

“Simply put, the evidence presented in this case does not support the charges on which the defendant was indicted and tried. There being no evidence of recklessness as a matter of law, there is no evidence to which the state could sustain its burden of proof as to the fourth element of the charge of involuntary manslaughter,” Judge Dennis Porter said. “Therefore, there is a finding of not guilty on all counts and the defendant is discharged.”

As soon as the verdict was announced, the courtroom exploded. Boyd’s brother, Martinez Sutton, shouted “that man killed my sister” as other family members cried out in disbelief. Guards escorted him out of the courtroom while Servin watched from the corner, blinking back tears.

As Servin walked out of court a free man, an emotional group of Boyd’s family, friends and supporters followed after him, shouting “murderer!” Servin, who spoke to cameras after the decision, maintains his innocence.

“I think it was a mistake for the state’s attorney to charge me, but I also explained to the family that if this is what they needed for closure – for me to be charged – I hope they got what they were looking for,” Servin said.

What a fucking insensitive, empathy-deficient asshole. I’m reasonably certain the family gained no closure. Putting his ass in jail-seeing justice done-would have been closure. They got the opposite of that.

Also, it wasn’t a mistake to charge him. He fired into a crowd of people and killed an innocent woman who presented no threat to him. Judge Porter made a horrible, horrible call and now a murderous cop gets to walk the streets a free man.

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Cleveland Indians fans are fine with racist propaganda representing their team

Baseball is back, and so is a hefty dose of good old-fashioned American racism.

At Progressive Field in Cleveland, opening day for the Cleveland Indians saw an 8-4 loss to Detroit and a boisterous protest staged by Native American activists and allies against the franchise’s continued use of Chief Wahoo — the troubling piece of “red-face” minstrelsy that’s served as the team mascot since 1951.

Indian Country Today Media Network reported that 150 activists, advocates and even a City Council member showed up to demonstrate April 10. “We are people, not your mascot!” some chanted. “Change the logo, change the name!”

The response from Cleveland fans was not pretty. ICTMN wrote:

Intoxicated fans mocked protestors [sic] at entrances to the field, making war whoops, screaming obscenities, and admonishing them to “get a job,” or “go back to the reservation.” After hours of drinking as game time approached many fans appeared as red faced and befuddled as the Chief Wahoo logo that adorned their clothing. A local radio station that was broadcasting in front of the stadium’s main entrance loudly blared fake powwow drum music.

Your fellow Americans, ladies and gentlemen.

Our fellow USAmericans indeed. So many of them would rather continue a racist practice than do the right thing and stop. The mascot of a baseball team is not more important than the people who have been trod upon and oppressed by this country for centuries now.

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More of that nonexistent racism in the U.S.
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2 thoughts on “More of that nonexistent racism in the U.S.

  1. 1

    Bottom line: The people who are bullying you, are not the ones who gets to state that the bullying has been discontinued and that you are now free to place your trust in them, while they have their boot on your neck.
    I don’t think that’s their role. Their role is to stop doing that shit.

  2. 2

    I also hate that so many white people overlook police brutality against black bodies because they feel it doesn’t affect them.

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