Election spurs 'hundreds' of race threats, crimes

Unfortunately, I'm not surprised that since Barack Obama was elected President, a lot of racists and racism is coming out of the woodwork. For me, this is very personal. My children may not be from my womb, but they are from my heart, and I will fight for them just the same. I realize that people are afraid of what they don't know, but I am angry nonetheless. It's inconceivable to me that we can hate a person solely by their skin color, or even religion. Jesus calls us to LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. May God have mercy on us.

Election spurs 'hundreds' of race threats, crimes

Nov 15, 9:00 PM (ET)
By JESSE WASHINGTON


Cross burnings. Schoolchildren chanting "Assassinate Obama." Black figures hung from nooses. Racial epithets scrawled on homes and cars.
Incidents around the country referring to President-elect Barack Obama are dampening the post election glow of racial progress and harmony, highlighting the stubborn racism that remains in America.
From California to Maine, police have documented a range of alleged crimes, from vandalism and vague threats to at least one physical attack. Insults and taunts have been delivered by adults, college students and second-graders.
There have been "hundreds" of incidents since the election, many more than usual, said Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate crimes.
One was in Snellville, Ga., where Denene Millner said a boy on the school bus told her 9-year-old daughter the day after the election: "I hope Obama gets assassinated." That night, someone trashed her sister-in-law's front lawn, mangled the Obama lawn signs, and left two pizza boxes filled with human feces outside the front door, Millner said.
She described her emotions as a combination of anger and fear.
"I can't say that every white person in Snellville is evil and anti-Obama and willing to desecrate my property because one or two idiots did it," said Millner, who is black. "But it definitely makes you look a little different at the people who you live with, and makes you wonder what they're capable of and what they're really thinking."
Potok, who is white, said he believes there is "a large subset of white people in this country who feel that they are losing everything they know, that the country their forefathers built has somehow been stolen from them."
Grant Griffin, a 46-year-old white Georgia native, expressed similar sentiments: "I believe our nation is ruined and has been for several decades and the election of Obama is merely the culmination of the change.
"If you had real change it would involve all the members of (Obama's) church being deported," he said.
Change in whatever form does not come easy, and a black president is "the most profound change in the field of race this country has experienced since the Civil War," said William Ferris, senior associate director of the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina. "It's shaking the foundations on which the country has existed for centuries."
"Someone once said racism is like cancer," Ferris said. "It's never totally wiped out, it's in remission."
If so, America's remission lasted until the morning of Nov. 5.
The day after the vote hailed as a sign of a nation changed, black high school student Barbara Tyler of Marietta, Ga., said she heard hateful Obama comments from white students, and that teachers cut off discussion about Obama's victory.
Tyler spoke at a press conference by the Georgia chapter of the NAACP calling for a town hall meeting to address complaints from across the state about hostility and resentment. Another student, from a Covington middle school, said he was suspended for wearing an Obama shirt to school Nov. 5 after the principal told students not to wear political paraphernalia.
The student's mother, Eshe Riviears, said the principal told her: "Whether you like it or not, we're in the South, and there are a lot of people who are not happy with this decision."
Other incidents include:

_Four North Carolina State University students admitted writing anti-Obama comments in a tunnel designated for free speech expression, including one that said: "Let's shoot that (N-word) in the head." Obama has received more threats than any other president-elect, authorities say.

_At Standish, Maine, a sign inside the Oak Hill General Store read: "Osama Obama Shotgun Pool." Customers could sign up to bet $1 on a date when Obama would be killed. "Stabbing, shooting, roadside bombs, they all count," the sign said. At the bottom of the marker board was written "Let's hope someone wins."

_Racist graffiti was found in places including New York's Long Island, where two dozen cars were spray-painted; Kilgore, Texas, where the local high school and skate park were defaced; and the Los Angeles area, where swastikas, racial slurs and "Go Back To Africa" were spray painted on sidewalks, houses and cars.

_Second- and third-grade students on a school bus in Rexburg, Idaho, chanted "assassinate Obama," a district official said.

_University of Alabama professor Marsha L. Houston said a poster of the Obama family was ripped off her office door. A replacement poster was defaced with a death threat and a racial slur. "It seems the election brought the racist rats out of the woodwork," Houston said.

_Black figures were hanged by nooses from trees on Mount Desert Island, Maine, the Bangor Daily News reported. The president of Baylor University in Waco, Texas said a rope found hanging from a campus tree was apparently an abandoned swing and not a noose.

_Crosses were burned in yards of Obama supporters in Hardwick, N.J., and Apolacan Township, Pa.

_A black teenager in New York City said he was attacked with a bat on election night by four white men who shouted 'Obama.'

_In the Pittsburgh suburb of Forest Hills, a black man said he found a note with a racial slur on his car windshield, saying "now that you voted for Obama, just watch out for your house."
Emotions are often raw after a hard-fought political campaign, but now those on the losing side have an easy target for their anger.

"The principle is very simple," said BJ Gallagher, a sociologist and co-author of the diversity book "A Peacock in the Land of Penguins.""If I can't hurt the person I'm angry at, then I'll vent my anger on a substitute, i.e., someone of the same race."

"We saw the same thing happen after the 9-11 attacks, as a wave of anti-Muslim violence swept the country. We saw it happen after the Rodney King verdict, when Los Angeles blacks erupted in rage at the injustice perpetrated by 'the white man.'"

"It's as stupid and ineffectual as kicking your dog when you've had a bad day at the office," Gallagher said. "But it happens a lot."
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Associated Press writers Errin Haines, Jerry Harkavy, Jay Reeves, Johnny Clark and researcher Rhonda Shafner contributed to this report.

Now We Are Nine

Vicki recently celebrated her 9th birthday! My, the years go quickly. As you can see by the photo to the left, (taken by Ken) she was quite excited and animated during her birthday party. Her friend Maria sits next to her.

We had a Family Party (my style of party) with both sets of Grandparents and Uncle Ken and Aunt Lisa and her family. Vicki chose the menu - Blasted Chicken, Corn Bread, Salad, Fruit Salad, and Root beer Floats for dessert (she doesn't like cake!). We lit her 9 candles on top of a pile of ice cream in a cup. With Vicki, nothing is "usual"!

Vicki was thrilled to get a Baby Alive (opening present above) that drinks a special orange liquid and pees it out. Diapers are "only" $12.99 for a set of 8. Wow! Nothing like marketing! She's saving her money for diapers. I suppose it's a good lesson for the costs of having a baby!

After The Election

Vicki woke up Nov. 5 and was cheering and dancing because Obama won. After a bit she said "my friends who voted for McCain are going to be really disappointed." She was truly sad for them. At the bus stop, her friend Maria wore a t-shirt she wrote on with marker that said "McCain/Palin - We tryed" with hearts all over it. Vicki asked her "are you disappointed"? And sadly, Maria said "yes". Vicki then tried to cheer her up with funny faces and giggles. It finally worked after a few minutes!

I want to share a Letter to the Editor a woman in Tucson wrote to the paper:
"As the mother of two Ethiopian born sons, I have a heart full of joy as America celebrates the election of Barack Obama. This morning, I told my adopted 5-year-old son that the new president of the United States looks like him. His eyes grew wide and a smile spread across his face. Even at his young age, somehow he understands. I cannot begin to imagine how his view of what he can attain in life will change. Maybe his path in life will not change, but he can walk it holding his head a little higher and his back a little straighter. To quote the words of an African-American interviewed on NPR: "Rosa sat so Martin could walk. Martin walked so Obama could run. Obama ran so our children could fly." May all our children fly." Kristen Penny

I couldn't have said it better. Vicki, and the boys, don't fully understand what it means to be the President, but they know that he is the same color as they are and that makes them happy. I hope Vicki will no longer wish to have skin and hair like me, because now the President (elect) looks like her, (and his daughters will be in the White House!) and she can feel proud of the beauty she is.

President Obama will have a lot on his plate. This country is in a moral and financial mess. He certainly won't be "walking on water" in January! I want to share with you a letter from Jim Wallis of the Sojourner's website (a Christian website with an emphasis on social justice):


Yesterday’s election represents a watershed moment in the life and history of our country. Regardless of how you voted, our entire nation can celebrate the milestone of our first African-American president. We can all embrace this profound opportunity for deeper racial reconciliation and social justice.

But this is also a moment that demands prophetic leadership and the power of a faith-inspired movement. From the abolition of slavery, to women's suffrage, to civil rights, history shows us that political change happens when social movements push on open doors of political leadership. And the best movements have spiritual foundations.Please join me in telling President-elect Obama that we will pray for his presidency while also holding him accountable to the promises of a new kind of politics.

This election represents a new and open door for change. However, we know that President Obama will face tremendous pressure and obstacles in pursuing an agenda that addresses the moral imperatives to overcome poverty, develop renewable energy, responsibly withdraw from Iraq, and dramatically reduce the number of abortions.

That is why your commitment is needed now more than ever. We must ensure that the campaign slogan of “change” becomes a new movement for change.Send a personal pledge to the new president, telling him that you will be part of that movement.

We will deliver your pledge to President-elect Obama and his team, with the message that the faith community will be mobilizing both in support of him and to hold him accountable. Sojourners will start with President Obama’s own pledge to mobilize our nation to cut poverty in half in America over ten years and provide the leadership necessary to achieve the Millennium Development Goals to cut extreme global poverty in half by 2015.Join us in ensuring that these campaign promises become a reality.

In recent times, religion has been both too narrow and too divisive. The faith community can now play a new role—bringing people together on the biggest moral issues of our time—even across old political divisions.

This election has shown that the era of single-issue voting is over and a broader moral agenda that seeks common ground on moral issues has begun. Members of Black churches, Catholics, evangelicals, Latinos, and mainline Protestants are acting on a broad set of biblical values. I look forward to the day when both poverty reduction and abortion reduction become nonpartisan issues and bipartisan causes.

Please join me in offering President-elect Obama our prayers and our actions as he assumes the responsibility of leading our nation in a very challenging time.

Sincerely,
Jim Wallis
President, Sojourners

The letter of Prayer and Action that you can sign and send on to President-elect Obama can be found here: http://go.sojo.net/campaign/prayerandpledge/8x683durr7kbtk36?qp_source=act%5f0811%5fpledge

I encourage you to look at it, and sign and send it on if you agree!
Blessings!
Deborah

Getting Political

This has been an emotional day for Vicki. Actually, an emotional election season! She's been rooting for Barack Obama since the beginning, and trying to convince her schoolmates that they should vote for him as well. Today, the school had an election and McCain won. She was devastated. She was full of emotion and tears at this great loss. I have to say, it's been quite an interesting election season. The kids have come home from school telling me what their classmates have been saying about Obama - his two friends flew into the World Trade Center, Obama will ruin the country, Obama is a terrorist.... I've heard from fellow soccer moms and grandmas that Osama and Obama are the same - that Obama is going to take all our guns away, he'll refuse to swear on the Bible (only the Koran) when he's sworn in as President, that we'll become a socialist country, etc. etc. ad nauseaum. For me, I've been so amazed at how ADULTS perpetuate rumors and don't look into statements to see if there is any validity to them! Fear has definitely been used throughout this campaign!

Whether you are for Obama or not, this is an historical election. The fact that a black man (yes, even though he's "half" white, he's still viewed as black...just look at our history) may become president of our country is incredible. Even if you don't agree with his politics, he is a great role model for us.

Personally, I've been pretty quiet about my beliefs. I'm sure you've guessed by now that if Vicki is for Obama (and Carlos and Kervens) so are their parents. Do we agree with everything? Of course not. Our biggest concern, as always, is abortion. Without a doubt, it is murder. We don't agree with Obama's position. However, when it comes to the majority of his beliefs and concerns, we share them. Our country has been horrible in dealing with the poor, the uninsured, your average "Joe", troubles in other countries, and of course the unjust war in Iraq. (WHY did we invade Iraq - supposedly because of Saddam's ethnic cleansing - WHAT about SUDAN? SOMALIA? etc. etc.) ...Oil, and personal vendettas, but that's not for tonight.

I told Vicki she won't know before she goes to bed if Obama will win. I don't know if there will be tears or cheers when she wakes up, but we need to remember that however this election turns out, God is in control! Nothing we do or don't do (or who we vote for or not) will change that. We're not THAT powerful!! Whew, thank you, Lord!!