Kristof: Homegrown Osamas (Matthew Hale)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/09/opinion/09kristof.html?hp=&pagewanted=print&position=

Before the "Rev. Dr." Matt Hale, the white racist leader, was arrested for seeking the murder of a federal judge, and long before the judge returned home last week to find her husband and mother murdered, I had lunch with him.

Mr. Hale, who is smart, articulate and malignant, ranted about "race betrayers" as he picked at his fruit salad: "Interracial marriage is against nature. It's a form of bestiality."

"Oh?" I replied. "Incidentally, my wife is Chinese-American."

There was an awkward silence.

<snip>

So we don't have to go to Saudi Arabia to find violent religious extremists steeped in hatred for all America stands for. Wake up - they're here.

[ikojo]

1. Oh but they are white and have names like Matt

and Tim and Eric. They can't be all that bad now can they? After all they are not dark with names like Abdul or Muhammad.

/sarcasm off.....


I was at a service the week before Rosh Hashannah in September 2004 and unbeknownst to me it turned into a 9/11 ceremony with a show of appreciation for local police and firefighters. At first it had the feeling of a Bush campaign rally and I was becoming more and more tense. It ended with a Q & A session and I asked a question about monitoring homegrown hate groups. I said, the past few years the US has been pre-occupied with Muslim extremists but April 2005 will be the tenth anniversary of the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in OKC. That bombing was not done by a Muslim but a good ole boy who called himself a Christian. I also said that Missouri is known for having many extremists throughout the state (I think there may have been an Aryan Nations camp in southwest MO). The cop said local hate groups were being monitored blah blah blah. Somehow I doubt it.

The good thing about that is that many people came up to me and thanked me for asking that question.

We truly cannot forget the extremists (many from the Christian right) in our own midst.

[The White Tree]

2. Good Article - I like Nicholas Kristof

He may not always say something I agree with, but I find more often then not I connect with his viewpoint and like his perspective.

I thought one of the most interesting parts of this Op-Ed was this:

"We were too complacent about Al Qaeda and foreign terrorists before 9/11. And now we're too complacent about homegrown threats.

Mr. Hale handed me some of his church's gospels, including "The White Man's Bible" - which embarrassed me at the airport when I was selected for a random security screening and the contents of my bag laid out on a table. Then, even though the screeners apparently believed that I was a neo-Nazi with violent, racist tracts, they let me board without any further check."

Puts things in perspective.