Dagsavisen, Norway: America's new racism

[Lars77]

New racism springs from old prejudices, and new phenomena like the tea party movement. One of the leaders of this movement wrote an imaginary letter from “the colored” to president Abraham Lincoln, where he claimed that they preferred slavery instead of having to work for for a living. There are no limits to how racism is expressed.

http://watchingamerica.com/News/66946/americas-new-racism/



A wave of new racism is flowing through America. On the far right of American politics, old, entrenched norms have found new life thanks to an African American president.

The N-word is used more and more to describe the president by Fox News commentators, and the sacred hero of the right Glenn Beck, who called Obama a racist and used Martin Luther King as a shield against racist accusations this past Saturday.

It looks like an absurd theater, where every normal term is turned upside down. Pure facts do not matter. Because the aggression is focused against Obama, and the lies against him keep building up. One of which is that he was not born in America, and therefore should never have become president. (Truth: Barack Obama was born in Hawaii on Aug. 4, 1961).

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

[JustAnotherGen]

1. What would make

This article really compelling? If the writer had done a comparison or used America as a cautionary tale of their own race issues. Spot on? Yep. 

But I’m well traveled throughout Europe – with a ‘brown face’ – I’m telling you . . . Europe really needs to focus on their race issues now. And stop worry about ours.

[Iterate]

4. I'd rather hear what Europeans have to say.

They do have their own issues and most of them know it. Looking this direction to see our mistakes can't be all bad.

And they know things that we don't, or we have forgotten, like the dangers of mixing religion and politics or how a good health care system can work.

[Lars77]

6. Cant we worry about both?

And can't a European journalist write a piece on racism in America without telling people there is racism in Europe? Everyone knows that.

What you and many other Americans seem oblivious to though, is that American politics can have a direct influence on the lives of people all over the world, including Europeans. That's why we worry when we see your lunatic fringe rage while your political discourse keeps deteriorating into what looks like a bizarre theater act. People like that got Bush elected and re-elected. Which is why elsewhere worry.

This reaction is not uncommon though, and is something i've noticed before on a personal level. It's easy to get offended when someone points to problems in your society. It hurts. The difference is, your own government does that to other countries' peoples on a daily basis.

[JustAnotherGen]

7. It actually does NOT hurt

You have to understand Lars -

My parents met in 1967. Married in 1969. Guess where they got stationed within a month of marriage? Fort Knox Kentucky. My father still drives with a loaded pistol in his dashboard to this day because he was run off the road with my mother in the car when she was six months pregnant with my brother in late 1970.

Why I'm sharing this?

My father is black and my mother is white.

I don't need reminders. How about when I was five and we returned to the US from living in West Germany and the white lady in the restaurant was disgusted that "THAT black child" had reached into a candy dish before her. She was talking about me. This took place in Rochester NY in 1978.


Faaaaaaaaaaaaar more than any 'European Country'? I've been hurt by America all my life.

Sorry if that gives you the vapors - but it's called Being Black/Bi-Racial In America.

There's no 'truth to hurt'. It's something I've lived with every single day.

Now when are they going to do an article about Black Americans being warned about traveling to . . . . *gulp* Spain?????? That would be a REALLY good article that shows there's nowhere safe for us to go. Right?

[Tutankhamun]

2. "If Strom Thurmond would have been elected President in 1948..."

Ever see the footage of him filibustering desegregation by reading oyster recipes? That is the very definition of CREEPY.

[pinto]

3. Hi Lars77. For future reference in re: posting copyrighted material -

We only allow 4 paragraphs of copyrighted material to be posted here in accordance with copyright regulations. Thanks.

[Lars77]

5. Noted! nt

[bemildred]

8. It's not new. nt