Events Calendar
In This Section
Ex-astronaut pleads guilty in attack on rival
Bill Clinton urges Senate Dems to pass health care
Autopsies complete on Fort Hood victims
Feds bust ATM hacking ring accused of stealing $9 million
Woman would like to buy back long-lost VW van
Mother tried to shield baby in fatal shootings
Ex-Miss California admits to making sex tape
Review: Police did not cause Celtic fan's death
Marine reservist accused of attacking Greek priest he mistook for terrorist
Most Read Stories
Suitcase causes bomb scare at Akron bus terminal
Akron City Council OKs higher speed on I-77
Chapel Hill isn't rolling right along
Motorcyclist killed, wife injured in Stark County crash
New eateries expand menu of options
Man says he was punched, robbed by 3 people in parking lot
Patrick McManamon: Here's what the Browns should try the rest of the season
Louisville athlete commits to play for Boston College
Family found dead in Ohio home
Blogs:
Pets:
It Takes All Kinds
The Heldenfiles:
Tuesday Notebook
Patrick McManamon:
An interesting thought from a reader
Akron Zips:
Akron vs. Mount Union — Liveblog
Tribe Matters:
Indians announce spring dates
Cleveland Browns:
Mangini doesn't name a quarterback
Kent State Sports:
Flashes interested in another Cincinnati player
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Shaq: It’s All About Winning Championships
Buckeye Blogging:
Buckeyes Roll 100-60 / Season Outlook
Varsity Letters:
Report: Walsh baseball player commits
All Da King's Men:
More On The Fort Hood Jihadist
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Simply Incapable of Telling The Truth
Akron Law Café:
Health Care Financing Reform: (63) Commonwealth Fund Report on Primary Care
See Jane Style:
Muffle Your Muffler
Car Chase:
Clock Tender- Extending the Life of Collector Car Clocks
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Rumors: Akron Starbucks Closing
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Jack is looking for a trip to Southern Ohio the week of November 16.
Sound Check:
Aeromsith looking for new singer as Steven Tyler contemplates solo career
HRLite House:
Personal Rant – Why People Do Not Live in Northeast Ohio
Akron Gamer:
Video: 'Modern Warfare 2' hits the streets
Vandalism, physical threats, insults and taunts delivered by adults, college students and kids
By Jesse Washington
Associated Press
Published on Sunday, Nov 16, 2008
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 postelection 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.''
Country stolen?
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, 46, a 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 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 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.
Hateful comments
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 news 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.''
Cross burnings. Schoolchildren chanting ''assassinate Obama.'' Black figures hung from nooses. Racial epithets scrawled on homes and cars.
Get the full article here.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
Akron, OH
Posted 08:49 AM, 11/16/2008
Now this truely is a shame. Whether or not folks agree that Obama will make a good president, he is our next president, and should be afforded a certain amount of respect.
Instead of this silliness, they can vote him out of office in 4 years.
