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Subscribe to RSSWatch the original 1966 NBC News documentary, "Mississippi: A Self-Portrait" in its entirety.
By Tim Beacham
Dateline NBC
WARNING: Some of the language in this story could be considered shocking to some.
The Mississippi Delta is thousands of miles and a lifetime away from Southern California where Raymond De Felitta and Yvette Johnson grew up.
Raymond is white and pushing 50. He was raised in the Hollywood Hills, the son of a successful filmmaker and novelist. Yvette, is black and more than ten years younger than Raymond. She grew up in an affluent community in San Diego, the daughter of former NFL football star.
Until the spring of 2011, the two of them had never met. But in a strange twist of fate, both discovered that they shared a unique bond, rooted in an NBC News documentary that aired only once, on a Sunday evening in May 1966,.
The film, called Mississippi:A Self Portrait, was written, produced and directed by Raymond's father, Frank De Felitta. Yvette's grandfather, Booker Wright, was its star. Although he made only a brief cameo appearance in the film, it was an appearance that would have a lasting impact of the lives of both Booker and Frank. And nearly fifty years later, it would draw Raymond and Yvette together on a project to find the meaning of that single moment captured on a grainy snippet of film.
As a child, Raymond watched the films his father had made when he worked as an award winning producer for NBC News in the 1960s. There were documentaries titled: The Battle of the Bulge, The Stately Ghosts of England, and The Chosen Child, which was about a young couple who were trying to adopt. But Raymond’s favorite by far, wasMississippi: A Self-Portrait.
"And I remember when we used to screen the films at home. They were, by then, 10 years old." Raymond says. "They looked to me much older, you know? 'Cause it was the 1970s and everyone in those movies was wearing thin ties. And it's in black and white and it's like another world. But I remember seeing Mississippi and finding the film striking. Largely because of Booker Wright."
Frank De Felitta had set out for Mississippi to make his film in the Spring of 1965--a perilous time in the Civil Rights Era. It was less than a year after the murders of three Civil Rights workers who'd been helping Mississippi blacks register to vote. Nearly 40 black churches had been burned to the ground in Mississippi the previous summer. And the Delta cotton town of Greenwood-- where Frank ultimately shot much of his film-- had seen plenty of trouble. Ten years earlier, Emmit Till—a 14-year-old visiting from Chicago--had been lynched nearby for whistling at a white woman. And Greenwood was home to Byron de la Beckwith--a man who, at the time, had already been twice tried and acquitted for the murder of Civil Rights leader Medgar Evers. Frank knew it would be a dangerous undertaking.
Former NBC News producer Frank De Felitta recalls a time he and his film crew faced some real danger in 1960s Mississippi. This web exclusive is part of the Dateline report 'Finding Booker's Place' from Sunday, July 15th, at 7pm/6c.
"The FBI scared me," Frank remembers. "They told me, 'We think you're crazy. You're not going to be welcomed. And we can't help you. All we can give you are some phone numbers. All throughout Mississippi we have agents.'"
According to Frank, Booker Wright came close to not even being in the film because Frank never intended to interview blacks.
"The whole idea of the Mississippi picture was not to do the story of black angst. We know that. We were trying to see whether Mississippians, white Mississippians, can reconcile themselves to a better way of treating the blacks."
For weeks Frank De Filetta says he wandered around Greenwood, sampling white opinion. For the most part, whites defended segregation and told Frank that they believed blacks were happy with the status quo.
"I feel that God had a purpose in creating the races separate," said Mary Cain, who was a local newspaper publisher at the time. "I am so proud of negroes who are so proud of being negroes. They are what God made them. And I'm proud of being white because I am what my white race has made me. I am white today because my parents practiced segregation."
When Frank gathered the town's leaders, they told him they thought the races were getting along just fine in Greenwood. "I think our colored people are very happy, extremely happy here in Mississippi," said one of them. "I think they feel the same way about us."
Then one day, a member of Frank's crew suggested that he meet a black waiter who worked at a restaurant in Greenwood.
"He came to me one day and said, 'I got a wonderful black man. His name is Booker Wright. And he's a waiter at Lusco's Restaurant. And what he does, is a minstrel scene. He does a singsong of the menu. And that's the only menu they have. People wanna know the menu, they get, 'Booker, go tell 'em.' And he'll sing them the song of the menu. And it's absolutely delightful.'"
Once Frank saw Booker Wright perform the menu recitation, he arranged to film the routine the next day. So Booker Wright recited the menu for Frank's camera. Then, without warning, he shifted gears and launched into a monologue that had been 40 years in the making:
"Now that's what my customers, I say my customers are expecting from me," he began. "Some people nice. Some is not. Some call me Booker. Some call me John. Some call me Jim. Some call me @!$%#! All of that hurts but you have to smile. The meaner the man be the more you have to smile, even though you're crying on the inside.
"You're wondering what else can I do. Sometimes he'll tip you, sometimes he'll say, ‘I'm not gonna tip that @!$%#, he don't look for no tip.’ I say, 'Yes sir, thank you.' I'm trying to make a living."
For nearly two minutes, Booker Wright, spoke straight to the camera, and straight from the heart.
"Night after night I lay down and I dream about what I had to go through with. I don't want my children to have to go through with that. I want them to get the job they feel qualified. That's what I'm struggling for," Booker concluded.
"I went there to photograph a minstrel show," Frank says, "And I stayed there to hear a man talking about his life and what his dreams are. And it was so moving."
But now, Frank De Felitta says he was confronted with a classic documentarian's conundrum. On the one hand, he knew he had great material for his film. On the other hand, he knew including Booker Wright's comments in his film could place Booker in grave danger since Mississippi was such a hot spot for racial violence and intimidation at that time.
"I said to him, 'Well, look, this is brave of you to say that, but this movie will go all over the country. They'll see it and they could come and kill you.' He said, 'Well, so be it. I want to be heard.' I said, 'If you change your mind, you can call me and say, “Don't show it.”’”
Booker Wright never changed his mind, and just as Frank had feared, the reaction in Greenwood swift and harsh. Because of complaints from white customers, Booker chose to leave the restaurant where he had worked for 25 years. Later , he was also badly beaten.
"He found himself in the hospital the next morning," Frank remembers. "They beat him something terrible. He was wounded all over his body. They didn't kill him. That, to me, was amazing that they didn't kill him.
"I called him and got him in the hospital," Frank says. "I said, 'I'm coming down to see you.' He goes, 'No, no. I've done enough for you. I don't ever want to see you ever again.' I said, 'What's wrong? I'm a friend.' He said, 'It's okay, you're not really allowed to come see me.' He said that would just add too much fire to the whole thing."
And that was the last time Frank ever spoke to Booker.
And that’s where Yvette Johnson’s part of the story comes in. Booker Wright was Yvette’s grandfather, but she never knew him. He died a year before she was born, and she grew up in California, far from her extended family in Mississippi. As an adult, Yvette found herself longing to know more about her family's history. In 2007, after the birth of her second son, Yvette decided to take the initiative.
"I have a fantastic Aunt Vera who loves to tell stories," Yvette says. "I called her one afternoon and just asked her 1,000 questions. And she shared her whole life with me, which was fantastic, and through that I could see sort of the story of the South. But she also shared with me the story of her father, the sort of person he was like. There was a definite shift in her tone when she talked about Booker Wright. And it was like a seed was planted. And I just wanted to know more about him."
But try as she might, there was little Yvette could learn about her grandfather. He'd been born on a plantation and taken from his mother at a young age to be raised by another family. Though illiterate, Booker had managed by sheer force of personality to get a job at Lusco's Restaurant in Greenwood, Mississippi at the age of 14. He rose through the ranks to become a waiter at the restaurant, and was beloved by his white customers for the way he recited the menu. Yvette was told that through thrift and hard work, Booker saved enough money to open his own cafe on the black side of town. He called it “Booker's Place.”
Yvette says, "He was a well-respected businessman who had found sort of a balance between being successful as a waiter in the white community where he was known, enjoyed, cared about --he had what many whites at the time would have called friends. But he also was very well-respected in the black community because he had his own restaurant. "
Yvette might have stopped her family search there, satisfied that her grandfather had persevered and succeeded against the odds, except for one thing. Her grandfather, she was told, had once appeared on television during the height of the Civil Rights turmoil in Mississippi and said something rather inflammatory. Yvette didn't know what he said, or when or where the film might have aired.
"I thought it was like the 5pm news", Yvette says. "Just, like, you know, between the weather and someone's house burning down, that they'd stopped this black guy on the street."
Years of searching for the missing snippet of her grandfather speaking on camera had yielded nothing. But in March of 2011, the film found Yvette.
Raymond De Felitta had decided to make a sequel to his father's Mississippi film, and was trying to track down Booker Wright's descendants, to see what had become of the children Booker had spoken of so movingly. When Raymond found Yvette, he sent her the footage she had heard about, but never seen.
"I was amazed that it was the piece that it was", Yvette says of first seeing Booker's speech. "It wasn't sort of an angry moment, not thinking about the consequences. He knew what he was doing.
"My heart broke for him as I watched it and he talked about the daily humiliation. And part of me wanted to sort of reach back and comfort him. I still didn't really understand 1965 Greenwood, I didn't realize how much jeopardy he was putting himself in by saying those things."
Yvette was hooked. Within weeks of meeting Raymond, the two of them were off to Mississippi with a film crew in tow. They set out to see how Greenwood had changed since Booker's time, and to find out what legacy, if any, Booker--and Frank De Felitta--had left behind.
"You know, it was great," says Ray. "To actually envision my dad in 1965 there, and I'm actually sitting in the same restaurant. I'm wandering around with a film crew in the same town. That's the part of the magic ride of filmmaking."
Ray De Felitta and David Zellerford discuss the significance of the Tallahatchie Flats – old sharecropper's cabins given new life as tourist lodgings. This web exclusive is part of the Dateline report 'Finding Booker's Place' from Sunday, July 15th, at 7pm/6c.
And being in Greenwood brought Yvette new understanding of Booker's legacy in that town. "The impact of what he said was really felt in the white community because so many whites knew him, so many whites felt they had friendship with him," she says. "And to hear him say, 'No this isn't friendship. This is humiliation for me...' It was a wake-up call."
Raymond's film about the experience--"Booker's Place"--premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival this spring. It's now also available on-line.
Coincidentally, a Dateline NBC producer had also found that old documentary about Mississippi deep in the NBC News vaults. Drawn to the power of Booker's words, he, too, decided to set out for Greenwood, Mississippi last, to discover what the town had become and what had become of Booker's descendants. Along the way he found Frank, and Raymond, and Yvette, and told their story too--which is now also the story of NBC's reporting on race relations in America, then, and now.
The result is Sunday night's episode of Dateline--"Finding Booker's Place"--a powerful look back at a troubled time in America's past, and a look at race relations in present day Greenwood, Mississippi. Booker Wright's words come alive again, too, in the broadcast, as all the people who Booker touched remember an ordinary man who had a remarkable moment.
"I think sometimes in life there are these magical moments and you don't know when one is coming," says Yvette. "But I just think you know when you're in it. And it's time to stand up for what you believe and to express what matters to you. And if you don't seize the opportunity, you feel like you've compromised yourself. And so to me that's the biggest takeaway: if we just keep our eyes open and if we're willing to take a chance, to take a risk, then we can all make a difference.”
...
Watch the full episode online:
Questions about their family histories lead Yvette Johnson and Raymond De Fellita to a remarkable 1966 NBC documentary about Mississippi's racial tensions. Dateline NBC's Lester Holt reports.
Leave a Comment:
the emmett till story has always upset me. i was born in 1981. i'm so thankful i wasn't around when that happened. absolutely one of the darkest moments in the history of mankind, in my opinion.
@ rockmebritney, I was born in 1951 and moved too Alabama in "67". So I saw first hand what it was like. It wasn't pretty by any means. Back then it was like walking on egg shells. You had to be cautious of what you said, and to who you said it to.
Sad part is, reporting this story "NOW", will be worse than picking on a scab. It will be more like cutting right down too the bone. I take my hat off to Mr. Booker..!!!
To add salt to that CUT, this was reported just the other day, black folks back then, just didn't stand a chance regardless what they did.
http://www.sunherald.com/2012/07/12/4060389/70-years-later-montford-point.html#storylink=cpy
The Angry Black Man tells it best "Warring some
profanity in video"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsSQtxrw7uU
Ah, yes. MSNBC...dedicated to making certain that racism never dies in the USA. If there is nothing better to report, why not dredge up another example of racism that happened decades ago just to stir up the pot again? Hello!!! It's 2012!
I was born in 1953, and I grew up in an integrated suburb of a Pacific Northwest city. My best friend, he is black, went to visit relatives in Alabama. We were in our teens at the time. He came back with stories that I could not understand, had a very hard time believing, and was appalled that this was happening in the USA. I asked my parents about it and they had to have a sit down, long, long talk with me, and out came one of their best reasons to moving to the Pacific Northwest. Even so, there was blatant racism here if you knew to look for it. My family had a reputation with racists that caused the racists to walk softly around us.
I never, never, never thought I had the possibility of seeing a black as the US President. I'm so glad I was wrong. But having lived through the 50's, 60's, and 70's, I can understand the conservative reaction to a blackman in the whitehouse. Also during that time was gender bias. but that is a story for another time, soon.
Yes, and in America, racism is as alive as Moms Apple Pie, and baseball!!
UMGator -- uppity white boy!
Whine all you want, UMGator. (We're used to hearing it, now that the media and the Tea-holes have discovered each other.) But the truth is that it's people like YOU who keep racism alive.
moshuluu....Yes sadly that is what I tell my daughter when she has to absorb ugly comments made to her when referencing her as a "little white girl" or when some stupid young Latina calls her a "gringa puta". It is absolutely thriving every-time a person rationalizes the struggle for a second Obama term as some sort of white power plot. Keeping in mind that all the powers at the top of the Obama support system are old white men.
Yes, racism is still alive and well.
@Sawyer-2103826 You are racist garbage. This story is about you. Choke on your hate.
Racism is a polarizing force in our country. Many people who say they are not racist will pass around racist jokes and laugh at stories denigrating other racial stereotypes. Many who claim to be not racist will ignore injustice or stand by and watch while injury is done to people of another color, while extending preference to their own race.
I have experienced Jim Crow first hand, and although our country has cast off those times of hate and ignorance, the attitudes still exist. Although my wife passed away a few years ago, we survived more than 36 years in an interracial marriage. I have had racism directed at me simply because I chose a partner whose skin color did not match mine.
Racism is as old as civilization, but education, tolerance and commitment to fair and equitable treatment under the law will remove the most egregious effects. Ignorance, intolerance and indifference will foster it and cause it to flourish.
I can understand the conservative reaction to a blackman in the whitehouse.
Huh ??? I could care less about the color of the Potus....that doesn't affect me..
But because I disagree with some of his policies..I'm a racist ???
I didn't think I was a racist, til I took a test on a well known black website..1 of the questions was..
You walk into a resturant, 1 side mostly 1 color, other side another. Withing thinking about it, you gravitate to the side that's mostly your color..YOU'RE A RACIST ...
Really ? .. wow.
It went on to say, 'if you PREFER to marry YOUR color, you're a racist.
Holey cow..really ?
So yes, I spose I must be one...according to the test. Guess I should get rid of the 'other colored' friends I have huh...sighhh.
Golly, @richardharrow, you must really be angry about something.
I must have forgotten take my meds. What was the point the author was trying to make?
If there is nothing better to report, why not dredge up another example of racism that happened decades ago just to stir up the pot again?
I suppose if we just don't talk about it it'll go away right? Oh, I know, let's not report about what's happening with Syria, maybe the rebellion will just be over since we're not talking about it?
I can't believe how naive some people are. These are the same types that don't teach the children about unpleasant events in our history, and future generations are only done a disservice.
Yup, Guilt Trip 101. All you white people need to feel bad again. MSNBC says so without directly saying it.
moshuluu,
Right, but let's make no mistake about it ALL sides are just as bad as each other.
Racism isn't owned by whites.
Racism isn't owned by Latinos.
Racism isn't owned by blacks.
saywer-210,
"UMGator -- uppity white boy!"
I suppose this is an example of a minority (or someone pretending to be a minority) NON-RACIST comment? Sounds like a bigot to me.
Really enjoyed watching the 1966 news reel. Thanks!
Besides Booker, I also enjoyed the un-named guy, and his kid, who had lived in the delta forever.
Racism is not owned by the South or any other geographic location. It was maybe more visible there. It was 1992 when the Watts riots broke out in Los Angeles. I assume the riots were not started because of the overwhelming sense of harmony in Los Angeles. The same can be said, I think, of the 1996 riots in St. Petersburg, Florida, the 2001 riots in Cincinnati, the 2003 riots in Benton Harbor, Michigan, the 2005 Toledo, Ohio riot, or even the 2009 Oakland, California riots.
Intelligent people understand that racism has been practiced by every race - not just whites. While I think we are making progress, in fact I am certain of it, it is still pretty difficult to hold an intelligent conversation about race. It is intelligent conversation that birth's evolutionary change.
Racism is alive and well today on a more global scale. Take 15 seconds to read newsvine comments when muslims are the topic, you will see the exact same type of ignorance displayed as was highlighted in this piece. In fact, America has some grappling and searching to do regarding imperialism, with which we have been playing for some time, and this is a form of racism, which at it's core is caused by ignorance and distrust of things that are different from each other. First reaction too much of the time is to denigrate those things. Fear is also a driving motivator, as it always has been when evil shows its ugly head. Fear can be easily manipulated and ignorance expounded and it is hard to recognize until damage has been done.
We humans still have some work ahead of us. I think we are making progress.
Uh, perhaps I will withhold judgment until I see the MSNBC doc. Or, maybe I will just go along and post more drivel without knowing what the story on Greenwood, Miss. really is all about. Good lord, it might actually be uplifting and show how (at least in some areas of the country) things have improved.
Yes, racism still exists. However, the worst of it, the legally sanctioned beatings, lynchings and cruel humiliation and degradation has, at least for the most part, gone away. I grew up in San Francisco during the late forties and fifties and I remember institutional racism even in that "enlightened" city.
And it's even more sickening when homosexuals try to advance their agenda by claiming they have been as discriminated against as African-Americans who were brought over here in chains. What a farce. Gay activists would have one believe they were the cause of the holocaust and racism in Mississippi in the '60s.
Timothy1Mil,
Don't try to pit homosexuals against African American with your ignorant baseless comments. That, and a personal experience in the early 90's is why I won't ever go into the South anymore. And I'm not black. I'm a white woman who was invited to a luncheon with a black manager during my one day stay in Atlanta, Georgia. Would you believe the restaurant just ignored us, never seated us. We left and he told me he suspects they thought we were a interracial couple. Give me a break! Those deep southern states aren't fit to "direct their own steps" (bible quote). They are an embarrassment to the human race much like most Middle Eastern nations because of their treatment of women. Why do you think Bush held hands with that Saudi King? They had much in common. More so than just the love of money and oil.
All of you need to stop, you can't find one thing to say good about anybody. If the program made someone feel guilty, then maybe they should feel guilty. You can't stir up what isn't lying dormant, it's the same but delivered in a nicer package, but it hurts just the same. The bottom line, it's this country's history. It can't be hidden and won't be forgotten, that's the reality of it.
You will see the color of my skin before you see me. And your upbringing and past experiences you've had will climb to the surface...and that is how you'll treat anyone of color...you can't help yourself. We are all at fault. We were brought here against our will we had no choice and it wouldn't have been a choice we would have picked. But history has proven, you don't have to be black to be mistreated in this country or on this planet. Millions of people have died over hundreds of years; senseless deaths over little of nothing and we haven't learned one thing from our past mistakes.
When this world, as we know it, ends.......we're going together.
I liked the woman in the newsreel who quietly persistently worked to reach out to those who had been so mistreated because of their race. They say it takes a village to raise a child. My experience has been that it takes ONE who is willing to raise the village. As white as the day is long, I had the great good fortune to be raised by a Mom and Dad who absolutely treated every human being the same. I have spent a great many years infecting my world with the same treatment. I have tripped over the most delightful people from every walk of life--and every color. I may die penniless someday, but hopefully with a clear conscience.
@32 years......that was beautiful and inspiring. Thank you.
I was born and rased in the Mississippi Delta on a small farm. It was a wonderful place to grow up. Race issues has been around since the beginning of time. Education is the only way to overcome it. I don't think it is fair to say it started in the South-- United States and is still there. There are problems all over the world people.
It was so enlightening watching Booker Wright's story. We moved to Greenwood in 1967; I had never lived in the south before and it was a jarring experience, to say the least. Booker Wright started something that came to fruition in 1991. There was a boycott in Greenwood through the Greenwood Movement, which shut the entire business section of town down. People demanded titles when they shopped and on mail that was sent out and black people to be hired at the businesses. It was tense, but the outcome was demands were met. All of this was done peacefully. The black community even developed a Co-Op so peole would have a way to shop without crossing the boycotted stores.
Wow, what a powerful story.... I will not miss seeing this. RIP, Booker... you deserve both peace- and honor.
Finally a comment on the actual story, I agree Wes. What a powerful story, never heard of it before and I'm glad it's being given well deserved attention. I will not miss this one.
Yes, some today are treating the first black President like they treated Booker. Mitt Romney is banking on the legacy of this ugly racism to get him into office. Shame on you Mitt. Your father must be turning over in his grave!!!
White Floridian Obama Biden 2012
Hes as much white as he is black ...whats your problem?
He's also just as white as he is black don't conveniently forget. A president should be elected based on what is best for all Americans; not based on his skin color; ethnicity; nor religion. You are making it a racial issue where none exists. Nobody has humiliated Obama. Nobody has beat him for making his thoughts and opinions known nation-wide....he was actually ELECTED to the highest office in this nation for doing that.....which is exactly opposite to what happened to Booker Wright. Get your facts straight and quit pushing the race button.
This is the real purpose of history... To learn from, never to repeat the atrocities but to build upon the successes. I Thank God that my Mom , a single parent, raised me not with the Hatred and bibogtry she personally suffered but with that hope of a better future. Many thought that the day of Pres. Obama would never come... but I knew change was in the air... That present racisms, though still present, was not "in charge", the minority (or at least in opinion) view. One thing for sure... Pres Obama could not win without the "white" vote and I no longer hold to past feelings. I've learned that my vote counts. I don't judge my "white" brother because his "Father" was racist or his "Grandfather" was a slave owner. I won't judge my German friend because he has a father with "Nazi" ties.
If there is a comparison to be made it is this: Bush was no more popular than Obama is now... no wait... Obama favorable index is BETTER than Bush's at the same time in 07. "A black man, and yet any man, must rise or fall on his own merits." What makes the Booker story so "complete is his Gran-daughter's statement: ".... if we just keep our eyes open and if we're willing to take a chance, to take a risk (SIC), then we can all make a difference.”
"...A man must judged not by the color of his skin but by the content of his character.." MLK
That is why I'm voting for Romney in November.
Black, Conservative, Christian.
It is not racism just because so many of us believe he is spending our country into oblivion (as have previous presidents). I would say the SAME EXACT THING if he were white. I decried how much Bush spent too, but Obama has increased the national debt more in 3.5 years than Bush did in 8.
It is not racism. That is just an excuse you use to deflect from what a failure Obama has been.
marj,
Well it didn't take that long for someone to yell "race"! All I hear is how oppressed the black people are UNTIL you look through unbiased eyes.
The other issue with this article is this: "that aired only once, on a Sunday evening in May 1966." If it actually WAS 40 YEARS LATER today would be 2006 - NOT 2012. Does this sound like playing the race card? (Especially now that it's an election year.)
Also, does "White Floridian Obama Biden 2012" sound racial to anyone?
They saw a story and forgot what year it was. IMAO
marj,
"Mitt Romney is banking on the legacy of this ugly racism to get him into office. Shame on you Mitt."
Show me WHERE and/or WHEN Mitt played any racial card? More ignorant RACIAL crap from a dumbacrat.
How in the hell do you take this story and turn it into a Romney - Obama discussion. Way to miss the point entirely idiots.
Indeed, Michele, we are beset by idiots. Scary, isn't it, that they have the vote?
Now. . . . back to the entire point of the article :
This article and Booker Wright's biography should be required reading for every black child in America. There is no excuse for the laziness, violence, promiscuity, and general lack of productivity in which far too many blacks mire themselves. There is no better role model for black children than Booker Wright. He was not crippled by racism or violence. He rose out of far worse circumstances than any inner city kid knows today and hand-crafted a successful, respectable life.
So nothing ever changes? Racism looks to be alive and well? When are we ever going to join the human race?
I too am a white Floridian born in 1947 who lived under the time of Jim Crow and attended Southern Baptist churches which espoused a strident form of "Segregationist Theology". For any white southerner to try to convince me that their hatred of our "Mongrol" president is for purely political reasons is quite an exercise in futility. I laugh in their lying faces.
My opinion? My problem is most white folks just don't have the guts to admit their problem with President Obama is his blackness. I have yet to read something from someone making embarrassing racial remarks of his "white side."
OBAMA/BIDEN/HOLDER....2012!!!!
This is such a moving story, I hate to bring it back to the Obama comments. But the fact is that the Obama haters rarely hate Obama for logic or factual reasons. So long as a large part of the anti-Obama vote is based on falsehoods (he's Muslim, he's Kenyan, his father was a communist, he pals around with terrorists, he raised taxes, etc.) then it is hard not to say that race plays a factor. Even the comment that "he is spending our country into oblivion" is so contextually wrong that it hurts to think that the author actually thinks that he believes it. Look, Obama inherited a spending situation that caused (as Obama was being sworn in January 2009) the WSJ to say our deficit would be $1.85 trillion. To try to blame that on Obama does hint at racism. Plus remember - it is congress who holds the purse strings. The 2010 GOP majority promised to shave $100b off of spending, and they very quietly gave up when they found out it was impossible. We are juggling a host of issues, not just the deficit, and Obama is walking a tightrope while juggling axes while his critics are shooting spitballs at him and trying to make him fail - and Obama is still succeeding.
If a white republican had taken us from DJIA of 6600 to 13,000; a GDP growth from -6.7% to +2%; unemployment from 10.2% to 8.2%; job creation from -700,000/month to +200,000/month; while winning Iraq, winning Libya, winning Lebannon, keeping inflation low, seeing record corporate profits, making America once again the most respected nation on earth, - if a white GOP president had done those things, all those Obama critics would be saying the exact same accomplishments would make that president one of the greatest of all times.
Yes, it is more politics than racism that motivations the Obama criticism. But I think we still see the lingering effects of Lee Atwater's Southern strategy in allowing the irrational hatred of Obama to find traction. Until I hear a major conservative figure say, "I don't like Obama, but I recognize that it is crazy of my fellow conservatives to attack him on spending, tax raising, being Kenyan, being Muslim, or being a terrorist," I will have to conclude that the basic criticism of Obama is irration, emotionally based, and racially tinged.
(And yes - the spending criticism is crazy. Obama started no new spending program. The TARP funds were paid back, the stimulus lowered the deficit by its success, welfare is only $20b which is a drop in the bucket, our spending is higher today only because we have more retired people, the cost of medicare is high due to America's high medical costs, we still have Bush's commitments in Afghanistan and Iraq sucking money, and we have way too many unemployed - these are not things that Obama has direct control over. Had McCain been president we would be spending the same. There is no where that the GOP house has been able to cut significantly, so you can't really blame Obama for what no man on earth can do. Unless you just want to blame Obama.)
Wonderful points, and true, not made-up, like those from the Right. Thank you.
scientistx,
And just who were the president and first thing seen with always after the election? Looking back at the news media shots, funny but I don't see these "representatives of America" associating with whites. Nope. I see them ONLY with minority Americans.
Racist? Hell ya they are.
Richard, you are part of the problem, not the solution.
Several months ago, while in a quaint working class area of Rio de Janeiro, I noticed a wall drawing of scrawny dog grabbing a piece of red juicy meat. Under the drawing, the latin phrase, "Carpe Diem" - Seize the Day! In order to survive, that dog took advantage of the situation and "seized the day". When asked his feelings about his station in life and for his descendants to survive, so did Booker Wright! Carpe Diem!!
What a travesty for Obama supporters to use this story to attack Mitt Romney. Stop using the race card and talk facts! Booker Wright should be respected for both his integrity and his business acumen in starting his own restaurant. Obama should be responsible for his own actions and lack of action, not allowed to hide behind the color of his skin.
Wow, wvpaul, Really?? I don't know what universe you live in but if you don't see the blatant racism coming from the Right towards President Obama you are either deaf or blind or both! The overt disrespect and obstructionist activity this president has had to endure is absolutely unprecedented! I am still waiting for someone to catch one of you bible thumping conservatives in an unguarded moment when you are letting your racism fly. I have friends on both sides of the aisle so I know the "race card" is being played every day by conservatives. As Joe Biden would say, this IS a big F'ng deal. Get over it bitches, a black man lays his head on the pillow in the White House every night and has done a lot for this country in his term. He has been cleaning up ALL the messes that "W" left behind -- ya know: pointless wars, an economy in free fall, Bin Laden on the loose, etc. So yeah, let's talk facts shall we?!?
@Catherine: You say "blatant racism coming from the Right", then admit you're still waiting "to catch one of you bible thumping conservatives in an unguarded moment when you are letting your racism fly". That would be the definition of not blatant.
I am a conservative, but think it's great that this country has progressed far enough to be able to elect a (half-)black president. I don't care for Obama's policies and think he is underqualified for the job, but that has nothing to do with his race. That's my major issue with the race debate in this country when Obama is the subject of discussion... Too many on the left assume any criticism of Obama means the critics are racists. That is BS. The left is often just as guilty of playing the race card.
I too think it's a shame that a story about an act of courage in a difficult time has turned to politics. It's unfortunate that what should be a celebration of a brave act is getting buried. I'm definitely watching Dateline this evening - i'd love to see the original film clip and learn what has become of the town and Mr. Wright's descendants.
But I don't want to let one politically based comment go by. "Obama should be responsible for his own actions and lack of action, not allowed to hide behind the color of his skin." Allowed to hide behind the color of his skin? When has Obama done that? I haven't heard anything from him that makes me think he's hiding behind his color. Would like to know what's been said to give someone that impression. Or is it the same as disguising the racism as calls for his birth certificate, college grades, etc. and accusations of being Muslim?
I love the way people say we elected a (half) black president. The fact that he's (half) white and raised in an all white household was completely unimportant. His white family had no influence on his life what so ever. Raised by white grandparents or a mother who married two men outside her race. Let's not forget his white family was smart enough to alter his birth certificate and birth anouncement. However, not smart enough to raise a true American citizen. you know cause he's black and blacks know more about Africa than they do about America.
Please tell me how he's underqualified for the job?
Carolyn, President Obama self identifies as black. So he's black. Which household he grew up in, or what his mother did really doesn't matter when the topic is race. This man is a black man, plain and simple, just like any other black man you have ever met.
The qualifications for the job are:
1. Be over 35 years of age
2. Be a natural born citizen
3. Continuous residency with the United States for the past 14 consecutive years.
4. Win more electoral votes than the other candidate.
Because Obama met all four qualifying conditions, he is currently President of the United States.
Obama is doing nothing for African-Americans, this story doesn't help him. He's the gay president, not the black president.
Carolyn, you prove the point of Booker's story. Man up, girlfriend.
Deal with the fact that Barack Obama, being half African-American, is so much the "other" for your kind that you can't believe that he's actually an American citizen. Just admit it, you'd happily believe that he's a Muslim space alien bent on eating everybody's heads.
Or be a responsible conservative and state honestly that you don't like his policies, even though they aren't shockingly different from those of the Republican Party, or what's left of it. But don't pretend not to be a whining racist.
Freedman and Melissa - I think you missed Carolyn's sarcasm, especially her last question taking issue with those that say that he's underqualified. And she's mocking the whole birth certificate issue by saying that his family was smart enough to alter his birth certificate (which some right-wingers have accused him of doing) but not smart enough to raise him to love his country and because he's black, of course he knows more about Africa. Read some of her other posts - if Carolyn's a right-winger, then I'm Halle Berry.
I think she is saying though, that Obama identifies as black but also is the sum of his entire background, just like we all are. It's what we do with our heritage that matters.
I like Halle Berry. I wish she was secretary of state instead of Hillary, who is getting harder to look at every day.
Regarding her daughter Nahla - "I feel she's Black. I'm Black and I'm her mother, and I believe in the one-drop theory."
p.s. - sarcasm is a difficult art to master in written form.
Shameful. This ignorant, deep-south mentality has left a real stain on our nation. The sad thing is, many in the modern GOP are still echoing the feelings of the past, with attempts at denying poor people the right to vote, weakening the federal governments oversight on healthcare, education , taxation & the environment and accusing the poor in our society of looking for "handouts" or "free stuff."
Putting up barriers of any type in order to prevent people from exercising their democratic right to vote, by requiring a certain type of ID, threatens the fabric of our democracy. Widespread voter fraud in this country is a myth, used by conservatives to scare us into thinking that "they" are stealing the election. The weakest in our society will be denied their right to vote. Mitt Romney is an empty suit & a liar, who lacks the character to speak out against these sick attempts at denying the poor & elderly the right to vote.
Sounds like you afraid Romney will win and he will hes the best man for the job as we all know. When you start blaming people for your failing like Obama is doing its time to go.
I have lived in the South for 50 years and there is still ugly racism. There is also ugly racism in Boston, Chicago and many Northern cities. It is not exclusive to the South and to pretend it is stretches honesty.
Mark G....It seems to me that you are swallowing the rhetoric of Holder...Requiring ID from registered voters is not denying the rights of citizens to vote...It is protecting the vote of registered citizens...It is necessary so that each vote counts and those votes are not watered down by some who would cheat the system.
woofy,
You mention "ugly racism"; however you fail to mention WHO is doing it. Don't think it's all white, either.
You want to see racist people come to Albany, GA "Lil Detroit" 80% black & just about all the city officials are black, yet fire someone & they still they play the race card. The school board is a joke, the bottom of the barrel in a state 3rd from the bottom. The highest property taxes in the state & the highest poverty rate.
"According to census figures, the county’s per capita income dropped from $19,688 in a 2007-09 survey to $17,265 in 2010. Median household income also fell from $34,597 in 2005-09 to $28,444 in 2010." source Albany Herald.
Thank god I've only got about 2 more months to live here.
Mittwit, unlike his dad, doesn't have any moral or ethical core. Mitt and the GOP want policies that will allow companies to force lower wages, allow union busting so no one speaks for the middle and lower classes, and will allow the government to give away tax money to the rich.
OBAMA/BIDEN 2012
When you really can't afford the upper 1%
Romney is simply not presidential material. He is a liar, tax evader, job exporter, company trasher for their equity, putting thousands out of jobs and cutting off their pensions. He won't reveal his tax returns because they would cause more shame than simply refusing. I am very surprised the Republicans could not come up with a better candidate than this empty suit. Vote for him and suffer the consequences. They will be similar to what George Bush left for Obama to clean up. It could have been so much worse except for Obama....who is improving things with absolutely NO HELP from the GOP.
David Mitt has provided two years of Tax returns....If you would listen to your own party the only reason they want more is to manufacture skeletons in his closet.
Personally I think Mitt should offer an I'll show you mine of you show me yours tactic....Let the American people see Obama's Thesis, how his education was financed, his College Transcripts and his tax records for the past 20 years. You know what is good for the goose is good for the gander.....
So what exactly has Obama cleaned up from Bush....Still at war in Pakistan sorry Afghanistan, Gitmo is still open, employment is lower than when Bush left office, Fannie and Freddie have not accounted for their roll in the Global Financial mess. The US financial markets has not stabilized in the past three years. Obama has done his share of throwing money at corporate interests that was lost or miss-appropriated...GM, Solardyne, Banks etc. I read an article the other day that indicated more women are un or under insured from 2010 to the present than were un or under insured during the Clinton and Bush years. So what has Obama or the DNC lead senate done to improve anything foreign or domestic? Really Holders gun walking that supported the Mexican Cartels with arms. I could go on about the damage done to America by the current Administration but then what would be the point....Did you know that this President actually appointed many tax cheats to prominent rolls in his Administration.
Anyone else curious where the Solardyne money went and who else proffited from US investment and just walked away with hundreds of millions of hard earned tax money? Or wonder why Holder is being so obstructive in the gun walk to the cartels?
Thanks txmom32...I could have said it better. I wonder why the American people haven't asked where Obama got his financing for his college education and show us his Thesis and College Transcripts. Since he is the President, I support the office, but I do not respect the man holding the office. To me he is the epitome of the Peter Principle.
TXmom32. Somehow being called a "little white girl" or a "gringa puta" doesn't have the same impact as being beaten half to death or lynched.
The poorest states always vote for the GOP. They want appeal the civil rights act and thsy have now trying to appeal voting rights act. They earn less money than rest of the country/but they still vote for the party who's against the minium wage law. Please explain to me why.
mklnd - Things have changed a lot since Booker Wright's day. TXmom32's daughter may not have been beaten, but in this day and age blacks are 17 times more likely to commit a violent crime against a white person than the other way around. Maybe the people at MSNBC should do a documentary about that,but I know they won't because it is a disingenuous, far- left channel.
Go to the DOJ site they break down the crime states in a pretty good manner age, race, sex, black on white, white on black & the type of crime. One was pretty disturbing to me, 51% of single murders & 22 % of multiple murders are commmitted by blacks, yet they are only 13% of the population. Yet the black people complain of the high percentage of blacks in prison. They commit the highest percentage of the crimes so naturally they are going to be more in prison.
As always, it's all Bush's fault...
You are right on the money pw.
I can't believe that these idiots would dare say that President Obama has not been treated disrespectfully, by white racists. Apparently, the specter of the Republicans orchestrating Rep. Joe Wilson's repeated denouncement of the President, as a liar during an appearance before a joint session of Congress, has eluded the memory of these ignoramuses. Did the media criticize Wilson or the Republicans, no they pivoted to whether Wilson was right in suggesting that the President was not being truthful about whether proposed health care legislation covered "illegal aliens." While we're on health care reform, how about the assinine attempt of the radical right to racialize the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as "ObamaCare," while offering absolutely no alternative for expanding health care. Or how about the jackasses that used to bring guns to the President's appearances, early in his term. Some things change, some things stay the same.
earl,
Apparently you think it's disrespectful to disagree with obama. What about "Romneycare"? How about a president of the united states butting into a LOCAL issue between a professor and the cops? The professor was not exactly a posterchild for good race relations.
You think obama doesn't tell a little "lie" every now and then as ALL politicians do? So what is so wrong with calling him a lair if he lies? Perhaps the location wasn't the best but a lie told is a LIE TOLD and it doesn't matter who says it. I would call him a lair if he lied.
How about these jackasses Earl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4MTQVMatW0
This is such a moving story, I hate to bring it back to the Obama comments. But the fact is that the Obama haters rarely hate Obama for logic or factual reasons. So long as a large part of the anti-Obama vote is based on falsehoods (he's Muslim, he's Kenyan, his father was a communist, he pals around with terrorists, he raised taxes, etc.) then it is hard not to say that race plays a factor. Even the comment that "he is spending our country into oblivion" is so contextually wrong that it hurts to think that the author actually thinks that he believes it. Look, Obama inherited a spending situation that caused (as Obama was being sworn in January 2009) the WSJ to say our deficit would be $1.85 trillion. To try to blame that on Obama does hint at racism. Plus remember - it is congress who holds the purse strings. The 2010 GOP majority promised to shave $100b off of spending, and they very quietly gave up when they found out it was impossible. We are juggling a host of issues, not just the deficit, and Obama is walking a tightrope while juggling axes while his critics are shooting spitballs at him and trying to make him fail - and Obama is still succeeding.
If a white republican had taken us from DJIA of 6600 to 13,000; a GDP growth from -6.7% to +2%; unemployment from 10.2% to 8.2%; job creation from -700,000/month to +200,000/month; while winning Iraq, winning Libya, winning Lebannon, keeping inflation low, seeing record corporate profits, making America once again the most respected nation on earth, - if a white GOP president had done those things, all those Obama critics would be saying the exact same accomplishments would make that president one of the greatest of all times.
Yes, it is more politics than racism that motivations the Obama criticism. But I think we still see the lingering effects of Lee Atwater's Southern strategy in allowing the irrational hatred of Obama to find traction. Until I hear a major conservative figure say, "I don't like Obama, but I recognize that it is crazy of my fellow conservatives to attack him on spending, tax raising, being Kenyan, being Muslim, or being a terrorist," I will have to conclude that the basic criticism of Obama is irration, emotionally based, and racially tinged.
(And yes - the spending criticism is crazy. Obama started no new spending program. The TARP funds were paid back, the stimulus lowered the deficit by its success, welfare is only $20b which is a drop in the bucket, our spending is higher today only because we have more retired people, the cost of medicare is high due to America's high medical costs, we still have Bush's commitments in Afghanistan and Iraq sucking money, and we have way too many unemployed - these are not things that Obama has direct control over. Had McCain been president we would be spending the same. There is no where that the GOP house has been able to cut significantly, so you can't really blame Obama for what no man on earth can do. Unless you just want to blame Obama.)
Racially tinged? That's like saying a little bit pregnant....Racism IS alive an well and is the foundation of much of the criticism against the president. If these folks would look at the facts instead of getting their info from Faux "News" they would have a better understanding of reality.
scientistx,
"And yes - the spending criticism is crazy. Obama started no new spending program." You are quite correct!
"...the stimulus lowered the deficit by its success,"?!!!!! However obama believes that the way out of this mess is to raise the debt ceiling, raise it again and keep raising it until we go broke. His stimulus packages (yes multiple times) have proven to NOT work.
"...we still have Bush's commitments in Afghanistan and Iraq sucking money,...". I didn't see nor did I hear of obama mouthing off about LEAVING these places but he still allowed them to be there.
"...these are not things that Obama has direct control over.". WOW!!! But you blame everyone ELSE who, in the same position as obama, DID HAVE CONTROL. By your logic obama isn't to blame for any dam thing that has gone on for almost the last four years! YOU SOUND JUST LIKE OBAMA - NOT ACCEPTING ANY BLAME FOR ANYTHING HE'S DONE.
I'll tell you the same thing I would tell him - you can't have it BOTH WAYS!
cathrine,
You think FOX news is biased but are completely BLIND to your own biased news channels. Guess you haven't yet learned that you get NO unbiased reporting no matter what the news services want you to believe. FOX news is no better nor no worse then ABC, NBC or CBS.
Well said Scientist.
Always two sides to a story and it helps to listen to both sides before you comment. I dont like nothing pushed down my throat like he did to all of us and I wouldnt vote for Obama is he was all white just because of obamacare and I wont mention the rest.
Why are so many blacks racist?
I don't know.. maybe cause they were treated like crap for so long by white people!
I'm a white, southern gal and I can totally understand why some are like that .. I just read this story and I got angry. Wouldn't you have some resentment if you knew your family had suffered stories like this .. and many, many black families have similar stories.
I may be going out on a limb here (pardon the pun), but, my guess would be 400 years of slavery, followed by decades of discrimination and the denial of equal rights.
Because they were taught by the WORST racist in America, the white ones who held them slaves? Maybe!!
moshu,
If that were true then explain this - there are two groups of blacks.
Group 1 - I got out by working harder then hell. I wouldn't let anyone or anything stand in my way of success.
Group 2 - I want my fair share!
Guess which group is the black racist one?
The REALLY SAD part of this example is that group 1 doesn't help group 2 very much. They expect group 2 to work their way out, like they did. Group 2 will always be angry but angry at WHOM?
If my father had been treated like this, I'd hate white people too.
loveblue2 - I don't buy it. They were killing and selling each other off. When they got here they were fed, clothed, given jobs and taught to read and write. No they were not treated equal but they were better off here than there.
@Carl Heidelberg, to listen to you if nobody knew the REAL history of slavery in America they'd think them massa's were doing "charitable deeds" for their property. Tell me how noble it was when families were split apart because massa decided he could sell his property to whoever he chose & if they had a family, so what.
BTW, it was against the law to teach slaves to read & write.
I look forward to watching this tonight and sharing it with my family.
A story about a brave filmmaker and an even braver man who dared to speak the truth and the comments are an idiotic debate about Romney and/or Obama. Sad.
I agree with you, Micheleshdwfx. I viewed the entire 53 minute film after looking at Dateline last night. It made me regret not talkiing to my Dad much about his growing up in Greenwood. I'm almost 50 and I've talked to him about things that I've seen as a child, such as the Black Panther riots and injustices that I saw in Toledo. I was so excited that I called him to tell him about the story and promised to call him back after it aired. Because some of it was painful, I chose not to hit him with so many questions that came to mind but I can't let the opportunity pass. I had hoped to find interesting comments about the program and was somewhat shocked to see what it has turned into. Can't there be an honest discussion about race relations without it being political. I know that we're in an election year but elections come and go, men come and go. If this simple discussion turns into a debate about presidential candidates, we almost ensure racial attitudes, black vs white become the focus of elections. There are plenty of forums that highlight the numbers, economics, and policies without turning this into something it wasn't intended to be. I've read most of the comments and I still am excited about sharing this experience with my dad, who is 76 and ill. He may not be as excited as I am but Iwon't let the opportunity pass and I won't disrepect Mr. Booker's legacy any more than I have by responding in this way.
Things have changed 180 degrees. In the 1990's, white students started complaining about reverse discrimination. Then, white men started complaining about affirmative action.
It took blacks 100 years to finally act on their rights in 1965 and on. It took the poor, beleaguered, victimized white man about 20 years to start crying and he has not stopped yet. Pathetic. Talk about stop playing the victim! Laughable.
I'd love for people to see the footage of present day Greenwood. Preferably by the river. I was on a job to do some Dell warranty repair downtown by the river, and I was having a little trouble finding the address. I was offered to buy crack three times in ten minutes. All of them older teenagers, who happened to be black. (I'd like to point out I blame crack, not race.) I live outside of Jackson, so I've been in this situation before. In Jackson I'd of been robbed at gunpoint, by a crackhead, who based on demographics has about an 80% chance of being a young black male.
One of the points I'm poorly attempting to make is that being on a river, Greenwood used to have strong industry. Now, with the global industrial competition, industry in the area has declined, and as a result people are poor, and some of those people become desperate, and desperate people do desperate things, like sell crack.
I don't know the demographics of Greenwood, but when I was there it was overwhelmingly of a black population, which you will find in about 40% of MS. I guess what I'm getting at is, that the demographics really don't matter, Greenwood has become about as crack infested as Jackson. I dare you to walk around either of the two cities I've mentioned.
The puff piece above would be a decent read if it wasn't so blatenly playing the political race card. (If it was published a year ago, I'd have no complaints, with exception to their disregard for the current state of affairs, regarding the city.) You'll notice no photos of current Greenwood, because it just plain looks like a failed city. The best example I can give is to simply look at the Coca-Cola plant there. It's just in the middle. One side the hood which eventually extends into the ghetto; then on the other side of town, a couple of miles away, there is at least one very "ritzy" neighborhood.
arrive-1,
The problem there is something you can't see. The unfairness is about what was done IN THE PAST. The unfairness is about blaming people living TODAY for the mistakes made by people OF THE PAST.
Get it?
Well, well, well, the chickens are coming home to roost in the right wing's insane reaction to a black president. Instead of thoughtfully contributing viable alternatives to political discourse, the right pushed inflexible, exreme positions, like rejecting any legislation that raised new revenue to lower the deficit, through the platforms of lunatic presidential candidates like Michelle Bachman, Newt Gingrich, Perry and Santorum. Now they are stuck with Mitt Romney, who lets face it, will be the first nominee of a major party, who is indicted for money laundering, tax and securities fraud, before the November election. Everybody knows he was running Bain after 1999, and hid his money in those off shore bank accouts. What a travesty. Their blind racist rage, has enabled a felon to bring their Party down like a house of cards. I call it poetic justice.
Call it what it is: raising taxes. Some of us in this country think we already pay too much in taxes. For those who don't, you are always free to send in additional money to the IRS with your tax return. Anyone who thinks our representatives in DC have the fiscal discipline to apply 100% of new revenue to debt reduction hasn't been paying attention at all. We need to reduce spending. Period. We are already destroying our grandchildrens' legacy. Most of the Western economies will now feel the pain of failed spending policies as their demographics change and the tax base erodes.
"blind racist rage"? Man, where do you come up with this stuff?
Mark... Are you talking about the shame of the past... your right... If your talking about current racism is "rooted" in the past.. Got it. But if you are making assertion about to day.. you need proof sir. Don't summarily judge because "YOU" don't like a particular party platform or someone does not agree with your point of view is the highest form of racism.
There are pockets of racism everywhere. (per Woofy One's post) and that is the truth... is racism gone... no but it governs not my daily life nor does it affect my vote. I've been voting since Reagan (did I just tell my age?... oops) and I ALWAYS had to show my I.D. and voted whomever I voted for.. so don't give me that Liberal ignorance. I just know you aren't' basing your "blocking" the vote on the clashes with police and water hoses in the 50's and 60's are you?...
Joh 7:24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. (Jesus: KJV)
It is not racist to say "I prefer our old system of health care in which HMOs could exclude you for pre-existing conditions, and charge the highest cost in the world for mediocre care."
But when false charges are laid, like "you'll go to jail if you don't buy healthcare; Obama forced it down our throats in an unconstitutional way, etc." that is evidence of something else. People can be made to believe lies without racism, but racism really helps.
Think of all the lies large numbers of conservatives believe:
Obama is a socialist.
Obama was born in Kenya.
Obama is a Muslim.
Obama's father was an important figure in the communist party.
Obama was the protege of a terrorist.
Obama pals around with terrorists.
Obama shreds the constitution.
And on and on. These are not factual criticisms. Either conservatives are remarkably dumb, or they have abandoned rational criticism for emotional reasons such as racism. And again - this is critical to me. No major conservative figure will stand up and say in a strong manner that these criticisms are false and wrong. Because those major conservative figures, politicians and pundits, know that it is in their best interest to keep this racist, irrational anger seething and motivativing the worst of America to support conservative positions.
I guess the biggest fear I have repeatedly heard is the belief that Obama is going to declare himself President for life, and just take over. I know it has to come from talk radio, based upon the number of people who keep telling me the same story.
Just to add to the voter I.D. debate...why do Democrats believe that I am required to buy health insurance, but not show I.D. at my local polling place, if the State requires. I believe in state rights, mainly because what works here may not produce the same results in other states.
I'd like to add that one HAS to have I.D. in order to get health insurance.
Even more, one is not REQUIRED to vote.
Where I live you have to show state picture ID for healthcare at the hospital & Dr's office 1st visit & they make a copy of it..
It's the same here, but the point I was attempting to make is that in order to purchase Health Insurance, as required by law, one HAS to have I.D.
(Following the slippery slope logical fallacy) If one is required by law to engage in commerce, (Obamacare) then one has to, in order to engage in this particular commerce, one has to have a government I.D.
So, based on that logical fallacy, everyone that is forced to buy health insurance (there are some exemptions) has to have a government I.D.; (which is a requirement by the private industry) and even further down that slippery slope (logical fallacy) this federal law, in a way, requires almost all citizens to have I.D., yet they do not have to show it when voting. Following in the vein of the "Obamacare" law, there should be a fine for NOT voting. Though it doesn't exactly fall under the commerce clause, it is IMHO, very similar.
It must vary by state, then. I was not required to show ID to buy health insurance, but I was required to show state issued ID for the first time this year when I voted in the primary. Prior I only had to show my voter registration card, which has no picture.
Why would you need ID to buy health insurance?
Let's not forget that Mississippi didn't ratify the Thirteenth
Amendment until 1995. Must've hurt quite a bit.
Mississippi ratified the amendment in 1995, but because the state never officially notified the US Archivist, the ratification is not official.
I already seen Mississippi Burning back in 1988, MSNBC just loves to keep
the shi* stir
This is a beautiful story, it shows a contrast distinct in how often times we miss the point. Some take humiliation towards others as something that it welcomed, and makes them happy, while the person who is being humiliated sees it for what it is, hurtful, demeaning, insulting and unimaginable to treat a person in such disrespect.
I hope the day comes soon that we all get it and that we do not continue to miss the point, learn from it and move forward in respect and tolerance of each other regardless of color, ethnicity, race, creed, religion or sexual preference.
Just as I suspected, only a few comments so far and of those few the posters on the right are, as usual, singing two of famous black singer Chubby Checker's hits, The Twist, and Let's Twist Again. Nooooo, they don't hate Obama because he's black, they hate him because he's, in their opinion, a lousy president. Noooo, his skin color had nothing to do with their declaration, even before he won the election, even before they knew what kind of president he would be, that they would do all they could to make sure he was a one term president. They try to twist things by saying they aren't racist because, after all, Obama IS half white. Of course there are what they consider those other pesky problems with Obama like being positive that he's not an American citizen, wasn't born on American soil and even after seeing the short form of his birth certificate they demanded more. So then they got the long form but who do we on the left think we are kidding? Obvious this long form certificate is a fake because, as EVERYONE knows, according to them lots of people somehow managed to get these long forms and have birth announcements placed in the papers just so they could claim to be American born. As for Obama's education, any of those "anointed" ones on the right would brag to high heaven if their son made it to Harvard and, especially, became president of the Harvard Law Review but it doesn't mean anything to them that Obama held that position. Nope, because they haven't seen his grades. Bad grades means not making president of the Law Review so I'm assuming they figure he's probably covering up the bad grades they're sure he must have made and somehow used some shady method to attain that honor. After finishing college he took a job as a community organizer. One righty on another story said that you needed more skills to make fries at McDonald's than you do to be a community organizer. Guess he must have read a different web site's description of the qualifications for community organizer than I did. I know damned well I couldn't do the job and, going on that guy's opinion, I probably wouldn't even qualify to sweep floors, clean toilets and wipe down tables at McDonald's let alone make the fries. So as of now Obama is not only just half white, the half of him that is black is really, really, evil because he's also now become a Kenyan Muslim terrorist bent on taking this country down. Add to that the fact that in their opinion he is a Socialist, Marxist Communist, etc., and, most insulting of all, is married to someone they love to refer to as Moochelle (I'm sure they don't mean that as a reference to her being a big fat black bovine, yeah right) who has the audacity to try to teach this country, especially it's large number of fat children, to eat healthy, it's no wonder they hate him. Like her husband who is trying to ram, cram, jam, his evil agenda down their throats, she has the gall to try to cram fresh fruits and veggies down the throats of our obese children. Now that one I can understand. After all, if a whole generation of children would succumb to her vendetta against unhealthy foods, that highly trained professional who makes your fries at McDonald's might lose his job.
allie,
"...that they would do all they could to make sure he was a one term president."
Question - wasn't that ALL he wanted and said so? Oh, guess you weren't listening when he said that.
He never did say that, is probably why.
@Allie, you must be a member of Sodahead. Every day I see Mrs. Obama being called the name you mentioned. I see photoshopped images that have her looking like a ravenous beast (or an ape, or Chewbaca [to name a couple--hope I spelled that correctly]). Why last week a DC cop threatened our First Lady's life & showed his fellow officers what kind of gun he'd do it with. Yet these clowns claim racism has nothing to do with it. They've even decided the Obama girls are fair game. I wish I could show the tee shirts that a tea party website is offering that even go so far as to encourage sniper fire from rooftops if the election doesn't go their way.
I don't know where to begin. I watched the film clips and being 60 years old, I've watched and listened to a lot of this in real-time. It's a little stunning really to look back on all of this in today's context.
Reading a lot of the discourse here also in today's context isn't stunning. It's the same old song sung with different lyrics. It's the same old attitudes couched as Democrat vs. Republican. So just a few thoughts;
I have seen several references to President Obama being "half white too". As is common knowledge; that is a disingenuous statement made by disingenuous people. If you are half black you are black. If you are a quarter black you are black and so on. Any percentage of blackness is treated like a poison pill.
If you ever heard the old "dixie-crats" the coded rhetoric has the same ring as today's Republicans along with the lock-step response to nearly every issue.
The public disrespect that is accorded to President Obama is outrageous and Joe Wilson is just the poster child. This is no accident.
The landscape has changed in some ways and not for the better, just muddier. We've broadened the underclass by changing the strictly racial profile into one of financial class as well. References in the 1966 clip to utilizing machinery to make the sharecropper obsolete certainly rings familiar today. The people were left on the land not by the goodness of the planters heart, but because white people were outnumbered 3 to 2.
Also, what strange bedfellows we have with the Republicans and the "Religious Right". As business rids itself of American labor in the name of Globalization, Republicans have gotten so many of the religious righties to act against their own self interest, especially regarding Obama-care. It's amazing? Or is it a matter of priorities. Simply that their hatred of our president far outpaces all else.
The comments expressed by the folks here who are responding to this article won't solve racism or the problems facing our country. I sincerely wish though, that many of these same people drop the coded language and just "say it". Maybe even change the name of the Republican Party to the Scared White Peoples Party. Then the discourse will at least make sense on it's face.
I am a former very moderate Republican, living in the suburbs of the northeast, and quite frankly I don't recognize the Republican party.
Well said Danny.
Remember that the upper 1% finds it profitable to have the USA devided so that they can more easily buy our government. The religious right is their faith based auxilliaries; the religious right lends spiritual excuses for treating the poor and the middleclasses like dirt. Join the class warfare against the poor, against the lower middleclass, against the working poor. Remember, the poor and middleclass always ask for too much.
OBAMA/BIDEN 2012
When you really can't afford the upper 1%
Obama/Biden 2012
Why isn't a Reply allow for each comment instead of just some comments?
See the #24, this reply will be #24.1 so you will need to go to the end of some comments
UMGatorAh, yes. MSNBC...dedicated to making certain that racism never dies in the USA. If there is nothing better to report, why not dredge up another example of racism that happened decades ago just to stir up the pot again? Hello!!! It's 2012!
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Yes sir, don't tell stories from our history so that we learn from it and don't repeat the same mistakes, because that's stirring the pot. (sarcasm) Maybe no one should ever tell another story about the Nazi's, or Hitler and his death camps. Don't want to stir the pot with the Jews. Hello!!! It's 2012!
I have never understood the idea that speaking about something that happened, acknowledging it happened and educating people on an event in the past is somehow supporting, propagating, or forwarding the thing being talked about.
Talking about racism does not promote racism. Talking about drug abuse does not promote drug abuse. Talking about teenage pregnancy does not promote teenage pregnancy. Etc and so on ad infinitem.
The surest way to prevent meaningful dialog and problem solving and healing is to suggest that everyone needs to "shut up about it" and pretend it never happened.
Talk about racism and race relations is not designed to make white people feel bad about themselves! It's about talking about what happened and what has been done and what we still have to do about it, together. Is that so hard to understand?
America missed her chance by not letting Mississippi secede for good.
The down-side would be the re-imposition of slavery within twenty four hours.
It wasn't just Mississippi. They were just fanatical about it. It was part of their religion.