Stay Classy, Dumbass Ole' Miss Students

Racism? What racism?

Thankfully, the chancellor's denouncing the idiocy. If Mississippi (damned if I ever get the habit of sing-song spelling it out of my head) would just legalize, we wouldn't have this problem.


You'll have to excuse my excessive indignation. It's snowing here and I'm just not ready for that shit. Also, damn kids.

Is this America?

*head desk, repeatedly*

Hey, we built it.

In other post-election racism news, floating sheep has mapped racist post-election tweets.

The question is whether this was a racially-driven protest or a protest with some racist participants. The articles state that some racial epithets were used, but that doesn't make it a racist protest (just like someone attending an Occupy Wall Street and promoting Communist ideals doesn't make it a communist protest).

Many people are unhappy with the outcome of the election, and they have the right to express their displeasure (granted, in an organized, peaceful, legal manner), but not everyone was upset because of the president's skin tone. To lump every one of those protesters in the same category is a disservice.

I think it goes something like this, not all Republicans are racists, but most racists are Republicans (well, supposedly about 80% have a racial bias against blacks according to a pre-election AP poll). The percentage is actually even worse for Latinos.

You can take it or leave it, but there is protest and then there is racially motivated protest (the Tweets were undeniably racist). I'd also like to point out that there is a largely historical basis for that tweet map. Notice were the density is the greatest. Mississippi burning and Alabama fire, the crossroad battlegrounds of the Civil Rights era.

I suppose we could say that this type of behavior is somewhat unfortunately expected, but that doesn't mean we can't call them out on it. Given the level of vitriol among some of those who've been protesting, I see very little distinction between the outright lies and insinuations made by some and the overtly racist comments made about the president. As far as I'm concerned, they've both coming from the same place.

+1

This question reminds me of a video capturing the awkward moment when an anti-immigrant rally consisting mainly of San Diego "minutemen" found they were attracting neo-Nazi skinheads. At first they didn't know how to respond, but they figured out that if you pour on the patriotism it tends to drown out the cries of "sig heil." It made them feel good at the time, but what the didn't know, or chose to ignore is that some of the more active recruiters at their events were proteges of California's Knights of the KKK/ WAR founder, Tom Metzger (think Cameron Alexander from American History X). The minutemen tend to be middle-aged and a little more removed from the real hate scene, but make no mistake, there is an undercurrent that often connects many of these groups and their ideologies aren't less different then they might think.

Since the advent of the internet, it's gotten much easier for these types of hate groups to disseminate their message without being harangued in public. Although they've been exposed thanks to watch groups, they've also become savvy users of social media, and have been successful recruiting from the younger generation. Obviously though, as the wave of racist tweets indicates, some people have to learn the hard way (and hopefully will stop). Unfortunately though, these dumb kids are only the tip of the iceberg, and their message isn't even near the level of hate you're likely to hear from a hardcore, Stormfront type of activist).

Though Demandrim's questions are perfectly valid, I'm afraid they are indicative of a broader problem, the sense of naiveté much of the country has about how quickly and widespread hate groups have grown over the past decade and a half (alarmingly so since Obama was first elected).

Just thinking about the conversation that's been going on in the Numenor thread, and I can't help shaking my head when I read the SPLC's Hatewatch intelligence reports (I just can't stomach it it for very long). The level of outright lies, fear and misinformation being disseminated by groups like the San Diego Minutemen is just appalling, yet they're only one among over 1000 other types of hate and extremist groups, many of which have done far worse.

It's fair enough to say people can be upset with the election turnout, but is that really grounds for protest? I could see protesting over vote suppression, over what's been going on in Arizona, or about having your registration trashed, but going out and saying that America is suddenly going to fall apart because the new Sheriff in town is the same guy they've been complaining about for 4 years is laughable. Unfortunately, this is a predictable response for people who've bought into all the bullshit, but it certainly doesn't help when the lead man for the Republican party goes and blames his loss on Obama's "gifts" for blacks, Latinos and the liberal youth (you, know, that layabout 47%).

Crap. I'm sorry for the long post, sometimes I just can't help myself.

Don't get me wrong. If it's racially-based, then they need to be called out for it. I'm not defending the protesters. I just hate it when people get lumped into a group unjustifiably. Now granted, it's possible that a majority of the protesters were protesting because of the president's skin tone. But I haven't really seen any sort of estimates as to how many protesters were doing so because of legitimate reasons and how many because of racism. And it's likely impossible ultimately to come up with any sort of figures like that. And it's just too easy, in my opinion, to label the "other" into a negative category just because they share opposing views.

Now is it possible that the racist label is justified. Certainly, especially when the school's and region's history with racism is considered. I wasn't trying to defend the racists; I was just curious if there was a distinction between a racist protest and a protest with racist participants.

Racism is still a serious problem in this country, and it isn't only in the old confederate and border states. I was born in Chicago, a fairly liberal city and arguably the most segregated city in the country.

So, long story short, I really wasn't trying to defend anyone or anything. I was just trying to, essentially, play Devil's advocate. I hope that made sense

Except that now, every idiot with a cell phone wants to record everything around them and upload it onto Youtube with Gangnam Style soundtrack. At this point, I wonder how many people were there to protest, and how many people were there because other people were there, and they wanted to get it on video (just in case a fight started, or a girl flashed her boobs, or someone had some weed...)

Sad thing is many times we self segregate. Take a look at any high school cafeteria. I used to catch a ride with a black friend of mine to school every day. We had a lot in common musically, artistically, and he was a super cool guy to hang out with. Yet, his other black friends didn't accept me sitting with them at lunch. It took a while to break down those barriers, but we worked through it.

I'm not in any way trying to make a specific point about blacks or whites, because in reality you could put any race into the equation, we do a lot of harm to ourselves simply through self segregation.

You're absolutely right that many times we self segregate. When my family still lived in Chicago, our neighborhood was predominately Polish; however, somewhere between when we moved (almost 20 years ago now) and now, most of the Polish residents had moved. The neighborhood now is predominately Hispanic (even most of the billboards are in Spanish). You can also see examples of self segregation by looking at the nicknames of most major cities: "China Town," "Little Tokyo," etc. This has also been described, for example, as "white flight," when whites began to move to the suburbs and away from the inner city.

And you do bring up a very good point, Otoki.