2006-01-18

Another "Rare" Occurance of Racism?

"There's two swastikas. 'KKK' is written on the top and bottom and in between it says, 'Move out N-----,'" said Lee Burke, 43.

"It covers the whole garage door."

8 comments:

Paul Hue said...

Yes, I would say rare. The couple has supportive neighbors, the neighborhood is already described as "mixed", they report no problems getting a mortgage or purchasing the house (despite claims that blacks are descriminated against in obtaining mortgages), and the husband even works for the allegedly racist mortgage industry. All of these other factors are drastically different than would have been the case 30 years ago.

People like me and Thomas Sowell do not claim that racism doesn't exist any more, or that awful behavior of any sort has been eradicated. We merely claim that in the vast majority of life pursuits, black folks in the US have as much of a chance for success as white folks, given the same set of behaviors. One conclusion from our view is that the many thousands of blacks immigrating here every year from black-majority countries are not foolish; another conclusion is that the failure of blacks in America to immigrate aren't foolish either (though this failure to leave somewhat belies the popularity among blacks of believing that the US is seriously racist). Blacks moving into white neighborhoods are also not making a foolish choice. However, the US is not utopia, and even living in the nicest areas, we all can experiance unjustified nastiness. I know many black people living in white areas, including Nadir, and I have heard no reports like this.

We know from previous recent posts on this board that blacks are about 8 times more likely than whites to experiance property or violent crimes, and that in about 90% of the cases the culprits are other blacks. I am keenly interested to see any studies comparing the rates of crimes experianced by blacks and whites living in white-majority areas charactorized by a certain income level. Do blacks statistically experiance more crimes in these areas than do whites? Then the study would document the rate of crimes experianced by blacks and whites living in black-majority communities that have that same high income level, and low income levels.

Unknown said...

Of course this is racism. Blatant, stupid, ignorant, racism. And the people who did this should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. But you can't prosecute them for their beliefs, or opinions, no matter how ignorant and ill-informed they may be, only for destruction of private property, trespassing and I suppose, intimidation and threats made.

The only form racism that can and must be punishable by law is institutional racism. That should be obvious. But you can't punish someone for believing something, or in something, no matter how stupid that belief may be. You can only punish them for acting out with their ignorance as these morons did and there are already laws on the books to do just that.

And as horrible as this story is, yes, I think incidences such as these are isolated.

Paul Hue said...

Six: Why are you commenting about punishing somebody for their beliefs or comments? Nothing in this article concerns that topic, as far as I can tell. There were those crackers a few months back who burned down some houses in a wealthy new development that was attracting mostly black home buyers. Those guys got caught and severely prosecuted. Another amazing sign of progress: a huge development of high end houses, mostly purchased by blacks, and white intimidators getting quickly caught and persecuted, with zero public support for them, or outcry against the black home owners.

Unknown said...

That's my point. You only thing you can punish them legally for is for destroying, or defacing private property, or for making overt threatening gestures, etc., but not for thinking blacks should not live in their neighborhood. As ignorant as it is, that's their perogative to feel that way, so long as they don't act out violently on those beliefs.

If that's the way they feel, then it's my opinion that they're the ones who should get out of the neighborhood. I wouldn't want someone who felt that way (and I suupose there probably are some in mine) living my neighborhood either. But you can't regulate thought.

Paul Hue said...

Six: I'm just curious to know why you're introducting this concept here, since this article doesn't seem to involve punishing people for having a racist view. I agree with you that the police should not act against somebody for calling his neighbor a racist name.

Unknown said...

I don't know Paul. I'm just trying point out that yes, the perpetrators of these heinous acts are definitely racists, but they cannot be punished by law merely for being racist.

Maybe I'm just stating the obvious.

Paul Hue said...

Six: I think maybe you're miffed maybe that Nadir is mad about this crime only because it is motivated by racism? I admit that I am as well especially angry that this is not mere vandelism, but actual terrorism, and especially that it is racist terrorism. I do have a special anger for this sort of thing. Maybe you are further miffed that there is more collective anger and attention for race-based vandalism than for the everyday burgleries and hold-ups that are common in the older black sections of town?

Alpha Conservative Male said...

I would have wrote at the bottom. MAKE ME MOVE OUT! The KKK's only power has is intimidation. They do their little spray painting crap in the dark of night. They are for a lack of better words Cowards. I sure as hell wouldn't run from cowards. Ever noticed when the KKK holds a rally, they're usually are only a handful of people there. Normally the anti KKK people outnumbers the KKK people by 5 to 10 times. The KKK of today is not what it use to be 100 years ago.