Tysheema Brown at the beginning of son's custody hearing.
We've obtained arrest reports and other docs in connection with a sting operation in Chicago. On March 4, 2002, Chicago cops targeted Jason Hudson, Jennifer's murdered brother, and Gregory King, the father of Julian, the murdered 7-year-old boy. Both men allegedly sold crack cocaine to a registered informant. Cops then raided the very home where Jason was murdered last week. According to documents, Jason, Gregory and Julia (Jennifer's sister) were all arrested.
Julia was never charged with a crime. Jason was charged with cocaine trafficking, but the main count was dismissed in 2004 because the judge ruled police conducted an illegal search. During that hearing, Jennifer's mom had to choose whether to go to Hollywood to watch her daughter on "American Idol" or be in court...she chose the latter.
Gregory was convicted. Jason agreed to enroll in a drug abuse program and the less serious remaining charge was dismissed.
Cops say Jason and Gregory were affiliated with the gang, Gangster Disciples. That's the same gang that William Balfour, the "person of interest" was in. The lawyer who repped Jason told TMZ cops often jumped to conclusions and assumed people in that neighborhood were gang members. (Source)
An investigator picks up a gun discovered not far from where Jennifer Hudson's nephew was found slain.
Police said they recovered a weapon in an alley within a block of where Hudson's 7-year-old nephew, Julian King, was found dead in an SUV on Monday morning. Aerial footage of the scene taken by Chicago TV station WLS showed an investigator putting a pistol in a box.
A police spokesman said testing was needed to confirm whether the weapon was connected to the Hudson case. (Source)
Holding on to each other, overcome by emotion, Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson and six relatives viewed a closed-circuit TV screen at the morgue this afternoon and identified a small boy as Hudson’s 7-year-old nephew Julian King.
The identification came from Hudson. “She said, ‘Yes, that is him,’ according to Sean Howard, a spokesman for the Cook County medical examiner’s office. “Jennifer Hudson was incredbly strong for her family, she was leader in that group and kept her composure.
“She felt like the Lord and saviour Jesus Christ was going to get her through that,” Howard added. “Those were her words.”
Julian’s mother was not there, he said.
WASHINGTON — Federal agents have broken up a plot to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and shoot or decapitate 102 black people in a Tennessee murder spree, the ATF said Monday.
In court records unsealed Monday, federal agents said they disrupted plans to rob a gun store and target a predominantly African-American high school by two neo-Nazi skinheads. Agents said the skinheads did not identify the school by name.
Jim Cavanaugh, special agent in charge of the Nashville field office for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the two men planned to shoot 88 black people and decapitate another 14. The numbers 88 and 14 are symbolic in the white supremacist community.
The men also sought to go on a national killing spree, with Obama as its final target, Cavanaugh told The Associated Press.
"They said that would be their last, final act _ that they would attempt to kill Sen. Obama," Cavanaugh said. "They didn't believe they would be able to do it, but that they would get killed trying." (Source)
Morehouse College, Atlanta, Ga.
Morehouse has long been known as an educator of black leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., Samuel L. Jackson and Spike Lee. But it may be equally important as an exemplar of single-sex education. With 3,000 students, it is the nation's largest private men's liberal-arts college. Recent grad Marcus Edwards calls the school "the No. 1 institution for black men." Goldman Sachs has just donated $2 million to endow a new leadership professor, and the Ray Charles Performing Arts Center is now going up.
"Michelle and I were absolutely heartbroken to learn about this unimaginable tragedy and we want Jennifer to know that she is in our thoughts and prayers during this very difficult time," the Illinois senator said. "We also pray for the swift and safe return of her young nephew." (Source)
"Part of the story is the fact that it was reported by the media," said Sanchez. "We would not be telling the story now had it not been carried by so many outlets. As I mentioned before, it was mentioned on, as a matter of fact I have a list and not to mention names, but the initials of the news organizations are Fox News, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Newsday. And also radio talk show hosts went on their radio stations and talked ad infinitum about the story yesterday, one of them even seemingly being a braggadocio about it when he was on the air with our own Wolf Blitzer yesterday."
CHICAGO (WLS) -- The mother of singer and Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson was one of two people found shot to death inside a home Friday.
A family member has confirmed Hudson's mother, Darnell Hudson Donerson, is one of the deceased. The home where the bodies were discovered is at 7019 S. Yale in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood. Property records indicate the home belongs to Donerson.
The other victim, sources close to the investigation said, has been identified as Jennifer Hudson's brother, Jason Hudson.
Police are expected to provide more information as they progress with their investigation.
Jennifer Hudson is a member of Progressive Baptist Church on Chicago's South Side. Despite her daughter's celebrity, Donerson chose to stay and live on the South Side, a decision that did not go unnoticed by the church community.
"That says a lot about the fact of the kind of family Jennifer comes from," said Rev. Willie Davis, Progressive Baptist Church. "They're a family of faith. They want to be attached to their roots. And that's just the sign of the nature of their relationship with God."
Church leaders say they have been told that Jennifer Hudson is flying home to Chicago from Tampa.
A 7-year-old child is reportedly missing, taken from the house in the Englewood neighborhood in a white 1994 Chevrolet Suburban SUV, license number X584859 police said. The boy was identified as Julian King. (Source)
Julian is 4 feet, 11 inches tall and weighs 130 pounds. He was wearing a brown polo shirt with stripes and khaki pants when last seen, authorities said in the Amber Alert.
We're told the two bodies were found dead on the scene at 2:44 PM. When the fire department arrived and discovered the bodies, police were brought in and the home was declared a crime scene.
UPDATE 7:35 PM ET: Police are looking for William Balfour (left), who they claim could be with the missing 7-year-old. According to records, Balfour listed Hudson's mother's address as a place of residence within the last year. According to the Illinois Department of Corrections website, Balfour is currently on parole after serving jail time for attempted murder.
UPDATE 8:35 PM ET: Lost in all this is Jennifer's sister Julia, mother of the missing 7-year-old. We're told she works as a bus driver in Chicago. Her employer told us she worked her shift today. She hasn't been seen since.
UPDATE 9:20 PM ET: A WBBM reporter is saying that neighbors have said a family member in the Hudson household apparently tried to steal a car a few weeks ago, an argument ensued, and he vowed revenge. A photo on Julia's MySpace page (bottom) posted prior to today's events alludes to some kind of dispute with William over a car.
Update 10:35 PM ET: A man suspected in the shooting deaths of the mother and brother of Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Hudson was in custody Friday evening, although the whereabouts of Hudson’s young nephew were still unknown, law enforcement sources told the Chicago Sun-Times.
William Balfour was arrested several hours after Hudson’s mother, Darnell Donerson; and brother, Jason Hudson; were found slain inside a South Side home Friday.
Balfour is involved in a relationship with a Hudson family member and once lived in Donerson’s home, sources told the Chicago Sun-Times.
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― Police say a campaign volunteer confessed to making up a story that a mugger attacked her and cut the letter B in her face after seeing her McCain bumper sticker; now she's facing charges.
At a news conference this afternoon, officials said they believe that Ashley Todd's injuries were self-inflicted.
Todd, 20, of Texas, is now facing charges for filing a false report to police.
Todd initially told police that she was robbed at an ATM in Bloomfield and that the suspect began beating her after seeing her GOP sticker on her car.
Police investigating the alleged attack, however, began to notice some inconsistencies in her story and administered a polygraph test.
Investigators asked Todd to return to the police station today for more questioning and to help them release a composite sketch of the suspect.
When she did, police say she admitted that she made the whole thing up and that it snowballed out of control.
Todd told investigators today that she "just wanted to tell the truth" – adding that she was neither robbed, nor attacked.
She said he believed she may have scratched the backward "B" on her own face because she was the only one in the car at the time. Todd told police that when saw was the "B" in her rearview mirror, she thought of Barack Obama.
Officials say they do not believe any other people were involved; and Todd's friends believed the story about the attack – encouraging her to call police.
A McCain campaign volunteer who reported that a tall black man robbed her and then cut a "B" onto her cheek after seeing a McCain bumper sticker on her car has been given a polygraph test because of "inconsistencies" in her story, police said.
Among other things, police said photos and bank card information from an automated teller machine where the college student claimed she was robbed do not show her using the machine at the time, police said.
Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Diane Richard wouldn't release the polygraph results, but said, "we're still looking at some inconsistencies" in the woman's story.
Police said the student, Ashley Todd, of College Station, Texas, who is white, told them she was attacked by a 6-foot-4 black man Wednesday night.
Richard said police have not ruled out that the woman was attacked as she claimed, and said inconsistencies deal primarily with how she described the attack.
"We're just trying to judge the validity of some of the information we received from her," Richard said. "We understand when you are under duress that sometimes you can't recollect things. We're just looking at all the angles."
Among the differences in her accounts are whether she lost consciousness, whether she remembers handing over money and how the man assaulted her, police said.
The report of the attack Thursday prompted the Republican presidential candidate and his running mate, Sarah Palin, to call Todd expressing their concern. Barack Obama's campaign also issued a statement wishing Todd well and hoping the attacker would be swiftly brought to justice.
The Associated Press could not immediately locate Todd or her family.
Ethan Eilon, executive director of the College Republican National Committee, told reporters that Todd worked in New York for several months before moving to Pennsylvania two weeks ago to continue working for the group.
Eilon declined to comment on the investigation Friday or to help The Associated Press contact Todd. In a follow-up e-mail, Eilon said, "We think this girl has endured enough and that this is going to be something for her and her family to work through."
Richard, the police spokeswoman, said police have pictures of the victim and her injuries, but are not releasing them. She said they are "more or less" consistent with a picture that has surfaced on the Internet that show a woman with a black eye and a red backward "B" that looks like a welt or scrape on her right cheek.
"It's not like her cheek was carved out," Richard said. "It's more like a scrape or a scratch."
In her initial account, Richard said, Todd attempted to use the ATM when the man approached her from behind, put a knife with a 4- to 5-inch blade to her throat and demanded money. She told police she handed the assailant $60 and walked away.
Todd told investigators that she suspected the man then noticed a John McCain sticker on her car, became angry and punched her in the back of the head, knocking her to the ground and telling her "you are going to be a Barack supporter," police said in a statement.
She said he continued to punch and kick her while threatening "to teach her a lesson for being a McCain supporter," police said. She said he then sat on her chest, pinned her hands down with his knees and scratched a backward letter "B" into her face using what she believed to be a dull knife.
The woman told police she didn't seek medical attention, but instead went to a friend's apartment nearby and called police about 45 minutes later.
Police have reinterviewed Todd at least once since her initial statement, Richard said.
In the subsequent discussions with investigators, according to the police statement, Todd said she was accosted as she approached the bank and fled her attacker, fell to the ground and the assailant began beating and fondling her.
Police Cmdr. Larry Ross, who is in charge of the police precinct where the attack was first reported, said Todd's story has continued to change.
"I guess she elaborated more when she went down to the bureau headquarters. She added other things to it that we didn't have at first, that she didn't tell the initial officer," Ross said.
Missouri School Faces HIV Scare
NORMANDY, Mo. (AP) — Students at a suburban St. Louis high school headed to the gymnasium for HIV testing this week after an infected person told health officials as many as 50 teenagers might have been exposed to the virus that causes AIDS.
The district is consulting with national AIDS organizations as it tries to minimize the fallout and prevent the infection — and misinformation — from spreading at Normandy High School.
"There's potential for stigma for all students regardless of whether they're positive or negative," Normandy School District spokesman Doug Hochstedler said Thursday. "The board wants to be sure all children are fully educated."
Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama is canceling nearly all his campaign events Thursday and Friday to fly to Hawaii to visit his suddenly ill 85-year-old grandmother, his spokesman said.
Robert Gibbs told reporters Monday that Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Payne Dunham, who helped raise him, was released from the hospital late last week. But he said her health had deteriorated "to the point where her situation is very serious."
Obama was expected to resume campaigning on Saturday, though Gibbs was unsure where.
Obama events originally planned for Madison, Wis., and Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday will be replaced with one in Indianapolis before he makes the long flight to Hawaii.
Gibbs said it was still being decided whether surrogates would fill in for Obama. His wife, Michelle, for instance, was not accompanying him to Hawaii.
Elsheba Khan at the grave of her son, Specialist Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan.
A handful of parishioners protested Sunday morning in front of Ebenezer Baptist Church, decrying the ouster of the historic church’s choir director and demanding senior pastor the Rev. Raphael Warnock step down.
The six demonstrators held placards reading “Warnock Lies” and “Bring Back Dr. Uzee Brown,” a reference to the recently departed choir director who heads the Department of Music at Morehouse College.
One protester, former choir member Gloria Bell, was handcuffed and taken away by National Park Service rangers in front of the church where she was baptized more than 50 years ago.
Bell, who was wearing a sandwich sign reading “Warnock Must Go!” had refused to leave the sidewalk, saying it was city property. But park ranger Clark Moore told her it was the Park Service’s turf as he removed the sign, cuffed a screaming Bell and forced her into a patrol car. She returned minutes later holding a criminal trespass warning.
Church leaders said Warnock wasn’t available for comment Sunday morning. But shortly after the 11 a.m. service started, a dozen members of the church’s board of deacons walked out of the modern Horizon Sanctuary and across Auburn Avenue to the historic church where the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. once preached his message of nonviolence.
Sarah Palin took a break from the campaign trail to appear on "Saturday Night Live" in two skits, where she watched Tina Fey (as Sarah Palin) in a skit about Palin's first press conference alongside SNL honcho Lorne Michaels. Alec Baldwin and Mark Wahlberg also made appearances in the opening sketch..
Later in the show, she popped up during Weekend Update. Scroll down for Palin dancing in her seat to an Alaskan rap song
Retired General Colin L. Powell, one of the country's most respected Republicans, stunned both parties on Sunday by strongly endorsing Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for president on NBC's "Meet the Press" and laying out a blistering, detailed critique of the modern GOP.
Powell said the election of Obama would "electrify the world."
"I think he is a transformational figure," Powell said. "He is a new generation coming ... onto the world stage and on the American stage. And for that reason, I'll be voting for Senator Barack Obama."
Powell, once considered likely to be the nation's first African-American presidential nominee, said his decision was not about race.
Moderator Tom Brokaw said: "There will be some ... who will say this is an African-American, distinguished American supporting another African-American because of race."
Powell replied: "If I had only had that in mind, I could have done this six, eight, 10 months ago. I really have been going back and forth between somebody I have the highest respect and regard for, John McCain and somebody I was getting to know, Barack Obama. And it was only in the last couple of months that I settled on this."
OPEN INVITATION EVENTS
Friday
• “Conversation With A Legend” featuring Debra Lee, chairman and CEO of BET Networks. Noon to 12:30 p.m. at Straits Restaurant, 793 Juniper St. WSB-TV anchor Monica Pearson and V-103 midday personality Porsche Foxx co-host. Admission is $65 for members of National Association of Black Female Executives in Music and Entertainment, Southeast Network; $75 for nonmembers (includes lunch). To register go to www.myspace.com/nabfemeatl.
• “Get Your Money Right!” summit on financial empowerment with Russell Simmons, Ludacris, Dr. Benjamin Chavis, BET’s Terrence and Rocsi, Monica, Bryan-Michael Cox, DJ Drama and others. 5 to 7 p.m. at Clark Atlanta University student center. Free.
• The Def Jam Takeover at E.S.S.O. with DJ Khaled, Jadakiss, Fabolous and Ne-Yo. Hot-107.9’s Emperor Searcy and DJ Trauma on the turntables. Doors open at 10 p.m. General admission starts at $20. Ladies free until 11 p.m. 1599 Memorial Drive, 404-378-1095 or www.essoatl.com.
Saturday
• “Fly Girls Vote: Hip-Hop Women For Change.” A town hall discussion with rap pioneer MC Lyte, Brown University professor Tricia Rose, director Shola Lynch activist Moya Bailey and journalists Michaela Angela Davis and Lola Ogunnaike . 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Clark Atlanta University student center. Free.
• T.I. performing at Dreamz ATL with Lil Wayne hosting. Doors open at 9 p.m. 3595 Clairmont Road. For more information, call 404-477-0707 or go to www.dreamzatl.com.
• Ludacris and Young Jeezy at E.S.S.O. Doors open at 10 p.m. General admission starting at $20. Ladies free until 11 p.m. 1599 Memorial Drive, 404-378-1095 or go to www.essoatl.com.
INVITE ONLY
Thursday
• “Max Payne” premier screening with co-star Ludacris at the Rialto Center for the Arts.
• New Era and Ludacris’ Capture the Flag launch party. Ludacris will unveil the $125 hat he helped design at the New Era Atlanta flagship store. DJ Ruckus will spin on the turntables. The general public can purchase the hat at New Era, 117 Luckie St., starting Friday.
Friday
• Jermaine Dupri’s third annual pre-party for the BET Hip-Hop Awards at his Studio 72 nightclub. DJ Mars on the turntables.
Saturday
• Ne-Yo’s Cirque do Soleil birthday bash at Mason Murer Fine Art.
Sunday
• Sean Garrett’s brunch at The Ellis On Peachtree.
The Milwaukee radio host appeared via satellite to face off against fellow radio host Shelley Wynter, who says he is voting for Democratic candidate Barack Obama because McCain is not a true conservative.
Harris, who said he has been called "sambo," "Uncle Tom" and "sellout" since his comments at the McCain rally, tried to argue that McCain is still a better choice for Republicans because he's more likely than Obama to be pulled to the far conservative end of the spectrum.
When CNN's Kyra Phillips asked Wynter if it was fair for black listeners to call Harris a sellout, he said the word sellout applies, but not to Harris' race.
"I repudiate anybody that would call James out of his name because of his political views," said Wynter. "Where I think James has sold out – is on his principles as a conservative. James calls himself a conservative but he supports the least conservative candidate that the Republican Party could put up for the presidency."
As Wynter went on to rail against the Bush administration, Harris tried to cut him off by saying, "Stop, stop, stop the madness."
The word "sellout" apparently struck a nerve. Earlier in the exchange, Harris had mentioned being called one himself in the myriad of hate mail he has received.
"I am sick to death of the word sellout, and the guest just on used it about seven or eight times," Harris said, growing more and more agitated. "I would really appreciate it if people would just back up off of the name calling because it gets nowhere in the dialogue."
He continued: "I'm tired of coming on this station and getting this type of treatment. I told you before I came on, I'm all for back and forth, I'm all for dialogue, but I'm not for name calling. …I am making my choice as a free American, and I'm sick to death of liberals coming on bashing me because of my choice as a man! …I am sick and tired of people bleeding all over me because of their insecurities. You are insecure, man. Don’t tell me what I am."
Wynter – who is conservative, not liberal – said "Whoa" as he tried to get a word in edgewise. Harris replied, "Nah. Whoa, nothing. I'm done," and started to remove his microphone and earpiece."
By: Tim Wise
For those who have seen the ugliness and heard the vitriol emanating from the mouths of persons attending McCain/Palin rallies this past week--what with their demands to kill Barack Obama, slurs that he is a terrorist and a traitor, and paranoid delusions about his crypto-Muslim designs on America--please know this: This is how fascism comes to an ostensible democracy.
If it comes--and if those whose poisonous, unhinged verbiage has been so ubiquitous this week have any say over it, it surely will--this is how it will happen: not with tanks and jackbooted storm troopers, but carried in the hearts of men and women dressed in comfortable shoes, with baseball caps, and What Would Jesus Do? wristbands. It will be heralded by up-dos, designer glasses, you-betcha folksiness and a disdain for big words or hard consonants.
If fascism comes, it will spring from the soil of middle America, from people known as values voters but whose values are toxic, from simple folk whose simplicity, far from being admirable, is better labeled ignorance, from "all-American" types whose patriotism is a dagger pointed at the very heart of the national interest, for it so forsakes all the best principles upon which the republic was founded, choosing instead to elevate and ratify the narrow-mindedness, the bigotry, and the intolerance that also marked our country's origins.
If fascism comes, it will be ushered in by tailgaters at the big football game, by Joe Six Pack, who, upon finishing his sixth beer and belching forth the stench of a mediocre life lived, will gladly announce its arrival, so long as it comes with a steady supply of Pabst Blue Ribbon and hot dogs on the grill, and giant foam hands with a "We're Number 1" finger, some Mardi Gras beads and a good titty bar.
If fascism comes it will dress like a hockey mom, or a NASCAR dad. It will believe Toby Keith to be an artist, Larry the Cable Guy to be a comic, and that the world was made in six literal days less than 6000 years ago.
If fascism comes it will come from the small towns; the ones Sarah Palin, quoting a famous racist and Jew-hater, said "grow good people," and which occasionally do, but which, just as often grow provincial, isolated, fearful and superstitious ones.
If fascism comes it will come from faux populism, from anti-immigrant hysteria, from persons who have more guns in their homes than books, or whose books, when they have them, are principally volumes of the Left Behind series, several different copies of the Bible, and a plethora of romance novels.
If fascism comes it will be welcomed, lock stock and barrel by persons who pray at every meal to a God they visualize as white, whose son they also think was white, and who they believe is going to rapture them all into the sky upon the blowing of some heavenly trumpet, after which point all those who don't think as they think will be burned in an eternal lake of fire. Their vision and version of God is itself fascistic--to love a God who would do such a thing is to love an abusive, sadistic and evil deity after all--so it should come as little surprise that their conception of the state would be equally authoritarian or worse.
If fascism comes it will be at the behest of those who hold a contempt for what they call "book learnin," who prefer Presidents who mispronounce basic words because they make them feel smarter, and who are looking for nothing so much as a commander-in-chief with whom they would enjoy having a beer, or two, or twelve at some backyard barbecue.
If fascism comes it will be interviewed, lovingly, on talk radio, by hosts whose cerebral inadequacies are more than made up for by their bellicosity, their bombast, their willingness to shout down those with whom they cannot argue, for argument requires knowledge, and this is a commodity with which they have not even a passing familiarity.
If fascism comes it will come wrapped in red,white and blue, carrying a crucifix and a shotgun, projecting its own sexual confusion and insecurity onto others, substituting volume for veracity and rage for reason, and landing on the New York Times best-seller list as a result.
If fascism comes it will have a pajama party at Ann Coulter's house, pop pills with Rush Limbaugh, and go gay-bashing with Michael Savage, all in the same weekend. And it will refuse to learn another language or get a passport, because doing either of those would make one cosmopolitan--which is just another word for "faggot."
If fascism comes it will come because a lot of people who aren't like the folks I'm talking about here, won't stand up to the ones who are. Because we're too busy, don't want to make waves, don't want to lose friends, or alienate family. It will come, in other words, because those who know better are cowards, more concerned with getting along, making nice, and being liked than with telling the truth, calling out evil and saving their country.
If fascism comes it will come because of the silence, and thus, collaboration of those who think themselves good, and certainly superior to the knuckle-draggers they can see on YouTube at the McCain rallies, but who in the end are no better and in some ways worse than they: after all, at least fascists stand up for what they believe in. They are telling us, in no uncertain terms what kind of United States they want and are willing to fight for, and maybe even to kill for. But many "progressives," many liberals, many of the so-called enlightened are doing nothing at all.
If fascism comes it will come because those liberals thought voting for Barack Obama was all they needed to do; it will come because they allowed themselves to believe that politics is what a person does every four years, but not at work, and not in the neighborhood, and not at the dinner table. Meanwhile, know-nothings filled with hate, nurtured on racial and religious bigotry and who have overdosed on the kind of hypernationalism that has always proved fatal to those places foolish or craven enough to allow it a foothold, talk of their visions for America at every opportunity. They raise their kids on that sickness, they build churches whose very foundation is rooted in that cancerous rot, and they will think nothing of steamrolling those who get in their way.
So when, exactly, do we fight back? When do we say enough? When do we stand up to our relative or friend who sends us the e-mail about Obama being a Manchurian Candidate or al-Qaeda sympathizer, or the one about the decency of Midwestern flood victims as opposed to those stranded after Katrina, or about how God was punishing New Orleans because of its tolerance of homosexuality, and tell them what we think: namely, that they are a bunch of racist, heterosexist loons, whose friendship or familial connection we neither want nor intend to pursue unless they get help. When do we decide that we love our country and humanity too much to allow these people one more day of decent sleep, one more day of self-assured confidence in their craziness and the willingness of the rest of us to just take it? When do we decide that every irrational, Jeezoid, racist thing that comes from their mouths will be attacked, will be rebutted, until they can no longer take for granted the ability to say any of it in mixed company without being called out?
Why, in the face of the fascism they would surely introduce if given the chance, are we intent on being so nice? Why are we not more offended? Offended not merely at what such persons say about others--like Obama, or Latino immigrants, or whatever--but even about we who look like them? After all, their open exhortations of racism presuppose that they are speaking for us, and that this kind of brain-dead ventilation is something to which all white folks should aspire as though it were virtually the essence of enlightenment.
If fascism comes it will come because we did not see in their actions a sufficient threat, or because we allowed ourselves to believe that it couldn't come, that our institutions were too strong, our people too good, for that to happen. If it comes it will come because we allowed ourselves to believe the rosy and optimistic version of America spun by Obama, without tempering that optimism with a clear-headed appraisal of the way that (sadly) a still huge number of Americans actually think: because we allowed the vehicle of our hopes to outrun the headlights of truth; because we convinced ourselves that we actually lived in the country of our aspirations, rather than the nation we have at present.
And if fascism doesn't come--if, rather, democracy does--it will come because good people said no. It will come because we saw in this moment the opportunity to demand the full measure of our humanity and to pour it forth upon the national soil. It will be because we understood that democracy isn't what you have, it's what you do. But if we are to issue that demand, if we are to stand straight and fulfill the potential we possess to do justice, we had best exercise the option quickly, for the opponents of justice are on the move. They are preparing to enter on the winds of our silence and indifference, and complacency. Let them find no quarter here.
(Source)
On April 29, 2008, 14 leaders of Alaska's black community met with Gov. Sarah Palin to voice discontent with her minority hiring record. Palin's response, which was first reported by journalist Earl Ofari Hutchinson, only compounded her icy relationship with her African-American constituents.
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