Boyz in the hood?

April 29, 2009 3:24 PM

"It's not about hate, it's about love. Love of white people.That's the message in songs, speeches and casual conversation during a weekend retreat in Zinc, Ark., sponsored by the Christian Revival Center and the Knights Party, an offshoot of the Ku Klux Klan. There's no overt threat of violence here. No cross burnings (or "lightings," as the KKK prefers to call them). The only fire at the grassy compound, located at the end of a long, rocky road circled by turkey vultures, is a bonfire for the Knights youth corps to roast their s'mores. The kids draw pictures of white-hooded Klanspeople and sing songs about the oppressed Aryan race; rousing sermons are read from Bibles decorated with Confederate flags. Aryan souvenirs are for sale, including baseball caps proclaiming IT'S LOVE, NOT HATE and advertising THE ORIGINAL BOYZ IN THE HOOD."
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey (114 comments total)

*fart*
posted by Stonestock Relentless at 3:28 PM on April 29 [7 favorites]

Its great to see them have to lie so much to try and get people to believe them. It makes their job so much harder.
posted by Ironmouth at 3:30 PM on April 29

Stuffwhitepeoplehate.
posted by gman at 3:30 PM on April 29 [2 favorites]

"Why is it that when a black man wants to preserve his culture and heritage it's a good thing, and when a white person wants the same thing, we're called haters?" he says.

There's going to be a lot more of this and other, more violent, movements as the minority population of America continues to grow.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:32 PM on April 29 [2 favorites]

If they love white people so much, how come there's no organic food, indie rock or tea?
posted by klangklangston at 3:33 PM on April 29 [63 favorites]

Some crazies posting on MySpace, for instance, have called for armed revolution...

I would very much like to see the Newsweek style manual that discusses the correct use of the word "crazies".
posted by Joe Beese at 3:34 PM on April 29 [1 favorite]

Stay classy, Arkansas!
posted by mullingitover at 3:34 PM on April 29 [3 favorites]

I ride the bus every day. Most days, I'm the only white guy on the bus, which suits me just fine. Every once in a while, though, there'll be another white dude on with me, and that's where my headaches start.

Other white people, I hereby forbid you from riding the bus until you can make it through one trip without loudly proclaiming that the Holocaust never happened or that Barack Obama is going to sell America to the Arabs or how the crazy black dude shouting about racism should settle down because racism doesn't exist anymore. Every damn time you do this, everyone else on the bus glares at me as if to say "what the fuck, white folk?". It doesn't matter that I don't know you or behave like you, I'm lumped in with you stupid fuckers, and I'm not taking it anymore.

KKK, you have devoted an entire festival to being that guy on the bus. Please sit down and shut up, you're making the rest of us look bad in front of my neighbors.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 3:34 PM on April 29 [88 favorites]

If they love white people so much, how come there's no ... indie rock?

Sufjan Stevens = SS
WAKE UP SHEEPLE!!11!
posted by joe lisboa at 3:35 PM on April 29 [6 favorites]

White supremacists are always their own best counter-argument. When I see Stephen Hawking or Martha Nussbaum or Anna Kournikova or Tom Brady show up at one of these things, maybe I'll pay attention, but right now the folks you see at a white supremacists' rally are pretty much the dregs of humanity--not the most convincing examples, guys!
posted by Sidhedevil at 3:35 PM on April 29 [5 favorites]

I would very much like to see the Newsweek style manual that discusses the correct use of the word "crazies".

I'm guessing that "white supremacists calling for armed revolution on MySpace" isn't a marginal case, whatever the rubric is.
posted by Sidhedevil at 3:36 PM on April 29

Winston Smith, a host of the white-supremacist radio show "The Political Cesspool" in Millington, Tenn., says, "The emphasis is different now. We don't talk as much about what blacks have done to us; we're more focused on ourselves and our own culture."

Amazing.
posted by EatTheWeak at 3:37 PM on April 29 [2 favorites]

It ain't easy being white.
posted by slimepuppy at 3:39 PM on April 29 [1 favorite]

"Do you know why people are so afraid of us?" asks Thomas Robb, the soft-spoken national director—don't call him grand wizard!—of the Knights. "Because we're so normal."

Sorry, Tommy, but you're confusing fear and contempt.

BTW, you're also confusing "because we're so normal" and "because we're sad, hateful little racists whose lives are so pathetically empty and insignificant that we try in vain to make ourselves feel better by demonizing entire races of people."
posted by dersins at 3:40 PM on April 29 [2 favorites]

The sad truth is that these people are the byproduct of white-on-white economic violence. If only there were more railroads to be laid or screws to be turned, these guys would have happy, productive lives to lead.
posted by GuyZero at 3:41 PM on April 29 [13 favorites]

This would all be funny (Jon Stewart, where are you?) if it weren't so disturbing.

Disturbing? Not really. Honestly, nutjob ideas like this are always going to exist. The more apt question is how much relevance do such ideas have in the mainstream consciousness. Any my guess is, not too much anymore, and probably less so with each passing year.

Maybe I'm just the eternal optimist, but while I see the US facing real challenges with institutionalized racism for many years to come, I feel like this kind of overt, conscious hatred will ultimately falter under the weight of its own absurdity, in the face of our society's continued intrepid march towards a more integrated population.
posted by Brak at 3:42 PM on April 29 [4 favorites]

There is nothing sorrier than a poor oppressed put-upon majority.
posted by Ron Thanagar at 3:42 PM on April 29 [2 favorites]

"Why is it that when a black man wants to preserve his culture and heritage it's a good thing, and when a white person wants the same thing, we're called haters?" he says.

Last time I checked, I didn't see anyone being called a hater at Ocktoberfest or Swedish Days. The St. Patrick's Day parade went off without a hitch, and the Bastille Day 5K was kinda fun, too. So maybe your definition of exactly what culture and heritage you're celebrating needs some help.

Of course, the last time I went to these events, I didn't see any symbols associated with LYNCHINGS, either.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 3:43 PM on April 29 [75 favorites]

"There's going to be a lot more of this and other, more violent, movements as the minority population of America continues to grow."

Yeah, and speaking as a member of the apparently beloved "whites," the reason why no one really cares (except racists) when African Americans or Chicanos or whomever get together to celebrate their heritage is the same reason that no one really cares when the Irish or Italians or Germans get together and celebrate their heritage. It's not like the ADL's out there protesting Oktoberfest.

It's almost like ethnicity and culture are fine to celebrate, but making up a fakety (Aryan) ethnicity and culture specifically to be all 'bout it 'bout it exclusionary and petty racist rightly earns derision.

I mean, fuck, here's a quick test—if a black dude showed up and wanted to learn about your "Aryan culture," would you be inclusive toward him? If you're not just bein' racist, you can say, hey, Hypothetical Black Guy (HBG), here's what's important to us, our traditional foods and music and stories. Come and join in! But when all you've got is a vague mishmash of redneckisms, pseudo-pagan German posturing and misguided genetic notions, you don't have a culture to celebrate that can't be already celebrated in some other way that doesn't include the retarded bullshit.
posted by klangklangston at 3:43 PM on April 29 [92 favorites]

"keep it subtle. Don't hit 'em with anything too hard right off the bat or you will shock them. Find a chink in their armor and make friends. If you are too radical, they won't listen."

How the fuck does that work? I mean the moment that someone says, "Don't you think that it's hard for the average man these days? The average white man" if you don't think "this guys a white supremacist" then you're an idiot. Oh wait, I see what I did wrong there...
posted by ob at 3:44 PM on April 29 [3 favorites]

Meth is a hell of a drug.
posted by leotrotsky at 3:44 PM on April 29 [5 favorites]

Heh. I think I said the same thing as CPB, only firster.
posted by klangklangston at 3:46 PM on April 29

I mean, he said it firster.

See, once again the white man tries to take credit for the black man's ideas!
posted by klangklangston at 3:47 PM on April 29 [3 favorites]

I always wear orange on St Patrick's day. Oh yeah - I went there.
posted by GuyZero at 3:48 PM on April 29 [5 favorites]

Also: "Why is it that when a black man wants to preserve his culture and heritage it's a good thing, and when a white person wants the same thing, we're called haters?"

Is it Ghostbusters 2?
posted by ob at 3:48 PM on April 29 [7 favorites]

Is it Ghostbusters 2?

Joke noted, but Winston Zeddemore would likely object to this hypothesis.
posted by joe lisboa at 3:53 PM on April 29 [2 favorites]

White supremacists have been saying this crap for ages - "We just love our race and heritage, that's all. What's so wrong with that?" - as if this were the problem people had with them.

"Yeah, I don't mind the Aryan Nations building a compound, stockpiling weapons, assassinating radio talk show hosts or actively recruiting young people, but man, I really wish they would stop going on about how awesome white people are."
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 3:55 PM on April 29 [18 favorites]

When I see Stephen Hawking or Martha Nussbaum or Anna Kournikova or Tom Brady show up at one of these things, maybe I'll pay attention.

I'd guess they got the date wrong.
posted by mattoxic at 3:56 PM on April 29

A single link to a Newsweek article—what an indispensible post!
posted by Crabby Appleton at 3:58 PM on April 29

In corollary: the Aryan Nations are back in north Idaho.

*sniff* We here in the Inland Empire are all SO proud.
posted by hippybear at 3:58 PM on April 29

oops. there should be a link in that post.
posted by hippybear at 3:59 PM on April 29

If you're not just bein' racist, you can say, hey, Hypothetical Black Guy (HBG), here's what's important to us, our traditional foods and music and stories. Come and join in! But when all you've got is a vague mishmash of redneckisms, pseudo-pagan German posturing and misguided genetic notions, you don't have a culture to celebrate that can't be already celebrated in some other way that doesn't include the retarded bullshit.

This is a good point, and there's an argument to be made for an actual lower-to-lower-middle-class Mostly Southern (ie "redneck") culture that can and should be celebrated. If these guys were doing readings from True Grit and Pissing in the Snow, talking about Mark Twain, singing along to the Carter Family, drinking Cheer Wine and eating drop biscuits, and agreeing that the Civil War was not our best moment, then they'd be on to something (and I would want to party with them).

If these guys would let down their guards, they'd find a healthy intersection of cultural traits with the Hypothetical Black Guy, particularly when it comes to food.
posted by Bookhouse at 4:00 PM on April 29 [36 favorites]

"We don't talk as much about what blacks have done to us; we're more focused on ourselves and our own culture.""

I was trying to think of things that blacks have done to me, and all I could really come up with was that I had a black barber for a while, and some black kids used to beat me up in school. I have a much longer list of what blacks have done with me, or for me, like got me jobs or taught me the Konami code or took me to a waterpark.

Those damn black people, always providing summer programs at my community center!
posted by klangklangston at 4:00 PM on April 29 [12 favorites]

If they're so proud of white heritage, why would they want to coopt the phrase "Boyz in the Hood?" Are they taking it's power away?
posted by solipsophistocracy at 4:02 PM on April 29

yes, it is power
posted by solipsophistocracy at 4:03 PM on April 29 [1 favorite]

I'm half-white. Can I come and bask in half of my heritage? I'm sure I could learn a lot.
posted by Eideteker at 4:04 PM on April 29 [1 favorite]

I really wish they would stop going on about how awesome white people are.

It's specifically how awesome the normal white people are. Celebrate the average, the standard every-man! Come along and don your mask! We're all the same!

The problem with rallying around the battle-cry of "white power!" is that whites generally have power. So to get more power would require that you take some power away from non-whites. Brown Pride, on the other hand, don't seem offensive because historically minorities have been out of power. I see it as more of a march towards equality.

Bookhouse: I smell a meetup theme!
posted by filthy light thief at 4:05 PM on April 29 [1 favorite]

"Do you know why people are so afraid of us?" asks Thomas Robb, the soft-spoken national director—don't call him grand wizard!—of the Knights. "Because we're so normal.'"

So by definition then, white is not normal. Thanks Thom!
WTF is 'white' supposed to be anyway? There were no indigenous North Americans other than the native Americans who are not classed as 'white.' So they came from somewhere else. England or France or Germany or whatever. Why the hell are people so hung up on pigmentation as some sort of 'race' marker? People do know endogamic relationships lead to birth defects, yeah?

So either celebrate American culture and heritage by embracing the ethnic diversity the country rests on or stop with the silly attempts at elitism and marginalization because it makes many people itchy. And you're not the only fuckers with guns y'know.

And why the hell aren't people complaining about THESE kinds of socialists?
posted by Smedleyman at 4:05 PM on April 29 [5 favorites]

I have a much longer list of what blacks have done with me, or for me

Am I the only one who immediately went to the gutter with that comment?
posted by Brak at 4:06 PM on April 29

Last time I checked, I didn't see anyone being called a hater at Ocktoberfest or Swedish Days. The St. Patrick's Day parade went off without a hitch

As long you're not gay.
posted by Flunkie at 4:08 PM on April 29 [7 favorites]

Silly racist, you're not oppressed because you're white, you're oppressed because you're stupid. If there were still a eugenics movement, we'd put you first in line for sterilization.
posted by 0xdeadc0de at 4:10 PM on April 29 [3 favorites]

"This is a good point, and there's an argument to be made for an actual lower-to-lower-middle-class Mostly Southern (ie "redneck") culture that can and should be celebrated. If these guys were doing readings from True Grit and Pissing in the Snow, talking about Mark Twain, singing along to the Carter Family, drinking Cheer Wine and eating drop biscuits, and agreeing that the Civil War was not our best moment, then they'd be on to something (and I would want to party with them).

If these guys would let down their guards, they'd find a healthy intersection of cultural traits with the Hypothetical Black Guy, particularly when it comes to food."

Yeah, and I know more than a few black dudes who consider themselves country-loving rednecks (Charley Pride pride). But just like how you don't have to be black to appreciate jazz, you don't have to be white to love redneck culture, or NASCAR or any of that stuff.

I would love to grab a bunch of Pakistani/Afgan/Iranian folks and have them put on an Aryan rally, celebrating Aryan culture like dal and samosas.
posted by klangklangston at 4:10 PM on April 29 [21 favorites]

"I'm half-white. Can I come and bask in half of my heritage? I'm sure I could learn a lot."

"White people really dance like that?"
posted by klangklangston at 4:13 PM on April 29

The Klan's ability to move newspapers and magazines is undiminished, that's for sure. Thankfully, that's about all they have.
posted by kosem at 4:13 PM on April 29

Also, as these people are so proud of "white culture" I expect that they're renaissance men. They can, of course, recite from memory key speeches from complete works of Shakespeare and are intimate with Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. I expect that they can all cook using classical French techniques and have a good working knowledge of philosophy, law, mathematics and the many branches of science.
posted by ob at 4:17 PM on April 29 [12 favorites]

A single link to a Newsweek article—what an indispensible post!

Don't be hatin'
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:20 PM on April 29 [2 favorites]

I love white people too.

WHITE PEOPLE WHO DON'T SUCK.
posted by mudpuppie at 4:20 PM on April 29 [3 favorites]

The problem with rallying around the battle-cry of "white power!" is that whites generally have power. So to get more power would require that you take some power away from non-whites. Brown Pride, on the other hand, don't seem offensive because historically minorities have been out of power. I see it as more of a march towards equality.

That's pretty much it, I think. What's also interesting is the classest side of this. So long as lower class folks of disparate races and cultures are busy fighting each other, the people at the cap at the top of the pyramid can rest easy.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 4:24 PM on April 29 [6 favorites]

classist, that is.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 4:27 PM on April 29 [1 favorite]

Well, just so as long as they don't play D&D or read fantasy novels by the wrong people or anything.
posted by Artw at 4:28 PM on April 29 [1 favorite]

Joke noted, but Winston Zeddemore would likely object to this hypothesis.

He's seen shit that would turn you white!
posted by Artw at 4:32 PM on April 29 [4 favorites]

I worked at a wonderful museum in Northwest Arkansas while I was in grad school. Our community outreach specialist was a local who knew everyone and could charm anyone - she convinced several area moonshiners to talk about their craft in detail on audio tape. When the subject of Zinc came up, she would just shake her head, and gave the impression she was scared to even talk about it. All she would say is that the minute an outsider pulls up in an unknown vehicle, especially one with out of state plates, the natives of Zinc get edgy. On at least one occasion, some idiot drove over to Bentonville and Rogers and peppered some well-do-neighborhoods with their "literature."
posted by Coyote at the Dog Show at 4:38 PM on April 29

there's an argument to be made for an actual lower-to-lower-middle-class Mostly Southern (ie "redneck") culture that can and should be celebrated.

Oh, I loves me some NASCAR, gumbo and Shiner Bock. You wanna have "Redneck Days" and Lynryd Skynrd cover bands, sign me up. Let's just draw the line at the white sheets and the nooses, and we're all good.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 4:42 PM on April 29 [3 favorites]

Of course being racist, these renaissance men they would have to ignore any contribution by non-whites to any of these fields leaving them with huge gaps in their knowledge. Which just brings us back to where we started.
posted by ob at 4:46 PM on April 29 [1 favorite]

Don't you think that it's hard for the average man these days? The average white man

Uh, that's Average White Band, and it is tough. They're still touring, and most people think they broke up in the '70s.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:51 PM on April 29 [2 favorites]

Thom Robb was profiled in Jon Ronson's Adventures With Extremists. It was a good piece.
posted by anazgnos at 4:53 PM on April 29 [1 favorite]

They're still touring, and most people think they broke up in the '70s.

I bet they can pick up the pieces though...
posted by ob at 4:57 PM on April 29

I recently learned that white supremacist-type thinking is gaining a surprising veneer of respectability in the form of websites such as vdare.com.

The respectable part of white supremacist thinking seems to dwell on the "problem" of American being flooded with brown-skinned illegals.

I was shocked to poke around on vdare.com and learn that some otherwise seemingly-sensible people take them seriously.
posted by jayder at 4:58 PM on April 29 [1 favorite]

I'll just stick with my "fuck the KKK" comment from last April's Klan thread
posted by TedW at 4:58 PM on April 29 [1 favorite]

They're still touring, and most people think they broke up in the '70s.

I did a website for them back in… 96? 97? Something like that. They’ve changed it since, but it now looks even more dawn-of-the-web than then.
posted by Artw at 4:59 PM on April 29

I'm from Arkansas and I've never even heard of Zinc. Methinks these douchebags are getting more attention than they deserve.

And as an aside, the number one best way to protest these idiots if and when they show their faces in an actual rally is to mock them. Yell at them and it just makes them stronger. But rainbow wigs, costumes, ironic signage; if a photographer is getting shots of the racists, we should make them work all the more and get in front of the camera with your ridiculous banner, clown suit, etc. Nothing would piss them off more.
posted by zardoz at 5:03 PM on April 29 [4 favorites]

"Why is it the greatest champions of the white race always turn out to be the worst examples of it?"
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 5:09 PM on April 29 [5 favorites]

Stay classy, Arkansas!

You know, not all Arkansans are uneducated, toothless racists trolling barefoot around their mobile homes while lustfully looking at their family photo albums. Prejudice isn't just limited to race.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a tractor-pull to attend.
posted by Ugh at 5:11 PM on April 29 [2 favorites]

"Why is it the greatest champions of the white race always turn out to be the worst examples of it?"

I read a quote somewhere, can't remember who said it:

"Those who are most proud of their ancestors are the least worthy of them."
posted by jayder at 5:11 PM on April 29 [5 favorites]

I lived in Zinc, AR for eight years before moving to Phoenix in June. The media hype that Robb gets is way more than he deserves. The ruts in the road outside of his house, on a dry day, average 8-12 inches deep. There are sickly dogs covered in flies basking in the middle of the road during the summer. At least two or three children are always playing in Sugar Orchard Creek, being supervised by one of their sixteen year old mothers from the window of her trailer.

The headquarters for a new world order? No.

An influential heritage group? Hardly.

Just the last vestige of a once influential group of people who are now only alive through the power of the media.

PS - I've been to one of these get togethers. Of the fifty people attending, I'd estimate that thirty or forty work for the news outlets in some fashion.
posted by whoshotwho at 5:12 PM on April 29 [12 favorites]

Of the fifty people attending, I'd estimate that thirty or forty work for the news outlets in some fashion.

Yeah, that's why posts like this --- and the news articles on which they are based --- strike me as a bit on the yellow-journalism, fearmongering side.

It's like posting an article breathlessly informing us that there's a crotchety, racist old drunk living three doors down from you.

So someone crazy exists. Is that a surprise?
posted by jayder at 5:25 PM on April 29

I love white people.

Just not these white people.
posted by bwg at 5:27 PM on April 29 [2 favorites]

1. "Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have."
2. "Never go outside the expertise of your people."
3. "Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy."
6. "A good tactic is one your people enjoy."
8. "Keep the pressure on. Never let up."
9. "The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself."
12. "Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it."

7 out of 12 of Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals, these people are at least somewhat following. It's interesting that everyone criticizing them for lying to convert people ignores the fact that this is not just a legitimate tactic, but in some ways is the proper [rhetorical] thing for them to be doing.
posted by Lemurrhea at 5:27 PM on April 29 [1 favorite]

There's a certain voyeuristic pleasure in watching them be crazy and self-destructive. Or in this case, 30 journalists worth of voyeuristic pleasure.

the official metric unit is the voyeuroni, 2.32 journalists == one voyeuroni.
posted by GuyZero at 5:28 PM on April 29

At a KKK rally somewhere the other day, a guy dropped trou' at them.

I think that should become the standard for dealing with racist rallies: every counter-protestor should turn around and point their big brown eye at those useless fucks.
posted by five fresh fish at 5:31 PM on April 29 [2 favorites]

When I see Stephen Hawking or Martha Nussbaum or Anna Kournikova or Tom Brady show up at one of these things

What about James Watson?

Fwiw, the notion that intellectuals, polymaths or otherwise smart people are always free of racism and other types of prejudice strikes me as laughable. There are plenty of examples (Ezra Pound?) of intelligent folks who were nevertheless poisoned by stupid hatreds.
posted by ornate insect at 5:32 PM on April 29 [1 favorite]

. . .And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot
Fighting in the captain's tower
While calypso singers laugh at them
And fishermen hold flowers
Between the windows of the sea
Where lovely mermaids flow
And nobody has to think too much
About Desolation Row
posted by nola at 5:39 PM on April 29 [1 favorite]

Don Black, a 56-year-old former KKK grand wizard...[and] founder of Stormfront.org...

Eponysterical
posted by ornate insect at 5:41 PM on April 29 [1 favorite]

"I bet they can pick up the pieces though..."

Uh huh!
posted by klangklangston at 5:42 PM on April 29 [1 favorite]

But among his ideological kin, Robb equates minorities to fleas and favors a program for "voluntary resettlement" to home countries. Illegal immigrants, as well as blacks serving time in prison, should be deported, he says.

And then you'll deport your ass back to whatever European country you came from and leave the land to the remaining indigenous peoples, right? RIGHT??

And I'm sorry ... HoloHoax? Do people STILL try to argue that never happened? It's sick.
posted by starfyr at 5:42 PM on April 29 [1 favorite]

There are plenty of examples (Ezra Pound?) of intelligent folks who were nevertheless poisoned by stupid hatreds.

Don't forget William Shockley.
posted by TedW at 5:47 PM on April 29

I'm sorry, but that ain't mah cultcha and heritage; is that your cultchah and heritage?
posted by Astro Zombie at 5:53 PM on April 29

Ah, the joys of watching the poor and uneducated whites get it wrong again.

If you're going to be a successful racist, you need to use code words like "not electable" or "not working class" or "not a real American." Heck, you can even use "community organizer" in a pinch.

Furthermore, this bunch of idiots (who, by the way, I wouldn't hire at my factory because they're clearly members of the ignorant lower class) can't properly call themselves racist until they've denied somebody a job or actively worked to undermine or alienate a coworker because of their ethnicity.

Indeed, I suspect that most of these people have never actually had to interact much with people of different races. When they have, they've probably been rude or violent. Silly, ignorant po' white trash! If you are openly hostile or violent to somebody of a different race, they radicalize. If you want to successfully keep certain races down, you can't be so obvious. You need to smile and be polite and open up your arms to them to their faces - indeed, to the faces of your friends and family even when "those" people aren't around - but then do everything in your power to work against their interests when you're in private.

Oh, and one last thing. One good way keep all of these people - non-whites and poor whites - down where they belong is to make sure they hate each other. So, even though I appear to be making suggestions as to how they might be more successful in their pursuit of racist goals, I really don't wish them any success at all. Their ineffectiveness is part of what allows me to be solidly popular with 21% of the country.

Signed, A Somewhat Unfair Stereotype of the Republican Party
posted by Joey Michaels at 5:54 PM on April 29 [8 favorites]

-facepalm- This makes me so glad I decided to stay in a major southern urban university. I don't think I could take being outside of a place where white male is the minority in graduating high school classes. And I'm a white girl. Seriously.
posted by strixus at 6:00 PM on April 29

"Why is it that when a black man wants to preserve his culture and heritage it's a good thing, and when a white person wants the same thing, we're called haters?"

Y'see, black guys preserve their culture and heritage like this...
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 6:08 PM on April 29 [5 favorites]

filthy light thief and Bookhouse, that sounds like a promising meetup theme to me too, and I'm from New England.
posted by Songdog at 6:26 PM on April 29

I would love to grab a bunch of Pakistani/Afgan/Iranian folks and have them put on an Aryan rally, celebrating Aryan culture like dal and samosas.

This is a fantastic idea, klang. You could get 'em to bring Hindu and Buddhist religious tschotchkes with swastikas on 'em, and yer boyz could explain how they all's OG, that's why they swastikas bend the other way, yo.

I believe we may have Sacha Baron Cohen's next project on our hands.
posted by gompa at 6:30 PM on April 29 [2 favorites]

I can see their argument. It's occurred to me that there's a long, rich tradition behind those hoods and gowns, and as people love tradition and what they've grown up with, they might want to preserve a semblance of it even if it no longer applies. Sorta like how I used to go to a Catholic church every week, and now prefer an independent spirituality but still enjoy a good trip to my hometown church.

Or how about a vegetarian who can't help but want a tofurkey for Thanksgiving. It might look like they have started eating meat again, sure, but all they want is a little tradition even though their values have changed.
posted by scrowdid at 6:34 PM on April 29

Youth for Western Civilization. Them sly foxes.
posted by Flex1970 at 7:05 PM on April 29

Metafilter: sickly dogs covered in flies basking in the middle of the road during the summer
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 7:16 PM on April 29

In corollary: the Aryan Nations are back in north Idaho.

I remember one summer I was visiting relatives up in the Northwest, and there'd been a Klan meetup, back in their Aryan Nation heyday. There was a fire restriction, so the cross had to be "lit up" with Christmas lights. It was about 100 miles from where we were staying, and to a Texan 100 miles is nothing, it's "a little ways away".

I'd only heard about the Klan in my schoolbooks, how they had faded away, and only a few kooks really thought this way any more.

But this thing on the screen was a great big family picnic with kids running, dancing, music, everything. Looking for all the world, well, "normal".

I asked my grandmother (from the white side of the family) if there were a lot of these people about. She said "no, it's just a bunch of crazy people. If we don't pay any attention to them they'll go away."

Well they don't go away, they go undercover. I'm pretty pale, and I can't count the number of times I've been in a seemingly "whites only" conversation and someone gets started on "them". When I don't know the people, I get the hell out. When I do know them, I let them know it's not cool. It's fucking work to try to get people to understand that the other is not the enemy. I don't know how effective it is, because maybe they just shut up around me. It's damned discouraging at times.
posted by lysdexic at 7:25 PM on April 29 [2 favorites]

Yep, white power is totally about love and not hate, totally not about using terror and threats of violence for political ends.

Doesn't it feel good to be post racial?
posted by yeloson at 7:53 PM on April 29

Georgia candidate for governor says sex with mules, watermelon behind him
posted by ornate insect at 7:59 PM on April 29 [1 favorite]

I was trying to think of things that blacks have done to me

Yeah, me too. And I expanded it to other races, and then genders, and then just sort of did a big sweeping "which people have done the most harm to me, a middle-class-then-poor-then-middle-class white person in my late 30s"?

Turns out that other than one African-American kid in grade school and one Hispanic kid in high school, everyone that's ever caused me trouble has been white, and the majority of them have been kids (as was I) or wealthy (and my boss.) Or, of course, women (of all nationalities) who I was dating at some point or another.

And the odds would support that; after all, white is the majority, and I spend most of my time with people like myself. This, despite going to Chicago Public Schools and living in Los Angeles.

This all sounds obvious, of course. Still, until now I never really sat down to think about "who's done me wrong" before, other than on a case-by-case basis (ie "Joe's fucked me over", not "that Asian guy has fucked me over.") At it shows no useful correlation, much less causation. So I find myself surprised to think there are people out there who think like this. I suppose I shouldn't be.

I also suppose I should spend less time with kids, girls I've dated who now hate me, or wealthy white bosses. But I'm sure if I did, I'd just find out that a subset of every other sample does me just as much wrong.

Next up: thinking about who's done the most right by me.
posted by davejay at 8:12 PM on April 29 [2 favorites]

Georgia candidate for governor says sex with mules, watermelon behind him

I'm not sure if the mule sex being in the behind is going to help him, frankly.
posted by rkent at 8:14 PM on April 29

Metafilter: that's why they swastikas bend the other way, yo.
posted by jonp72 at 8:51 PM on April 29

In thinking about it, overprivileged white males are the ones that have done me the most harm. Fucking politicians.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:23 PM on April 29 [1 favorite]

I really wish we learned about affirmative action for white folks in school. I mean, there's just so much that could be covered!
posted by lunit at 10:44 PM on April 29

http://www.metafilter.com/81263/Boyz-in-the-hood#2546537: And as an aside, the number one best way to protest these idiots if and when they show their faces in an actual rally is to mock them. Yell at them and it just makes them stronger. But rainbow wigs, costumes, ironic signage; if a photographer is getting shots of the racists, we should make them work all the more and get in front of the camera with your ridiculous banner, clown suit, etc. Nothing would piss them off more.

The ARA have beaten you to it.

"Alex Linder the founder of VNN and the lead organizer of the rally kicked off events by rushing the clowns in a fit of rage, and was promptly arrested by 4 Knoxville police officers who dropped him to the ground when he resisted and dragged him off past the red shiny shoes of the clowns.

“White Power!” the Nazi’s shouted, “White Flour?” the clowns yelled back running in circles throwing flour in the air and raising separate letters which spelt “White Flour”.

“White Power!” the Nazi’s angrily shouted once more, “White flowers?” the clowns cheers and threw white flowers in the air and danced about merrily."
posted by Jilder at 2:44 AM on April 30 [17 favorites]

Next up: Straight Pride parades.
posted by slimepuppy at 3:33 AM on April 30

Reading all these comments on metafilter would lead one to believe there is hardly any racism left in the U.S.
Metafilter is so not representative of the way 'things' still are in this country. Too bad. But it's a fact folks. There is still a hell of a long way to go.
posted by notreally at 4:35 AM on April 30

You know, they can't even spell "clan" properly. Fail.
posted by MuffinMan at 5:18 AM on April 30 [1 favorite]

Last time I checked, I didn't see anyone being called a hater at Ocktoberfest or Swedish Days. The St. Patrick's Day parade went off without a hitch, and the Bastille Day 5K was kinda fun, too.

Columbus Day has seen controversy in local city Syracuse with defacement of the Columbus statue downtown and protests of the day's parade and festivities by upstate Native Americans (citing lethal colonialism in general and the taking of Native Americans as slaves and written advocacy of exploitation by ol' Cristobol specifically) -- to the dismay and anger and somewhat disingenuous confusion of local Italian-American groups.
posted by aught at 6:00 AM on April 30

White supremacists are always their own best counter-argument. When I see Stephen Hawking or Martha Nussbaum or Anna Kournikova or Tom Brady show up at one of these things, maybe I'll pay attention, but right now the folks you see at a white supremacists' rally are pretty much the dregs of humanity--not the most convincing examples, guys!

In my experience, people only proclaim pride in their pigmentation or ethnicity when they don't have much else to be proud about.
posted by Skeptic at 6:16 AM on April 30 [2 favorites]

If these people are so proud of their white heritage then why do they so frequently find it necessary to contrast themselves with some other supposedly less worthy race? No, I doubt there's much in the way of genuine pride to be found among them, much less love.
posted by metagnathous at 6:35 AM on April 30

Aren't single-link mainstream media posts passe?
posted by Carol Anne at 6:37 AM on April 30 [1 favorite]

As someone who belongs to a religion that attracts these idiots (no, not Christianity, the other one), I noticed 4 years ago they were trying to tone down the rhetoric. They've been talking not about White Power and shit like that, but about tribal formations of power and crap.

It has worked really well, too. I know a lot of people I thought had a brain who've joined the "soft racists." Won't be long before they are attending crap like this and peppering their webpages with the 14 Words and 88.
posted by QIbHom at 6:44 AM on April 30

is a bonfire for the Knights youth corps to roast their s'mores.

Mixing dark chocolate and white marshmallow within sight of a couple of crackers? How is it possible that such miscegenation can exist at a Klan rally? Clearly this is a high priority issue that they need to drop everything else, and focus on. Because if their kids are getting it in their heads that black and white mixed together make something better than their individual parts, just wait until they find out about the nightmares of interracial mating that is chocolate and peanut-butter.
posted by quin at 8:58 AM on April 30 [7 favorites]

The sad truth is that these people are the byproduct of white-on-white economic violence. If only there were more railroads to be laid or screws to be turned, these guys would have happy, productive lives to lead.

No, the sad part is that they keep electing the very people who are keeping them down. Pssst... Hey poor people: The GOP hates you.
posted by Sys Rq at 9:18 AM on April 30

P.S. Seriously, dude, "Aryan"? You realize that means Iranian, right?
posted by Sys Rq at 9:20 AM on April 30

Mixing dark chocolate and white marshmallow within sight of a couple of crackers? How is it possible that such miscegenation can exist at a Klan rally?

Not mention the use of chocolate itself. A product that originated with Central and South American Indians, while today two-thirds of the world's chocolate output comes from western Africa alone? Why, that's just treasonous.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 9:25 AM on April 30

Yeah, Marisa Stole the Precious Thing, but Hersheys Chocolate is from Hersheys, PA, and that's as 'Merican as anywhere else in The T.

/totally unfair dig at PA
posted by Joey Michaels at 2:36 PM on April 30

And there are too many people in America that will still listen to the mainstream media. They will still listen to, you know, to those in Washington on both sides of the aisle that say, "Oh, no, well, that's never going to happen." And so they sit there and do nothing. And those who do want to do something are afraid because they don't want to be deemed a kook. And they also are tired of being played by politicians in Washington.
Glenn Beck in interview with Michelle Batshitinsane Bachmann, who is claiming

BACHMANN: As you know, Russia, China, Brazil, India, South Africa, many nations have lined up now and have called for an international global currency, a One World currency and they want to get off of the dollar as the reserve currency.

BECK: Most people don't understand, Michele, what that means.

BACHMANN: What that means is all of the countries in the world would have a single currency. We would give up the dollar as our currency and we would just go with a One World currency.

This woman has a lot of media attention. You better be sure she doesn't have a lot of political power.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:24 PM on April 30

Oh, goody, more

BACHMANN: And actually, we want this debate because the science is on our side on this one. And the science indicates that human activity is not the cause of all this global warming. And that in fact, nature is the cause, with solar flares, etc.
…

BACHMANN: And really now in Washington, I'm a foreign correspondent in enemy lines. And I try to keep everyone back here in Minnesota know exactly the nefarious activities that are taking place in Washington. [...]

I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back. Thomas Jefferson told us, having a revolution every now and then is a good thing, and the people -- we the people -- are going to have to fight back hard if we’re not going to lose our country. And I think this has the potential of changing the dynamic of freedom forever in the United States.

In the context of this thread, I'm very interested to know her views on race relations/racism. I'd love to hear her questioned about her thoughts on the history of the KKK and its variations — and of their role in society today.

Go to ThinkProgress and do a search on her name. It's remarkable. This batshitinsane politician was elected to power. WTF, District of Whatever?!
posted by five fresh fish at 9:30 PM on April 30

The 6th. The Star-Tribune has a really pro-Bachmann article on that quote, among other things. It's an endless parade of jaw-dropping bon mots on a variety of subjects any time she speaks.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 10:06 PM on April 30

Wow. I went to the PVI page and sorted on PVI, the Partisan Voter Index. What differences can be noted in the various quality of life indicators between the very strong PVI blue States and very strong PVI red States? Someone has probably already done a fair comparison.

Bachmann is in a district with a PVI of +7 Republican. That's an order of magnitude less extreme than the most +Republican states, and less than a sixth of the greatest. In other words, a District that is liable to be fair middling in most socio-political ways.

In 2000, Bachmann defeated Gary Laidig to secure the GOP endorsement for State Senator for Minnesota District 56. Both sides have different positions on how this was achieved. Bachmann went on to secure the Republican nomination. She then defeated Ted Thompson of the DFL and Lyno Sullivan of the Independence party in the General Election and took her seat in the Minnesota State Senate.

So… how did she get elected in a state that probably isn't entirely batshitinsane?
posted by five fresh fish at 12:11 AM on May 1

The disappointing thing is that she's able to gain votes by claiming that Obama is EXTREME left allcaps exclamation exclamation, when the fact is that in comparison to other first-world nations, he is not anything approaching left. A significant part of the American population is every bit as deluded as the North Koreans, but instead of worshipping daffy duck, they worship a bizarre mismash of not-Christ-like “Christianity”, inflicted social misery, and fierce NIMBYism of a religio-racial-sexual nature.

And apparently a good number of these people believe in batshitinsane things, because Bachmann shoots off her mouth in ways that tread alarmingly close to the things schizophrenics spews. Like sending children off to re-education camps. WTF, Bachmann?! That's just crazy.

Enough people voted for her that she is in power. That is some fucking scary. America has a significant problem on its hands. Crazy people had and have the reins of control.
posted by five fresh fish at 12:28 AM on May 1

Note that Bachmann's neighbor is Minnesota's district 5, represented by Keith Ellison -- a Black Muslim!

The suburbs north of the Twin Cities that Bachmann represents are overwhelmingly white, wealthy developments separated by farms. Most of the businesses are supported by several large Catholic universities in the area. Even if some of Bachmann's constituents are embarrassed by her pugnacious outbursts, they likely support her low-tax position as wealthy residents of a liberal state.
posted by miyabo at 4:24 PM on May 1

I've lived in western Arkansas for 24 of my 28 years and have never ever heard of this town or any of this bullshit. I don't think this is a huge rally by any means.
posted by CwgrlUp at 8:32 PM on May 1