Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Eye On Hate Talk Radio

Eye On Hate Radio Line - Up for May 31

From White Power to White Flour in Knoxville, Tenn;

Domestic Racist Terrorist Dies in Prison;

How Hate Groups Recruit Young People;

Interview with Heavy Fed;

Eye On Hate Radio is Expanding;

Eye On Hate Radio Going to NJ;
Plus Much More.

The May 31 Broadcast of Eye On Hate Radio will air at 8pm est. instead of 9pm
Eye On Hate Radio thanks all of our listeners for tuning into our weekly Thursday Night program.

www.blogtalkradio.com/eyeonhate

Monday, May 28, 2007

Clowns KKKick KKK Ass!


From KNoxville ARA :
Clowns KKKick KKK ass!

Saturday May 26th the VNN Vanguard Nazi/KKK group attempted to host a hate rally to try to take advantage of the brutal murder of a white couple for media and recruitment purposes. http://www.volunteertv.com/special

Unfortunately for them the 100th ARA (Anti Racist Action) clown block came and handed them their asses by making them appear like the asses they were.

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. http://www.volunteertv.com/home/headlines/7704982.html


“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.

“White Power!” the Nazi’s tried once again in a doomed and somewhat funny attempt to clarify their message, “ohhhhhh!” the clowns yelled “Tight Shower!” and held a solar shower in the air and all tried to crowd under to get clean as per the Klan’s directions.

At this point several of the Nazi’s and Klan members began clutching their hearts as if they were about to have a heart attack. Their beady eyes bulged, and the veins in their tiny narrow foreheads beat in rage. One last time they screamed “White Power!”

The clown women thought they finally understood what the Klan was trying to say. “Ohhhhh…” the women clowns said. “Now we understand…”, “WIFE POWER!” they lifted the letters up in the air, grabbed the nearest male clowns and lifted them in their arms and ran about merrily chanting “WIFE POWER! WIFE POWER! WIFE POWER!”

It was at this point that several observers reported seeing several Klan members heads exploding in rage and they stopped trying to explain to the clowns what they wanted.

Apparently the clowns fundamentally misunderstood the nature of the rally, they believed it was a clown rally and came in force to support their pointy hated brethren. To their dismay, despite their best jokes and stunts and pratfalls the Nazis and Klan refused to laugh, and indeed became enraged at the clowns misunderstanding and constant attempts to interpret the clowns instruction.

The clowns on the other hand had a great time and thought the Nazis were the funniest thing they had ever seen and the loud laughter of over 100 counter protesters greeted every attempt of the Nazis and Klan to get their message out, whatever that was.

Many of the local Knoxvillians that came to counter demonstrate had no illusions about why these out of state bad clowns with swastikas were doing in their town.

“KKK YOU CAN’T HIDE, WE CHARGE YOU WITH GENOCIDE!”

“GAY, STRAIGHT, BLACK, WHITE ONE STRUGGLE ONE FIGHT!”

“U.G.L.Y. KLAN YOU AIN’T GOT NO ALIBI, YOU UGLY, YOU UGLY”

Were just a few of the chants that the non clown counter protesters rained down upon the Nazis. The clowns interacted with the non clown protesters with glee and even participated in a chant or two, though apparently with no idea that the Nazis were indeed not clowns thinking it was just part of the show.

In the end the 20 or so sad VNNers left with their tails between their legs. At this point over 150 counter demonstraters were present. The clowns seeing how dejected and sad the Nazi’s looked began singing to cheer them up.

“hey hey hey hey, ho ho ho ho—good bye, good bye” everyone sang waving their arms in the air in unison.

After the VNNers left in their shiny SUVs to go back to Alabama and all the other states that they were from the clowns and counter demonstrators began to march out of the area chanting ‘WHOSE STREETS? OUR STREETS!”

But the cops stopped the clowns and counter protestors. “Hey, do you want an escort” an African-American police officer on a motorcycle asked. “Yes” a clown replied. “We are walking to Market Square in the center of town to celebrate.”

The police officers got in front of the now anti racist parade and blocked the entire road for the march through the heart of Knoxville. An event called imagination station was taking place and over 15,000 thousand students and their parents were in town that weekend. Many of them cheered as the clowns, Knoxvillians and counter protestors marched through the heart of Knoxville singing and laughing at the end of the Nazi’s first attempt at having a rally in Knoxville.

On June 16th the Stormfront Nazis are trying to have a second rally in Knoxville. Clowns, anarchist, activist and others are all invited to come and creatively and nonviolently help us confront these Nazis and give them an even bigger counter rally than the first. If you can come, or can help email.

knoxvilleantiracistaction@yahoo.com



http://www.myspace.com/knoxvilleantiracistaction

Thanks to Three Rivers Earth First!, Mountain Justice Summer, Katuah Earth First!, Knoxville Anti Racist Action, Katuah Anti Racist Action and the clown block for utterly wrecking the failed attempt of the Nazis to get a foothold in Knoxville. In one day Three Rivers Earth First!ers posted over 1000 anti racist fliers all over Knoxville recruiting people to come, this is just one example of all the work and effort that went in to creatively and nonviolently rejecting the VNNers out of Knoxville.

Racist Terrorist David Lane Dead (author of 14words)

Eye On Hate Radio - we are getting unconfirmed reports that racist terrorist and author of the "14 words" has died at age 69 in prison in Indiana.

In the 1980's,Lane was a member of the neo nazi gang "the order", he was convicted of violating talk show host Alan Berg's civil rights - Berg was murdered by the Order because of his outspoken anti racist views and being Jewish.

Lane and other members of the Order were also involved in bank robbery,armour car robberies and numerous other crimes.

Lane had strong ties to Aryan Nations and the Ku Klux Klan.

As more info comes in we will post it.

Floyd

Eye On Hate Radio

Saturday, May 26, 2007

LINDER NIXED IN KNOXVILLE

Preliminary Reports say that Alex Linder has been arrested. He was unable to give his speech and the VNN bunch is speculating that he will be held and "played" with for a few days.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Kevin Strom - One Very Sick Individual



What has this man done? His name is Kevin Alfred Strom and he is a White Nationalist. Long considered one of the more erudite members of the white supremacist movement, Strom carried his message of racism and anti-Semitism to the air waves and to the internet. But, that isn't why he is in trouble.

A few months ago he was arrested on charges of child pornography and witness tampering and intimidation. Today - we finally heard about some of the evidence. In spite of all of the speculation that it was his estranged wife, Elisha Strom, who was setting him up, the truth is that Elisha was the recipient of his intimidation - and perhaps, even more recently, an attempt on her life.

Based on the evidence presented to the Grand Jury, it appeared to some that the child pornography charges were possibly the result of just internet surfing and unwittingly stumbling into an unwanted site. Those who were stalwart supporters of Strom would have liked to believe that. Then there were those who said, "I told you so."

What many didn't realize was that the evidence presented to a Grand Jury is generally minimal - just what law enforcement believes it needs to get an indictment. Strom is scheduled for trial on June 20th and a preliminary hearing was held today.

According to the prosecution, Kevin Alfred Strom was reported to authorities by the parents of young girl who Strom is accused of stalking for well over a year. Additionally, it is claimed that hundreds of pictures of that child and hundreds of pictures of child porn were found on his computer. I think you will agree that this is one very sick individual. In it's coverage the Daily Progress enumerates the prosecutions' case:

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Supremacist harassed child, prosecutors say
By Liesel Nowak
lnowak@dailyprogress.com | 978-7274
Friday, May 25, 2007


A self-proclaimed white supremacist facing child pornography charges previously harassed a local 9-year-old girl, according to a revealing pre-trial motion filed Thursday by federal prosecutors.

The filing comes a month before Kevin Alfred Strom, 50, is set to go to trial in U.S. District Court in Charlottesville on charges that he possessed child porn, enticed the girl for sex and tampered with a witness.

Between Septem-ber 2005 and December 2006, Strom got to know, contacted and eventually harassed the girl, according to the court filing.

Strom went to the child’s school, prosecutors said, and on one occasion hid behind a tree so the girl’s parents would not see him.

The student transferred to another school because of the repeated attempts Strom made to contact her, but the defendant researched and discovered the girl’s new class schedule, prosecutors allege.

Using a pseudonym, the document states, Strom sent the girl gifts, including a CD, a DVD, an angora sweater and a bouquet of roses.

Mark Potok, the director of the Intelligence Project, an arm of the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center that researches and tracks hate groups, said Strom has been involved with the neo-Nazi movement for 30 years.

In 2005, Strom split with the National Alliance - formerly the largest white supremacist group in the country - to form the National Vanguard, which he ran from his Greene County home, Potok said.

According to the prosecution’s recent motion, a search of Strom’s personal computer revealed poems, “to be sung to the tune of ‘Here We Come a-Wassailing,’” written by the defendant, including the phrases “my love for [the girl] is not a sin.”

In addition to the prose, hundreds of pictures of the girl and hundreds of images of other children, some unclothed and in sexually suggestive positions, were stored on Strom’s computer, according to the court papers.

An unidentified witness in the case, prosecutors said, caught Strom naked at his computer looking at pictures of young girls. Paperwork filed by the defendant indicates that the witness is the defendant’s wife, Elisha Strom.

As a result of the his wife’s discovery, the couple signed a one-page notarized contract, prosecutors allege, in which Strom agreed to see a counselor until he is “free from being sexually drawn to children.” Prosecutors attached a copy of the document to their motion.

At one point, however, Strom labored under the mistaken impression that his wife had gone to authorities with her allegations against him, according to the prosecution’s motion. Consequently, Strom “accelerated a campaign to intimidate and discredit her,” which included physical assaults and verbal threats, prosecutors claim.

According to defense filings, Strom’s contact with the girl had nothing to do with the pornography charges against him and that it would be prejudicial to try the pornography counts with the enticement charge.

Defense attorneys say that there is “no evidence to suggest that Strom actually touched [the girl] or that she ever touched him.”

“He is essentially charged with attempting to make an attempt to commit sexual battery,” a defense motion states.

A judge will hear arguments on whether the charges against Strom should be divided into separate trials on Tuesday.

Daily Progress staff writer Rob Seal contributed to this story.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

EYE ON HATE

Uh...oh! If you guys missed the Eye On Hate Show tonight - you may want to go and check out the archives. Chris Irwin from the Knoxville ARA joins us with the skinny on what the Nazi's can expect this Saturday. And.....the calls are somewhat, shall I say, surprising. Apparently, there are some who don't like Floyd's stand on immigration and would love to take away our freedom of speech.

TO THE ARCHIVED SHOW

Monday, May 21, 2007

IT AIN'T ABOUT YOU

A horrendous murder, two beautiful young people dead, families and friends torn apart, and a bunch of Nazi's making the wounds deeper - Channon's parents speak out and their message for the Nazi's - "IT AIN'T ABOUT YOU."

TO ORIGINAL ARTICLE

The Story Of Gary and Deana Christian
Posted: 11:21 PM May 20, 2007
Last Updated: 10:10 AM May 21, 2007
Reporter: Gordon Boyd
The Story of Gary and Deana Christian
Knoxville (WVLT) -- They know they'll wait almost a year for the first of the accused killers to go to trial.

But in the five and a half months since their daughter's murder, Gary and Deana Christian have found that grief and justice come in their own time and on their own terms.

"They were going to get a movie," said Gary Christian, father of Channon Christian. "Watch a movie and eat, and then they were going get a movie and come over here, and I said all right be careful, I love you, and that's the last thing she said to me.”


Those are the words, we've read in the police reports and news stories that detail the deaths of Channon Christian and Chris Newsom.

What Gary and Deana Christian hadn't discussed was their own search, when it became clear everything was wrong.

"We found it, the 4-Runner, she wasn't in it," Gary said. "I didn't know at the time that she was four houses down from me."

That reality, of a daughter and her boyfriend, carjacked, raped, robbed and murdered is one they've struggled to grasp.

For the parents, it was much easier to deal with the search for suspects.

"It's a miracle," Gary said. "They don't catch people like this that quick."

It then became difficult confronting them in court, once caught.

"We do it because we have to do it for her," Deana Christian said.

"All I see is no different than hunting back in East Texas and sitting in a deer stand and looking out and seeing a pack of wild dogs," Gary said. "They just bring them in, one at a time."

They are confrontations that reporters have called tense.

"That's pure hate," Gary said. "That ain't tense."

"I mean they took our baby girl," Deana said, "what could you expect?"

Channon's parents would hope for life sentences, but they would prefer the death penalty.

"That's the closest thing I'll ever get to living up to my promise that I made my daughter," Gary said.

Whatever speculators may claim, they're firm when they say its not it's not black or white.

"I don't think this started out to have anything to do with race," Deana said. "They were just at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Wild animals come in lots of different colors," Gary said, "the end result is that they are still wild animals."

In pictures they have memories of a smile to light up a room.

They have flowers from her funeral, hundreds of cards, from as far as Switzerland and Chile and a quilt, made of all their daughters T-shirts.

The Gary and Deana Christian even have a scrapbook that Channon's friends made for her 22nd birthday, just three Sundays ago.

"Everybody that knew her has got a big hole in them where she was," Gary said.

Deana Christian says her first talk with Chris Newsom's parents was to tell them that their son was missing. She and her husband say the murders have made them less secure.

Gary believes they may have made him meaner. To those groups who'd use this case to talk about racially motivated crimes, Gary Christian has but four words, "It ain't about you."

I agree - it isn't about you. However, the Nazi's are in such a state of absolute unrest that they won't get the message. Lacking any sort of understanding about the pain and anguish being experienced by the freinds and families of these two precious individuals, they will desecrate their memories with their presence in Knoxville both this month and next.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Racial Demons In Louisiana



I wonder how many other small towns are in the same boat.

Racial demons rear heads
After months of unrest between blacks and whites in Louisiana town, some see racism and uneven justice

TO ORIGINAL ARTICLE


By Howard Witt
Tribune senior correspondent

May 18, 2007, 10:15 PM CDT

JENA, La. -- The trouble in Jena started with the nooses. Then it rumbled along the town's jagged racial fault lines. Finally, it exploded into months of violence between blacks and whites.

Now the 3,000 residents of this small lumber and oil town deep in the heart of central Louisiana are confronting Old South racial demons many thought had long ago been put to rest.

One morning last September, students arrived at the local high school to find three hangman's nooses dangling from a tree in the courtyard.

The tree was on the side of the campus that, by long-standing tradition, had always been claimed by white students, who make up more than 80 percent of the 460 students. But a few of the school's 85 black students had decided to challenge the accepted state of things and asked school administrators if they, too, could sit beneath the tree's cooling shade.

"Sit wherever you want," school officials told them. The next day, the nooses were hanging from the branches.

African-American students and their parents were outraged and intimidated by the display, which instantly summoned memories of the mob lynchings that once terrorized blacks across the American South. Three white students were quickly identified as being responsible, and the high school principal recommended that they be expelled.

"Hanging those nooses was a hate crime, plain and simple," said Tracy Bowens, a black mother of two students at the high school who protested the incident at a school board meeting.

But Jena's white school superintendent, Roy Breithaupt, ruled that the nooses were just a youthful stunt and suspended the students for three days, angering blacks who felt harsher punishments were justified.

"Adolescents play pranks," said Breithaupt, the superintendent of the LaSalle Parish school system. "I don't think it was a threat against anybody."

Yet it was after the noose incident that the violent, racially charged events that are still convulsing Jena began.

First, a series of fights between black and white students erupted at the high school over the nooses. Then, in late November, unknown arsonists set fire to the central wing of the school, which still sits in ruins. Off campus, a white youth beat up a black student who showed up at an all-white party. A few days later, another young white man pulled a shotgun on three black students at a convenience store.

Finally, on Dec. 4, a group of black students at the high school allegedly jumped a white student on his way out of the gym, knocked him unconscious and kicked him after he hit the floor. The victim—allegedly targeted because he was a friend of the students who hung the nooses and had been taunting blacks—was not seriously injured and spent only a few hours in the hospital.

But the LaSalle Parish district attorney, Reed Walters, opted to charge six black students with attempted second-degree murder and other offenses, for which they could face a maximum of 100 years in prison if convicted. All six were expelled from school.

To the defendants, their families and civil rights groups that have examined the events, the attempted murder charges brought by a white prosecutor are excessive and part of a pattern of uneven justice in the town.

The critics note, for example, that the white youth who beat the black student at the party was charged only with simple battery, while the white man who pulled the shotgun at the convenience store wasn't charged with any crime at all. But the three black youths in that incident were arrested and accused of aggravated battery and theft after they wrestled the weapon from the man—in self-defense, they said.

"There's been obvious racial discrimination in this case," said Joe Cook, executive director of the Louisiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, who described Jena as a "racial powder keg" primed to ignite. "It appears the black students were singled out and targeted in this case for some unusually harsh treatment."

That's how the mother of one of the defendants sees things as well.

"They are sending a message to the white kids, 'You have committed this hate crime, you were taunting these black children, and we are going to allow you to continue doing what you are doing,'" said Caseptla Bailey, mother of Robert Bailey Jr.

Bailey, 17, is caught up in several of the Jena incidents, as both a victim and alleged perpetrator. He was the black student who was beaten at the party, and he was among the students arrested for allegedly grabbing the shotgun from the man at the convenience store. And he's one of the six students charged with attempted murder for the Dec. 4 attack.

The district attorney declined repeated requests to be interviewed for this story. But other white leaders insist there are no racial tensions in the community, which is 85 percent white and 12 percent black.

"Jena is a place that's moving in the right direction," said Mayor Murphy McMillan. "Race is not a major local issue. It's not a factor in the local people's lives."

Still others, however, acknowledge troubling racial undercurrents in a town where only 16 years ago white voters cast most of their ballots for David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan leader who ran unsuccessfully for Louisiana governor.

"I've lived here most of my life, and the one thing I can state with absolutely no fear of contradiction is that LaSalle Parish is awash in racism — true racism," a white Pentecostal preacher, Eddie Thompson, wrote in an essay he posted on the Internet. "Here in the piney woods of central Louisiana … racism and bigotry are such a part of life that most of the citizens do not even recognize it."

The lone black member of the school board agrees.

"There's no doubt about it—whites and blacks are treated differently here," said Melvin Worthington, who was the only school board member to vote against expelling the six black students charged in the beating case. "The white kids should have gotten more punishment for hanging those nooses. If they had, all the stuff that followed could have been avoided."

And the troubles at the high school are not over yet.

On May 10, police arrested Justin Barker, 17, the white victim of the Dec. 4 beating. He was alleged to have a rifle loaded with 13 bullets stashed behind the seat of his pickup truck parked in the school lot. Barker told police he had forgotten it was there and had no intention of using it.

hwitt@tribune.com
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune

Thursday, May 17, 2007

PEACE & LOVE TO EDDIE


We have some sad news about a really awesome Citizen Against Hate. Many of you will remember an interview that Eye On Hate did with Edward “Eddie” Lee on April 21st in regards to the NSM rally in South Carolina. On May 14th, Eddie lee passed away from a sudden heart attack. Eddie was a board member of the Carolina Peace Organization and was only 44 years old. From the Carolina Peace Organizations website…I read the following.

Eddie was committed to waging peace through non-violent action, including creative critique alongside other puppetistas at the School of the Americas protest in Ft. Benning, GA. Eddie also worked to support U.S. troops and to bring them home from Iraq, and advocated for peace and justice in Israel and Palestine. As a long-time participant in Food Not Bombs, he shared food and good will with hundreds of Columbia residents Sundays in Finlay Park. Most recently, Eddie co-organized a counter-protest of the Neo-Nazi rally on April 21st.


Please keep Eddie's wife, Julie, in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be sent to Carolina Peace Resource Center and the SC Progressive Network (www.scpronet.com). Both websites have homepage "donate now" buttons, or you can send checks to:
Carolina Peace Resource Center, PO Box 7933 Columbia, SC 29202

We will put the information up at citizens against hate dot com and nikki’s nest at niksnest.blogspot.com

It’s always difficult to lose someone you care so much about – and even more difficult to report on that loss. To Julie, I want to say that I hope she feels the arms of all of us around her and that she knows how special she and Eddie are. Their dedication to making this world a kinder and gentler place has been felt and heard in more than just South Carolina. Julie, know that your anti-racist family is here for you and should you need a shoulder, we have lots of them. Be strong, and take care – we’ll talk again soon. And to Eddie – we love you and hope that we make you proud in our future endeavors. God bless and keep you in his arms for all eternity.

NEW TIME

NEW TIME SLOT!

Just for tonight, Eye On Hate Radio will air at 8:00 EST instead of the usual 9:00 time. Next week we will be back on track.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

My People - My Ass


I want to know when this happened! I demand to know when the vote took place and why didn’t we know about it? Who the hell went to the polls and elected these idiots to speak for us? No, I’m not talking about Congress or the President. I’m talking about people like David Duke, Hal Turner, Alex Linder, Bill White, Michael Blevins, Tom Metzger, Don Black, etc. You know – the so called “leaders” of the so-called “Pro White Movement.”

Let’s look at this for a minute. First of all, I didn’t know there was a “Pro-White Movement” being started. I have known for decades that there are certain people who are on the fringe of our society who are not “normal.” I have also known that there are those who would like to put all non-whites into a terminal sleep. But…a “movement?” I always thought it was a White Supremacist Movement or the Hate Movement.

But, it seems that somewhere, at some time, someone decided that the white race needed leaders and a movement all of its’ own. When was that? Why was that? Well, it quickly becomes evident that the racists from the White Supremacist Movement decided that since “normal” people didn’t much care for their brand of illogical “logic” that they would simply change the name. Hence, the White Supremacist Movement has become the “Pro-White Movement.” What colossal moron thought they could bamboozle the public into believing that this was somehow a kinder or gentler form of racism, I’m not sure – but it isn’t working too well.

Even more to the point, however, is that in all of their skewed and deranged wisdom, they believe that they speak for all of white America. No one asked me – and I’ll be willing to bet that no one asked you. Therefore, it is safe to assume that these so-called “leaders” are self-appointed Neanderthals who truly believe that they speak for an entire race of people.

What’s even worse is that there is little that comes out of their mouth that I, or any sane individual, agree with. Yet, they spew their hateful agenda from the steps of public buildings, or from the corners of our National Monuments, and claim that they are speaking for white people. Now, that pisses me off! But…it gets worse…

In their twisted representation of being the spokespeople for the white race, anyone not in agreement with them is now considered – are you ready for this? – anti-white. That’s right. In the bonehead mentality if you do not believe that all of the Jewish people are the spawns of Satan who need to be wiped off the face of the earth, if you do not advocate sending all black people back to Africa, if you don’t accept the superiority of the white race then you are absolutely anti-white and when they come to power you will suffer the Day of the Rope.

In addition to all of this whacked out ideological vomit, many of them consider themselves “patriots.” Yeah – that’s what America needs – a group of dedicated and loyal misfits who will rewrite history and bring us all up to speed on the true American Dream.

Now, if you are wondering what kind of brain injury could possibly cause such a scrambled and convoluted way of thinking, don’t trouble yourself trying to figure it out. Suffice it to say that, at least for now, they are relatively impotent.

Let this be a message to all of them, however. You do not speak for the white race and whoever told you that you do played a very cruel joke on you. If anything, you are a disgrace to the white race and one that I really hate having to apologize for. As you speak of all of the accomplishments made by “European Americans” you besmirch each and every one of those accomplishments with the ignorance that you display.

You are an embarrassment. A blight, not just on the white race but, on the human race. You have the chutzpah to claim to speak for the entire race, yet you lack common decency and human understanding. You are little men in a melee of self-loathing attempting to foist your own pitiful, self-deluded view of the world off on to others who are equally as dysfunctional. And, when you refer to us as "your people" you really show what a deranged reality you have.

If you didn’t make me so angry, I might just feel sorry for you. Instead of pity, however, I have nothing less than contempt. You proffer your same old tired rhetoric laced with a few euphemistic hooks that you think will get you into the mainstream when, in fact, the only place it takes you is into the cauldron of others labeled freaks, geeks, and weirdoes.

The one thing that I am most thankful for in all of this is that none of you – not one – will ever be able to persuade mainstream U.S.A. into buying what you are selling. Too bad for you – but, oh so good for us.

Sunday, May 06, 2007

COLD SHOT - May 7

In this latest Cold Shot Nicole Nichols gives her thoughts on the upcoming Knoxville rallies and demonstrations; A commentary on the current movement to make the "n-word" illegal; and some very pointed comments about the actions of Joe Bednarsky.

Don't forget the Thursday night Eye On Hate show beginning at 9:00 EST where you can call in and comment on any of the commentary.

TO THE SHOW

TO CONTACT NICOLE

Thursday, May 03, 2007

ALARM BELLS RING AS SLUR IS FORBIDDEN

Now, I am aware that there are some very passionate thoughts and feelings all tied up with this issue - but I think it is worth discussing since it has been brought to the forefront.


WP: Movement spreads against ‘n-word’
Slur ignites passions in churches, campuses and beyond

By Avis Thomas-Lester
The Washington Post
Updated: 12:18 a.m. CT May 2, 2007
The very mention of the word sends Jennifer Lowery-Bell's mind spinning back to a painful time.

"That word reminds me of lynchings and black men disappearing in the night and all of the dehumanizing things that used to happen to African Americans," said Lowery-Bell, 59, a black woman raised in the South. "I think no one should ever use that word. I think it should be against the law."

Long before music mogul Russell Simmons called on the recording industry last week to strike the N-word, Lowery-Bell of Largo wrote her governor, her county executive and her County Council member, asking them to help ban the six-letter racial slur. She's part of an upsurge of popular sentiment against the word, not only in the entertainment industry but in churches, schools and city halls.

The Rev. Grainger Browning of Ebenezer A.M.E. Church in Fort Washington has been urging his members to stop using it. Students at the historically black Bowie State University banished the word from two dorms and started charging those who use it $25 fines.

Nationally, the NAACP held a symbolic funeral for the word two weeks ago, part of its Stop Campaign to strike such language from the lexicon. The publisher of black magazines Ebony and Jet ordered writers late last year to stop using the word. The New York City Council passed a resolution in February asking residents to refrain from using the word. And tiny Brazoria in southeastern Texas tried unsuccessfully to pass an ordinance leveling $500 fines for uttering the word.

During deliberations there, black residents protested the proposed ban more vigorously than their white neighbors, Mayor Kenneth Corley said.

"When whites use it, they use it to hurt," said Corley, who is white. "When the black community uses it, they disrespect themselves."

His experience touches on the central paradox of the campaign to excise the N-word from common usage: The effort is aimed not just at shutting down racists, shock jocks and supremacists. It's also aimed at educating African Americans, many of them born after the civil rights era, who have adopted the word as an endearment.

There is a difference, said Leonard Young, 19, of Fort Washington: Racists end the word with an "er," African Americans end it with an "a."

"I don't think it's offensive," said Young, a black computer science major at Prince George's Community College. "It hasn't been offensive since slavery. It's only offensive when people of other races use it."

Fallout from what Imus said
The movement to ban the word picked up momentum last year after actor Michael Richards's racist rant toward black patrons in a Los Angeles comedy club. It got another boost this month when shock jock Don Imus referred to the predominantly African American Rutgers University women's basketball team in racially loaded terms.

The fallout from Imus's comments led to the axing of his show on MSNBC and CBS Radio and prompted music mogul Simmons to call on recording artists to stop using the N-word, "bitch" and "ho" in versions of songs played on the radio and in music videos.

The Imus controversy also sparked conversations among African Americans over dinner tables, on lawn chairs and in church pews.

Young contemplated the matter while on a lunch break with Devin Tyler, 18, of Hyattsville, a business-hotel management major. Tyler, who is black, admits using the N-word with his black friends. He has also heard his parents say it but in a different way.

"My parents use it to talk about people who are doing wrong . . .," he said. "They use it about people who are acting negative."

Horace Avent, 39, a black security officer from Waldorf, said he uses the N-word "with the fellas when we are playing around." He doesn't feel he is being insensitive to his history. "It's a word, and I'm not offended by a word."

Marcia Harris, 38, is trying to combat that kind of thinking. Co-founder of the Web site Banthenword.com, the New York woman said she carries around a book with graphic pictures of lynchings and pulls it out whenever she hears an African American use the N-word.

"I show them those pictures of black men being lynched when you know the racists who did it were saying this word," she said. "This word came from hate. It was about hating us. It is not an endearment."

That sort of education, said Jahar Abraham, 39, of Southeast Washington, changed his mind.


Abraham, manager and promoter of the go-go band Familiar Faces, said he used the N-word until a mentor exposed him to its use in African American history.

"Some of these are kids who don't know their history. You know what MLK means to them? Money-loving killers, not Martin Luther King Jr. They took those initials and made them about how they feel," Abraham said. "That's what they do with that word."

In his book "The N Word: Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn't, and Why," The Washington Post's Jabari Asim traces the open use of the slur by African Americans to the late 1960s. He argues that the word, no matter who utters it, has "abetted our systematic dehumanization."

Mark Anthony Neal, a professor of black popular culture at Duke University, disagrees, saying African American artists use the word "to capture the complexity of black life." He said the real debate should be over "stopping the negative use of it."

"If you look at how black artists have used that word, historically, they have used it in creative ways, the same way black cooks have made chitterlings into a delicacy," Neal said.

But Browning, the Fort Washington pastor, said the wide usage in books, films and comedy acts -- including those of such black comedians as Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock and Dave Chapelle -- has desensitized young people to the word's ugly history.

Adults need to share their painful experiences, Browning said, recalling the slurs he heard as a 13-year-old in 1965, integrating a white high school in Hampton, Va.

‘The pain of our history’
"As adults, we sometimes shield our children about the pain of our history by not telling them," Browning said. "But they need to know. They need to know how that word has been used against us, so they will know that they should never use it."

At Bowie State, students and administrators decided the best way to stop young black men from saying the word was to ban it from their dorms and levy fines on those who use it. Artie L. Travis, vice president of student affairs, said students in the two male dorms voted for the ban two years ago.

"Part of what we are trying to do is prepare them for being out in the world and to teach them leadership roles," he said. "That word does not go along with those goals."

Tsion Bennett, 24, a communications major and spoken word performer at Bowie State who is black, said he does not use the N-word in his writing but admits to dropping it in casual conversation. "I can understand why, in an environment that's trying to encourage elevated thinking, you would say, 'Let's begin to distance ourselves from that word,' " he said.

Lowery-Bell said she decided to approach Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) after hearing about Corley's effort in Texas. "Governor O'Malley, a policy of this type will provide some healing and closure for African Americans," she wrote in February, sending copies to Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) and council member Samuel H. Dean (D-Mitchellville.)

An O'Malley spokesman said the letter has been referred to the governor's legislative staff for further study. In 2002, while O'Malley was mayor of Baltimore, the City Council there passed a nonbinding resolution condemning the N-word.

"I don't think they took me seriously," Lowery-Bell said. "People tend not to think this is important. But to me and other African Americans, it is very important."

Staff writer Lonnae O'Neal Parker contributed to this report.

© 2007 The Washington Post Company
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18426888/

EYE ON HATE LIVE TONIGHT


Eye On Hate Radio Line -up for May 3rd Broadcast.
Join Eye On Hate Radio at 9pm est as we address the issues of organized racism and bigotry.
Some of the topics we will be covering are :

Eye On Hate Special Report "State of Hate in Pennsylvania";

Pennsylvania: No Place for Hate Day
The Pennsylvania General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution designating May 1, 2007 as "No Place for Hate" day.

A report from Andrew from ARA Nashville on the Homophobic Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church;

Dangerous felon with KKK ties moves to the Carolina's.

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