Free Republic

The fire this time is about invisibility. Our society expects the police to keep unemployed, poorly educated African-American men out of sight and out of mind. When they suddenly take center stage, illuminated by the flash and flicker of Molotov cocktails, we feign surprise. The proximate cause of the rioting in Ferguson, Mo., is the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was stopped, a witness has said, by a white policeman for walking in the street rather than on the sidewalk. Officer Darren Wilson shot Brown at least six times, according to a private autopsy and, reportedly, one conducted by...

"I'm in a store and the person doesn't obviously know that I carry the black card..."

Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr.’s wife Sandi, a Chicago alderman, was called a traitor to the community by local grassroots activist Mack Glover. Glover's accusation came during a December meeting about the housing and foreclosure problems in the black communities of Chicago’s south and west sides. His comments were directed at Jackson’s facilitation of the largest “planned urban development” (PUD) in the country. Glover accused Sandi Jackson of being a sellout for helping the project move forward and thereby giving a “white developer $100 million” to build a project in the black community, where Glover and other grassroots activists at the...

I just watched Marco Rubio answering CNN's Blitzer's questions sone by one, especially on trying to trick him into "denouncing" the 'TeaParty.' As Wolf asked about the 'alleged racism' in the TeaParty, Marco rejected it flat out, Marco: TeaParty is "everyday folks" in America who believe that America is the greatest country... they believe in less taxes... It's about policies... Wolf: What about hatered against Obama? Marco: I watched anti Bush jeered at Obama's inauguration...

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) accused House Democratic Whip James Clyburn (S.C.) of playing the race card instead of explaining increased spending he wants as part of a proposed stimulus package. In an interview with The Hill, Sanford said Clyburn, the highest-ranking black lawmaker in the House, injected racial politics into their disagreement over what constitutes an earmark by raising questions about Sanford’s wealth and the plantation his family runs. "He can't come up with a solid argument" in favor of the earmarks, Sanford said. President-elect Obama has said he wants a stimulus that is free of earmarks. Clyburn,...

Sen. John McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis complained that Sen. Barack Obama was playing the “race card” when he predicted that the Republican attack machines would try to scare voters by pointing to Obama's “funny name” and the fact that “he doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills and the five-dollar bills,” reports The Washington Post: McCain aides said they were driven to raise the race issue after three Obama appearances Wednesday in Missouri. In them, the Democrat took on McCain's recent aggressiveness and alluded to remarks about his name and looks that McCain campaign officials...

BATON ROUGE — A state office that oversaw a series of controversial charities tied to African-American legislators is being scrutinized by the FBI, Gov. Kathleen Blanco’s office confirmed Tuesday in annoucing that it had complied with a subpoena for records from the department. “The governor’s office staff has complied with the FBI’s request for information dating back to 1996 regarding certain programs funded by the former Office of Urban Affairs,” Blanco’s office said in a prepared statement. The governor’s office confirmed receipt of the subpoena Tuesday after a reporter inquired about it. Before it was abolished earlier this year, the...

We agreed on everything except one small point: he was certain that all Republicans were racist. His certainty illustrates everything that is broken between red and blue America. And the certainty of his death demonstrates how that brokenness will be repaired. My co-worker was a black Baby Boomer, who grew to manhood in the heyday of the civil rights movement. His opinions on crime, welfare, divorce, homosexuality, religion, and foreign policy would put him on the conservative wing of the Republican Party. But, as a young man in the sixties, he became convinced that all Republicans were racists. No amount...

Senate hopeful Democratic Congresswoman Denise Majette said Monday a company owned by her opponent, Republican Congressman Johnny Isakson, was guilty of discrimination. As both candidates crisscrossed the state, the Majette campaign distributed information that accused Isakson’s company, Northside Realty, of discriminating against Black homebuyers in the early 1970s. The company, which was founded by Isakson’s father and also run by him at the time of the charges, was found in violation of the Fair Housing Act by the federal government in 1970. “The public needs to know what his record is and I’m not doing anything other than informing the...

I am posting the flyers placed recently in North St. Louis, a predominately black area. The first one is from the group Americans Comming Together. It implys that republicans used waterhoses on blacks during the civil rights movement, although, as someone here pointed out, it was actually democrats who did this. See for yourself: The next one we found Sunday, on the windshields of cars at churches. We were putting out pro-bush, anti-abortion literature. Notice it's from "Clergy." I guess they don't care about Kerry's view on abortion: I was quite mad when I saw these. Complete condescending lies....

Last week in St. Louis Missouri, a racially-charged pamphlet has been the latest attempt made by Democrats to win minority votes in the African-American community. “This is what they used to do to keep us from voting,” proclaims the brochure, featuring a photo of a 1960’s snapshot of a firefighter hosing a colored person. “Now Attorney General John Ashcroft is trying to prevent African Americans from voting at all. Don’t let them do it again." Missouri Democratic spokeswoman Sarah Howard insists she absolutely will not pull the flier. This is an outrage. This year the attempts made by both parties...

THE MILLER MOMENT: Zell Miller's address will, I think, go down as a critical moment in this campaign, and maybe in the history of the Republican party. I kept thinking of the contrast with the Democrats' keynote speaker, Barack Obama, a post-racial, smiling, expansive young American, speaking about national unity and uplift. Then you see Zell Miller, his face rigid with anger, his eyes blazing with years of frustration as his Dixiecrat vision became slowly eclipsed among the Democrats. Remember who this man is: once a proud supporter of racial segregation, a man who lambasted LBJ for selling his soul...

SILVER SPRING, Md., Aug. 27 - For a moment, the Ethiopian-born activist seemed to melt into the crowd, blending into the sea of black professors, health experts and community leaders considering how to educate blacks about the dangers of prostate cancer. But when he piped up to suggest focusing some attention on African immigrants, the dividing lines were promptly and pointedly drawn. The focus of the campaign, the activist, Abdulaziz Kamus, was told, would be strictly on African-Americans."I said, 'But I am African and I am an American citizen; am I not African-American?' " said Mr. Kamus, who is an...

MILWAUKEE (AP) - Miller Brewing is celebrating the "50th Anniversary of Rock 'n' Roll" with eight commemorative beer cans that feature Rolling Stone cover shots of Elvis Presley, Blondie and others. What's missing, some say, is a black artist. Robert Thompson, a professor of pop culture at Syracuse University, called the absence "beyond conspicuous," because black artists often are credited with inventing rock 'n' roll. "It would be like doing a set of cans of six great Impressionist painters and not including any French people on it," he said. "It leaves out an enormous amount." The promotion, which ties rock's...

<p>The Bush administration is controlled by a "right-wing conspiracy," and the prospect of President Bush's re-election is "almost too dire to bear," NAACP Chairman Julian Bond told a gathering of liberal activists yesterday.</p> <p>Mr. Bond's remarks came in his opening address to the three-day "Take Back America" conference at Washington's Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, which will also feature presentations by billionaire left-wing financier George Soros, failed Democratic presidential contender Howard Dean, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and the Rev. Jesse Jackson.</p>

<p>CARLSON: Mr. Jackson, thanks for joining us. I want to read you a quote of yours. This is something you said yesterday on an Atlanta radio station AM 680 about the Masters Tournament. "The name does not really come from being the master of golf," you said. "You know it really comes from slave masters."</p>