RK ARCHIVE - Sen. Allen knows what a noose means and so do I.

There is no was you can live in the United States and not understand what a damn noose and the confederate flag means. The fact that Tweety totally soft balled the questions about the noose and the flag and let Sen. Allen sit there and him and haw with his answer was outrageous. Matthews even went so far as to claim that he was doing his part to dispel any controversy about these issues. Chris Matthews doing his part to insulate Sen. Allen's character from attacks that may come from him celebrating this red neck bullshit is nauseating. Let me just remind everybody how Tweety crawled all over Clinton during the 90's for things that he did during the 70's and 80's and no matter how it was explained he was never satisfied.

Why should Americans, especially black southern Americans like me who live with the legacy of Jim Crow not have just as much outrage about this overt racist ass hole having a noose in his office? Contrary to what he said he had these items as a grown man not a rebellious teenager like he tried to claim. His excuse? Someone gave him the noose because he had a southwestern theme in his office decorations. Are you fucking kidding me? There are companies in the south that have had to settle multi-million dollar law suits because of a noose hanging in the work area, and this Son of a Bitch expects us to believe that he didnt know what it means? If it was so harmless why have southern jurors agreed with the plaintiffs in such cases and ruled that it was a form of racial discrimination and intimidation? Ask Georgia Southern Co. He knew enough of what it represented to claim that his fathers legacy as a coach prevented him from having racist tendancies. "My dad always told me to be like Deacon Jones".

You see I grew up in Alabama and live in Georgia so I am a black southerner born and raised. I came up in the 80's and like Allen I played sports in middle and High school and believe me even then it didn't make a difference how many blacks a coach had on his team you were tolerated because of your athletic ability. A friend of mine even played well enough to get a football scholarship to a Division I school in Tennessee. Do you know what one of his coaches at his school called a black athlete that he was mad at or thought wasn't putting out? Lazy Nigger. No matter how this fake California redneck punk tries to hide behind Deacon Jones he can't hide what he was or what he is.

Comments

"charges of racism won't stick" (Josh - 5/26/2006 2:26:41 PM)

I keep hearing from all sides of this issue that charges of racism against George Allen simply won't stick; that somehow because he's been able to get elected Delegate, Governor and Senator without being called out for his circumstatial history of racism it won't effect him in '06 or '08 when he tries to go for the big prize.
I can't see how a guy can have this history and have people not reach the obvious conclusion. Occam's Razor just has to apply here:

"The simplest answer is usually the correct answer."

Allen voted against the MLK holiday.
Allen wanted a Virginia holiday to commemorate the death of the founder of the racist "massive resistance" movement against desegregation.
The Confederate Flag obsession that started during the race-torn '60s and '70s, can't be written off as "Heritage", because Allen has no southern heritage, he's from California.
The event from his high school days where he spray painted racist stuff all over the school walls to get his all white team jazzed to take down an all black team.

It just goes on and on. Allen walks like a racist and quacks like a racist, so what the hell else could he be?

Thanks, AM (Kathy Gerber - 5/26/2006 10:42:17 PM)

You are a breath of fresh air. A society that approves of a Senator with a noose in his office is a society that believes that a particular ethnic group (not theirs of course) is inclined to criminality and of course they are more likely to be in trouble with the law.

Virginia is about 70% white, 20% black. The juvenile correction center commitment rate for blacks is nearly 60%. Yes, this is one of many complex multifactorial problems, and at the center - not on the periphery - is a white society that fails to examine its own deep racism adequately. A society that will commit a black kid and perhaps cast about a little harder for an alternative for a white kid.

Those lock up rates are a symptom of a bigoted and indifferent society. And the same is true for adults. We are a community that has tolerated prejudice and those kids who are locked up are our fault. That's right. And I mean my fault, too.

Fighting for equality is hard work and requires stepping outside of one's comfort zone. I know folks who think they deserve a diversity line item on their resume for saying hello to housekeeping personnel.

Maybe in a way they are correct. Maybe it is very difficult for them. And then maybe they are only interested in that resume. This is something I am quirky about. It really does matter to me why they want to say hello.

Democrats need to maintain an authentic conversation about racial issues and poverty. And that cannot occur as long as race is turned into a sideshow with every election cycle.

AM, I appreciate you writing about the sports incidents. It sounds a little silly, but one of the most useful exercises I ever participated in had us write down a time when we spoke truth to power. Then after some discussion, we wrote down a time we failed to speak truth to power. This was uncomfortable, but a great lesson.

You are speaking truth to those coaches and Allen right here. And that's what we need to keep on doing! I hope you keep on writing.

Ref: Juvenile Justice System Data

I didn't see the Matthews interview-- (LAS - 5/27/2006 1:56:21 AM)

is it online anywhere, by any chance?

Not sure if Tweety mentioned this or not, but, for me, the most chilling thing about Allen's whole twisted life is his attempt to start a race riot in his upper-middle class white school. If you remember, a black football team was coming to play Allen's school; Allen graffited the walls of the school to make it look like the black kids had done it, with "I'm gonna git you, whitey!" and "burn, baby, burn!"

This is beyond despicable. It's creepy and sick. Allen explains it by saying he was a rebel? What, shoplifting or sneaking drinks behind the stadium wasn't rebellious enough for him? He had to commit a heinous act, just so a group of black kids could get the blame?

And THIS is the man the right-wingers want for President?

Thanks AM (uva08 - 5/27/2006 6:52:20 PM)

Thank you so much. As a fellow Black Virginian I feel the exact way you do about Allen. The sad fact of the matter is that many of our fellow Virginians don't feel the same way. They either buy the rediculous excuses because they don't want to believe the alternative or they realize he's a racist and it doesn't bother them.

George Allen said something to this effect: "Someone gave him the noose because he had a southwestern theme in his office decorations.."

AM, Why shouldn't we believe this? Of course it's a logical explanation..... and people burn croses because they like the illuminating glow or they just want to keep warm... not everything is related to race ;-)