I cannot let the news of the arrests of two skinheads for plotting to assassinate Barack Obama pass without comment. As someone who has lived through the assassinations of John F Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy and a near assassination of Ronald Reagan, I know what such a deed now would do to our country.
Anyone who reads this blog knows that I am a fierce opponent of Barack Obama's candidacy for President. However, the damage to this country that would come from a political assassination would be incalculable. To start with, it would set race relations back 40 years. In addition, it would greatly damage our faith in our country. The assassination of John F Kennedy, followed soon after by the murders of King and Robert Kennedy have left scars that remain to this day.
It appears that this present plot to kill Obama was not motivated so much by a desire to protect America from the policies of a President Obama as it was by pure hate-as evidenced by the reported intention to kill dozens of other African-Americans randomly. Unfortunately, even though I have argued that America is no longer a racist country, there are still pockets of hate such as those demonstrated by these arrests. The skinhead culture, part of which revolves around hatred for non-whites, is a cancer in our society.
Everyone in our country should be relieved that this alleged plot was rooted out and stopped before it could come to fruition. Kudos to the law enforcement personnel who investigated this case.
Finally, all of us, regardless of where we stand politically, should rally around the Obama family and express our support for their well-being. We should all pray that we will never experience a repeat of the assassinations that marked the 1960s. The great thing about America is that our system works in so many ways that no reasonable person would resort to violence to cure our ills, real or imagined.
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2 comments:
Unfortunately, I believe that the United States is indeed still a racist country. I've witnessed much of this racism first-hand. There is also still rampant institutional racism. Sure, we don't have much of the blatant racism that was more common before the Civil Rights Movement, but it has simply gone underground and transformed into subtle racism. I feel it's better to admit all of this and confront it rather than pretend that everything is okay.
I also feel we live in somewhat of a bubble here in California. We are a much more multi-cultural state and more progressive and accepting when it comes to different races. Other parts of the country are not entirely the same, to say the least.
Just for the record, not all skinheads are racists. The skinhead culture started as a working class movement in the UK that had nothing to do with race. Some racists gave co-opted it over time, but they're what are called BONEheads by true skinheads. Non-racist skinheads often refer to themselves as SHARPs: skinheads against racial prejudice. One of my good friends back home is a SHARP (he's also not white).
Bryan,
Glad to know some skinheads are not racists. Perhaps you are correct that California is a bubble because we are so-multicultural, but that is speading to other parts of the country.
Perhaps, it would be more accurate to say America still has racial issues and divisions, but my definition of a racist country may be different from yours. I have seen such a dramatic change in the course of my lifetime. I remember as a child in North carolina seeing a restaurant with a white only sign. Coming from calif, it made an impression even at that age.
I also maintain that aside from white racists, we can't make excuses for racists who are minorities. I am talking about people like Farrakhan. He has contributed nothing to integration and racial undeestanding.
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