The Chicago Tribune recently reported a rise in hate incidents in the weeks since Barack Obama's election as the first black president of the US. White supremacists have been whipped into a tizzy burning crosses, spray painting racist graffiti, starting assassination pools and creating effigies of Barack in dozens towns across the country.
More than 200 incidents have been reported over the past few weeks. Racist Web sites are boasting that their servers are crashing under the weight of increases in page views. Even the Ku Klux Klan is trying to make a come back. (source)
People's capacity for ignorance never ceases to amaze me. When will white extremists realize that their ideas are outdated? Don't they realize that they are outnumbered? Did they not have televisions in the militia bunkers to see this country coming together to give everyone a shot at something better? The Ku Klux Klan must know that they face a totally different America than they did in the past.
My fiance said over and over again during the election that it is a shame that some people would rather vote for a sponge than vote for Barack Obama just because he is black. They would rather watch our economy continue to crash and burn, watch jobs continue to dry up and companies continue to go under than to watch a black man move into the White House.
Well, as it turned out those misguided, misinformed people did not matter on Nov. 4. The rest of us who have some common sense won. Barack Obama won. Unity won. And the long sordid history of racism, hatred and intolerance in this country lost.
Michelle Obama caught flack for saying this some months ago but I share her sentiment. I have never been more proud of my country than I am right now. And these foolish people who will not let go of their ignorant, racist ideas can't take that from me.
They are outnumbered - not just in terms of a more diverse population but - by people of all races even of their own who realize that we are all more alike than we are different. They are outnumbered by people who refuse to live in the past. Those of us who believe in a country that is no longer divided, angry or ashamed collectively cancel out their combined ignorance.
The key is to not buckle under their hate. We must not give their hate the fuel it needs to survive - fear. We must join together and put these idiots on notice. Irrational hate will no longer be tolerated. We will not be intimidated, bullied or terrorized by stupidity. Tolerance wins and we are not afraid!
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