Donald Trump. (photo: Mark Wallheiser/Getty)
Twenty Thousand Considered Disappointing Turnout for Racist Event in Alabama
22 August 15
The
article below is satire. Andy Borowitz is an American comedian and New
York Times-bestselling author who satirizes the news for his column,
"The Borowitz Report."
rally featuring a racist speaker Friday night in Mobile attracted a crowd of just twenty thousand people, widely considered a disappointing turnout for a racist event in Alabama.
According to racist event planners in the state, a
crowd of twenty thousand would rank the event as one of the smaller
racist rallies in Alabama this year.
Organizers of the rally were quick to defend the size
of the turnout. “There is always a lot of competition for the racist
audience in Alabama,” an aide to the speaker said. “There were other
racists speaking at other venues in the state Friday night. Plus, a lot
of racists now prefer to stay at home and stream racist content on the
Internet. Given all the options available to racists, I think twenty
thousand is a solid number.”
Harland Dorrinson, a longtime racist event planner in
Alabama, disagreed, claiming that the size of the crowd was more
reminiscent of non-racist events in the state. “You go around spewing
hatred every chance you get, and then you only draw twenty thousand in
Alabama?” he said. “The people who organized this event need to sit down
and figure out what went wrong.”
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Comments
I know very well what goes on in the South, but I also know very well what goes on in other states. Trump is appealing to them all by targeting the lowest type of thinking, with no critical thinking or research.
Of course that's what Trump is doing. He's a Republican. They're proud of that kind of thinking. It's why he's their front runner. It's also why the Democratic Party no longer needs the deep red south to win the presidency.
Sarah Palin did, too, on a lower level.
We're all on a mission to buck certain trends in thinking. You seem on a mission to do that about the idea of southern racism being worse. I understand. I fight similar battles defending things I think differently about than most RSN commenters. We're all unique. But, it is a tough sell to try to convince us that it isn't worse there. Racism is racism. Literally 100% of ALL people are racist, to an extent (I personally believe). But, the kind of racism that's rabid and nasty and the cause of the worst our society can do, is represented by about 10-20% of all northerners, and about 30-40% of all southerners. These are my numbers. There's no real way to measure this anyway, but anecdotally by our personal experience, and the facts we see playing out in front of us over time. You may disagree with the percentages (of course you will), but if you want to make us believe the racism in the north is as prevalent and as nasty, you're going to have a tough time making that sale.
Having lived in numerous parts of the U.S., having family in the deep South, and having traveled all over the states and Europe, etc., I guarantee you, there is racism everywhere. No matter how vocal a society is, or not, it is there. Southerners, as in other cultures, are very vocal and adamant. In other states and countries it comes in through the back door.
Not all racism is against just blacks, either. It can be anybody, and right now in the U.S. the most visible are Latinos and indians.
In parts of Asia, Americans are hated. A child threw rocks at me while I was waiting for friends touring an ancient temple. Soon a number of adults were doing the same, just as a symbol, not meaning for me to be injured. A few other adults stepped in before I could say anything or move away. One of them explained that Americans are not welcome because most of those citizens have been misguided.
There are misguided deep South type people all over the planet.
What?? It makes as much sense as anything else in the political process right now. O.o.
especially in the South
"The Indiana Klan rose to prominence beginning in the early 1920s after World War I, when ethnic Protestants felt threatened by social and political issues, including changes caused by decades of heavy immigration from southern and eastern Europe. By 1922 the state had the largest organization nationally, and its membership continued to increase dramatically under the leadership of D.C. Stephenson. It averaged 2,000 new members per week from July 1922 to July 1923, when he was appointed as the Grand Dragon of Indiana. He led the Indiana Klan and other chapters he supervised to break away from the national organization in late 1923.
"Indiana's Klan organization reached its peak of power in the following years, when it had 250,000 members, an estimated 30% of native-born white men. By 1925 over half the elected members of the Indiana General Assembly, the Governor of Indiana, and many other high-ranking officials in local and state government were members of the Klan. Politicians had also learned they needed Klan endorsement to win office."
Photo of KKK Women's Auxiliary in my hometown of Dayton, Ohio. When I first saw this photo a few months ago, I had to wonder if my grandmother attended this huge KKK rally...
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/96/65/14/966514736a9128a4fc6e9286cde573be.jpg
Cynthia McKinney is one of my favorite people, by the way, she had the integrity to press Donald Rumsfeld on 9/11 in Congressional hearings.
https://youtu.be/Px1t1-a9uxk
She also refused to take the AIPAC pledge, by the way -- which "Bernie" should also do, but he won't. Cynthia is no longer a congressperson; "Bernie" still is, and has become a "viable" presidential candidate. I think that's telling.
Burning blacks alive was a widespread method of intimidation that worked for a time, obviously. There is no way the heritage of that hatred has been eliminated, and I would be interested in how Indiana citizens view today's situation.
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