In the aftermath of the election victory of Barack Obama, white supremacists rushed to online discussion forums to vent anger and disbelief that voters had chosen an African-American candidate as the next president of the United States.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which monitors and exposes extremist activity and rhetoric, said anger among white supremacists and other right-wing extremists in response to Obama’s victory resulted in an avalanche of vitriolic postings on racist Web sites. At one point, the chatter so overloaded the server of the most popular white supremacist Internet forum, that the site was temporarily shut down.
According to ADL, racists are incredulous that Obama was elected primarily by white voters and are seething with anger at the prospect of an America led by an African-American man.
“We always expect a reaction from the bigots when events occur that they believe are contrary to their interests and worldview,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. “While it’s clear that race didn’t matter to the vast majority of the American people in this election, race matters to racists.”
Mr. Foxman added: “The amount of invective, anger and rage being vented on white supremacist sites in the aftermath of the election is startling. Many racists are convinced that President-elect Obama’s achievement means that whites have lost their place in America, and they are predicting the beginning of a race war.”
The League has posted a sampling of comments from white supremacist online discussion boards and Internet forums on its Web site.
Well-known extremists, like former Klan leader David Duke, as well as anonymous individuals online blamed everyone from white “traitors” to Jews, minorities, and Republicans for bringing about this event and destroying their vision of a race-divided America.
The white supremacist chatter on the election has focused on several themes:
• “Tragedy” for America: White supremacist and former Klansman David Duke announced on an Internet radio show on election night that, “I believe tonight is a night of tragedy and sadness for our people in many ways … the country is not recognizable any more.”
• Predicting a “Race War:” While some racists announced that they would leave the United States, others suggested that Obama’s election win would provide a catalyst that would move whites to become active racists. Some predicted the election would prove a boon to racist recruitment efforts. Still others suggested they were planning on arming themselves with guns and ammunition to defend themselves in a coming “race war.”
• Calls to Violence: While making no direct threats against the president-elect, some white supremacists expressed a hope that Obama would be killed or die while in office. One racist referred to a recent alleged plot by neo-Nazi skinheads to kill Obama and minorities, expressing a hope that someone else would carry out an assassination attempt: “… hopefully he’ll get assassinated before he gets into office. Just don’t be (expletive) idiots about it like those skinheads were,” wrote “Trellen R.” An anonymous poster on white supremacist Hal Turner’s blog went further: “Someone will kill him! And I will celebrate! It’s just a matter of time.”
• Blaming Jews: Not surprisingly, many white supremacists are blaming Jews, suggesting that Jews control U.S. government and media and promote multiculturalism. Others suggested Jews exercised control over the Obama campaign and the Democratic Party.
(YWN Desk – NYC)
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27 Responses
No matter what happens, people will always blame Jews when things go wrong. I personally do not look at someones’s color, but, at his person. If someone is a worthy person his color is not an issue. If a white supremicist were running against a black person for president, I would probably vote for the black person.
Sounds eerily like some of the postings on this blog.
I guess those who posted these sentiments on YW can now appreciate whose company they share.
White Supremicists are NUT CASES. The only people who take them serious are paranoid Jews. Not only have they been consigned to the dustbin of history, they’ve been taken out with the trash and buried in the landfills.
Virtually no one in theU.S. holds by the idea of racial superiority. To do so, you have to reject not only all scientific evidence, but also the core religious beliefs of most westerners (that people are only a few thousand years removed from a common ancestor). You also have to reject the evidence of the last few generations showing people of all races able to achieve in all areas. Note that American conservatives (the “RIGHT WING”) have on numerous occasions embraced blacks and Jews, and among the most conservative establish right-wing Christians, they are allying themselves with African churches against the mainstream Anglo-Saxon churches.
these people have issues.
Thanks for posting this.
# 3, akuperma – Well said. There are a shockingly large number of “white supremacists” among the klal – very sad.
By the way, I had lunch yesterday with Joseph . . not a bad fellow at all, despite his reactionary politics. 🙂
“There are a shockingly large number of “white supremacists” among the klal”
Yonason – Like we discussed yesterday, there is a VERY big difference between a Black Anti-Semite, and a “Jewish racist”.
A black (or white) Anti-Semite you have much reason to worry will resort to violence against Jews. And even if not physical violence, certainly verbal violence.
A “Jewish racist” means in shul or Beis Medrash he expresses dislike of blacks. No one is worried he will resort to violence, certainly not physical violence, and not even verbal violence at blacks.
(Verbal violence, meaning directly to the victim of his dislike.)
can’t wait to see what give me a break is going to say on this one..
Or to summarize:
If a black guy walked through Boro Park at 2 AM any morning, he will feel VERY safe.
If a Yid (was crazy enough and) walked through Harlem at 2 AM any morning, he would be lucky if he had enough fingers to count the anti-semitic comments yelled at him, and should probably bentch gomel if he wasn’t physically accosted.
Charlie,
You really should bentch gomel.
Seriously though, on this past election night I’d imagine there was quite a presence there, police included.
gmab: never thought i’d say this, but i agree with you on the first part.
as for the second part… in cahoots? are we talking the frum klal, or the liberal, self deprecating jews?
big difference.
Good afternoon Joseph – Even assuming that you are correct about Black Antisemetism, my view still is that Antisemetism against us does not justify racism by us.
I also think that one gets a very different view of minority communities living outside major urban centers.
Working with Blacks and other minorities – at sea, in law enforcement related activities and in large governmental offices – leaves me unable to have the luxery of racism. I simply have met and worked with too many good people of all stripes too get away with racism logically.
Also, I think Yidden could be more sensitive to the harsh reality of being a traditional racial minority inthis country. Joseph, with your militancy, if you were Black you’d be a Black Panther . . . (ok, just joking on that one)
Peace
Hi Yonason –
My point of course is that Black antisemitism is a far different (and more violent) animal than Jewish racism. (Not that one justifies, or is otherwise related to, the other.)
They are two very different, and incomparable, animals.
i dunno.. i can’t accept that. are there racists in the frum commnity? yes. but large klal? no, i don’t think so.
i think that most of the people who have problems with “african americans”, are they themselves.
Every time someone disagrees with them, they pull the race card.
Most if not all racists are unhappy with thier own lives and need to blame a people they deem inferior to make themselves feel better. They are very often people with almost no life so they have too much time to internalize these feelings. Some of the posters here, as seen from the number of posts, also have too much time on thier hands and allow feelings to internalize as well. But as several posters did point out, ‘we’ are not violent and ‘we’ do by the fact that we need to wash negel vasser, make brochos, daven etc. have some life even when we have ‘no life’. It is unfortunate that we frum yidden often disqualify people with our hearts and not our heads and that more liberal Jews qualify people with thier hearts and not thier heads. There is time and place for discrimination based on bechira and siechel, and those are also reasons to not discriminate at other times.
Shalom al Yisroel!!!
16,
Maybe they know the Medresh about Chum in the Tayva & with WHAT he did WHAT with??
I have to say even amongst the biggest misheluni ‘racists’ I have seen in my many years, I would be willing to say its all talk. Besides NO ONE fin inzira metshin is saying m’zul em harginin and meaning it even .00000000000000001% .
BTW wasn’t it Obama’s own galach that referred to the good ol USA as the US KKK of A?? I guess in the double standard we live in with certain groups, that was acceptable.
give me a break, cantor etc..which group of jews do you belong to as you refer to jews not your liking as ‘the frum’, ‘the charedi’ etc?
I’m sorry to say, but GMAB… you are not part of the NFJA sect. It’s not possible after reading some of your views all over this website.
what is the plain truth? that the general jewish public is racist?
you need to get off your high horse, and actually read some of things you post. while they are quite entertaining (my co-workers and i get a good laugh), they are so far off from the actual Frum Normal Jewish Americans thoughts.
coming from a frum background, living in a large frum community, and knowing many many frum people, no one i know is a negative and cynical as you with regard to the Frum World at large.
Really white racists are in the dustbin of history? It’s over? Ha ha ha ha ha. Just let them do one thing — anything — they’ll all be in Levenworth. I was just in Manhattan where every street corner was selling Obama buttons. Blacks are thrilled, jubilant, ecstatic, beside themselves. You have to be a little numb in the thalamus, to say that white supremacists are in the ‘dustbin of history.’ Which history book exactly would that be?
#26 “what is the plain truth? that the general jewish public is racist?”
Sad to say, I think a large portion of the “Black Hat” community, my community – is racist. If you don’t see it, I think you are in denial.
I have had this perception for 30 years, but if I would have had doubts about it, they would have been resolved negatively during the presidential campaign. I have never heard the “N” word used as much as it was used this year in the context of Obama – or schvartze with a sneer.
My father was a Yeche who got out in time to come to the United States pre-war – he was a physician, a front line combat physician, in the Army in the European theater during WWII. He used to tell me stories of antisemetic incidents in the Army – not many, but enough. And he told me of a Black surgeon he knew, a Captain in the Medical Corp who served in Europe with him, who lost the use of his hand due to frostbite after returning to the States – he was traveling home in the winter of 1945 – and was denied rooms by a number of motels because he was a “N” on a frigid December night . .
My father lumped antisemetism and racial prejudice together as parts of the same disease – and it was enough for a man to use the “N” word for my father to write him off as a friend. I was raised to see prejudice as the root of most of the world’s conflicts . . and I have always tried to shtim Yiddishkeit with the lessons my father taught me.
So I ask you all…any of you…what is the mesorah that permits racial prejudice?
“So I ask you all…any of you…what is the mesorah that permits racial prejudice?”
Yonason,
See:
http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/coffeeroom/topic/dvar-torah-from-this-weeks-parsha-on-cham-ben-noach
Yonason,
What do you think of the tactics of the Southern Poverty Law Center? I just read that they are filing a case against the KKK.
gmab, would a normal frum jew support murdering babies?! look on the bottom of page 7 of the PETA topic in the ywn coffee room (a topic closed due to the untorahdig hashkufos being expressed there(editor, please delete statement in parenthesis if it’s wrong)).
http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/coffeeroom/topic/peta/page/7
Joseph, I will check out the link in the morning.
Anon for this on – I don’t know any details of the story . . . but b’klal . . . any time one goes after the KKK my first instinct is a hearty yasher koach and hatzlocha
Charliehall – Exactly as the Torah teaches – alas, often honored in the breech
gmab, what’s the difference?