Race on the Web
I wish I could take credit for this post, but I can't. This was article was posted in the comments section of a story on Newsvine by someone going by the initials "BT". I found the post very informative and well assembled, so I decided to repost it here. Props to you BT!
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This is a paper on how Hate messages are distributed on the Web. While the discussion is of the more crude, fringe groups (KKK, Aryan, Skinhead) - it pretty much depicts the same themes as brought forth by the petaloonie, conservative racists who often hire black conservatives to advance their more -
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue7_10/rajagopal/
In general, these attacks play on 5 themes:
1. Black Dysfunctionality - That black folks are less intelligent, perform worse on tests, have lower educational indicators, commit more crime, etc. Where numbers don’t exist to support the premise, they make them up, and/or selectively parse data to support their points.
2. White Victimhood - A old time favorite is white women being raped by Giant Negroes, but other favorites are “unqualified blacks are stealing white jobs/education/etc.” (AA), “our values are being destroyed by the brown/black wave”, “the welfare queen”, “only white folks are convicted of Hate Crimes”, and the newest venue - “Black Racism”.
3. It’s Not Racism - the cruder groups claim that “white nationalism” or “white pride” aren’t racism. The typical construct of this is “Why are there black organizations when ‘white’ organizations are considered racist?” Variations include “Christian Identity” - “I’m a christian, not a racist!” . There are a number of rationales to provide cover for the underlying racism.
4. A “Negro” said it! - This is a favorite of the conservative right. It boils down to utilizing a small group of “captive negroes” to say things which otherwise would be considered racist - and to provide cover for white conservatives (My best friend is a Negro!). Possibly the most ludicrous example of this is here:
http://www.scvcamp469-nbf.com/theblackconfederatesoldier.htm
In any oppressed community it’s possible to find folks who are so psychologically damaged that they will work against the very community they come from. Whether selling heroin on street corners to neighborhood kids, or pandering the right’s need for Negroes to provide racial cover - the dynamic, and morality are the same.
A good article on how the conservative racist right utilizes these folks:
http://www.alternet.org/story/19294/?page=1
You have to remember, that bashing black folks is a $40 -100 million industry, funded by the very same folks who fund the conservative movement. Like the enticement of “easy money” in the drug industry, black conservatives willing to front for “the Man”, can rake in salaries and book sales in excess of $250,000 a year. Indeed, the bashing black folks industry can provide the black conservative far more media and ego polishing recognition than they are ever going to earn in their field of study through quantitative accomplishments.
5. “Black folks are whiners!” – The crux of this argument goes something like this: “We’ve given black folks equality and welfare, and they are still whining! They need to get a job and learn to take care of themselves and stop being a drain on white’s wallets.” Favorite punching bags are Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, who magically become responsible for every word uttered by a black person.
This is a list of Hate Organizations posting on the WWW -
http://www.bcpl.net/~rfrankli/hatedir.htm
An amusing article about Project21, a “black” conservative group of which I believe Michael Meyers, who actually penned the article by pettyloon above was a member:
http://atheism.about.com/b/2004/07/30/blackwashing-what-black-conservative-movement.htm
Principal Funders of Academic racism –
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?sid=370
This is by no means a complete list. Much of the “mainstream” racism is funded by 4 Foundations – variously called the “4 Sisters”.
Who funds the “re-segregation movement”, and lines the pockets of many black conservatives?
• Scaife Family Foundations
The Scaife Family Foundations. Sarah Scaife, Carthage and Allegheny are funded by industrial tycoon Richard Mellon Scaife, who inherited $200 million from his mother in the 1960s. He was a presidential appointment of the U.S. Advisory Commission for Public Diplomacy during the Reagan and first Bush administrations.
Scaife gave former U.S. attorney general Edwin Meese $1.9 million to start PLF. Between 1985 and 2005, Scaife gave more than $4.5 million to PLF. He is the primary supporter of the Heritage Foundation, of which he is a trustee and Meese a former staff member. Many Heritage Foundation staff members held or hold high-ranking federal positions, including current Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao and former U.S. Civil Rights Commission (UCCR) staff director and Manhattan Institute fellow Linda Chavez, founder of the right-wing Center for Equal Opportunity (CEO).
Scaife funds Connerly’s ACRI, Chavez’s CEO, and the Center for Individual Rights, which together comprise the triumvirate leading the campaign to end affirmative action. Other major grant recipients include the National Association of Scholars, co-author of Prop. 209, which banned affirmative action in California, and the Manhattan Institute for Public Policy Research. UCCR Vice Chair Abigail Thernstrom, a Manhattan Institute senior fellow, is on the board of the Equal Opportunity Foundation, which directs funding for CEO.
• Castle Rock Foundation
Coors Brewing Co.’s support for anti-gay groups led to a 10-year boycott led by AFL-CIO in 1977. Pressured to reform, Coors began funding black and Latino groups through the Adolph Coors Foundation and became one of the first companies to offer domestic-partner benefits to employees in 1995. In 1993, the Coors family created Castle Rock to separate the Coors name from its conservative agenda. The Castle Rock and Adolph Coors Foundations have the same board of directors, the same staff and the same address.
Coors co-owner Joseph Coors founded and financed the conservative Heritage Foundation, which later received most of its support from Richard Mellon Scaife. Coors was a Heritage trustee until March 2003. Ambassador Holland Coors, President Reagan’s appointment to the National Year of the Americas, has been on the board since 1998. Major grant recipients include the Heritage Foundation, the National Association of Scholars and the Institute for Justice, which was founded by anti-affirmative-action leader Clint Bolick, a disciple of ultraconservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Castle Rock gave PLF $340,000 between 1985 and 2005. Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), a right-wing legal advocacy group founded in 1973, represents the Seattle parents in the recent Supreme Court case eliminating even voluntary integration. In 2001, PLF represented Ward Connerly’s American Civil Rights Institute (ACRI) and provided pro-bono counsel to then Calif. Gov. Pete Wilson in a successful effort to expand the scope of Prop. 209, which banned affirmative action in public education, employment and contracting.
• Olin Foundation
The New York-based John M. Olin Foundation grew out of a family-owned chemical and munitions manufacturing business. The foundation, which dissolved in 2005, was charged with spending all assets within a generation of Olin’s death, lest its mission be altered. Grant recipients included CEO, the Heritage Foundation, the National Association of Scholars and the Manhattan Institute. Specifically, Olin funded the research of CEO founder Linda Chavez and former Secretary of Education William Bennett.
When former Olin Foundation President Michael Joyce left to run the Bradley Foundation, William Simon, who was secretary of the treasury for Nixon and Ford, took over. Joyce had worked under Simon at a neoconservative think-tank prior to joining Olin, and it was Simon who asked him to take the helm at Bradley. Olin gave PLF $669,000 between 1985 and 2005.
• Bradley Foundation
The Allen-Bradley Company, a manufacturer of electronic and radio equipment, was one of the last major Milwaukee-based companies to racially integrate, which it did only under legal pressure. In 1968, the company had 7,000 employees, only 32 of whom were black and 14 Latino. When the Allen-Bradley company was sold in 1985, the name of the foundation was changed to the Lynne and Harry Bradley Foundation to separate the company name from its conservative cause.
Bradley is the principal supporter of Connerly’s ACRI. ACRI co-chair Thomas Rhodes is on the Bradley board of directors. Bradley Foundation President Michael Joyce, formerly with the Olin Foundation, served on President Reagan’s transition team and other presidential commissions and worked closely with William Bennett prior to his appointment as Secretary of Education.
The foundation gives to the Institute for Justice, where founder Clint Bolick drafted a federal bill to eliminate affirmative action. Other major grant recipients include the Heritage Foundation, the National Association of Scholars and the American Enterprise Institute, a literary outlet for conservative thinkers such as William Bennett and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who will take part in deciding the Seattle case this December. Bradley gave PLF $327,000 between 1985 and 2005.
