oh jesus, that poor woman.

That just makes me sick...and happy that I don't live in South Carolina. If there were ever good candidates for forced sterilization, it would be that family.

Hey, "master race" kiss my Black butt.

Them's some high class folks, y'all. High class.

"I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free!" Everyone, sing along!

I'm thinking better to arrest these people after an incident like that then arrest them after they lynch someone for walking on their lawn or something. I hope they don't just get a slap on the wrist.

I've had the "fortune" of visiting SC and just eating in restaurants is uncomfortable...the tension is palpable.

Another state without hate crime laws.

I blame the Clinton campaign.

That was actually footage of the South Carolina Democratic caucus.

Ugh what a sad reflection of our country, and what an attractive set of haters! I hope they are all tried under their state hate crime laws, if SC has any. Fuckin bigots are the only people worth hating, oh wait that just brings me down to their level....Stupid hate! You are so attractive and empty. I shun you!

In other news...white man, waiting in line for a pizza, is brutally beaten by black man.

Back to you Dan.

I love the bubba who has to take the cigarette out of his mouth to join in the fun. Real credits to their race, they are, huh?

@11,

So?

What a sad little town Union is. First, Susan Smith drowns her kids, now this.

I'm white and lived in SC for five years, and thank heaven I never saw any crap like this. Reggie's half right - South Carolina DEMOCRATS voted for Obama. That state has a long way to go.

But according to Ferraro, we're lucky to be black. ...Seriously, I'm also from SC. There is a big difference between the rural and urban areas of the state, just like other states. That said, this and all other racial incidences are sickening.

In news at 11:00 white man on public transit attacked by gang of black girls spewing racial epithets. Erica Barnett races to his rescue.

"News: Dumb Fucking Racist Cracker Pieces of Shit"

Oh, I thought this was going to be another post about Ferraro and the Clinton campaign.

Oh, please. They didn't beat her up because she's black. It's because she's a woman.

I could easily see something like this happeing in Puyallup or Federal Way. It's easy for WA Democrats to scream at the enemy on the screen a la 1984, and cut down people half a continent away, ignoring the fact that the very same racism exists throughout Puget Sound, whether or not any of the racists has the balls (and Darwin Award winning stupidity) to act out their racism on camera.

So indeed. As if no black man ever beat the shit out of a white man. This sword cuts both ways, people.

News Flash: Americans Are Racist... (yes, #11, all Americans).

But the obviousness doesn't make it any less horrible.

@13 So there's a big double standard. Whitey lashes-out and it's front-page news in the blogosphere. There are all sorts of undies-in-bundle condemnations.

The skin tone of the aggressor shouldn't be the determining factor of which violent acts are condemned and which are ignored. Justice should be blind.

Yes, @21, and the enslavement of Euro- Americans, dragged from their European villages and brought to North America, followed by thousands of lychings of Euro-Americans was a blight on the country's history, as does the contiuing institutional racism that's endemic in the....

Ooops, wait, that didn't happen, did it?

@24 You should read up on the history of whites in the South. Ever heard of prison colonies or indentured servitude? Not as horrifying as the African slave trade, but awful nonetheless. Poor whites in the South have been pitted against blacks strategically in order to divide-and-conquer.

I recommend reading The White Trash Manifesto by Jim Goad, and, for the economics angle, Stiffed by Susan Faludi.

22: That makes you racist, too. Go back to Russia.

I don't know any black people who have been wrenched out of their villages for a life of slavery, and I'm betting you don't either.

Ecce Homo's kin are more telegenic than I would of guessed. Way to go Ecce! You going to bail 'em out of jail?

"Would OF???" Would you for God's sake learn the fucking English language?

27: Look, it's like when every Columbus Day there's a protest and I can't help but think.... well, what can I do about it? I didn't kill any Indians. Don't plan on it either. I'm not from England, so how can I go back there?

And how come nobody ever mentions Pangea in these arguements? You'd think we'd be more enlightened.

Y'all are missing the point. This is FUNNY, not tragic. Dumb-ass crackers pulling the shirts of TV newscasters. Yeah, yeah, racism etc., but this gal is a sister-in-arms of the one who did that story just a couple of states away about the dildos in Jackson, MS, remember?

Nobody was seriously hurt, some local TV newspeople got attacked on film, and we all got to laugh at the worthless garbage floating around the street in South Carolina. I call it a great day.

Curmudgeon = Elvis = ecce homo

@27: What can you do about it? Well, assuming you're a member of the dominant culture -still largely white male- you can acknowledge the power differential, be conscious of it, vote and advocate for change based on that consciousness of the power differential, embrace remedies like affirmative action that in many cases can be quite affective and play a role in helping break through glass ceilings. Not an exhaustive list, but a good start.

Isn't the most racist part of it all this:
Black people take the beating. White people get the scoop.

I meant @30.

Dan, if this was a group of equally racist and/or ignorant black people attacking a (white / gay / whatever) reporter, which racial slur would you have used to describe the black attackers? "Dumb Fucking Racist ????? Pieces of Shit"

Oh, fuck, another affirmative action wingnut. Affirmative action is racist on its face - even the Supreme Court thinks so.

What the fuck is up with that older woman roaming in the background during the whole thing in red? I don't get her reaction. It's like she's watching a chicken crossing the road rather than a violent act. Weird.

Elvis@37: As if the current Supreme Court was the standard of racial justice. This court would have been perfectly happy to have upheld school segregation in 1954.

To those of you who think Dan is ignoring that black people sometimes beat up white folks:

Dan, being white, can condemn the actions of other white people, with less of a chance of his comments being ignored or dismissed by other white people. It also prevents black people from being able to accuse *him* of racism by focusing on, say, black people beating up white people.

And I have no problem with that whatsoever.

So much meth.

So many reporters.

So little time.

@23,

Thanks for posting an attack that actually was racially motivated, supposedly. Unlike the first one that was clearly a personal dispute, something that would have happened regardless of the race of the aggressor or victim. But I gotta love the cowardly, do-nothing white folk who stand around and watch the beatdown. Is that a good enough reason to complain about white people?

What can you do about it? Well, assuming you're a member of the dominant culture -still largely white male-

So culture's determined by skin tone and gender, is it? Does that mean all white people have the same culture as the ones in this video?

No, it doesn't. And I am not a member of the same culture as George W. Bush, in spite of my light skin and my penis. In other words, I'm not a member of the "dominant culture." I have some things, physically, in common with the people who dominate our culture, but it's no more appropriate to force me to take responsibility for their actions than it is to assign responsibility for the disproportionately high rate of African Americans who commit crimes to all African Americans.

So I'll forgo all those self-flagellating remedies for racism (tm) you suggested.

But thanks anyway.

Judah@ 43: Just because you're not of the same ilk as George W. Bush, doesn't mean you don't benefit in all kinds of ways from being a white male in America. As an American, regardless of race or gender, you have all kinds of advantages and rights. In all likelihood, more so because (if?) you are a white male. But, along with those advantages and rights, goes some responsibilities for at least being conscious and in some ways accommodating of our the history of racism, sexism and other forms of oppression and how those live on and manifest themselves even today. It's not about self-flagellation, or guilt or any of that crap. It's about playing an active role in making a better, more inclusive community.

so the only way i can rectify things is to not demand as much from people different than myself?

white people can't seem to do anything right, can we?

Curmudgeon: It's not really clear what you are bringing to the discussion. I don't think anything in Dan's post, or on the video clip suggested that all racism is white-on-black.

What, exactly, is your point?

I love the fact that the tv reporter went down swinging. Gotta love that. She's tough as hell and totally in the right. Most tv reporters seem like such preening sissies. I'm surprised more don't get attacked.

Ahhh, Union, South Carolina: the most ironically named town in the country.

But, along with those advantages and rights, goes some responsibilities for at least being conscious and in some ways accommodating of our the history of racism, sexism and other forms of oppression and how those live on and manifest themselves even today

Uh, no. Actually, it doesn't come with any responsibilities -- or at least not responsibilities that can be laid at my feet by the likes of you, or by the African American community.

I mean, what's your thesis here? That with all power comes responsibility? Well hey, guess what: African Americans, like Americans generally, have a lot more power than most other people on the planet. Do they, as a community, organize to "level the playing field" with undocumented immigrants or third world farmworkers? No. Do they, as a community, organize to "level the playing field" with Chinese prison labor? No. Do African Americans, as a community, make any effort at all to "level the playing field" with any non-Africans anywhere in the world? No. They pretty much don't. Divestment in South Africa was pretty much the last policy agenda pursued by the African American community at large that wasn't purely self-interested.

I don't really give a fuck: most White Americans are the same way. But white liberals at least have a cultural tradition -- as long as we're talking fucking culture here -- at least we have a cultural tradition of trying to help other people out and make a positive difference in the world. Then I'm gonna have you coming around telling me I've got a responsibility to African Americans and affirmative action and all that shit, when African Americans, at the cultural level, don't give a fuck about Mexicans, or Asians or anyone else besides themselves and their own near-term political and economic goals?

Naw, man. Show me a store that doesn't let African Americans sit at the lunch counter, I'll boycott the motherfucker. Show me a bus company that forces African Americans to sit in the back, I'll boycott those guys too. Show me a tangible manifestation of institutional racism, I'll do what I can to fix it -- all of which is a hell of a lot more than most African Americans would do for me, by the way (see the fucking OJ verdict). But you come around telling me, when most of my ancestors only came to the US around 1920, that I bear a cultural responsibility to let myself get fucked in the ass for the betterment of those less powerful than myself -- because of slavery and every other goddamn thing -- I'm afraid my answer's got to be, "Fuck you very much."

My thesis is that with privilege comes responsibility. That is unless you're going to go off and live in a cave somewhere and completely take yourself away from society and the economy. Then you have no moral responsibility to give a fuck.

Beyond that, your argument that African-Americans do not share in a larger cultural tradition of helping others and making a positive difference in the world is supported by nothing but sweeping generalizations and stereotypes.

If to you, affirmative action is about getting fucked in the ass - that it's all a zero-sum game-well, that's your fundamental problem to begin with.

@46 - Seeing as how he's recommended something written by Jim Goad, I think it's safe to say his primary point rests just slightly northward of his shoulders.

Your thesis isnt rooted in anything but what you desire to be true rather than a rationale for why things work the way they do.

okay I'm gonna step out of my usual SC sucks position and agree with #16. The rural parts are quite different than the urban parts, much as in our beloved liberal state of White Washington.

Judah is basically of a privileged race and class and doesn't even realize it. He's never had to deal with racism or discrimination in any tangible way, so he assumes it doesn't exist. Like a lot of "self made" white Americans, he's a solipsist to the core, incapable to empathizing with human beings that he can't relate to. So, thinking that he would support anything like affirmative action is wishful thinking at best. Like a lot of white males he think he's a victim, mainly because to suggest otherwise would be to him a confession of guilt. In short, he's an angry white man who should be listening to talk radio but for whatever reason thinks he's enlightened.

The "fourth person" sought in the mess would be the TEN YEAR OLD GIRL GRABBING THE REPORTER'S HAIR in the video, right?

@49,

It's cute how you assume black people don't care about others.

@50

your argument that African-Americans do not share in a larger cultural tradition of helping others and making a positive difference in the world is supported by nothing but sweeping generalizations and stereotypes.

And your arguments are supported by what, exactly?

@54

Ha. I'm sure you hear this all the time, but you're intensely stupid. Your facility with a thesaurus notwithstanding, of course.

@56

It's cute how you didn't actually understand anything I said.

What do you expect from a bunch of inbred southern whites..perhaps products of incest!

Of course nothing can beat these white South African crackers feeding urinated dog food to black women...

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/09/africa/journal.php

This should make your blood boil!

Dear Curmudgeon: I see now! By illustrating other stupid people, doing stupid things (that's what they're best at), this somehow totally justifies and in some odd way, validates this stupid one simply bc it was the total opposite in races...am I following?

Gimme us a friggin break...and thanks for perpetuating hate rather than progressing civility.