McCain Staffer mugged, has a 'B' carved into her face?

[Silk Smoov]

Originally Posted by Mavdog

there is no question that this particular presidential campaign is triggering a great deal of racial issues. it is a monumental election, and it looks likely to result in the first minority president in our country's history.

it has both positive and its negative consequences.

the positive is a testiment to our country's egalitarian society, unequaled in the world. while there remains barriers to people for the most part those have been broken down.

obama is a positive example to all minorities, who have a role model of what hard work in eductaion can bring. he shows that indeed there is no one but the individual who stops themselves from realizing their dreams, for dreams can be realized through work and focus. and a sometimes a little luck of course...

we're going to see a huge, HUGE turnout of black american voters. for so many elections this group of voters has been used by candidates who talk the talk to get their votes, and in the past this group of voters became fairly unmotivated for they believed no matter who they voted for that nothing was really going to change. this year they know that is not the case, this election is going to show that the times have changed.

we also see the negative, the people with the monkey, those who shout out derogatory euphemisims, and the writings about how "un-american" people are taking over the country.

and here is a person who fabricated a story about a black man attacking her and made a political statement on her face.

sure she was attempting to stoke racial responses. there is no way she would go into the whole charade with the details involved if her intention was only her 15 minutes of fame.

she is merely symbolic of those who see the possible election of a black man as something that is contrary to their supposed heritage of america as being a white controlled society, and react as if it's the end of our country.

it's not. that world started to go away a half century ago, thank goodness. we're now seeing the realization of the ideal that every american is equal, that any american child can grow up to be president regardless of if they are black or white, man or woman.

Great, great post!!!!! It is very much true. Also, HOPEFULLY, this election will do one more thing for the Republican (MY) party, that is stop ignoring the black vote. McCain's undoing at the NAACP was to say that he knows he wont get their vote. He should have proudly stood up and said, he is there to gain their vote. Just that type of mentality is part of the problem.

Way too long, I feel that Democrats have taken advantage of black votes, and Republicans have ignored the black vote. Hopefully, after this election the dialogue will start to increase. HOPEFULLY!!! But, I do still feel Obama will NOT win this election due to a sector of voters not polled. I hope I am wrong.

[Silk Smoov]

Originally Posted by Burn this City

Warren Buffett and I agree...however, I would estimate 98% of the population does not. But then again, 98% of the population would rather receive a tax "refund" than write the government a check each April, which I guess tells me everything I need to know about the financial knowledge of most people.

Well, let me be more clearer I would gladly take a smaller check or still write a check to the government if that is what is needed. Just let me keep my loopholes to pay a smaller percentage compared to earnings. LMAO...

[kappasigma]

anyone else find it funny that the aggie (i'm one too) had the B backwards on her face?

[Dtownsfinest]

Another dragging death in Texas raises tensions

By JEFF CARLTON – 1 day ago

PARIS, Texas (AP) — In a gruesome case with powerful echoes of the dragging death of James Byrd a decade ago, a black man was killed underneath a pickup truck in East Texas and two white men have been charged with murder.

Black activists and the victim's mother are calling last month's killing of 24-year-old Brandon McClelland a racist attack. But prosecutors cast strong doubt on that Friday.

McClelland died after going with two white friends on a late-night beer run across the state line to Oklahoma, investigators said. Authorities said he was run over and dragged as far as 70 feet beneath the truck. His torn-apart body was discovered along a bloodstained rural road on Sept. 16. His mother said pieces of his skull could still be found three days later.

The case has raised racial tensions in Paris, a town of 26,000 with a history of fraught relations between blacks and whites.

To some, it sounded like the Byrd case, in which a black man in the East Texas town of Jasper, about 200 miles south of Paris, was chained by the ankles to the back of a pickup by three white supremacists and dragged for three miles. Two of the killers are now on death row; the third is serving a life sentence.

Prosecutors in the McClelland case said they are looking into whether one of the defendants, Shannon Keith Finley, was in a white supremacist gang while in prison for killing a friend.

But they said they have seen no evidence so far that McClelland's slaying was racially motivated. And they noted the three men had been friends for years.

"This is a group of guys who had black friends and white friends," said Allan Hubbard, a spokesman for the Lamar County district attorney's office. He added: "Any comparison to Jasper and James Byrd is preposterous."

Autopsy results are expected back next week. While investigators don't believe McClelland was tied to the truck, they planned to look closely for marks on the body that would indicate precisely how he was dragged.

Community activist Brenda Cherry said authorities have not seriously considered the possibility this was a hate crime. "There's a problem in Paris, Texas," she said. "I don't see a difference in getting dragged behind a truck and getting dragged under a truck."

A flier advertising a Saturday memorial service for McClelland said he was "the victim of a brutal and racist hate crime." The New Black Panthers met with investigators and held a news conference at the courthouse promising to examine the killing.

"I truly feel that race played a part in it," said the victim's mother, Jacquline McClelland. "It is a racist town, and Paris has always been a racist town."

The city is perhaps best known for its 70-foot Eiffel Tower replica topped by a giant red cowboy hat. Paris, which is 73 percent white and 22 percent black, was in the news last year after a black girl was sentenced to up to seven years in a juvenile prison hundreds of miles from her home for shoving a teacher's aide at school, while a white girl was sentenced by the same judge to probation for burning down her parents' house.

At the town square, decorated with pumpkins and hay bales for Halloween, the mother of the black girl said Friday that she began to feel Paris was a racist town after moving there from Oklahoma.

"There's a certain amount of fear that is pressed into black people when they live in Paris," said Creola Cotton.

According to court papers, Finley and Charles Ryan Crostley, both 27, told police they left the dry town to get beer in Oklahoma, and on the way back, the three men, all apparently drunk, argued about who was sober enough to drive. McClelland, an unmarried maintenance worker, decided to walk home, taking some beer with him, the men told police.

But Finley's estranged wife and one of his friends said they had been told by the two defendants that Finley began to bump McClelland with the front of his truck until McClelland fell, and Finley drove over him, according to court papers. Crostley and Finley then allegedly drove to a car wash to clean off the blood.

Crostley and Finley are jailed on charges of murder and evidence-tampering. Finley's attorney did not immediately return a message. There was no answer at the phone listing for Crostley's lawyer.

As in many small towns, some of the players are connected. The district attorney, Gary Young, was once the court-appointed lawyer for Finley, who was charged with murder in 2003. Finley eventually pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to four years.

In that same case, McClelland pleaded guilty to perjury for providing a false alibi for Finley. He was sentenced to five years' probation but served some jail time when he violated its terms, prosecutor Bill Harris said.

McClelland's mother said that on the day her son died, he had called Finley to ask for his help on a home repair project at another friend's house.

"For the life of me, I cannot understand it," she said. "They didn't have to run over and kill my baby. They could have brought him home."

[chumdawg]

Originally Posted by kg_veteran

Beats me. I certainly don't think they'll get worse, as DTownsFinest suggests.

I should have worded my question differently. I should have asked whether you thought race relations would improve as a result of an *Obama* presidency. I would be really, really surprised if you didn't believe they would.

Underdog captured nicely my feelings on the subject, as did Mavdog. I don't at all mind saying that part of Obama's appeal to me is his race. I think our country needs to get past the racial tensions that still exist. I think our country *needs* to elect a black man for president, so long as that man himself does not trade on race. I've never seen a national political figure who is black and yet talks so little about, seems so unconcerned with, race. Obama has that ultra-rare quality of seeming at once to represent *every* race.

And probably it is because of his mixed heritage. He's like Tiger Woods in this regard. I bet it's hard to find a white person who dislikes Tiger Woods solely for his heritage. I think this also explains Obama's broad appeal.

For that matter, I don't expect Obama the president to pander at all to blacks. Clinton loves to be called the "first black president." But what were Clinton's policies with regard to minority status? He seemed to believe that we should go out of our way to give minorities a hand based solely on their heritage. Make it so they can get mortgages they wouldn't otherwise qualify for. Enforce quotas that ensure they get opportunities they may not deserve on the merits. Something tells me Obama isn't going to take that tack.

I'm just saying, if America is ever going to advance itself into a "post-race" era, it isn't likely to get a better chance than right now--at least not for a long time. I realize the notion that if Obama doesn't win this election it will say something narrow and ugly about our electorate was widely panned. But I think a fair asessment of this campaign would have to admit that this is true. I'm in my mid-30's now, and if Obama loses this election I will probably be an old man by the time a black is elected president, if I see it at all.

Race relations have been the #1 ugliest thing about this country in my lifetime, far and away. I would very much appreciate it if they improved while I am still young.