Hatewatch: Don't Forget the Bigots

For nearly three years, we have put forth weekly analysis of current events that reside at the intersection of race, politics and language. Specifically, we attempt to apply scholarship from the fields of communication, political science, sociology, anthropology, critical studies and psychology to the news so that the work is accessible to folks who do not have advanced training in the social sciences or humanities.

Our work is balanced on two key points: 1) While we have a primary and fundamental commitment to the academic process and seek to contribute to the scholarly literature, we also have a normative interest in reducing racial inequality. We launched the RaceProject.org website in 2003 and the RaceProject.org Facebook group in 2007 in an effort to bring those tasks together. 2) We join with others who differentiate individual-level racism (what we consistently call "bigotry") with systemic-level racism because we believe that understanding that difference is the key to turning folks' attention to working on the latter. As a result, we have offered some 140 entries here, most of which totally ignore individual-level bigotry, in part because we try to de-emphasize the intent of those who reveal racism in their language and expression.

Every once in a while, though, we need to remember that while bigotry may be taking its last breath in America, it certainly is not dead. Further, it is conceivable that bigotry will make a comeback now that the nation's top elected official is a man who identifies as being African American.

The hard working folks at the Southern Poverty Law Center spend a lot of time, money and energy tracking bigotry, particularly as cases move through the legal process. If you are not an email subscriber of their weekly "Hatewatch" newsletter, you might be surprised about the number and intensity of incidents that occur. We reproduce their newsletter here THIS WEEK to remind readers that, while internalized racism is more widespread and is a more significant impediment to social justice, overt bigotry dramatically affects the lives of thousands of Americans each year. We cannot fall asleep on this front.

White Supremacist Threatens To Kill Judge
Pueblo Chieftain
May 17, 2008
Aryan Brotherhood member Jay Gregory threatened at a sentencing hearing to have a federal judge murdered after referencing the 1984 assassination of a Jewish radio show host by the white nationalist group The Order. [more]

Man Arrested For Trying To Sell Cyanide To Aryan Brotherhood
The Oklahoman
May 15, 2008
Texas resident Jeffrey Don Detrixhe was arrested for allegedly agreeing to sell 100 pounds of cyanide for $10,000, a thermal imager and a fully automatic AK-47 to a federal informant that Detrixhe believed was representing the Aryan Brotherhood. [more]

ACLU: York Public Assembly Law Still Unconstitutional
The York Daily Record
May 17, 2008
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, proposed changes to a York, Penn. law governing protest rallies, several provisions of which were struck down in court after a white supremacist group sued the city, are not enough to make it constitutional. [more]

Sacramento Men Arrested For Gay Bashing
Orange County Register
May 16, 2008
Micah Jontomo Tasaki, 21, Gregory Lee Winfield, 20, and Robert Lee Denor, 19, allegedly uttered anti-gay slurs then beat and kicked a gay man just hours after the California Supreme Court issued a ruling overturning a state ban on same-sex marriages. [more]