Keywords: Barack Obama, racism, hate crimes, hate group, election 08
Since Barack Obama's historic election as America's first Black president, police across the country have reported racial incidents, including cross burnings, racist vandalism and assault, reports The Associated Press.
A general store in Maine posted a sign that read "Osama Obama Shotgun Pool," inviting customers to bet a dollar on a projected Obama assassination date. Racial slurs and swastikas were spray-painted on cars, houses and sidewalks in Los Angeles. In New York City, a Black teenager was reportedly attacked on Election Day by four white men who shouted "Obama."
There's been a surge in the number of racist incidents since the election, according to Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate crimes.
Calling Obama's election the "most profound change in the field of race since the Civil War," William Ferris, senior associate director of the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina, said that Obama's victory is shaking "the foundations on which the country has existed for centuries.
"Someone once said racism is like cancer," Ferris told The Associated Press. "It's never totally wiped out; it's in remission."
Click here to read the full story on CBS News.
Readers' Comments
Why don't the news organizations all over this country publicize the fact that there have already been 5 presidents with Black ancestry? And, surprise, the country survived! How would the racists react to that information?
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