The Lululemon Killings: When Bad Things Happen to White People?

By: Latoya Peterson

Posted: March 31, 2011 at 12:10 AM

The slaying of a white worker at the upscale yoga store in a D.C. suburb was made for the media -- particularly once her black co-worker was charged with her murder. Four ways of looking at the reaction to the crime.

On the night of Friday, March 11, Jayna Murray and Brittany Norwood both entered a well-trafficked Lululemon Athletica clothing store in the tony suburb of Bethesda, Md., where they both worked. They'd returned there after hours because Norwood had left her wallet.
The following morning, Murray was dead and Norwood was found tied up in the back of the store, which specializes in yoga apparel. Police said both women had been raped. The crime terrified the Bethesda community, which feared that two brutal killers were in their midst. Stores shuttered early; proprietors installed security cameras in their businesses and hired security guards to walk employees to their cars at night.

The Lululemon Killings: When Bad Things Happen to White People?

By: Latoya Peterson

Posted: March 31, 2011 at 12:10 AM

The slaying of a white worker at the upscale yoga store in a D.C. suburb was made for the media -- particularly once her black co-worker was charged with her murder. Four ways of looking at the reaction to the crime.

On the night of Friday, March 11, Jayna Murray and Brittany Norwood both entered a well-trafficked Lululemon Athletica clothing store in the tony suburb of Bethesda, Md., where they both worked. They'd returned there after hours because Norwood had left her wallet.
The following morning, Murray was dead and Norwood was found tied up in the back of the store, which specializes in yoga apparel. Police said both women had been raped. The crime terrified the Bethesda community, which feared that two brutal killers were in their midst. Stores shuttered early; proprietors installed security cameras in their businesses and hired security guards to walk employees to their cars at night.

Criticizing Abortion Stance, Santorum Cites Obama’s Ethnicity

Former Republican senator and rumored 2012 presidential hopeful Rick Santorum is drawing controversy for comments about President Obama’s stance on abortion. Speaking to the right-wing news site CNS News, Santorum appeared to suggest it is hypocritical for Obama to support abortion because he is African American.

Rick Santorum: "The question is—and this is what Barack Obama didn’t want to answer—is that: is that human life a person under the Constitution? And Barack Obama says no. Well, if that person, human life, is not a person, then I find it almost remarkable for a black man to say, 'Now, we are going to decide who are people and who are not people.'

From the White House to Obama's House: Race and Political Transition

As he faces a critical juncture in his presidency, it is perhaps useful for President Obama to reflect upon an obscure but relevant anniversary. On October 17, 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt officially changed the name of the president’s residence to the “White House.” Significantly, this occurred on the day after his controversial White House dinner with black leader Booker T. Washington. Roosevelt had been in office six weeks following the September 6, 1901 shooting and subsequent death of President William McKinley. The dinner, as viewed by some in the black community, was supposed to signal a new receptivity by the white political establishment to engagement with African Americans. In fact, it achieved the opposite. The virulent reaction to breaking the racial mores of the time closed the door not only on Washington, but other black leaders for nearly 30 years. At the same time, a new political era was dawning not only in the black community but in the nation as a whole.

More Black Americans jobless

The US economy shed 95,000 jobs in September, according to the latest figures from the US labour department. The fall was almost double the previous month's losses.

While the percentage of unemployed Americans remained unchanged at 9.6 per cent, the jobs crisis has had a devastating impact on minority groups, particularly African Americans.

Al Jazeera's Rob Reynolds visted an employment training center in Los Angeles to hear from those affected first-hand

link to video

It's not Ok to Bash Islam.

Anti-Mosque Rhetoric in US Reportedly Boosts Taliban Recruitment

Newsweek is reporting that Taliban operatives in Afghanistan say the backlash against the construction of an Islamic cultural center in Lower Manhattan has been a boost for the militant group. An operative named Zabihullah told the magazine, "By preventing this mosque from being built, America is doing us a big favor...It’s providing us with more recruits, donations, and popular support." Zabihullah’s comments mirror what many US terrorism analysts have been saying about the rise in anti-Muslim rhetoric in America.
Evan Kohlmann recently said, "We are handing al-Qaeda a propaganda coup, an absolute propaganda coup."

Candlelight Vigil in Tennessee Condemns Arson at Mosque Site

In Tennessee, more than 150 people gathered last night for a candlelight vigil in the city of Murfreesboro to protest the recent arson at the construction site for a new mosque and Islamic center. Andy Woloszyn of Middle Tennesseans for Religious Freedom helped organize the rally.

Andy Woloszyn: "We had a candlelight vigil condemning the arson and terrorism committed against the site of the future Islamic center, where they torched a construction vehicle down. And the very next day, when members of the board were out there, they heard several gunshots. So we came here today to support the Muslim community, to be here for them so they don’t feel alone, so they’re not the ones suffering by themselves." (Video courtesy of Seth Spuff Limbaugh / SethLimbaugh.com).

Attorney John Green spoke prior to the candlelight vigil in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

John Green: "It is my personal belief that to be here tonight evidences a respect for everything that we, as citizens of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County, hold dear: the integrity and dignity, respect with which we will treat our neighbors and our friends and our colleagues." (Video courtesy of Seth Spuff Limbaugh /SethLimbaugh.com).

A group of counter-protesters in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, gathered to openly oppose the construction of the mosque. One of the counter-protesters, Kimberly Kelly, expressed support for the use of arson to stop the mosque from being built. She told The Tennesseannewspaper, "I think it was a piece of their own medicine. They bombed our country."

Shirley Sherrod, Ousted from Agriculture Department, Rejects Offer to Return

Shirley Sherrod, ousted from her job at the Agriculture Department last month, has rejected an offer to return to the USDA. Sherrod was forced out shortly after a right-wing website ran a video clip that was deceptively edited to make it appear that she was racist toward white farmers. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack forced Sherrod to resign shortly after the video was posted. Vilsack met with Sherrod Tuesday morning to try and convince her to return to the department. The two also discussed a settlement pending in the Senate for black farmers who have been victims of racism. We speak with John Boyd, the founder and president of the National Black Farmers Association. [includes rush transcript]

What if the Tea Party was Black - Jasrix

Republican Culture War

If we had any sense, the fall elections would be about just one thing: the economy. But we do not have any sense. We are facing what Wall Street would call the “triple witching hour.” Republicans have their finger on three social-demographic hot buttons. The first is illegal immigration (in proposing a review of the 14th Amendment), and the second is Islam in America (inobjecting to the mosque at ground zero). They won’t be able to avoid pushing the third, race, even if they wanted to, given that the two leading congressional Democrats facing ethics charges are African-American. The Democrats, in response, label the GOP xenophobic and intolerant—and those are the nice words. If Barack Obama’s inauguration—could it have been only 19 months ago?—was a moment of proud, blessed calm, we are now looking at a nasty, community-shredding season of fear.

white racists talk about racism (part II)

Led by Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA) last night, lawmakers convened for a special session of floor speeches urging a repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Rather than participate positively in the discussion, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) took to the floor to deliver a hate-filled response. Gohmert fired off a litany of attacks, calling the DADT repeal “perverse…social experimentation” and that soldiers are being “held hostage by a sociological attack.” His rant included a bizarre argument that the Matthew Shepard hate crimes bill would lead to a legalization of necrophilia, pedophilia, and bestiality. Later in the speech, after reading lengthy passages from the Bible against homosexuality, Gohmert said that taking away “moral teaching in America” would create a situation similar to that of Germany in the “1920’s and 1930’s” when a “little guy with a mustache” took over:

white racists talk about racism

The often-controversial Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa said on a radio show Monday that President Obama's policies favor black people.

On G. Gordon Liddy's radio show, King said, "The president has demonstrated that he has a default mechanism in him that breaks down the side of race - on the side that favors the black person." (RealClearPolitics has audio of the remarks available here.)

King made that remark in a discussion about Arizona's controversial new immigration law, which makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally and requires law enforcement officials to question a person about his or her immigration status during a "lawful stop" if there is "reasonable suspicion" that person may be in the country illegally. Mr. Obama has said the law could lead to racism against Latinos.

Ex-Justice Dept lawyer says whites' rights ignored

PHILADELPHIA — Witnesses described an ugly scene: Two members of the New Black Panther Party threatening white voters the day Barack Obama was elected president, flinging insults like "white devil" and "you're about to be ruled by the black man, cracker."

The fallout from the case has become even uglier. Most charges against the men were dropped for lack of evidence, the U.S. Justice Department says. Now a former Justice Department lawyer is accusing his ex-superiors of ignoring white voters' rights and creating a systematic "one-way" approach in which only minorities are protected.

News

1. Senate Republicans Block Unemployment Benefits Bill
2. NRA, Sierra Club Exempted from Campaign Finance Bill
3. US to Deploy Predator Drones Along Texas-Mexico Border
4. Obama Faces Another Setback on Drilling Moratorium
5. Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Enron CEO
6. Whale Hunting Talks Break Down
7. Detroit to Close 77 City Parks

United by Hard Times: Workers Organize Across Race Lines

I’m feeling relieved. For a while it seemed like the historic election of our first African American president would give legitimacy to the idea that we live in a “post-racial” America. The idea that race is no longer a part of people’s daily experience is not merely false. It’s potentially dangerous when a majority of people are struggling to understand what’s happening to them economically.
What people are experiencing is exactly what’s supposed to happen to them under capitalism and its current variant, neoliberalism. That economic system is grounded on the idea that society must have winners and losers. It has convinced people that those categories are based on race: that people of color are, in the natural course of things, losers; and that white people, regardless of class, are supposed to win.
When hard times hit, as they have recently, people who are losing their grip on their middle-class status—or those who were already poor and are getting poorer—look for someone to blame. They fall back on the official story: White people’s troubles are caused by people of color; the troubles of people of color who were born in this country are caused by immigrants. It’s a divide-and-conquer strategy that keeps people who are natural allies on a class basis from looking at who’s really causing their trouble: the people who run the capitalist system.
This moment presents both a challenge and an opportunity. The challenge is to get people with shared economic interests working together—to get them past learned racial divides. As long as poor and working-class white people remain convinced that they win by keeping people of color on the margins, all workers will continue to lose economic ground. The opportunity is to use this economic crash as a way to find common ground among those who are the real losers—regardless of race—in the existing system.