All Hate - All the Time - A conversation with Robert Shelton 1969
(Robert Shelton - Imperial Wizard of the KKK - life of the party)
With the current wave of hatespeak flooding the air and cable, I noticed a striking similarity in all of it; that strange desire to take half-truths, outright lies and fabrications and somehow weave them into plausible, factual events and speak about them with an air of honest-to-God authority.
So I stumbled across an interview done by Marsha Tompkins at WBAI in New York with Imperial Wizard of the KKK Robert Shelton on December 23, 1969, conducted at his home in Tuscaloosa Alabama.
Shelton makes no bones about the fact that he's anti just about everything and every one on the planet. Tompkins makes no bones about being intimidated and doesn't question any of his logic. Which, in retrospect was probably a good thing, because it allowed him to spew and continue spewing in a way that would have ground any other interview to a screaming halt. In this context, Shelton is seen for the person he really was; petty, vindictive, ignorant, arrogant and terrified.
Pick which wingnut personality he most closely resembles today. Without too much trouble you'll probably find a lot. The common denominators are hate and ignorance and an overwhelming fear.
(They would have you believe they are as American as Apple Streudel!)
That was pretty sobering to listen to. And the scary thing is this happened only 4 decades ago...
Our dear Rethuglican Senator from Alabama was at it again today. Jeff Sessions was quoted as saying the detainees in Gitmo would miss the "tropical breeze" if the base closed. What a genius:
http://yellingatthemoon.com/2009/05/13/jeff-s...
The automaton Sessions is one scary f**ked-up puppy.
Sessions looks like he would just keep coming after you (with that blank stare on his face), even after being struck repeatedly across the head. Silver bullets? A wooden stake? Is there anything that can stop pure evil of this magnitude?
Isn't this demento even a bit scary for the imbecile rednecks in 'Bama?
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5YYbsoiNGI
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
I was just beginning to realise I hadn't seen you for awhile.
me-oww!
The KKK is a terrorist organization. And like Al qaeda operates in discrete cells without constant direction from above. And yet, people in the KKK are walking our streets today. Some even openly proud to be members. These people should be on trial.
for dog catcher. This guy Sheltons been dead for six years. So what's the point?
The point is that these people do not die away. Their stupidity and hatred is carefully taught to their young and hidden inside carefully chosen buzz words.
The children of the openly racist KKK members then are the people selling Obama Chimps and plotting assassination.
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
then you're obviously not going to want to understand anything anyone tells you but let's give it a shot, keeping it as simple as possible.
The point is that people like this are still out there and that this kind of politics is rearing it's ugly fricking head again.
Yet again we see the reasons why we need to replay these news snippets (thank you Gordon).
The election of Obama as prez does not mean that racism has ended. Apparently, you take the same line that Fox News and other affiliates take; "black president = the end of racism"...how wrong is that? Very wrong!
These lessons need to be taught and learned over & over.
Since Obama has been elected president of your great country, I've noticed that the ugly head of racist hatred for blacks has actually reared up again and also seems to be accelerating towards something that I don't even want to think about. White supremacy groups have found new breath in their lungs. Having a black president has done nothing to subdue their hatred, it has in fact driven them more to "take up arms" which I have seen on many YouTube vids & websites put up by right-wing militants.
These news-bites need to be heard. Doesn't matter how long the guy has been dead for. The guys that wrote the Bill of Rights have been dead for a while....should you say "what's the point?" there as well? I don't think so.
--the relevance of Shelton's sentiment circa 1969 to today's incendiary rhetoric daily from Limbaugh etc. is the point.
I must be hanging around with some progressive white guys because if you looked at them they're not. I haven't heard a violent peep out of them. Mainly because they realize that Bush screwed up two wars and handed hundreds of billions of dollars to wall street with no strings attached.
Thee KKK is rebranding themselves as opposing hate and simply promoting pride in their white heritage.
Yeah.
My daughters, with minimal prompting from their loving Popster, have a stock answer when the local rednecks suggest that the Confederate Flag is a symbol of heritage:
"Yes, it is a heritage of hatred, prejudice and slavery."
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Pride in being of Swedish extraction- check. Pride in being of Irish extraction-- check. Pride in being of French, German, Lithu-fookin'-anian heritage? CHECK.
White heritage? A "heritage" designed for the support of racial supremacy.
Which DemoChristian's daughters clearly understand.
Good for them.
to believe this shit. Growing up in the Bronx I was robbed once by white guys(I had no money) once by a hispanic kid(a cop showed up) and three times by black guys. You do the math.
If you rode the subways of NY at 3 in the morning you had a problem with these guys. Then I worked as a firefighter for twenty years and I never saw a black person a victim of a white assault. I saw many many black on white crimes. What should that tell me?
what does it tell you?
What does it tell Mike? It tells Mike that black people are more likely to be criminals, as proven by his own anecdotal evidence.
Now I'll answer your question, Mike. What it SHOULD tell you:
It should tell you that there are serious problems created by racism and inequality. We are all experiencing the "fruits" of our forefathers' slavery of Africans, and our grandparents' discrimination toward African Americans.
The mere fact that you're so quick to blame all black people for the ills of the world proves how deep-seeded racism is in the U.S.
I live in a place with very few blacks. Guess what? Whites commit most of the crimes. Does that mean that the entire white race are criminals? No.
We live in a world where a white guy can completely and utterly fail at his job, sink the economy, force people to lose their homes and still walk away with $300 million dollars (AIG guy, for example). And blacks are the criminals?
thanks for responding bamboozled, but really, i am not daft, i want to hear his own personal conclusions as well as how he intended his story to be interpreted.
How well a picture says it all. This is what's left of the repug party. It has hated itself into a corner...and now all that is left, is HATE.
I hope they start a new party...or someone starts a new party. Hell, maybe the progressives will have to start a new party and abandon those weak kneed "democrats" that are really spineless pawns to the corporate machine.
Whatever....we DO need a second party. The repug party is dead and gone. We need a party that is truly a representative of the people, for the people, by the people. F*CK this surrogate for the corporate interest nonsense.
Trust me, it does not work to make and enforce laws against hate speech. Not if by "work", we mean create less hate and movements. I live in Norway. We have had laws against hate speech for decades. It has only given credence to undergound movements, growing NeoNazism, and even silly Satanism in the 90s. I'd say laws against it only enhances the phenomenon.
Supressing things like that by law only fuels the arguments and mentality behind them. These goups allready view themselves in opposition to the general society. Outlawing the things they say, only strengthens their confidence in what they believe, and creates a stronger bond between these groups and individuals. Compare it to the war on terror, -the more "war we wage on terror", the more terror will blossom.
People will say what they want behind closed doors anyway, and creating this distance between what you can say in the open society and in private is a way to self-delusion. Not a good state for an individual, nor for society.
Many here probably allready know how right-wingers and people with fascist and bigoted tendencies use the expression "politically correct" about their ideological enemies, as if decent people are only decent to conform to societys trends. Viewing themselves as outside of that "PC" sphere is what their argument is based on. Like they are somehow the only ones with the balls to say what everyone thinks. Yes, it's warped, but then again, these people ARE warped.
Also, there is no better way to discredit a fool than to let the fool speak. Then everyone can hear how ignorant, backwards, negative, bigoted, narrow-minded, bitter and foolish he sounds.
Let's be open and honest and see where it leads. At this point in time, when people over here in Europe seems to figure out that such laws don't work, there is no point in America making the same mistake. Anything that makes society less open is a curse, even if the intentions are good.
Trust in most peoples ability to act and think responsibly and wisely. That is a liberal principle. Anyone who wants to protect people from themselves does not trust mankind and is not a liberal .
Thom Hartmann, definitely the smartest guy in American talk radio, defines a liberal as someone who ultimately trusts mankind and wants to empower and enrich it, and a conservative as someone who does not trust in mankind and wants to supress and deceive it (usually with the argument that it's for our own good). I think that is spot on.
Outlawing any speech in America goes against the constitution, so wouldn't happen. The more dangerous thing in America is the consolidation of power in the media.
It's true that, as you say, "there is no better way to discredit a fool than to let the fool speak. Then everyone can hear how ignorant, backwards, negative, bigoted, narrow-minded, bitter and foolish he sounds."
BUT and BIG BUT, that holds true when it's a bigot at the bar or a nutter standing on a street corner. When you are Fox News, backing what would be considered extreme views with the built-in credibility of a national network, suddenly what might be considered fringe views suddenly become mainstream and "acceptable."
Banning speech isn't necessary. The FCC just needs to do its job and uphold standards of broadcasting and split up powerful media interests. That means forcing Fox News to stop calling Opinion shows News (simple truth in advertising standards). And breaking up huge media conglomerates to allow more competition. The lack of competition and the focus on cost-cutting has has caused the death of journalism and the rise of opinion.
Yes, we do
White people aren't as bad as people in here say. I can't believe I feel guilty about saying white people aren't that bad. You're doing a good job. They have white people in Norway right?
I've known great white people-- including the man I am married to. I've known despicable black people, including members of my own family. We are not discussing them. We are discussing the speech and attitudes being spewed forth from "respectable" news organisations and commentators.
Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck and the rotten rest put forth opinions that wouldn't have sounded out of place in Rwanda or Bosnia at the time of those civil wars.
You're trying to turn this into something it's not, but we won't let you. I wonder where the hell Left&Left is so he could school your ass.
By the way, the only time I was a victim of crime was when a bunch of white junkies broke into my house and stole everything they could carry, including my child's diapers. I therefore conclude that all white Scots are junkie thieves.
1 Black guy.
1 Hispanic guy.
And 2 White guys.
Crime is an equal opportunity employer. That's the way I see it anyway.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
group hug everyone. this man needs a group hug.
how about some nice chamomile tea or hot cocoa?
better? now tell us more about your experiences with non-white people?
Tea parties haven't evolved much in 40 years.
What party affiliation are the people in that 2nd picture? I'm asking because one of the arguments from the right I seem to hear often is that the KKKers in the south were mostly democrats. They mention republicans are the "party of Lincoln" and democrats are racists.
They never mention what the current demographic of the KKK is.
LBJ and progressive Dems drove the racists over to the GOP, which hasn't been the "party of Lincoln" for decades now. The two parties' roles and identities and attitudes completely switched.
See: Ronald Reagan in Philadelphia, Miss.
Reconstruction after the Civil War lasted less than 10 years. Then black people were disenfranchised again, deprived of the vote and basic civil rights for more than 80 years.
I'm not really knowlegable the history of the Republican party, but what did Republicans do to try to change any of this?
Damnit clumberfeet, you beat me to it; that picture looked like teabaggers to me.
Mike, et al. Of course all or even most white people are not like these mofos. Obama got elected because of moderate Republicans. But the Repuke base is still like the people in these pictures and doesn't seemed to have evolvled much when you listen to them these days.
Obama was elected because more people cast votes for him than John McCain, and more people cast votes for Obama because Bush was a disaster and McCain/Palin promised more of the same. Thus, to ascribe Obama's victory to moderate Republicans diminishes the contributions of others. For example, if every young person, or black person, or hispanic, etc. in America had stayed home, McCain would have been elected.
I'd like to note that Tuscaloosa City voted overwhelmingly for President Obama last november. (True, the county as a whole and the state went for McCain).
But progress is being made... Slowly but surely...
BAI and Pacifica are a treasure.
This would be a real good clip to put on TV with a comparison of the present GOP,RNC and the Faux imatattion news. Also using Strong comparisons of language and issue presentation of hannity, o'rielly scarbourgh, bennet,and the rest of the Racist Nazis right wing HATE Mongers.
I have alqays been a strong believer of using their own words and actions against them, as they said it they manipul;ated itand we can show it.
They would have you believe they are as American as Apple Streudel!
Hey, don't malign streudel! Streudel is tasty and goes well with ice cream. The KKK are horrible people and don't go well with anything.
The KKK is where the Reslug party of hate originated from.
is how, for all his hatred of the government, he buys into its self-serving Communist paranoia.
Viewing the photos of Robert Shelton and the Klan brings back memories of a very scary time for me in the early 60's in Tuscaloosa.
Robert Shelton was the Imperial Wizard of the Klan when I was a co-ed at the University. A 14 foot cross was burned early one morning on the lawn of a nearby Jewish fraternity house. My sorority house was broken into. We hired a guard to protect us.
I was so scared. We were afraid to go to classes. Jewish students were told it was too dangerous to wear our sorority or fraternity pins in public. We were being asked to deny part of our identity. In other words, unless we became invisible our lives were in danger.
All this because in the segregated atmosphere of the University, the campus newspaper editorial advocated peaceful integration when it quoted the lyrics of “If I Had a Hammer.” What an uproar it caused! The editor (who didn't even write the editorial) happened to be Jewish.
Integration was imminent and plans by University administration and student leaders were proceeding. It was inevitable in spite of Governor George Wallace’s threats to “stand in the schoolhouse door.” The Klan and their sympathizers couldn't stop this. And they were scared and desperate.
Whenever I see photos of the Klan my own fear resurfaces. What a scary time that was.
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