Oprah: White people Have to Die for Racism to End
By
Noel Sheppard | November 15, 2013 | 12:18
Oprah Winfrey, one of the wealthiest people in the world, is throwing the race card again.
During an interview with the BBC Friday, she not only said that President Obama is treated with disrespect because he’s black, but also that entire generations of racists are going to have to die for racism to end (video follows with transcript and commentary):
WILL GOMPERTZ, BBC: The issue of the civil rights movement, and the way that black people around the world are treated, particularly I suppose in, around the world…
OPRAH WINFREY: Around the world.
GOMPERTZ: Around the world. Look at place like Russia, it’s, you know…
WINFREY: Around the world.
GOMPERTZ: So is this, is this, I suppose from a movie point of view, what the movie and the messages hold and the other movies we were discussing, and “Scottsboro Boys,” are these historical comments or are we still looking at a contemporary issue?
WINFREY: Good question. Well phrased. Good job. It would be foolish to not recognize that we have evolved in that we’re not still facing the same kind of terrorism against black people en masse as was displayed with the Scottsboro boys. It’s gotten better. Are there still places where people are terrorized because of the color of their skin, because of the color of their black skin? Yes. But there are laws that have allowed us to progress beyond what we saw in the Scottsboro boys and beyond the even the prejudice we see in “The Butler.”
Notice that Winfrey added "color of their black skin." Why not just leave it as "color of their skin?"
Why do folks such as her only see racism through the prism of how blacks are treated? By looking at the problem so narrowly, doesn't it make matters worse?
We are by far the most diverse nation in the world containing more ethnic and religious groups than any other on the planet.
Likely each of them has at times rightly or wrongly felt mistreated for the color of their skin or their religious beliefs.
When we as a nation look at this problem more honestly and not just as it pertains to one group, racism will have a chance of being solved.
Unfortunately, Winfrey has another solution:
GOMPERTZ: Are you saying problem solved?
WINFREY: I’m saying problem not solved. I’m saying that, you know, that’s the beauty of a film like “The Butler,” and it’s the beauty of a film like “12 Years a Slave,” and it’s the beauty of what we’re seeing on stage with “Scottsboro Boys” is that it allows people to see where the root of the problem started. It allows people to see, “Oh, that’s where it all started, this is how far we’ve come, and now this is how much farther we need to go.” Of course problem is not solved. You know, as long as people can be judged by the color of their skin, problem’s not solved. As long as there are people who still, there’s a whole generation – I say this, you know, I said this, you know, for apartheid South Africa, I said this for my own, you know, community in the south - there are still generations of people, older people, who were born and bred and marinated in it, in that prejudice and racism, and they just have to die.
So in Winfrey's view, it's older white people that are the problem, and once they die, racism ends.
Yet three months ago, she
said of the George Zimmerman verdict, "It's ridiculous to look at that case and not to think that race was involved."
Zimmerman's only 30 years old and is Hispanic.
It is patently absurd to suggest that racism is caused by old white people when racism and religious bigotry cut across all generations and ethnicities.
But folks such as Winfrey don't want to look at it that way, for they have a different agenda:
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GOMPERTZ: Do you think, has it ever crossed your mind that some of the treatment of Obama and the challenges he’s faced and some of the reporting he’s received is because he’s an African-American, and if he wasn’t an African-American, if he was a white guy, those wouldn’t have happened, he wouldn’t have been treated in quite the same way, he wouldn’t have to deal with quite the same confrontations?
Some question, huh? You'd think Obama was the first president to ever have challenges and confrontations. Was Gompertz on another planet when George W. Bush was regularly being attacked by his opponents?
With the race card nicely placed on the tee, Winfrey predictably hit it a long way:
WINFREY: Has it ever crossed my mind? It’s crossed my mind probably as many times as it’s crossed your mind. Probably it’s crossed my mind more times than it’s crossed your mind. Just the level of disrespect. When the Senator yelled out, “You’re a liar.” Remember that? Yeah, I think that there is a level of disrespect for the office that occurs, and that occurs in some cases and maybe even many cases because he’s African-American.
What Winfrey conveniently ignores is that she endorsed and campaigned for Obama
BECAUSE he was an African-American. He wouldn't have gotten her support or been elected if he wasn't.
More importantly, if he was just some white guy from Chicago that nobody had ever heard of, he never would have beaten Hillary Clinton in 2008.
How sad that she forgets that.
But that's not the saddest part about folks like Winfrey throwing the race card this way.
What's sadder is that as an African-American woman that has attained a level of success and notoriety greater than 99.99 percent of the people that have or ever will walk on this planet, she could be a positive role model concerning racism rather than helping to fuel it.
Why doesn't someone of Winfrey's obvious intellectual prowess understand that?
Imagine how much better it would have been for all Americans including blacks if she answered Gompertz's racially charged question this way:
Is some of the treatment of Obama because he's an African-American? Maybe some. But I think that's exaggerated. The President of the United States is the most powerful person on the planet receiving greater scrutiny than any other. As a result, he's challenged by people on both sides of the aisle, and that's a good thing because it acts to prevent him or her from becoming too powerful.
Unlike other nations, our President is not a king or dictator, and although many claim the treatment of Obama is harsher because he's black, I would say that for the most part, he isn't being treated any differently than George W. Bush before him or Bill Clinton before him. In fact, I would make the case that because he's black, he's been treated far better by most of the media than any President in my lifetime.
So let's not be so quick to throw the race card all because Obama has his critics. That comes with the territory, and if you don't have big enough shoulders to take the hits, you should have never campaigned for the job.
Imagine the headlines and the positive example Winfrey could have set by telling people the truth.
Is that just too difficult for her? Doesn't she know that every time she dishonestly throws the race card, she's undermining a solution?
Oh. That's right. Her solution is that generations of racists have to die to solve the problem.
Unfortunately, with folks like her out there fanning the fires of discontent, they're inculcating new generations with racist thoughts thereby making it necessary for A LOT of generations to die off before this problem ever gets solved.
How truly unfortunate for our nation.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sh...#ixzz2kp1wIMph
Days later Oprah Winfrey, Bill Clinton honoured with Medal of Freedom
President Barack Obama awards to Oprah Winfrey the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2013, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
Darlene Superville, The Associated Press
Published Wednesday, November 20, 2013 1:28PM EST
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama opened a day of tributes to former President John F. Kennedy on Wednesday by bestowing the Presidential Medal of Freedom on prominent Americans, 50 years after Kennedy was assassinated weeks short of the medal's first award ceremony.
Obama presented the medal -- the highest award the U.S. gives a civilian -- to entertainer Oprah Winfrey, former President Bill Clinton, and leaders from the worlds of sports, entertainment, science and public service. The late Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, was awarded the medal posthumously.
Holder Characterizes American Citizens as Violent Bigots
'You want freedom? You gonna have to kill some crackers!'
New Black Panther Obama DOJ refused to prosecute: 'I hate white people – all of them!'
Published: 07/07/2010 at 11:45 PM by
Chelsea Schilling Email |
Archive
Chelsea Schilling is a commentary editor and staff writer for WND and a proud U.S. Army veteran. She has also worked as a news producer at USA Radio Network and as a news reporter for the Sacramento Union.
“You want freedom? You’re gonna have to kill some crackers! You’re gonna have to kill some of their babies!”
Those were the words of Minister King Samir Shabazz, also known as Maurice Heath, the New Black Panther Party’s Philadelphia leader.
Shabazz is the same man the Obama administration Department of Justice refused to prosecute after he was filmed on Election Day 2008 with Jerry Jackson wearing paramilitary uniforms, carrying a nightstick and blocking a doorway to a polling location to intimidate voters.
The following YouTube video posted by Naked Emperor News shows his statements during a National Geographic special on the New Black Panthers:
“I hate white people – all of them! Every last iota of a cracker, I hate ‘em,” Shabazz shouts into a megaphone on a crowded sidewalk. “Through South Street with white, dirty, cracker whore [expletive] on our arms. And we call ourselves black men with African garb on.”
Then Shabazz spotted a black man embracing a white woman.
“What the hell is wrong with you, black man?” he shouted into his megaphone. “You [inaudible] with a white girl on your damn arm!
“You want freedom? You’re gonna have to kill some crackers! You’re gonna have to kill some of their babies!”
In a 2008 interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer, Sabazz said, “I’m about the total destruction of white people. I’m about the total liberation of black people. I hate white people. I hate my enemy. …”
National Geographic describes the New Black Panther Party as “a militant hate group headquartered in Washington, D.C., that seeks to redefine the black struggle for equality and demand liberation from what it sees as white supremacy.”
The party has marched on Independence Day, dragging American flags through the streets, trampling the flag on the ground and setting it on fire. The following video shows members of a New York chapter protesting celebration of Independence Day at an event called “4th of U-lie” on July 5, 2008. Members say the day is not a celebration of independence for blacks.
As WND reported, one poll watcher called police on Nov. 4, 2008, after he reportedly saw Shabazz brandishing a nightstick to threaten voters just 15 feet outside a Philadelphia polling location. Shabazz stood in front of the building with Jackson.
“As I walked up, they closed ranks, next to each other,” the witness told Fox News at the time. “So I walked directly in between them, went inside and found the poll watchers. They said they’d been here for about an hour. And they told us not to come outside because a black man is going to win this election no matter what.”
He said the man with a nightstick told him, “‘We’re tired of white supremacy,’ and he starts tapping the nightstick in his hand. At which point I said, ‘OK, we’re not going to get in a fistfight right here,’ and I called the police.”
According to various witnesses, the men also hurled racial epithets such as “white devil” and “cracker” and told voters they should prepare to be “ruled by the black man.” One person said the men called a Republican poll worker a “race traitor” and told him there would be “hell to pay.”
The following is a YouTube video of the Election Day incident:
Career Department of Justice attorneys headed by voting-section chief Chris Coates filed a case under Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 against four defendants, accused the men of attempting to engage in, and engaging in, both voter intimidation and intimidation of individuals aiding voters.
The
original Department of Justice complaint named Shabazz, Jackson and two other defendants: the New Black Panther Party and its chairman, Malik Zulu Shabazz, who planned deployment of 300 members on Election Day.
A federal judge ordered default judgments against the New Black Panthers after party members refused to appear in court. The DOJ trial team had won its case.
Even though DOJ lawyers had won, the Obama administration suddenly ordered it dropped – against advice of prosecutors who brought the case.
In April, the New Black Panther Party released a statement blaming Republicans, “tea-party racists” and “right-wing circles” for complaining and harassing the organization.
“Our only connection to President Obama is the common color of our skin,” it states. “The same dog that bites President Obama bites us too. So I say, if you were wise, you would leave Obama alone as well because he is your last chance to save your country. You are mad because a black man has been elected to the presidency, and that affronts your oversized ego.”
Christian Adams, a former DOJ attorney who quit his job after over the Obama administration’s refusal to prosecute the Panthers, claims the
administration has ordered the DOJ not to pursue voting-rights cases against black people. He said the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, which is investigating the dismissal, subpoenaed him and Coates, but their DOJ superiors ordered them not to testify – a violation of federal law.
“The case was dismissed on May 15, [2009],” Adams told Fox News. “All the charges were dropped against three of the defendants and the final order against one of the defendants was a timid restraint.”
Only one of four defendants, Samir Shabazz, faced punishment: a temporary injunction against appearing at Philadelphia polls with a weapon. The department stopped at the injunction and didn’t call for criminal penalties, monetary damages or other civil penalties.
“We were ordered to dismiss the case,” Adams said. “I mean, we were told drop the charges against the New Black Panther Party.”
The Department of Justice said it made a decision based on the evidence that the case could not go forward.
As WND reported, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has suggested it is now expanding its review of claims that the DOJ implemented a ban on prosecuting defendants who are black.
At a hearing in Washington this week, Adams testified that staffers throughout the department have subscribed for years to the notion that the DOJ’s primary responsibility is to protect the voting rights of minority voters, not whites. He added that recent Obama administration DOJ appointees have reinforced this notion by making such racial discrimination a formal departmental policy.
According to Adams, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Julie Fernandez, an Obama appointee at the top of the department, announced at a policy meeting that “the voting section will not bring any other cases against blacks and other minorities.”
Meanwhile,
Pajamas Media reports that three more former DOJ officials are stepping forward to support Adams’ testimony. According to the report, the former employees have “expressed a willingness to go on record regarding Adams’ professionalism, excellent performance and outstanding record of enforcing the law without bias.”
Pajamas Media adds, “Additionally, they would like to corroborate Adams’ statements about the DOJ” and even offer their own accounts of purported DOJ hostility to “race-neutral law enforcement.”
Asheesh Agarwal, former deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division, worked with Adams on several cases. He called Adams a “model attorney who vigorously enforced federal voting-rights laws on behalf of all voters, without respect to race or ideology.”
Mark Corallo, former DOJ director of public affairs, added: “I am not surprised that the Department is attacking J. Christian Adams. The Civil Rights Division attorneys have no interest in the rule of law as written and passed by Congress – the New Black Panther case is glaring proof that the Division has an agenda. If Congress was truly interested in oversight, there would be hearings on this case and others.”
Finally, Robert Driscoll, former deputy assistant attorney general who knew Adams, told Pajamas Media:
If this is indeed the view of senior career DOJ staff – that after reviewing the facts of the New Black Panther case and the video, current laws against voter intimidation provide no ability for the DOJ to properly bring an action against the New Black Panther members shown on video and mentioned in the lawsuit — then Congress needs to have a conversation with Attorney General Holder about whether the problem lies with the Voting Rights Act itself, or with those whose job it is to enforce it.
Career Department of Justice attorneys headed by voting-section chief Chris Coates filed a case under Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 against four defendants, accused the men of attempting to engage in, and engaging in, both voter intimidation and intimidation of individuals aiding voters.
The
original Department of Justice complaint named Shabazz, Jackson and two other defendants: the New Black Panther Party and its chairman, Malik Zulu Shabazz, who planned deployment of 300 members on Election Day.
A federal judge ordered default judgments against the New Black Panthers after party members refused to appear in court. The DOJ trial team had won its case.
Even though DOJ lawyers had won, the Obama administration suddenly ordered it dropped – against advice of prosecutors who brought the case.
In April, the New Black Panther Party released a statement blaming Republicans, “tea-party racists” and “right-wing circles” for complaining and harassing the organization.
“Our only connection to President Obama is the common color of our skin,” it states. “The same dog that bites President Obama bites us too. So I say, if you were wise, you would leave Obama alone as well because he is your last chance to save your country. You are mad because a black man has been elected to the presidency, and that affronts your oversized ego.”
Christian Adams, a former DOJ attorney who quit his job after over the Obama administration’s refusal to prosecute the Panthers, claims the
administration has ordered the DOJ not to pursue voting-rights cases against black people. He said the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, which is investigating the dismissal, subpoenaed him and Coates, but their DOJ superiors ordered them not to testify – a violation of federal law.
“The case was dismissed on May 15, [2009],” Adams told Fox News. “All the charges were dropped against three of the defendants and the final order against one of the defendants was a timid restraint.”
Only one of four defendants, Samir Shabazz, faced punishment: a temporary injunction against appearing at Philadelphia polls with a weapon. The department stopped at the injunction and didn’t call for criminal penalties, monetary damages or other civil penalties.
“We were ordered to dismiss the case,” Adams said. “I mean, we were told drop the charges against the New Black Panther Party.”
The Department of Justice said it made a decision based on the evidence that the case could not go forward.
As WND reported, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has suggested it is now expanding its review of claims that the DOJ implemented a ban on prosecuting defendants who are black.
At a hearing in Washington this week, Adams testified that staffers throughout the department have subscribed for years to the notion that the DOJ’s primary responsibility is to protect the voting rights of minority voters, not whites. He added that recent Obama administration DOJ appointees have reinforced this notion by making such racial discrimination a formal departmental policy.
According to Adams, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Julie Fernandez, an Obama appointee at the top of the department, announced at a policy meeting that “the voting section will not bring any other cases against blacks and other minorities.”
Meanwhile,
Pajamas Media reports that three more former DOJ officials are stepping forward to support Adams’ testimony. According to the report, the former employees have “expressed a willingness to go on record regarding Adams’ professionalism, excellent performance and outstanding record of enforcing the law without bias.”
Pajamas Media adds, “Additionally, they would like to corroborate Adams’ statements about the DOJ” and even offer their own accounts of purported DOJ hostility to “race-neutral law enforcement.”
Asheesh Agarwal, former deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division, worked with Adams on several cases. He called Adams a “model attorney who vigorously enforced federal voting-rights laws on behalf of all voters, without respect to race or ideology.”
Mark Corallo, former DOJ director of public affairs, added: “I am not surprised that the Department is attacking J. Christian Adams. The Civil Rights Division attorneys have no interest in the rule of law as written and passed by Congress – the New Black Panther case is glaring proof that the Division has an agenda. If Congress was truly interested in oversight, there would be hearings on this case and others.”
Finally, Robert Driscoll, former deputy assistant attorney general who knew Adams, told Pajamas Media:
If this is indeed the view of senior career DOJ staff – that after reviewing the facts of the New Black Panther case and the video, current laws against voter intimidation provide no ability for the DOJ to properly bring an action against the New Black Panther members shown on video and mentioned in the lawsuit — then Congress needs to have a conversation with Attorney General Holder about whether the problem lies with the Voting Rights Act itself, or with those whose job it is to enforce it.
Read more at
http://www.wnd.com/2010/07/175817/#WATLuW2792owaQuK.99
Black Panther Obama DOJ refused to prosecute: 'I hate white people – all of them
Read more at
http://www.wnd.com/2010/07/175817/#WATLuW2792owaQuK.99
New Black Panther Obama DOJ refused to prosecute: 'I hate white people – all of them!'
Read more at
http://www.wnd.com/2010/07/175817/#WATLuW2792owaQuK.99
New Black Panther Obama DOJ refused to prosecute: 'I hate white people – all of them!'
Read more at
http://www.wnd.com/2010/07/175817/#WATLuW2792owaQuK.99
New Black Panther Obama DOJ refused to prosecute: 'I hate white people – all of them!'
Read more at
http://www.wnd.com/2010/07/175817/#WATLuW2792owaQuK.99
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