I really appreciated Jimmy Carter stepping out and calling the vitriol being thrown at President Obama what it is – RACISM! I understand why President Obama would try to deflect the topic (he can’t win in that discussion) – but the rest of us should be having the discussion and it SHOULD be led by the Democrats in Congress – who have proved time and again that they have little in the form of courage. THEY NEED TO HAVE THEIR PRESIDENT’S BACK! People like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, (and the latest one I heard) Michael Savage should not be allowed to just randomly throw out RACIST comments ON THE PUBLIC AIRWAVES! I realize the importance of freedom of speech, but some of the comments I’ve heard have gone over the line of what should be acceptable. Maybe it’s not illegal, but there should be enough of an organized “blowback” that some of these people lose their jobs.

I remember when Don Imus made a derogatory racist comment about a girls basketball team and he was fired by CBS radio (or whatever station was carrying his program). Is Rush Limbaugh making too much money for the stations he’s on for them to make a stand on this (his comments make Imus’ comments pale)? Or, do these station owners feel the same way? I’m looking for some kind of organized effort to boycott sponsors of these people in an attempt to “hit them where it hurts.” I believe calling them on it is the responsibility of the supporters of Obama in Congress, for starters. And, if there are any true reporters out there any more, I believe they should be reporting what these guys are saying – to an extent, Keith Olberman and Rachel Maddow are reporting it – BUT THERE DOESN’T SEEM TO BE ANY “BLOWBACK.” I did see that Glenn Beck lost a few sponsors – and, to me, THAT’S WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN TO ALL OF THEM. Someone needs to start a campaign to make it public knowledge of who is sponsoring these programs – and encouraging Americans who are opposed to racism TO BOYCOTT THE PRODUCTS! (I can’t force myself to listen to them long enough to figure out who their sponsors are) I don’t think it would be long before some of them would be looking for work.

Short of that, there should be a public awareness campaign going on informing people EXACTLY WHAT IS BEING SAID OUT THERE. I know a lot of intelligent people who only see the news in passing who aren’t aware of what is being said. And, many of these people (that I know) are so sick of our political process that they don’t want to hear about it. However, I work in a public school, and I believe that – as informed citizens – we have an obligation to KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON IN OUR COUNTRY! Are we going to just listen to this crap until some nut-bag does something tragic? We’ve already seen several racially motivated hate crimes since Obama’s election and the Southern Poverty Law Center (if you don’t know who they are, you should if you believe in racial justice in this country) recently reported that the number of white supremist organizations has increased by 400% since President Obama’s first day in the White House (there are many people in this country who seemingly think the White House refers to something other than the color of the structure itself).

I’ve heard people like Chuck Norris (of Walker, Texas Ranger fame) imply that there are thousands of “cells” around the country ready for armed insurrection. I’ve heard the governor of Texas shout out to a crowd of cheering Texans that they are going to succeed from the union (what would Jerry Jones do with Texas Stadium if that happened?). And, if you were watching video of the so-called 9/12 march on Washington, you saw one person after another carrying hate signs with racist overtones toward Obama, you saw actual elected Congress people addressing the “mob” as if they were “freedom fighters,” and I saw a video clip of a “news producer” from Fox “news” actually stirring up the crowd for the benefit of their cameras! THAT WAS UNBELIEVABLE TO ME – but (I hate to admit this) having watched Fox “news” before, it didn’t surprise me. I did find it appalling to see a sitting Senator (Jim DeMint) addressing and encouraging a crowd with a sign right in front of him that read something like “the zoo has an African lion, the White House has a lying African.” I honestly never thought I’d see the day when a US Senator would not only tolerate something so blatant as that, BUT ACTUALLY ENCOURAGE IT!

And, then for the Republican supporters of this fiasco to deny the racist undertone of their message is ABSURD! Thank God for Jimmy Carter! I’ve been wondering “when is there going to be someone who calls this what it is?” Tonight I heard President Clinton say that he didn’t agree with President Carter because he felt the people involved wouldn’t support Obama’s positions regardless of his race. However, that – to me – is beside the point. The reality is that the racist nature of a significant portion of our population is “boiling over.” The rhetoric of these people is harsh and it’s getting more overt ALL THE TIME! If something happens to President Obama will these people be happy? THEY ARE INCITING VIOLENCE! One sign at the march read something like – “I left my guns at home – THIS TIME!” What kind of message does that send? And, I saw a couple rallies where Obama spoke where several people came armed with weapons – in one case an assault rifle – again, WHAT MESSAGE ARE THEY SENDING? They seem to be demanding freedoms I’m not sure they have, but it sure feels to me that they are infringing on some of my freedoms in the process.

I believe we need more leaders than Jimmy Carter to stand up and fight back against this behavior. Is Congress going to wait until something bad happens (actually, from the standpoint of the guard at the Holocaust Museum, or Doctor Tiller, or the people in Pittsburgh, something already has) before they take all this seriously? I certainly hope not. Republicans seem to be daring the Democrats to show some spine – from the actual health care debate to this racist behavior at all these public gathering points – plus the racist bigotry being cast out over the public airwaves – I’m hoping that these same Democrats decide to do something about this before something tragic happens. I’ve seen some signs lately that the “progressive” Democrats are starting to “push” for a health care bill that actually benefits the American people, so it would be nice to see them take the lead in making a firm stand against this racist outpouring on the “right” as well. Maybe one of them could set up a website identifying all the sponsors of the Limbaugh’s, Beck’s, etc. along with actual examples of the racist comments coming out of their mouths. It would answer a lot of questions about where this country really stands regarding race if the American people were challenged to reject this type of behavior where it hurts people like Limbaugh the most – in the pocket book. I’m wondering: do the sponsors of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck support their racist bigotry regarding our President?