Strollerderby : hate

WTF: KKK Selling Kids T-Shirts

JeanneSager — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:03:00 GMT

I'm vacillating between speechless and spitting with venom. How else do you respond to news that the Ku Klux Klan is selling t-shirts for kids?

T-shirts at a Website that actually trumpets itself as a go-to source for "Christian" purchases.

I'm not sure if I should be thanking my husband for pointing this one out to me (he found it while working on a paper about domestic terrorism, FYI), but I guess the news that the KKK is targeting kids is hardly new. Kids don't come out of the womb seething with hate, so it does have to come from adults peddling bigotry to little kids. Remember, kids learn by imitating.

But making the hard Aryan sell face-to-face is disgusting enough. Sharing with the world that "Klan Kids Kare" is absolutely terrifying.

I've got to wonder, honestly, what Klan Kids Kare about. I was thinking Lynching, but according to the t-shirt, they "kare" about loving Jesus, white power and their heritage. Note to the Klan: Jesus lived in the Middle East - it's highly unlikely that his skin was white. And he certainly wasn't Aryan.

My big question, of course, is where are these kids going to wear these shirts? Besides Klan rallies, of course. Is there anywhere in public that they wouldn't be told to leave? I'm all for free speech, but if a kid walks into a school wearing a shirt that says "white power," I'd hope they get sent home to change. It's a gang symbol (yes, similar to the red of the Bloods - albeit on the opposite end).

And perhaps even more shocking here (to some of you anyway), this t-shirt is being sold by a Christian bookstore, a site that proudly proclaims itself as the "exclusive distributor of the Knights Party designs" (yes those Knights - the white ones). This to go with their "wide variety of Christian oriented t-shirts and sweatshirts." And no, I didn't find a "turn the other cheek" tee - the kind you'd sort of expect out of a Christian t-shirt selling site (OK, maybe only I would?).

Honestly, I'm not going to provide you with a link to this site. But if you REALLY need to find it for yourself (for some voyeuristic pleasure, we hope, rather than to make your purchase), enter the words "Christian books and things" into Google. It's the fourth site in the list.

Image: Christian books and things

Store Refuses To Make Cake for Toddler Adolf Hitler

Kelly Mills — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:31:00 GMT

Oh, the hardships of being a white supremecist. Heath and Deborah Campbell tried to get ShopRite and a local grocery store to make a birthday cake for their three-year-old, named Adolf Hitler. And they actually wanted the cake to say "Happy Birthday Adolf Hitler" (I guess just using "Adolf" was out of the question, hmmm?) But apparently they are so persecuted that the stores refused, though the grocer did offer to leave room for their own inscription. The story has some awesome quotes, like Deborah lamenting how sad it is the store can't make a cake for a kid, and Heath saying, "Other kids get their cake. I get a hard time. It's not fair to my children. How can a name be offensive?"

Um, yeah. I have no idea. Oh, and believe it or not, ShopRite won't make a cake for their two-year-old either. Her name? JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell. Oh boy. By the way, Wal-Mart is willing to do the cake.

A psychologist quoted in the story says he believes the names will cause problems for the kids later in life. Hmm, ya think? But he also points out that the parents' views are kinda likely to damage the kids too. Oh, and that any problems they face in school later "would be icing on the cake." Get it? Icing? Riiiight.

Of course Adolf and siblings live in a house decorated with swatstikas, but the Campbells insist the swatstika "doesn't really have a meaning. It's just a symbol." Just a name, a symbol, and a few kids who are gonna have a rough road. Seems like an inscribed cake might be the least of it.

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Students Make Rev. Phelps Followers Run Away

Kelly Mills — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 18:35:00 GMT

Feel-good story? Members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, gathered a small protest near Omaha Central High School. The church is led by the Reverend Fred Phelps, and I'm sure you know who these folks are. They became famous when they protested at the funeral of Matthew Shepard, and have gone on to protest everywhere it would horrify you to see picketers, including the funerals of slain service members. You know, the "God Hates Fags" people. (Biting tongue now...)

However, when the group held up anti-homosexuality and anti-Obama signs near the high school last Friday, they were met by hundreds of student counter-protesters. The students chanted "Diversity" and "Gay is OK" and even busted out the Pledge of Allegiance. And, well, the kids got a little riled up, and they threw hamburgers and lemonade bottles and milk at the Westboro protesters. Ahem. Maybe I'm supposed to feel bad about the sort of violent reaction, but I really don't.

The police then advised the Phelps folks that the situation was getting a little out of hand and they might want to leave for their own personal safety. And so they did, ahem. So far no students have been disciplined, and the school spokeswoman said, "This hate group came to Central High at dismissal to provoke students... To some extent, we need to understand that these are young people, and we have to take into consideration this kind of extreme provocation." Totally. I'm with you, lady.

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Kids Yell Assassinate Obama on Idaho School Bus

JeanneSager — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:49:00 GMT

Warning: if you’re having a bad day, don’t read this story. Because nothing about a bunch of kids chanting “Assassinate Obama” can make you feel good. Even if you’re a McCain supporter, we’re still talking children supporting murder.

In fact, the parents who brought this case to an Idaho TV station are McCain supporters. But like most parents in America, they’d rather not hear their kids spewing hate and homicidal recommendations on the school bus.

The kids from a Rexburg, Idaho school were actually shouting “Assassinate Obama and Kate,” throwing in the name of one of the bus passengers. Matthew Whoolery’s kids, second- and third-graders who were riding the elementary bus, came home and asked their dad what “assassinate” meant.

First he called the school. Then he called the media. He said he’d like more parents to realize they need to be careful of what they’re saying in front of their kids. Even a flip comment can be picked up by little pitchers and become an anthem for the pint-sized masses.

I’d like to think that this was a flip comment taken out of context by a child. I’d like to think that people in this country who are angry over the results of an election don’t automatically begin thinking about assassination as a means to salve their frustrations. The beauty of democracy is our ability to all have our say. So your candidate lost. You can fight a little harder in four years, and maybe you’ll succeed.

But killing the candidate? That’s hate. That’s extremism. That’s un-American. Is that really what you want to pass on to the future of our country?

Image/Source: 2News.TV

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RNC Mailer Could Give Your Kids Nightmares

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 23:00:00 GMT

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. The RNC has mailed a flyer to homes in Virginia and Missouri that unabashedly aims to link Barack Obama with terrorism in the minds of voters. On the front is the word “TERRORISTS” above a picture of a plane about to crash into a room filled with people (imagine your kids finding that horrifying image in the mailbox). Inside is a photo of an angry-looking Obama and the words, “NOT WHO YOU THINK HE IS.”

The small print of the flyer at least mentions a statement that Obama actually made—if you’ve turned on the TV at all in the past few weeks, you probably know which one: when he said that he would be willing to sit down and talk with hostile foreign leaders.

Funny that Reagan, whom McCain loves to call a “hero,” aggressively pursued talks with governments hostile to the United States, including the Kremlin and the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Not to mention that agreeing to sit down and talk with world leaders is hardly agreeing to sit down and talk with terrorists like Osama bin Laden, whom Obama has repeatedly vowed to hunt down.

There is so much that is dishonest, despicable, and desperate about this mailer that I could go on and on. But the point is that, after eight years of fear mongering and divisiveness, the American people have had enough of hate-based politics.

Barry Goldwater’s granddaughter, one of numerous high-profile Republicans voting for Obama, put it best herself: "The Republican brand has been tarnished in a shameless effort to gain votes and appeal to the lowest emotion, fear....The McCain/Palin plan is to appear diverse and inclusive, using women and minorities to push an agenda that makes us all financially vulnerable, fearful, and less safe."

School Board Member Uses Gay Slur, Says Student Said it First

JeanneSager — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:18:00 GMT

He's stepping down from his post as a member of the board of education in Robbinsville, NJ, but maybe Joe Armenti would be better suited back in high school? The board has been facing pressures from an outraged public since Armenti used the word "faggot" in response to a teenager's presentation to the board on a ban on the use of offensive language.

His initial excuse? The teen said it first. Excuse me, who's the teenager here?

Joseph Armenti's exact words, according to the Times of Trenton were, ""If my son wants to call somebody a faggot he should be allowed to; it's his First Amendment right." In other words - he's protecting his son's right to be a bigot and a homophobe. What a stand-up Dad. It was a response to a presentation by a student who was advocating the school district begin a program to report using offensive language via a "suggestion box." Students who used inappropriate words would then be approached by a counselor to discuss the situation. The student presenting the idea to the board used the word "faggot" as an example of language that would fall under the program.

What's disturbing isn't that Armenti used the word. In fact, as a reporter who depends on the right to freedom of speech in this country to make a living, I wouldn't step in to tell an adult what he can or can't say - even if I don't agree with him. To paraphrase Hamlet, "words, words, words," are what you make of them. But for a school board member to promote kids' "right" to spew hate toward one another is disturbing. And that's what Armenti was doing when he chose the word "faggot" rather than "s**t" or "f**k" or any of dozens of words deemed offensive by some but not down-right prejudiced and hate-filled.

That this came from the mouth of someone at the top level in a school system makes this story that much more disturbing. If this is what they're feeling at the top, what's trickling down to the kids? When the board meets later in the month to accept his resignation, I'd suggest Armenti spend a day in a classroom, maybe follow around one of the members of the Robbinsville High School's Gay-Straight Alliance. He could see just who he's protecting his son to insult.

Image: PinkNews

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