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A couple of months ago, a conversation I had with an employment counselor brought about an issue that in hindsight, was an eerie premonition to the violence from extreme right-wing factions that have plagued America over the past few weeks. We were discussing the dismal economy and how people were reacting to the thousands of job losses in Canada within the month of March. She was talking about other times in history where an economic recession had unwittingly brought about an issue that it seemed, people never liked to discuss.
She is Jewish, and has relatives whom (only a few) had survived the Holocaust. She discussed what it was like for them in post-World War II Canada and the simmering resentment that her relatives had faced when trying to find employment. "When the economy dips, you see more sexual, class and racial - targeted discrimination," she surmised.
In addition to the presence of the first African-American president, people who already harbor racist ideologies are going to be even more incensed. that might be translated into more difficulty for women and minorities to land jobs, she added. After all, if employers are hiring a smaller percentage of people than they ordinarily would in better economic times, there are going to be some selections based on things outside of whether the person has the skills or not.
But despite the economic crisis and the social issues that become polarized because of it, there is also a level of extreme violent activity that has ensued.As BlogHer CE Nordette reported yesterday, the shooting of Security Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns at the U.S Holocaust Memorial Museum by white supremacist James von Brunn, shocked the world. How could this 88 year-old man (who had previously been convicted and spent time in jail for attempted kidnapping ) procure a gun and, seemingly working alone, walk into the museum and shoot a security guard? People were stunned, rightly so, but not entirely surprised at the shooting of Dr. George Tiller a well-revered doctor, mostly known for performing late-term abortion.
While sadness and disgust over these events is a natural emotion to have, what do we do next? Or are we willing to do anything about it?
CNN interviewed several people who were visiting the Washington Museum during the shooting. Many of them, if not all, were tourists who were shocked that von Brunn was so hateful that he would willingly trade the limited amount of time he had on earth (either by natural causes or being shot by law enforcement) just to harm others. But according to the Huffington Post, a report from the Department of Homeland Security warned that because of the current economic crisis that it is expected to see a surge in anti-semitic behavior:
"Anti-Semitic extremists attribute these losses to a deliberate conspiracy conducted by a cabal of Jewish 'financial elites,'" the report read. "These 'accusatory' tactics are employed to draw new recruits into right-wing extremist groups and further radicalize those already subscribing to extremist beliefs."
However, some took the report as being a back-handed slap against conservatives:
When the 10-page DHS memorandum was made public, however, warnings like these largely took the back seat to charges that the department had been politically motivated in its assessments and writings. Indeed, a wide swath of voices in the conservative movement -- from Rush Limbaugh to RNC Chairman Michael Steele -- lashed out at DHS Secretary Napolitano over what they deemed an anti-Republican report.
Mark Potok from the Southern Poverty Law Center appeared on CNN's The Situation Room" to talk about the increase of web traffic from hate sites after the Obama Election last November:
We know, for instance, that immediately after Barack Obama's election the computer servers of several major white supremacist websites collapsed because they've gotten such huge amount of traffic. So, you know, I think that Obama's election has fired up at least sectors of the radical right. The economy has not helped. And, of course, continuing high levels of nonwhite immigration have been in the background for the past six or seven years.
Crooks and Liar's David Neiwert suggests that extremists are not only pissed at Obama, but are infuenced by the Liberal and mainstream media:
Violent characters like this are being driven mad with fear about what Obama and the liberals are doing to the country. A lot of that fear is being stoked by mainstream sources, and the unstable characters like this seize that as an excuse to act.
But what about race relations in general? One of the issues that continues to bother me, and something that was
