Enjoying turkey, minus the work

McCain, Obama in race for ages

<b>First Posted:</b> 11/16/2008<br><br>JESSE WASHINGTON AP National Writer
Cross burnings. Schoolchildren chanting &amp;ldquo;Assassinate Obama.&amp;rdquo; Black figures hung from nooses. Racial epithets scrawled on homes and cars.


A charred cross is seen on the lawn of Obama backers in Hardwick Township, N.J.
AP PHOTO

                

Incidents around the country referring to President-elect  are dampening the postelection glow of racial progress and harmony, highlighting the stubborn racism that remains in America.
From California to Maine, police have documented a range of alleged crimes, from vandalism and vague threats to at least one physical attack. Insults and taunts have been delivered by adults, college students and second-graders.
There have been &amp;ldquo;hundreds&amp;rdquo; of incidents since the election, many more than usual, said Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate crimes.
One was in Snellville, Ga., where Denene Millner said a boy on the school bus told her 9-year-old daughter the day after the election: &amp;ldquo;I hope Obama gets assassinated.&amp;rdquo; That night, someone trashed her sister-in-law&amp;rsquo;s front lawn, mangled the Obama lawn signs, and left two pizza boxes filled with human feces outside the front door, Millner said.
She described her emotions as a combination of anger and fear.
&amp;ldquo;I can&amp;rsquo;t say that every white person in Snellville is evil and anti-Obama and willing to desecrate my property because one or two idiots did it,&amp;rdquo; said Millner, who is black. &amp;ldquo;But it definitely makes you look a little different at the people who you live with, and makes you wonder what they&amp;rsquo;re capable of and what they&amp;rsquo;re really thinking.&amp;rdquo;
Potok, who is white, said he believes there is &amp;ldquo;a large subset of white people in this country who feel that they are losing everything they know, that the country their forefathers built has somehow been stolen from them.&amp;rdquo;
Other incidents include:
&amp;bull; Four North Carolina State University students admitted writing anti-Obama comments in a tunnel designated for free speech expression, including one that said: &amp;ldquo;Let&amp;rsquo;s shoot that (N-word) in the head.&amp;rdquo; Obama has received more threats than any other president-elect, authorities say.
&amp;bull; At Standish, Maine, a sign inside the Oak Hill General Store read: &amp;ldquo;Osama Obama Shotgun Pool.&amp;rdquo; Customers could sign up to bet $1 on a date when Obama would be killed
&amp;bull; Racist graffiti was found in places including New York&amp;rsquo;s Long Island, where two dozen cars were spray-painted; Kilgore, Texas, where the local high school and skate park were defaced; and the Los Angeles area, where swastikas, racial slurs and &amp;ldquo;Go Back To Africa&amp;rdquo; were spray painted on sidewalks, houses and cars.
&amp;bull; Second- and third-grade students on a school bus in Rexburg, Idaho, chanted &amp;ldquo;assassinate Obama,&amp;rdquo; a district official said.
&amp;bull; Black figures were hanged by nooses from trees on Mount Desert Island, Maine, the Bangor Daily News reported. &amp;bull; Crosses were burned in yards of Obama supporters in Hardwick, N.J., and Apolacan Township, Pa.
&amp;bull; A black teenager in New York City said he was attacked with a bat on election night by four white men who shouted &amp;rsquo;Obama.&amp;rsquo;

Racist acts mar Obama victory