Sending a message against hate

Most of the Idaho progressive blogs have weighed in on the inflammatory comments that were broadcast last week on a southern Idaho talk radio show, racist comments that have no place on public airwaves and no place in our communities, but it does not matter that these were progressive blogs. This is not a partisan issue. This is a community issue. This is about whether or not we allow and support hatred to be spread through our communities.

Do you want to send a message against this hatred that seems rampant in southern Idaho? Tell the sponsors of Zeb Bell's radio show that enough is enough. Tell the sponsors of Zeb Bell that you will not tolerate hate speech and if they continue to support him monetarily you will no longer support their businesses.

A complete list of Mr. Bell's sponsors can be found at 43rd State Blues.

A list, by no means complete, of stories appearing in the Idaho progressive blogosphere over the past week appears below.

• The Political Game: A Community in Chaos; Bell Wants to Face Accusers; Racism on the Airwaves; Where Does the Hatred End?; Racial Slur Broadcast in South Central Idaho; Derailed: Zeb Bell & Free Speech.
• Red State Rebels: Hate not in our state, not on our airwaves.
• 43rd State Blues: Racist Rupert, Idaho radio talk show hosts; Confronting Hatred in Idaho.
• Unequivocal Notion: Racism--alive and well in Idaho.
• The MountainGoat Report: Racism still in Idaho; A response to Zeb Bell; Why Zeb Bell Matters.

Please take a moment to send a message to Zeb's sponsors as well as your fellow Idahoans that hate will not be tolerated here.

Comments

[Dixie Siegel]

Tara

Thank you for the great article and links!

TF committeewoman and Obama campaign captain
Dixie Siegel

[Julie in Boise]

Tara,

You pointed this out to me, so I'll add it here. MountainGoat Report has a really excellent new post today on why we simply can't just let this go ...

Click here for "Why Zeb Bell Matters"

http://mountaingoatreport.typepad.com/the_mountaingoat_report/2008/06/as-i-said-in-a-post-yesterday-if-youve-been-asleep-under-a-rock-or-otherwise-not-paying-attention-catch-up-with-the-zeb-b.html

[Tara Rowe]

I added it to the list of posts next to MG's name.

[theresa]

I would hope some of this spills into the Idaho Statesman online ongoing racist and hate speech comments .....

Would be nice to see some local outrage too!

t

[theresa]

Just to be clear for anyone that does not KNOW how the online version of the paper works -- they allow the public to comment on some of the stories.

With the note of "We encourage lively, open debate but ask that you remain on topic. Comments that are profane, personal attacks or otherwise inappropriate are subject to removal."

Yet blatant racism is left up very, very often.

t

[Julie in Boise]

theresa, that's for sure. I just commented on a story about the World Refugee Day events, and that had already drawn several racist and/or xenophobic comments. I am continually amazed at the sort of comments that the Statesman allows to remain on its site.

http://www.idahostatesman.com/newsupdates/story/419844.html

Speaking of racism, while searching for that story, I noticed that it was cross-posted on a major white supremacist site. Needless to say, I won't link to it, but it's sad to think that someone can look at a photo of laughing little black kids playing soccer and feel anything but joy, especially for children who were probably born in refugee camps.

But here are some typical comments from the site:

"Makes sense to have a "multicultural" festival in a mostly white city! Having a "multicultural" festival in a non-white city like Detroit, Newark, Los Angeles would be self-defeating as the evidence of failures of these cities and their "multicultural" denizens would be readily apparent! Liberals are "lounge chair" philosophers as long as they don't have a non-white sitting in their den with them, too much reality in that!"

"They always put them in the whitest places. It was one of the things I noticed first back before I visited this site."

"They have been targeting that state for some time now. It must have been too White, and too peaceful."

Still, I am heartened to know that such people are in the extreme minority in our country - and when folks like that comment at the Statesman, they usually ARE confronted by other commenters.

[theresa]

confronted by others or not, it seems to be the policy of the paper (gee how many people advertise there) to allow such comments

as they are not found at a bare minimum of inappropriate ...

racism is alive and well in our state and a LOT of people are still very comfortable with that

t