Prelude to a Race War
Min. Paul Scott

Durham may have its problems but the one thing that wereally don't have to worry about is being shot becauseof the color of our skin. The color of our baseball caps, maybe. But not thecolor of skin.

Not yet anyway...

For the last few weeks, the Durham Herald Sun has beenon overdrive promoting the idea that black folks aretargeting Latinos for robbery because of race. While anyone, with any knowledge of Durham's historyor a fair amount of plain old common sense, wouldimmediately write this off as hogwash, as it is said,if you tell a lie long enough.... First, it is problematic to insinuate that blackpeople can be "racist."

To quote writer Neely Fuller, author of "The UnitedIndependent Compensatory Code/System/Concept," "The only form of functional racism that existsanywhere in the known universe is white supremacy."

To suggest that African Americans have the social,economic or political ability to be "racist" is justevidence of those who have the power to define realitythough their media organs to spread false propaganda. In recent weeks, the Durham Herald Sun has publishedtwo articles in which members of the Latino communityhave been quoted as saying that they are beingtargeted for robbery because of "racism" via "blacks." In the 1/22 issue under the caption "Hispanics fearrash of crimes is racism: String of robberiescommitted mostly by black men", it was reported by DanWay (metro editor of the Herald Sun) that severalHispanic Durham residents were raising the questionwhether the 30 robberies of against Hispanics duringthe first two weeks of January were "racist hatecrimes." A few weeks later in an article written, again, by DanWay, a Mexican woman is quoted as saying, "The problem in this neighborhood is with the blacks." Also a "Honduran national" is quoted as saying, "The "gringo's" don't bother you The Hispanics don'tbother you. It's the blacks."

He later says that while his sandwich truck servesblack customers, both attempts to break into hisvehicle were by black men. The article ends with the quote, "How are we going to defend ourselves ? We don't haveany help."

heraldsun.com: Robbers shoot man preparing to go to work

Now, there are several things that are veryproblematic about these two articles. The first being that both of these articles were notwritten by some college intern or some kid fresh outof journalism school. These articles were written bythe metro editor of the Herald Sun who should nobetter than to spread these accusations. Secondly, the terms being used. As stated earlier"racism" would not be the proper term here nor would"hate crimes." When you use these terms you arealleging that those black men who are robbing Latinosare doing it strictly to deny Latinos of their rights.You also assume that these thieves only rob Latinosand have no prior histories robbing any other race,including other African Americans.

The term "gringo" is also used. In the article thereis no attempt to define the Spanish term "gringo."Even, when researching the word via other sources theterm is hard to define. Taken out of the context ofthe story, one can assume that the interviewee isusing the the term to differentiate European Americansfrom African Americans, which is disturbing in and ofitself. Since most English speaking people, includingAfrican Americans, do not use the term "gringo" it canbe rightly stated that the article was only meant fora community that understands the lingo or code word. Also, one cannot help but notice that no AfricanAmericans were interviewed in either article to refutethe charges of racism.

It must be noted that the waythe stories are written, it is not a condemnation of afew black thieves but an indictment of the entireblack community. Not only does the Herald Sun's coverage defy logic,the assertion of black racism against Latinos goesagainst studies such as the one started a few yearsago by Duke professor Paula McClain. In her study "Racial Distancing in a Southern City:Latino Immigrants Views of African Americans" it issaid that Latinos have a more negative view of blacksthan blacks have of Latinos. According to news reportsher study said that 59% of Latino immigrants felt thatfew or almost no blacks are hard working, one thirdsaid that blacks are hard to get along with and 57%said that few or no blacks could be trusted." Will Latinos Vote for a Black President? Yet, this local study by a local professor was notused in either Herald Sun story. One must, of course, question the motives forpromoting brown on black violence. A strong argument could be made that Durham isexperiencing a strong surge in gentrification.

Whatbetter way to rid the community of "undesirables" thanto have them kill each other off. The out of townbusiness developers could then come in and buy what isleft of the neighborhoods dirt cheap and put up highdollar developments. Also, there has been a lot ofattention in the national media lately over thepolitical divide between African Americans andLatinos. This is not the first time that a local newspaper hasbeen accused of inciting violence against AfricanAmericans. Josephus Daniels, former owner of the Newsand Observer has been accused of using the paper toencourage violence against African Americans and hewas, also, accused of helping to incite the WilmingtonRace Riots of 1898.

1898 Wilmington Race Riot - Final Report, May 31, 2006

It could also be argued that the Herald Sun played amajor role in the popularization of local street gangsbecause of the extensive coverage which it has giventhe issue over the last decade.

heraldsun.com: user registration

Durham does not have a major brown on black raceproblem yet, that is still a problem that plagues WestCoast cities such as Los Angeles. One cannot help butwonder what role the LA media played in promoting thetensions and if the same could happen in Durham, NC. Columnists like the LA Time's Gregory Rodriguezbemoaned the media's exploitation on the black vsbrown conflict. His 10/7 column, "The Fantasy of LA'sRace War " ends with the chilling words: "I can't help thinking that there is some sort of wishfulfillment in the black-versus-brown fixation."

The fantasy of L.A.'s 'race war' - Los Angeles Times

The Durham community must rise up and stop the spreadof this false propaganda before it escalates into aconflict that will neither benefit the black norLatino community. We must heed the words of the late great Malcolm Xwhen he said : "The press is so powerful in its image-making role, itcan make a criminal look like he�s the victim and makethe victim look like he�s the criminal�.

If you aren�tcareful, the newspapers will have you hating thepeople who are being oppressed and loving the peoplewho are doing the oppressing.� Min. Paul Scott's blog ishttp://www.nowarningshotsfired.com

He can be reachedat (919) 451-8283 info@nowarningshotsfired.com

The people are just targeting foreigners....it happened to African and West Indian immigrants also..

The lowlifes who do this stuff re just looking for easy marks who they feel are here illegally and less likely to report the crime.

When your numbers are low....each immigrant group has to go thriugh this...when you get lots of people or when your hardcore warriors get here....and start killing the ones targeting your kind, it stops .

DtotheJ,
I also feel that when they talk about media's fixation of the black-brown issue, they are really happy that we , as minorities, are killing each other, while they White supremacist laugh at the both us and will reclaim what he say is supposed tp be his.

.lol. Nice.

They've been trying to drive a wedge between you guys and the Latinos for a while now, do you all get along with them or is it superficial?

I can see the picture from both sides

I used to be the victim...

Whatever ideas,misconceptions people have about Blacks over here ....when you first get here....and you live in poor area...you'll find people to fit the stereotypes and worse but majority of people are just working to survive.... and if your grow up here you will eventually meet and befriend regular people and distinguish them from the lowlifes.


Central Americans, mexicans are not gonna socialize and mix with Blacks so their perceptions will rarely change.

==============================

Me personally, growing up I got along with Blacks here and the latinoes...I had things in common with both groups. I was a fellow immigrant with same issues as people from spanish speaking countries...we ate the same foods,etc ........

Mexicans look down on Central Americans and Puerto Ricans & Cubans look down on them both. So I doubt that we will unify with them anytime soon as they have their own class issues to sort out.

Plus seeing how America see us slightly below the plight of dogs (The coverage of people protesting against Mike Vick versus only "us" protesting against our kids under 12 being killed by police)

The race war is already on for anybody with enough sense to notice: War in Saint Louis

DtotheJ,
Likewise. Actually, when I was growing up, it was the Cubans that came to my state, then every other Latino after that. Personally, I've never had a problem with them,at least the ones I knew. I guess because those Latinos that I knew weren't isolationists. They coincided with other people.Let other people tell you: You're naive, you're a butt-kisser, hate them because they hate us yada-yada, you can go on and on about it. I wasn't brought up to be a racist, but at the same time , I was brought to be a realist. My Mom used to teach about racism and when it came to that, she not only told me about the good and the bad with White people , but with every other race, including Latinos and my own race. She didn't leave anybody from the picture. She just told me not to stay in a glass box and just to learn how to deal with harshness of the real world.

Like I said, people just think you're suppose to go out and hate people, in this case, Latinos because of what the statistics are telling us about them. Do we know every Latino to make the judgment? I don't, but here is my thing: I do not fool with ANYBODY who look down on me, no matter what. If Latino Jane Doe don't like me because of my race, that is fine, but I also know that every Latino don't think like that. Even though statistics say that Latinos hate Black people, also know some also treated me like their sister, dated/married Black people would get pissed about racism that we face and have voted for OBAMA. Those are the Latinos that I have/continue to deal with.

Lloyd, you are really right about that. It's inherently natural for most people to prefer their own race over others. I don't understand why so many people care about integration when many don't want to.