4 ms·
> “I prayed that she’d look white, and she does,” he says. “She will be safe.” This is incredibly sad to read. I wish this government would take a zero-toleran
by craftyguy 9y ago
> “I prayed that she’d look white, and she does,” he says. “She will be safe.”
This is incredibly sad to read. I wish this government would take a zero-tolerance to racism (like they do with 'terroism'), but we seem to be regressing lately.
- dreta 9y agoYou can’t make the law any more strict than it already is without sacrificing everybody’s basic rights.
- kiliantics 9y agoThey did that with terrorism, i.e. the Patriot Act. But that usually only applies to terrorism that isn't based on white supremacy, since white supremacists are useful to the state. See the recent collusion of police in CA with neo-nazis.
- Clubber 9y agoAre you actually promoting the US Patriot Act? There is nothing good about that.
- istjohn 9y agoNo way. But you wouldn't even have to pass new laws. If we aggressively enforced laws that are on the books already, things would be much better. But our laws aren't self-executing, and often the people most in need of legal protection are least able to obtain it. Lawyers aren't cheap.
- ActsJuvenile 9y agoIt's more about setting the tone. If top figures in the government and legislature take an inclusive stance and stamp out any racists issues, populous tend to pick up on that vibe.
- ScottBurson 9y agoVery sad indeed. Can you imagine praying to God that your newborn daughter won't look like you? I don't think I could do what he's doing: staying in a place where he so frequently encounters threats of violence. But I'm glad he's doing it.
- lostmsu 9y agoHearing, that people still pray to god is very sad indeed. I hope she just said that metaphorically.
- dang 9y agoReligious flamewar is not allowed on HN, and we ban accounts that do it. Please don't do it again. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- stevenwoo 9y agoWe haven't gotten that far given that yesterday's front page article on the US version of the Guardian was something about California highway patrol/local police working with Nazi groups to prosecute anti-fascists who fought with Nazis at a white nationalist rally and the prosecutor defending the act of not going after the Nazis who used knives to attack the anti-fascists, making the older Rage Against the Machine lyrics still ring true "Some of those that work forces, are the same that burn crosses" https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/09/california-police-white-supremacists-counter-protest https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/09/california-pol...
- Clubber 9y ago>I wish this government would take a zero-tolerance to racism I know that sounds like a noble idea, but I'm not sure it would be a very good idea. For one, it's unconstitutional and limits free speech. Two, who gets to interpret what racist speech is? Under a law like this, I could easily people getting arrested and imprisoned for a joke that was misinterpreted, or interpreted by an overly sensitive person. It could easily be used to silence political opposition in bad faith. There's lots of ways it can be abused. One truth I've learned in studying US history is you will never fully eradicate racist remarks. Tribalism is human nature, and racism in the US is older than the US. The best you can do it remove it from the legal system. One final thought. For those of you who favor banning all firearms, consider the usefulness of them in this story.