quote:

---

A South Carolina lawmaker called a GOP gubernatorial candidate of Indian descent a "raghead," saying we have one in the White House, we don't need one in the governor's mansion.

Republican state Sen. Jake Knotts later apologized for the slur, saying it was meant as a joke. He made the remark about Rep. Nikki Haley on an Internet political talk show Thursday night.

Pub Politics co-host Phil Bailey says Knotts said, "We've already got a raghead in the White House, we don't need another raghead in the governor's mansion."

It is the latest drama in the governor's race. Two men have said they had trysts with Haley, which she denies.

Candidates are vying to replace term-limited Gov. Mark Sanford who confessed last summer to an affair with an Argentine woman.

---

quote:

---

It sounds like South Carolina State. Sen. Jake Knotts' "raghead" comments last night are even worse than first reported.

Not only did he refer to Republican gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley as a "raghead" during an internet political radio show taped in a bar -- Knotts called her a "f---ing raghead," according to a report from the Free-Times.

"She's a f---ing raghead," Knotts reportedly said.

This report comes on the heels of an earlier account from the co-host of the internet political talk show Pub Politics, the forum for Knotts' comments. Knotts -- who supports Haley opponent Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer in the state's Republican gubernatorial primary -- did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment this morning.

The state senator also reportedly seemed to suggest that Haley was some kind of Sikh Manchurian candidate.

Knotts says he believed Haley has been set up by a network of Sikhs and was programmed to run for governor of South Carolina by outside influences in foreign countries. He claims she is hiding her religion and he wants the voters to know about it.
"We got a raghead in Washington; we don't need one in South Carolina," Knotts said more than once. "She's a raghead that's ashamed of her religion trying to hide it behind being Methodist for political reasons."
Haley is of Sikh descent, and is now a Christian.

Knotts also reportedly suggested that Haley's father is sending letters to India bragging about Haley's candidacy. Knotts: "We're at war over there."

"We need a good Christian to be our governor," he said. "She's hiding her religion. She ought to be proud of it. I'm proud of my god."

Knotts says he believes Haley's father has been sending letters to India saying that Haley is the first Sikh running for high office in America. He says her father walks around Lexington wearing a turban.

"We're at war over there," Knotts said.

Asked to clarify, he said he did not mean the United States was at war with India, but was at war with "foreign countries."
Read the whole Free-Times report here.

Knotts has apologized for his comments, explaining them as part of a "freewheeling, anything-goes Internet radio show that is broadcast from a pub."

If it had been recorded, the public would be able to hear firsthand that my 'raghead' comments about Obama and Haley were intended in jest. Bear in mind that this is a freewheeling, anything-goes Internet radio show that is broadcast from a pub. It's like local political version of Saturday Night Live, which is actually where the joke came from.
He continued: "I still believe Ms. Haley is pretending to be someone she is not, much as Obama did, but I do apologize to both for an unintended slur."

---

Where is the mianstream media coverage of this?!?
Nothing I could find on NPR or CNN- but this would be a firestorm of shit if a Democrat had said such things.

Maybe we expect bigotry from a South Carolina senator?
 

---

Posted by The Ginger Beacon (Member # 1585) on :
 
What a moron. Is he really how the South Carolinians want the rest of us to see them?

That said, is he an accurate reflection of them, which would be kinda more sad?
 

---

Posted by Hobbes (Member # 138) on :
 
After 8 years in South Carolina I can say that not everyone there are racist rednecks.
 

---

Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
 
OK, as a non-Yank I have to ask something that's been bugging me for a while; what exactly is a redneck and how are they distinguished from hicks, hillbilles, hayseeds, white trash, Texans and people who just so happen to own pick-up trucks and shotguns?

You hear these terms tossed around in American culture and I'm never sure if they're all terms for the same type of southern state poor people with "opinions" on "things" or if they have specific meanings. For example; from what I can tell, from my vantage point on the other side of the pond, the only difference I can see between the above and a Republican is their average annual income.
 

---

Posted by Hobbes (Member # 138) on :
 
Well, in the south there's apparently a difference between a redneck and a hillbilly. Redneck would be all Dukes of Hazzard whereas a hillbilly would could be someone living in or near the Appalachian mountains. For example Tennessee to West Virgina.

I was born in Bethesda, Maryland which is called the Mason-Dixon Line State that divides the north from the south. Because of that, but mostly cause I grew up on military bases around the country, I don't consider myself any particular regional group.

Texans are well Texans. Heard of the state of Texas? Well they're Texans. I went to visit friends in San Antonio, TX last Summer. There's a Texas vibe hard to explain unless you go there.

I figure America could be confusing and hard to understand as other countries are to Americans. Excluding of course the "dumb yank that thinks the US is the center of the 'verse" stereotype.
 

---

Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
 
I live in Southern Michigan which, apparently has something of a redneck reputation.

I've always felt a slight difference between some of those terms. For hillbillies, think The Beverly Hillbillies. Uneducated, sure, even dumb. But nice enough folk. Rednecks think a little more of themselves but are every bit as dumb. Think King of the Hill. White Trash takes dirt poor nastiness and makes it a multi-generational lifestyle. Think rundown trailer-parks, spandex and beer-stained wife-beaters and the very worst Wal-Mart has to offer.

For the record, I am none of the above though I've also lived in Texas
 

---

Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
 
I think "redneck" when I see jacked-up pickups, pickups with shotguns on a rack in the back windows...really, hiicks driving pick-up trucks of all sorts get reclassified into the "redneck" category.
As does anyone with any confederate flag anything on their car.

One of my best friends lives in South Carolina (he's a military contractor, and that's where the work is, I guess) and he's a black guy, married to a white (Swiss) woman and they have a beautiful daughter. He tells me how much he hates it there- people give them dirty looks and the cold shoulder treatment- even in resturants.

That bullshit is enough to make me never want to visit, much less live there.
 

---

Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
 
Apparently, Arizona isn't ready to give in to South Carolina in the "who can be more racist" contest.
 

---

Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
 

quote:

---

To depict the biggest picture on the building as a Black person, I would have to ask the question: Why?

---

Ummmm... why not?

Maybe in order to make everyone happy, all artistic depictions of people should be racially neutral. But then it would suggest interbreeding, and we can't have that now can we?
 

---

Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
 
Yep- Arizona dont need no darkie kids mural reminding motorists that the town just aint as white as it used to be.

Amazing.
 

---

Posted by Hobbes (Member # 138) on :
 
8 years in South Carolina and 4 years in Florida (before BP filled my beach with oil) was enough. Then again mountain states like Colorado, Wyoming, Utah... are know for being mostly white. Although Colorado has a large Mexican population. I figured it was mostly due to the amount of farms and ranches on the eastern half of the state.

I could see how some might consider Arizona as "racist". I try to view it as a state taking a more pro-active stand on illegal immigration. It's not that I'm against people coming to the US. It's just that there's a system set up to become citizens. Illegals try to not only bypass the system but also gain the benefits of being a citizen. Then they bitch and complain and get special minority rights and liberals on their side how it's unfair to them. Personally I think it's unfair to the people that took the time to become citizens and be here legally.
 

---

Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
 
True enough but the road to citizenship is gardly an easy one- and the twisting loops of red tape to get a workers visa is a nightmare.
Notice the Republicans fighting against immigration reform though- making the border a police state woud still not address the core problems- American business' hiring of illegals to keep costs down (and Americans dont want higher food costs, no matter what they think about illegals) and the lack of jobs on the Mexican side.
Ol' Calderon can come here and bitch about the law all day, but it's the shitty conditions in Mexico that drive people to seek something better here.

The vocal critics of this law say it's racist - and it is- because it opens the floodgates for illegal searchesa and arrests based on an officer's suspicions (bias) and the person's skin color.

The proponents of this law would be up in arms if white people were trageted this way- believe it.

The law allows cops to go after anyone they think is "illegal"- it's not specific to Mexicans, which means a cop could harass an asian person (for example) just as easily with no reprecussions.
Every police department has at east some real racists and this gives them carte blance, while making the good cops' duty much harder as public resentment grows in minority areas.

And then there's the far extremists like Rand Paul that have even said they want to repeal the 14th Amendment- stripping the children of ilegal immigrants of their citizenship.
As though Rand Paul's family are native americans.
 

---

Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
 
As a point, if you're trying to describe American terms to a non-American, don't throw "wife-beater" into a sentence without explaining it.

(As a point, in the UK wife-beater is a nickname for Stella Artois, an above average strength European larger. Presumably because it was drunk by people who then went on to beat their wives. What Americans call "wife-beaters", we call "Vests-Like-That-Bruce-Willis-Wore-In-That-Film."

quote:

---

Originally posted by Aban Rune:
...artistic depictions of people should be racially neutral. But then it would suggest interbreeding, and we can't have that now can we?

---

quote:

---

in the UK wife-beater is a nickname for Stella Artois, an above average strength European larger

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Aban Rune:
In the U.S., a "wifebeater" refers to and thin, stained, usually skin-tight tank top undershirt. It derives it's name from the fact that most men who feel it's acceptable to wear a "wifebeater" in public probably are one.

As far as the racially neutral comment, I meant drawing people with features of multiple races. I was also being completely sarcastic... so I didn't really think out the logistics of the whole thing.

---

I think the name derives from A Streetcar Named Desire- the famous movie with Brando wearing one and, of course, beating on his poor wife Stella.

As to racially neutral- they should go ahead and depict the painting's characters as white but with having "mongoloid" features- just to be dicks about it.
Yeah. That would make some news.

Speaking of Arizona jackasses- on the prior page I mentioned extremists like Rand Paul trying to repeal the 14th Amendment- guess what the Arizona legislature is trying to do?
That's right- they want to strip the citizenship from children of non-citizen parents (born here).

I'd really pay to see the family trees of these assholes- just to question their citizenship rights: none of them are Native Americans.

It'll never pass of course- state law can never supersede the U.S. Constitution. It’s a political ploy aimed at the anti-immigration Right (see Tea-party nuts) in an election year.
 

---

Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
 
I believe that France has strict rules regarding positive discrimination. You are not allowed to ask about race in any form, intervew, anything. Everyone is supposed to be "French", not "African-French" or anything like that. Which is a good idea in theory, but it means that companies can have 99.9999% white, male staff and no-one can argue against it because they are not allowed to keep stats on that sort of thing.
 

---

Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
 
Weird- sorta the opposite extreme having the same effect.

Not that colorblindness is a real possiblity in face-to-face relations- there's so many subconsious preferences and bias that HR departments in the US are a tangle of politicaly correct jargon.
 

---

Posted by Hobbes (Member # 138) on :
 
I watching Tosh.0 and he did his "Is it Racist?" bit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9hZO-dQYww
 

---

Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jason Abbadon:
Weird- sorta the opposite extreme having the same effect.

Not that colorblindness is a real possiblity in face-to-face relations- there's so many subconsious preferences and bias that HR departments in the US are a tangle of politicaly correct jargon.

---