Racism Runs Wild at Town Halls

Racism Runs Wild at Town Halls

Nation blogger Melissa Harris-Lacewell on the racist undercurrent of the anti-healthcare reform crowds, the “birthers” and the recent trend of hanging public officials in effigy.

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Princeton professor and Nation contributor Melissa
Harris-Lacewell talks to Keith Olbermann about the racist
undercurrent
of the anti-healthcare reform crowds, the “birthers”
and “deathers,” and the recent trend of hanging public officials in
effigy. With the arrest of a man with a loaded gun at a town hall with
President Obama in New Hampshire Tuesday, the fear of violence is
growing, and Harris-Lacewell agrees with Congressman John Dingell that
the tactics being used are similar to those seen in the sixties during
the civil
rights movement
. She points out, though, that despite the threats
and intimidation used in the sixties, Congress and the President did
pass civil rights legislation, and that the continuing struggle is not
a reason to lose hope.

Sarah Jaffe

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