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Rob Larsen
10652686
October 15th, 2008
CES 444
Writing Assignment 2
The works I've chosen to focus on the recent works by a group called "The League of American Patriots" that operates out of Butler, New Jersey. Specifically a piece the group took credit for in late September entitled "DO YOU WANT A BLACK PRESIDENT?: Black Ruled Nations most unstable and violent in the world." Using various fear tactics and questionable sourcing, the group tries to aid a reader into drawing the assumption that black people are not capable of leading civilized societies. The strategies employed in this flyer include gross overgeneralization, contextually off base statistics, and images that portray Barack Obama in situations generally not considered becoming of a presidential candidate.
The League of American Patriots is a relatively new white supremacist group that formed in 2008, operating out of New Jersey and the surrounding northeastern states. According to their webpage, they are "committed to restoring America to the principles upon which it was founded." At their roots the group shares many philosophies with other white power groups including; segregation and saving the white race, increasing the size of white families to help the race survive, and are very anti government involvement. While the group may be relatively new, their ideas are generally similar to most other currently active white power groups. Being new on the scene has not stopped them from already making a name for themselves and using the current US presidential campaign as a soapbox.
On Monday September 22nd, 2008 The Star-Ledger, a New Jersey based newspaper, reported on a white-supremacist group dropping flyers at the end of randomly selected driveways throughout a New Jersey suburban neighborhood. The flyers were placed inside plastic to protect them from the elements, and the contents were extremely anti Obama on the basis of race. The Ledger reports that:
"Roxbury resident Elizabeth Corsetto said she and her husband came home from doing errands Saturday and found the flier at the end of their driveway. She picked it up, expecting a mailer from a retailer but instead found a one-page, black and white sheet featuring unflattering photos of Obama, including a doctored one portraying him with a long beard and turban." (The Star-Ledger)
While residents were disturbed with the content and imagery of these flyers, as usual, they were protected under the first amendment.
The flyer starts off with three images of Barack Obama; one during the national anthem not covering his heart (a famous photo), one of him smoking a cigarette and looking less than flattering, and one of him wearing a turban with a beard. These images all play on the idea that Obama is not a true patriot, either by denoting a snobbish nature or by playing the fear card on readers with the terror reference. Though having a beard and wearing a turban does not make someone a terrorist, it is played upon like it does in this situation, especially as the target audience for this flyer is other whites, and potentially members. These images are followed directly by "DO YOU WANT A BLACK PRESIDENT?" in underlined capital letters, which is subtitled with "Black Ruled Nations most unstable and violent in the world." Black Ruled Nations is capitalized like a proper noun, as if there were a group of them governing amongst each other. Again the fear card is played with the words unstable and violent, trying lure the reader in to the rest of the hate speech present in the handout.
The three countries specifically covered in the flyer from the League of American Patriots are Haiti, South Africa, and The United States of America. To any normal reader the choice of the first two nations should seem slanted to begin with. Haiti has seen a violent rebellion within the last five years that allowed them to only reelect a president in 2006, and South Africa only broke off the ties of apartheid within the last twenty years. Clearly looking for shining examples of turmoil and easy to wrongs within a country is made even easier when they have not had time to establish themselves fully after massive political change, but that doesn't stop the out of context numbers used to sell the point in this flyer.
When discussing Haiti, the flyer notes that "reports of kidnapping, death threats, murders, drug-related shootings, armed robberies, break-ins, or car-jackings are common" within the borders. While the same could be said about a few cities within the United States, the flyer tries to relate this with statistics from the CIA World Fact Book by noting that 95% of Haiti's population is black. They also note that the unemployment rate is greater than two thirds, poverty rate is 80%, HIV infection rate is 5.9%, and inflation is at 9%. Some links can generally be drawn between massive poverty and crime rates, as people will do what is required to survive, but the group goes beyond that with their scare tactics. Having a predominantly black population has no bearing on inflation rate, and drawing a line between blacks and HIV infection is also a stretch (although drawing a line between massive poverty and HIV infection would be more accurate). The information displayed serves no other purpose than to scare the reader into thinking that these facts are somehow related, when really Haiti is still reeling from a political uprising.
Most of the same tactics from Haiti carry over into the section on South Africa. Most of the same crimes are mentioned, however the group adds that the country has the highest rape reporting in the world. From the CIA World Fact Book they state that 79% of the population is black, unemployment is around 25%, those living below the poverty level are about 50%, and inflation is at 7.1%. They also mention that the HIV infection rate is at 21.5%, which is alarmingly high. The actual CIA World Fact Book states that roughly 370,000 people died of HIV or AIDS related factors in 2003, and the average life expectancy of the country is only 48.89 years. While these stats have nothing to do with a black president, even more specifically Barack Obama, they are used to scare readers into thinking that it may happen if a black president is elected. The flyer does not make mention of horrific conditions and suffering by those before the time of free elections, and the fact that the country is still rebuilding. It also does not mention that less than 25% of the population speaks the same language as the rest of the population, and the thousands of other factors that are hurting South Africa at present time.
In the last section, the group turns to the United States, stating that "The United States of America will be next! Why should we seal our fate by allowing a Black ruler to destroy us?" Again word black is turned into a proper noun to specifically point to them as a separate group of people. The LOAP talks about crime statistics and likelihood to commit crimes by blacks, but they randomly throw in a statistic about Hispanics as well. Though Hispanics had yet to be mentioned in the flyer, they are included to make the white man seem even less in power. The group also states that that blacks commit 85% of the interracial crimes. They cite the U.S. Government's Crime Victimization Survey and Uniform Crime Reports for these statistics.
All of the citations the group used from Haiti and South Africa throughout the flyer were correct, even if not contextually, crosschecking the numbers given for the United States however lead to an interesting find. The numbers given for the US are 63% white, 4.6% unemployment rate, 12% poverty rate, 0.6% HIV infection, and 2.9% inflation. The actual CIA World Fact Book states that 79.96% of the population of the United States is white. There is no category for Hispanics however, as they consider Hispanics anyone from Latin American blood, and allow them to be part of any race, be it white, black, Asian, native, or islander. Basically the group has subtracted the estimated 15.1% Hispanic population from the total of whites, to give a (even slightly more adjusted) 63% figure. This is done to scare the reader into thinking that his race is becoming extinct, a common theme in white power movements. Instead of stating that 12% of the population is black, which seems small by comparison to the other two countries noted, they state that "only" 63% of the population is white.
The entire flyer is full of stats designed to scare the reader into second guessing a choice for Obama as president in the election booth. The statistics given are generally taken out of the larger global context, and are extremely out of context when applied to Barack Obama and his race. When first viewed the racism is obvious within the flyer, but when read closely it just becomes absurd. The lines drawn between cause and effect by the League of American Patriots would not hold up in a 3rd grade debate class, yet they are presented as fear tactics in hope of having an impact. In some ways, that has actually worked, as the group (though new and small) received national media attention, local television attention, and ended up with many links to their website which states all the rest of their causes, as well as how to become a member or contribute. While crude and rudimentary, the flyer that was not even widely distributed probably had more impact than the group even intended, as the media fire and public outrage that followed gave them more attention than the group had ever previously had.
Works Cited or Referenced:
Barish, Stephanie. "Racist Anti-Obama Ads Blanket NJ Town." Racist Anti-Obama Ads Blanket NJ Town. 23 Sept. 2008. WPIX. 20 Sept. 2008 <http://www.wpix.com/landing/?racist-anti-obama-ads-blanket-nj-town=1&blockid=65765&feedid=1404>.
"CIA - The World Factbook -- Haiti." CIA World Factbook. 23 Oct. 2008. CIA. 26 Oct. 2008 <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ha.html>.
"CIA - The World Factbook -- South Africa." CIA - The World Factbook. 23 Oct. 2008. CIA. 26 Oct. 2008 <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sf.html>.
"CIA - The World Factbook -- United States." CIA - The World Factbook. 23 Oct. 2008. CIA. 26 Oct. 2008 <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html>.
"THE LEAGUE OF AMERICAN PATRIOTS - FAQ." THE LEAGUE OF AMERICAN PATRIOTS - FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions). The League of American Patriots. 26 Oct. 2008 <http://x4u.0catch.com/leagueap/modules.php?name=faq&myfaq=yes&id_cat=1&categories=what+is+the+league+of+american+patriots%3f>.
The League of American Patriots. DO YOU REALLY WANT A BLACK PRESIDENT? Black Ruled Nations most unstable and violent in the world. Brochure. Butler, NJ: Author, 2008.
Ragonese, Lawrence. "Supremacist group blankets Roxbury with anti-Obama literature." NJ.com. 22 Sept. 2008. The Star-Ledger. 20 Oct. 2008 <http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/09/supremacist_group_blankets_rox.html>.