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Friday, December 11, 2009

Charles Johnson - Racist

Charles Johnson loves to point fingers every which way, calling people "racist" or "denier" or one of several other loaded words. This, after years of anti-Muslim and/or islamophobic commentary on his site. But, of all these accusations, "racist" seems to be his favorite. This is often done on the flimsiest of evidence, and more often than not, with no evidence at all.

I often get email from people who either love me, or hate me. Recently I received an interesting email from someone who used to comment at LGF. In that mail was the following screen shot There was no commentary to go with it, and I didn't really give it a second thought at first.

Until today.I happened to be going through my email, not long after having finished reading "The Only Good Indian: Essays by Canadian Indians" as assigned reading , and realized the point of it. That point?

Charles Johnson is a racist.

Yeah, I know what you're thinking. "How could a guy like Charles, who has shared the stage with black musicians, possibly be a racist?"

Well, a racist doesn't necessarily hate all people different from them. Some may hate African Americans, but Asians are fine. Others may hate Asians, but African Americans are fine. Some may hate Catholics, African Americans, and Asians, while Indians are fine. It's odd, to be sure, but it is often caused by ignorance, upbringing, personal experience, or any of hundreds of other reasons. But the bottom line is simple - some people consider themselves superior to some other group, based on race. Charles is, apparently, an example of that. Evidence? OK, fine. Here you go.

In the screen shot you can easily see Charles Johnson say that "National Geographic strips away the skyscrapers, the traffic, and the humans, and visualizes the island of Manhattan in the early years of the 17th century."

So when Henry Hudson saw Manhattan Island, there were no humans there? Is that what Charles was saying? What does Charles think American Indians were? One can only surmise that, based on his comment above, he does not consider Indians to be "humans". Interesting.

Who else didn't think Indians were "human"? Leaving aside such monsters as Col. John Chivington, well-known for the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864 and who ordered "Kill them all! Nits make lice!", one merely needs to look at America during the time of "Manifest Destiny" - where the "wild savage" had to be "removed" in order to make way for "progress". During this time period, slavery was still a part of American life, women had no right to vote or run for office, and Indians were considered "savages" and "heathens" and worthy of nothing but extermination.

Add to this his continued support of, and association with, one Killgore Trout, who's use of "the N-Word" is second to none, or the consistent anti-Arab commentary he allowed on his site for years, without batting an eye, and often times agreeing with the sentiments, and we begin to see a pattern. A pattern of support for, or agreement with, racist beliefs and thought. Not only by Charles himself, but those around him.

This is the man pointing the finger, shouting "RAAAAACIST!" at the top of lungs? Perhaps Charles Johnson, Racist, needs to do this while looking in a mirror.

Sure, my evidence is flimsy. Almost as flimsy as the "evidence" that Charles himself uses to libel others.