Is it just me?

As I watch the news coverage of the "Jena 6", I am overcome with a sense of anger and sadness. Unlike some of you youngsters, I remember the civil rights marches (and atrocities) of the 1960s. I remember Watts and Newark. Why, 40 years later, are we going through it again? Our pal Scout Prime has the same feelings:

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I grew up in a small all white town in Wisconsin. I was idealistic and though I thought I knew what was going on, I soon learned in Mississippi that I was quite naive. Each day we would work on the playground sometimes taking breaks to walk to the store for snacks. On several ocassions as cars drove past us someone would lean out the window and yell at us..."ni**er lovers." The town knew who we were and why we were there and didn't like it one bit. A few college students were in our group and they were working on voter registration. One day one told us that he had been out in the country talking on the porch with a woman about registering to vote. A pick-up truck pulled up and 3 men got out. One held a machine gun and told him he better leave. Of course he did.

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You can thank the Republicans for this, for pandering to the base of racists, warmongers, and radical Christians. It sickens me that racism has become en vogue once again, where people feel confident spewing their hateful garbage with impunity. Thanks again, Mr. Bush.