Todd Starnes is not your father's Rockefeller Republican. He is, rather, part of the new breed of rabidly right wing Republicans who, whilst braying about their freedom, seek to curtail rights for minorities, women, and gays. As a member of the radical right, Starnes embraces the kind of paranoia once reserved for communists. In addition to fearing creeping Sharia and the "gay agenda," Starnes seems to have embraced Jim Crow stereotypes of African-Americans as lawless barbarians - stereotypes that are still promoted by white supremacists. Last year, he tweeted that blacks were rioting at Burger King. The story that he linked to did not mention race. Now, on his Facebook, Starnes says that living in NY City is dangerous. After noting that the mainstream media is ignoring the story, he links to a World Net Daily article "Black Mobs Now Beating Jews in NY." Along with WND (and the Murdoch owned NY Post), this story is featured on a number of white supremacist websites including the Council of Conservative Citizens. Can we talk race baiting?
The World Net Daily article sources from the NY Post article about an "anti-Jewish crime wave." According to the post, "hate mongers" targeted Brooklyn’s Orthodox community with a vicious assault, a string of synagogue thefts and anti-Semitic vandalism targeting synagogues and Jewish neighborhoods." The NY Post notes that a "mob" of six black teenagers shouted anti-Semitic epithets at a Jewish man as they were assaulting him. No mention was made of any charges filed or arrests. But the World Net Daily doubles down on the race baiting with comments like "The assaults are part of a larger pattern in the New York area and around the country: Black mobs assaulting, robbing, destroying property and creating mayhem – hundreds of times in more than 60 cities." WND has no evidence of this black crime wave except to note that "much" of this "lawlessness" perpetrated by "black mobs" is on You Tube. They also claim that "violence from black mobs" is not covered by the press. They then post a litany of black "mob violence."
The crimes directed against the NY Orthodox Jewish community are heinous hate crimes - ironically, a designation of crime opposed by the GOP right wing. One wonders how the NY Post covered crimes, committed by white cops, against black men. And while Todd is concerned about crimes against Jews, he doesn't share the same concern about brutal attacks on gays, immigrants, and women's health clinics. The reality is those who share Todd's skin tone also commit crimes so why is Starnes focused on "black mob violence?" And as Starnes says on his Facebook, this isn't being reported by the evil, black loving press. That it is swirling around some really unsavory racist, white supremacist sites tells you all you need to know....
Let’s see them talk about that.