David Duke in a debate. No, really. David Duke in a debate.

[AmazonGrace]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/david-duke-debate_us_581a9d33e4b01a82df64c149?section=us_politics

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WASHINGTON ― U.S. Senate hopefuls in Louisiana attacked fellow candidate, former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke, in a heated ― and at times, utterly surreal — debate Wednesday at a historically black university in New Orleans.

The debate showed just how far the political climate surrounding Republican presidential contender Donald Trump has shifted to embolden white nationalist rhetoric: It included a moderator question about Duke’s references to the “CNN Jews,” a Duke rant about Jewish people controlling banking, and a lengthy shouting match.

 

Why, oh why do they give him the legitimacy of talking to him?

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“I’m not opposed to all Jews,” Duke said during the debate.

Gee that's nice. 

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At times, Duke’s language — which included attacking the Black Lives Matter movement — seemed to echo Trump’s. “I’m the bad guy because I defend the people of this country that made this country great,” he said at one point.

See, flaming racists make America great, y'all. 

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This led to a shouting match, in which Duke sought to defend himself by claiming he was “targeted by the government.” He also went after the media, which he said was biased against him.

Rigged, so rigged. 

[QuiverDance]

I have had the displeasure of making David Duke's acquaintance.  I was 19.  He is as disgusting as you would imagine.

[GreyhoundFan]

I saw excerpts from the debate on MSNBC. It was appalling. It's also unbelievable that he hit the 5% poll threshold in LA to make the debate stage.

@QuiverDance I'm so sorry. I imagine him being completely repulsive in person, since he's that way on TV and in print.

 

There was a documentary on Independent Lens on PBS. It was entitled "Welcome to Leith". It's about a group of white supremacists who take over the tiny town of Leith, ND. It was chilling. They harassed the locals and were spouting their putrid views everywhere. It was eye-opening. Here's a clip. What is truly terrifying is, if Agent Orange is elected, I can see more and more of this happening.

[VixenToast]

As do I .

[QuiverDance]

10 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

I saw excerpts from the debate on MSNBC. It was appalling. It's also unbelievable that he hit the 5% poll threshold in LA to make the debate stage.

I'm not surprised. There are still segregated high school proms in Louisiana. Racism is not even subtle. And it colors everything. White people are openly hostile with the perception that the black community is made up of leeches who do nothing and abuse entitlements while whites work. The truth is that black people don't stand much of a chance but no one sees how stacked the deck is or how racism perpetuates the status quo. 

[Childless]

5 hours ago, QuiverDance said:

I'm not surprised. There are still segregated high school proms in Louisiana. Racism is not even subtle. And it colors everything. White people are openly hostile with the perception that the black community is made up of leeches who do nothing and abuse entitlements while whites work. The truth is that black people don't stand much of a chance but no one sees how stacked the deck is or how racism perpetuates the status quo. 

I'm surprised there are still blacks living there.  If it were me, I'd get the hell out of Louisiana as fast as I could 

[QuiverDance]

Sadly, that's exactly what some folks want.  I remember the "Thanks, Houston" bumper stickers after Katrina. It sucks, and it's embarrassing. That 5% is vocal and toxic.  You shouldn't have to want to leave your home!

[MimsyBlk]

I was born and have lived in New Orleans my whole life. The Deep South does have a horrendous problem with blatant racism, but please don't think everyone is like that. The majority of people find David Duke abhorrent (he has run and lost before) and do not support his beliefs.  We have a multitude of ethnicities down here, which is why our food is soo GOOD!

[roxy7]

On Tuesday, November 08, 2016 at 6:56 PM, MimsyBlk said:

I was born and have lived in New Orleans my whole life. The Deep South does have a horrendous problem with blatant racism, but please don't think everyone is like that. The majority of people find David Duke abhorrent (he has run and lost before) and do not support his beliefs.  We have a multitude of ethnicities down here, which is why our food is soo GOOD!

I was about to say the same thing.  I was born and raised in New Orleans and this area isn't racist.  I was in high school when Duke ran for governor and our under investigation soon to be going to federal prison sitting governor beat him.  And his campaign slogan was something along the lines of the only way he could lose is being found in bed with a dead girl or a live boy.  Point is we voted in a corrupt politician over David Duke.  Not positive but it seems like there was maybe 1 high school that did separate proms but  there were a few issues if I remember correctly.  The media made Katrina a race issue.  Catastrophic events don't see color.  People of all ethnicities were affected by the devastation and are still recovering.  We take care of each other because we have learned that no one else is coming.  We have fought to hard to come as far as we have to allow our communities to be divided by race.  

So, please before yall make statements about us being racist and AA should move, do a little more research.  Anyone can run for office (as long as they qualify) and just because Duke said he supported Trump does not mean Trump supported him.  There is a huge difference between those two things.  I have no doubt that some of that 5% were duke supporters but we had 24 candidates on the ballot and I'm sure a large part of the 5% were people that knew their vote was useless and thought voting for him was a joke.  Immature yes, but he is a long running joke here and first time voters might have voted for him thinking it was funny.  

[QuiverDance]

In my experience, New Orleans was a very inclusive city filled with wonderful people who are pretty progressive.  I loved it there very much,  but it's kind of undeniable that the City is heavily self-segregated, that the New Orleans public schools are devoid of white faces, and that the economic division between the races is stark.  

I grew up in Louisiana, and I love Louisiana, and I KNOW that the people there are inherently good, kind, and the type of people that would give you the shirt off their backs.  My observation, though, after moving away and now seeing it from more of an outsider's perspective, is that the race problem in the South is so pervasive and so ingrained, people cannot see past their own prejudices.  That is slowly changing, but there is much room for growth.  

Of course, that isn't just a Louisiana problem.  

@roxy7  Remember the bumper stickers?  "Vote for the Crook.  It's important."  Ahhh EWE.  

[dairyfreelife]

Well, actually, we keep going on and on about the racist south, but upon searching schools in southeastern states are actually LESS segregated than their northern counterparts. New York City is actually the most segregated city in the US. Just because the racists are the most vocal doesn't mean they represent the majority. I have lived in 4 different states, 2 in the north and 2 in the south and I have to kinda agree that many northern cities are quite segregated compared to southern ones. Economic division though is a problem in all cities with areas of the haves and have nots. Of course racism is still a problem, I just think we must stop seeing it as a problem of the south compared to it being a national problem. You cannot convince me southerners are more racist today than any other parts of the country. 

[QuiverDance]

Yes.  I agree it is an everywhere problem.  It's pervasive.  As a matter of fact, WRT the economically segregated cities like NYC... It's pretty easy to absolve yourself of racism and believe you are very inclusive when you've never interacted with a POOR person of a different race.