racism – Page 23 – praag.org

Racism threatens Australia’s ‘brand’

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Australia’s race discrimination commissioner says the nation’s ‘‘brand’’ has at times been maligned by outbreaks of of racism and there is a poor understanding of the problem in the wider community.

Helen Szoke has also identified a ‘‘cultural glass ceiling’’ that hinders certain minority groups from rising up in workplaces as among the subtler issues that must be tackled.

In advance of today releasing a national anti-racism strategy, Dr Szoke said: ‘‘We understand sex discrimination much better than we understand racism — and we know far we have got to go with sex discrimination — so that gives you an indication of how far we have to go with racism.’’

Dr Szoke said racism in Australia existed in multiple forms. ‘‘People who actually don’t experience racism think it’s something like riots or violence whereas often racism occurs in quiet places and quiet ways.’’In a paper outlining the public awareness plan to be rolled out over three years, the Australian Human Rights Commission notes indigenous people are among the most vulnerable to racism.

The commission said the experience of people from culturally diverse backgrounds tended to vary, ‘‘being shaped in large part by their particular histories of migration and settlement’’.

New arrivals, especially those distinguished by dress and skin colour, were more likely to encounter prejudice than ‘‘settled’’ migrants.

In an interview, Dr Szoke cited the episode involving attacks on Indian students in Victoria as particularly harming Australia’s ‘‘brand’’.

She said Victoria Police, which recently raised the alarm about youth from Sudanese and Somali backgrounds, also needed to exercise caution in how it engaged with such a complex matter.

‘‘As soon as you name a particular racial group and associate them with crime it has two immediate effects,’’ Dr Szoke said.

‘‘The first is that it builds a perception in the eyes of the community that all people from that racial group are criminals and the second is it actually subjects members of those community who may have a public profile to vitriol and race hate.

‘‘That’s exactly what happened in the past week. I’ve seen some of the emails that have been sent to the African community leaders with some horrific and threatening (messages).’’

Dr Szoke acknowledged sometimes law enforcement agencies needed to name a particular racial group, but a cautious and sensitive approach was required so as to avoid stigmatising a whole ethnic community.

She rejected the notion that a repeat of the Cronulla race riot situation was on horizon.

Dr Szoke also said she believed that the asylum seeker debate had a racial element to it, ‘‘because at its heart, racism is a fear of difference’’.

British police ‘shackled by racism charges’, so Asians may rape girls

A new book being published in Britain, Mind-forg’d Manacles: Murder, Macpherson and the (Metropolitan) Police by Jon Gower Davies, is set to explode some of the myths around white racism in that country.

The pending publication of the book has already led to newspaper artilcles, notably in the Daily Mail, exposing how police have failed to act against gangs of Asians raping British girls.

According to the London Daily Mail, “This year a gang from Rochdale were jailed for plying teenage girls with alcohol before raping them.

“All but one gang member was of an Asian Pakistani background.

The court heard up to 47 vulnerable girls were passed around the group and forced to have sex several times a week, but two years before action was finally taken, police missed an opportunity to stop the gang when a 15-year-old girl told them she had been raped.

A former Labour MP, Ann Cryer, said the police failed to investigate properly because they were ‘petrified’ of being branded racist.

Former MP Ann Cryer, said police failed in their investigation of the Rochdale sex gang because they were too afraid of being branded racist

Mr Davies, a former Labour councillor, describes the lack of investigation into sex crimes as a case of ‘reverse’ institutional racism in which the views of victims, vulnerable white girls, were not taken seriously.”

The publisher of Mind-forg’d Manacles: Murder, Macpherson and the (Metropolitan) Police, Waterstones has the following to say about the coming book:

The Macpherson Report into the handling of the murder of Stephen Lawrence became a defining moment in British political history. It accused the Metropolitan Police of ‘institutional racism’, an ambiguous phrase that has been regularly confused with overt racism. The concept was used not only to condemn the Metropolitan Police, but also to condemn all British police forces. For many commentators, it condemned Britain as a whole as a racist society.

In Mind Forg’d Manacles, Jon Gower Davies argues that the charge of institutional racism was ill-founded and that reforms designed to address it have introduced negative and unintended consequences for British policing. It has bogged down the police with unnecessary and counter-productive bureaucratic demands. It has paralysed the investigation of some crimes that involve ethnic minority suspects, frequently exposing vulnerable victims to greater harms. Davies presents an alternative, optimistic perspective on British society. Racism is, in fact, a rarity and its occasional appearance rightly condemned. The police are generally respected and trusted by British people of all ethnic origins.

Imputing institutional racism to a whole society unfairly smears the majority of fair-minded people while removing moral responsibility from the minority of people who fail to measure up to British standards of equality. Davies concludes: ‘Macpherson – not only obviated the need to make a realistic if less flamboyant analysis of the limitations of the policing of the murder of Stephen Lawrence, but also led an over-anxious police leadership to make a fool of itself by adopting policies which are neither operationally nor socially nor ethically sound and proper.’

Mitt Romney’s ‘comments racist and out of touch’

JERUSALEM – Mitt Romney told Jewish donors Monday that their culture is part of what has allowed them to be more economically successful than the nearby Palestinians, outraging Palestinian leaders who called his comments racist and out of touch.

“As you come here and you see the GDP per capita, for instance, in Israel which is about $21,000 dollars, and compare that with the GDP per capita just across the areas managed by the Palestinian Authority, which is more like $10,000 per capita, you notice such a dramatically stark difference in economic vitality,” the Republican presidential candidate told about 40 wealthy donors who breakfasted around a U-shaped table at the luxurious King David Hotel.

The reaction of Palestinian leaders to Romney’s comments was swift and pointed.

“What is this man doing here?” said Saeb Erekat, a top Palestinian official. “Yesterday, he destroyed negotiations by saying Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, and today he is saying Israeli culture is more advanced than Palestinian culture. Isn’t this racism?”

The economic disparity between the Israelis and the Palestinians is actually much greater than Romney stated. Israel had a per capita gross domestic product of about $31,000 in 2011, while the West Bank and Gaza had a per capita GDP of just over $1,500, according to the World Bank.

Romney, seated next to billionaire casino owner Sheldon Adelson at the head of the table, told donors at his fundraiser that he had read books and relied on his own business experience to understand why the difference is so great.

“And as I come here and I look out over this city and consider the accomplishments of the people of this nation, I recognize the power of at least culture and a few other things,” Romney said, citing an innovative business climate, the Jewish history of thriving in difficult circumstances and the “hand of providence.”

Romney, in comparing the Israeli and Palestinian economies, made no mention of the fact that Israel has controlled the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem since capturing them in the 1967 war. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, but continues to control access, and has enforced a crippling border blockade since the Islamic militant Hamas seized the territory in 2007.

In the West Bank, Israel retains overall control, and Palestinians only have limited self-rule. Israel controls all border crossings in and out of the West Bank, and continues to restrict Palestinian trade and movement.

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have said repeatedly that the Palestinian economy can only grow if Israel lifts those restrictions.

“It’s Israeli occupiers and Palestinians under occupation, and that’s why Palestinians cannot realize their potential,” Erekat said.

The breakfast with top donors – including Adelson, New York Jets owner Woody Johnson and hedge fund manager Paul Singer – concluded Romney’s visit to Israel, the second leg of a three-nation overseas tour designed to bolster the his foreign policy credentials.

Standing on Israeli soil for the first time as the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee, Romney on Sunday declared Jerusalem to be the capital of the Jewish state and said the United States has promised never to “look away from our passion and commitment to Israel.”

The status of Jerusalem is a critical issue in peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

During his visit to Israel, Romney did not meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas or visit the West Bank. He held a brief meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

Romney’s campaign says his trip abroad, which began in England last week, is aimed at improving the former Massachusetts governor’s foreign policy experience through a series of meetings with foreign leaders. The candidate has largely avoided direct criticism of U.S. President Barack Obama while on foreign soil.

The Jerusalem fundraiser, however, was a political event that raised more than $1 million for Romney’s campaign. It marks at least the second finance event during his tour. The first, in London, attracted about 250 people to a $2,500 per person fundraiser.

Both presidential candidates have aggressively courted American donors living abroad, a practice that is legal and has been used for decades.

Romney’s declaration that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital was keeping with claims made by Israeli governments for decades, even though the United States, like other nations, maintains its embassy in Tel Aviv.

His remarks on the subject during his speech drew a standing ovation from his audience, which included Adelson, the American businessman who has promised to donate more than $100 million to help defeat Obama.

Adelson was among a several donors who flew to Israel for a day of sightseeing with Romney in addition to private meetings with top Israeli officials.

A group of donors also met with a top aide to President Benjamin Netanyahu, one donor said on the condition of anonymity to discuss private meetings.

Romney met with Netanyahu and other leaders before his speech Sunday. He also visited the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site, where he was mobbed by worshippers.

In his remarks, Romney steered clear of overt criticism of Obama, even though he said the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran “has only become worse” in the past five years.

Romney flew to the Middle East from Britain, where he caused a stir by questioning whether officials there were fully prepared for the Olympic Games. A stop in Poland will complete his trip.

Four years ago, Obama visited Israel as a presidential candidate, part of a five-nation trip meant to establish his own foreign policy credentials.

A goal of Romney’s overseas trip is to demonstrate his confidence on the world stage, but his stop in Israel also was designed to appeal to evangelical voters at home and to cut into Obama’s support among Jewish voters and donors. A Gallup survey of Jewish voters released Friday showed Obama with a 68-25 edge over Romney.

Romney and other Republicans have said Obama is insufficiently supportive of Israel.

Swiss soccer player investigated for Twitter ‘racism’

Switzerland’s Michel Morganella is being investigated for sending an allegedly racist message on Twitter after their defeat in the men’s Olympic football by South Korea, a Swiss team official said on Monday.

“We are investigating this case and we will hold a news conference at 5pm today,” said Christof Kaufmann.

The alleged tweet has since been deleted from the player’s account but pictures of it appeared in the Swiss media. The 23-year-old Swiss international, who plays for Palermo, could face expulsion from the Games. He has played the full 90 minutes in both of Switzerland’s matches and was booked against South Korea.

Last week the Greek triple jumper Paraskevi Papachristou was thrown off the Olympic team following a racist comment on her account regarding Africans living in Greece. – Reuters

‘Kaffir’ leads to killing white man

Cape Town – A fight sparked by a racist remarks preceded the death of a Cape Town man in a prison cell, the Bellville District Court heard on Monday.

This was the testimony of a prisoner accused of the murder of airport freight clerk Eben Meyer, 47, in a cell at the Durbanville police station. He was arrested for drunk and disorderly behaviour on April
20 this year.

His body was found the next morning.

Daniel Dyosi, 40, and Sipho Mhlanga, 29, who have been charged with the murder, applied for bail before magistrate Jannie Kotze on Monday.

Mhlanga told the court a fight started in the cell after Meyer made racist remarks.

Mhlanga said he and the others were all asleep when Meyer arrived.

“Meyer, in his drunken state, immediately became abusive towards Dyosi, saying that kaffirs were not allowed to sleep in the same room as white people.”

Mhlanga said he awoke from the commotion, as Meyer started assaulting Dyosi.

“When the deceased realised I was awake, he started beating me up as well. We allowed him to assault us for about 30 minutes, before we got tired of it and fought back,” Mhlanga said.

After they started fighting back, Meyer ceased the assault and apologised. According to Mhlanga, they gave Meyer a blanket, and around 1.30am they heard Meyer had died.

Mhlanga insisted on explaining to the court what happened that night, despite warnings that he had the right to remain silent, and that whatever he said would be used against him at his trial.

The investigating officer, Constable Bongani Lali, told the court Meyer was locked in a cell with seven other men who had also been arrested for being drunk in public.

Both Dyosi and Mhlanga were required to satisfy the court that substantial and compelling circumstances render their release on bail in the interests of justice.

The men were expected back in court on August 1 for the bail hearing to continue. – Sapa

South African businesses to pay crippling affirmative-action fines

Businesses could pay an enormous price – up to 10% of their turnover – if they do not strictly observe provisions regarding affirmative action, says a report on the Sake24.com site.

Attempts at Nedlac to reach a compromise about proposed radical amendments to the Employment Equity Act came to naught and the next step is to take them through the parliamentary process. The proposed amendments are said to be so radical that the business sector will have them tested in court if they remain unchanged by the parliamentary process. Should the proposals be accepted not only could considerably larger fines be levied, but they would also make it much easier for government to impose them, notes the report. The 1998 Employment Equity Act prescribes relatively small fines of between R500 000 and a maximum of R900 000. The new fines being proposed follow the model of competition legislation and are linked to companies’ turnover. They range from 2% of a company’s annual turnover to 10% for repeated violations. The report says the proposed fines are largely in line with those outlined at the end of 2011 in the Black Empowerment Bill for companies using fronts to claim that they are empowered. Not only are fines of up to 10% envisioned, but also imprisonment of up to 10 years for those who lie about their company’s empowerment status.
Full Sake24 report

Meanwhile, the controversy over proposed changes to the Act, which it was feared would cause coloured and Indian workers to lose their jobs in some provinces, turned out to be a storm in a teacup, says a Business Day report. The contentious issue of whether employers should use national or regional demographic statistics to calculate the employment equity target for their workforce has not been significantly changed, says the report. Under the present law, employers have a choice to use national or regional demographics to determine their racial targets. There was an uproar last year when an initial draft of the amendments proposed that employers be forced to use national demographics as a measure, which would have meant that the workforce had a disproportionate number of coloureds in the Western Cape and of Indians in KZN. However, the amendment Bill is believed to leave the present regulatory regime much the same, with the exception that the Labour Minister will have the power to produce regulations on the matter. The regulations will allow a company – that is designated as a national company – to use national demographics as its employment equity measure. Companies that are not national will not use national demographics, notes the report.
Full Business Day report

– LegalBrief

Labour Court orders Denel to employ white woman

The Labour Court ruled in Solidarity’s favour yesterday by ordering Denel Dynamics to permanently appoint a member of the union retroactively as of 10 February 2011 following 24 months of service as a contract worker. Solidarity cautioned companies to stop denying white employees permanent appointments while they are waiting to appoint affirmative action candidates.

Ansie van Niekerk was appointed seven times in continuous fixed-term contracts over the period 9 February 2009 to 28 February 2011. After 24 months’ employment as a contract worker in the position of senior secretary, she applied for permanent positions on three occasions. She was overlooked each time owing to affirmative action. She was not even invited to an interview after her third application, even though she met all of the job requirements. Denel breached its own employment policy in the process, according to Solidarity.

“Denel Dynamics’s conditions of service clearly state that employees appointed on a contractual basis for more than 24 months should, after this period, be appointed permanently,” said Dirk Groenewald, Head of Solidarity’s Labour Court Division. An external candidate, a black woman, has been appointed in the position in the meantime, although the company’s policy states that preference must be given to internal candidates. “Van Niekerk, who met all the requirements for the position, was not appointed purely on the basis of her skin colour.”

Groenewald said that appointing white employees on a contractual basis in order to wait for affirmative action candidates amounts to unfair discrimination and, moreover, the white employees ultimately have to be appointed permanently, as in this case. “Judge André van Niekerk ordered Denel Dynamics to adhere to its conditions of service concerning temporary hourly employees and to appoint Van Niekerk retroactively as a senior secretary, or in a similar position. Denel Dynamics was also ordered to pay the costs of the proceedings.”

This case is one of more than 20 cases that Solidarity has instituted against government departments and parastatals regarding the unfair implementation of affirmative action.

Facts in the Van Niekerk case

Ansie van Niekerk was effectively employed as a senior secretary at Denel Dynamics from 9 February 2009 to 28 February 2011. The position entails rendering support to three electronic engineering departments comprising some 40 engineers and technicians as well as three line managers.

During the period in question, she was appointed in continuous fixed-term contracts seven times: 9 February 2009 to 9 May 2009; 10 May 2009 to 30 August 2009; 1 September 2009 to 31 December 2009; 1 January 2010 to 30 April 2010; 1 May 2010 to 31 August 2010; 1 September 2010 to 31 January 2011; and 1 February 2011 to 28 February 2011.

She received a consistent evaluation score of 4,2 which, according to the performance standard, is equal to “production of better than expected performance, quality and standard”. Although she met the requirements and filled the position for more than two years, she was overlooked for a permanent appointment.

Kentucky Fried Nkosi Sikelel’, ANC wants racism probe

Johannesburg – An urgent investigation is needed into abuse of the national anthem by artists and businesses, the Western Cape ANC said on Thursday.

Provincial secretary Songezo Mjongile was responding to reports that a Cape Town man buying chicken at take-away outlet KFC was shocked when a “vulgar, profane” version of the national anthem blasted out over the music system.

“Such blatant racism is untenable,” Mjongile said.

“The ANC calls on all South Africans to distance themselves from this kind of intolerance and to unite on the side of non-sexism and non-racism.”

The Cape Times reported that Tariq Mellett was waiting in the queue at the KFC in Buitenkant street, Gardens, when he heard what sounded like the national anthem, Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika.

“It sounded like parts of the national anthem, but I was surprised when the song started in Afrikaans with: Nkosi Sikelel’… Nkosi is ‘n doos, Mandela is ‘n f****n kaffir… and so on, at full blast,” he said.

“Two other customers and I were flabbergasted by the vulgarity, profanity and racism being belted out in a popular family restaurant.”

Mellett said they shouted at the staff to switch it off, but this was done only after some time.

KFC’s provincial manager Craig Davids told the newspaper it had referred the query to franchisor Yum Restaurants.

“We are in the process of looking into the matter, I can’t comment until we have checked it out,” he said. – Sapa

Hefty fines for ‘racist’ Spanish and Russian soccer fans

The Spanish and Russian football associations have been fined 20,000 and 30,000 euros respectively after racist incidents among their fans at Euro 2012 matches, UEFA said in a statement on Thursday.

The 20,000 euro sanction on the Spanish has been imposed after fans sang racist chants and engaged in other racist behaviour during the Group C match against Italy in Gdansk on June 10.

Italy’s black striker Mario Balotelli started in the 1-1 draw.

The Russians have been fined after being found guilty of the same charge in the Group A game against the Czech Republic in Wroclaw on June 8.

Czech right back Theodor Gebre Selassie, who is black, played in their 4-1 defeat. Both associations can appeal.

Balotelli was also subjected to racist abuse by Croatia fans during a match on June 14 and the Croatian FA was fined 80,000 euros by European soccer’s governing body.

The size of that fine was criticised by the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network, who told Reuters there was public concern that Denmark’s Nicklas Bendtner was fined 20,000 euros more for exposing an illegal advert on his underpants.

The Russian FA has already been fined three times for fan trouble at the tournament, including supporter violence.

UEFA said it would dock them six points in qualifying for the next European Championship if their fans were involved in further similar violence, with racist abuse not constituting a violent act under UEFA rules.

Holders Spain have reached Sunday’s final being staged in Kiev while Russia went out in the group stage. – Reuters

ANC Youth League acting president: ‘Share your wealth or we will take it by force’

By Mike Smith

Let me introduce you to the ANCYL’s latest village idiot, the new Malema. His name is Ronald Lamola …and he is on the warpath.

Last night at the ANCYL meeting at the University of Cape Town, he said that the ANC should unapologetically pursue the changing of the constitution so that mines can be nationalized and white owned property expropriated.

He continued his rhetoric against “White monopoly capital” and said that it is in the interest of Whites to redistribute their prosperity…”

In a direct attack against the billionaire entrepreneurial family, the Ruperts, he added that, “…otherwise we cannot be held responsible if the farms of the Ruperts are invaded.”

He said that, “The ANCYL leaders will not abandon the struggle for economic freedom”. Economic freedom in Communist Newspeak means the day they have stolen everything from whites.

He said that: “White people who own land are holding the ANC government at ransom.”
He also said that: “Universities should be transformed to further the ANC agenda.”

What exactly that agenda is, he did not say.

He said that: “the only way blacks are going to become part of the economy is through the nationalization of the mines and the expropriation of white owned farms.”

He added that the ANCYL were always allowed to be “naughty”.

“We should be allowed to do things that adults normally won’t do”…

Die Burger report: Share your wealth or we will take it by force

Several things out of his speech struck me. First he admitted what we have always known and said right here on this blog, that the ANC has an “agenda”.

That agenda includes the economic dispossession of whites and driving them either into abject poverty or out of the country through the nationalization of mines and the stealing of white owned farms.

Apart from that, this idiot made himself guilty of the vilest hate speech against whites, threats of violence and theft of their property, intimidation and a declaration of war. Why is he still allowed to walk free? Should he not be in prison?

Nobody in the ANC condemned him, so I take it they approve of everything he said. Just like they always approved of everything Julias Malema said.

Like I said yesterday, nothing keeps blacks from taking part in the economy. In fact they have all the laws of BEE and AA on their side. After eighteen years there is nothing holding them back to start businesses and become prosperous.

But I suppose it is easier to sit on your arse and blame whites for all the evils of the ANC.

I have said it before and I will say it again. The ANC is spoiling for a race war. Almost daily they spew their hatred in the faces of White South Africans. Below are just a few examples of their hate speech and declarations of war against the whites of South Africa.

“When Mandela dies we will kill you whites like flies” – Mzukisi Gaba (ANC councilor and politician at the Provincial government of the Western Cape.)

“Kill the Boer – Kill the Farmer” – Peter Mokaba (Murdered ANC populist)

“Stealing from whites is not a crime” – Faraday Nkoane, Leader of the Uhuru culture club.

“I have beaten the Colonials – and I am going to beat the children of the children of the Colonials” – Julius Malema (ANC youth leader)

“Kill them- Kill the Amaburu” – song by the ANC and Mandela

“All whites are racists” – Dept. Minister Fikile Mbalula

“Whites will be threatened with a revolution by black people if the racial quotas are not met” – Jimmy Manji (Black management forum leader)

“We are here today to declare war. We are against violence, but if this is what it takes to force a bad farmer in a direction, then they should be smashed (moered) in that direction. If farmers continue to violate the rights of our workers like mad dogs then we need to beat them until they stop. They are going to shit if they do not stop.” – Tony Ehrenreich – Cosatu leader in the Western Cape.

“There is already blood on the farm workers and unless it stops there will be blood on the farmers of these farms. We will grab the land and give it to the rightful owners.” – Tony Ehrenreich – Cosatu leader in the Western Cape.

New bill will punish whites for ‘passive black shareholders’

The gazetted Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Amendment Bill will put in place strict measures to tackle fronting, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said on Tuesday.

“What we are doing is defining it much more closely in the bill so that there is a specific statutory offence of fronting,” Davies told reporters in Pretoria.

Fronting is when companies pretend to be compliant with the act by placing blacks in positions that would make them seem as if they either own the company, or are at a level to make decisions in the company.

“Now that would be a fraud because you are trying to do that because you want to get a regulatory benefit, or present yourself as something that you are not, and that is fraud.”

Davies was speaking after a presidential BBBEE advisory meeting which reviewed the progress of the act and the codes of good practice.

He said a commissioner would be assigned to solely focus on fronting. The commissioner would receive and investigate cases of fronting, correct the situation and, in extreme cases, he would have the authority to prosecute those involved.

“The problem is we haven’t got provisions in place to catch fronting… ordinary law enforcement officers don’t have the capacity to go and investigate transactions of that nature to see where fronting is taking place.”

Currently those found guilty of the practise can be charged with fraud and face imprisonment.

“So we are introducing a BEE commissioner who will be charged with looking into the matter,” he said.

Davies said the objective was to provide ways to measure the degree to which an individual was involved in empowerment.

Council sub-committee chairman Sandile Zungu said they were focusing on fronting because it infringed on human dignity.

“If we are to build a society based on justice then fronting has no place in our society.”

Zungu said the practice had reached the stage of “aggressive fronting”.

The minister said the amendments to the bill would ensure black economic empowerment contributed to the creation of real entrepreneurs in South Africa.

“It opens up new opportunities for black business people who are active players in the economy, and are not passive shareholders in somebody else’s business.”

– SAPA

Racist T-shirt mocks Trayvon Martin’s killer

Expanding the definition of “cracker,” a t-shirt featuring the photo of the man who shot Trayvon Martin is now available for purchase.

As seen at left, the shirt has a picture of George Zimmerman and the words “Pussy Ass Cracker.” Zimmerman, a 28-year-old Hispanic, killed Martin, 17, last month while acting as a neighborhood watch captain in Sanford, Florida.

The shirt’s “pussy ass cracker” line is apparently a reference to lyrics from the rapper Plies’s song “100 Years,” which bemoans stiff sentences handed out by racist judges.

Xhosa-speaking magistrate refuses Afrikaner woman bail, citing racial issues

A Pretoria magistrate has said black people are having to pay more bail than whites, and are effectively receiving harsher punishments than whites who have committed the same offences.

Magistrate Ndileka Ndamase made the statement in the Hatfield district court on Monday, during the bail application of Carol Smith, Beeld newspaper reported.

She wrote on the charge sheet that blacks who stole items worth under R1000 were granted bail of between R1000 and R2000.

“[On] the other hand, white people who commit serious offences are released with a warning, or on bail of under R1000,” Ndamase wrote.

Smith, who is accused of cashing a fraudulent cheque of R30,000 at an Absa branch, was effectively denied bail.

Smith’s lawyer, Mariette Jansen van Vuuren, told Beeld the State had not opposed bail, and that the docket had not been brought to court.

“The magistrate had a problem with the confirmation of my client’s address, but her [Smith’s] husband gave a statement and rendered proof of residence,” Jansen van Vuuren said.

Ndamase insisted on the submission of police confirmation of Smith’s proof of residence, and effectively refused bail on these grounds.

“My client is being disadvantaged because Ndamase is prejudiced against her,” Jansen van Vuuren said.

According to Beeld, the Law Commission is currently engaged in a disciplinary hearing against Ndamase, because of firstly, her alleged refusal to carry out judicial orders and secondly, her alleged refusal to accept authority.

Beeld reported Ndamase and Jansen van Vuuren earlier had an altercation in the same court, due to Ndamase addressing the court in isiXhosa, instead of English.

– Sapa

Heart drug could treat racism – new experiment

A common heart disease drug may have the unusual side-effect of combating racism, a new study suggests.

White volunteers given the beta-blocker, used to treat chest pains and lower heart rates, scored lower on a standard psychological test of “implicit” racist attitudes.

They appeared to be less racially prejudiced at a subconscious level than another group treated with a “dummy” placebo pill.

Scientists believe the discovery can be explained by the fact that racism is fundamentally founded on fear.

Propranolol acts both on nerve circuits that govern automatic functions such as heart rate, and the part of the brain involved in fear and emotional responses. The drug is also used to treat anxiety and panic.

Experimental psychologist Dr Sylvia Terbeck, from Oxford University, who led the study published in the journal Psychopharmacology, said: “Our results offer new evidence about the processes in the brain that shape implicit racial bias.

“Implicit racial bias can occur even in people with a sincere belief in equality. Given the key role that such implicit attitudes appear to play in discrimination against other ethnic groups, and the widespread use of propranolol for medical purposes, our findings are also of considerable ethical interest.”

Two groups of 18 participants took part in the study. Each volunteer was asked to undertake a “racial Implicit Association Test” (IAT) one to two hours after taking propranolol or the placebo.

The test involved categorising positive and negative words, and pictures of black and white individuals, on a computer screen.

Differences in the time taken to carry out the tasks provided the basis of the result.

More than a third of the volunteers had a “negative” IAT score, meaning they were biased towards being non-racist at a subconscious level. This was not seen in any member of the placebo group.

Propranolol had no effect on a different measure of “explicit” racial prejudice, religious and sexual prejudice, or prejudice against drug addicts.

These were tested using a “feeling thermometer” psychological tool used for assessing explicit prejudice. Volunteers were asked to rate how “warm” they felt towards different groups on a 10-point scale analogous to a thermometer.

The scientists wrote: “The main finding of our study is that propranolol significantly reduced implicit but not explicit racial bias.”

Despite the study’s small size and limitations, the researchers believe it raises important ethical and philosophical questions.

Co-author Professor Julian Savulescu, from Oxford University’s Faculty of Philosophy, said: “Such research raises the tantalising possibility that our unconscious racial attitudes could be modulated using drugs, a possibility that requires careful ethical analysis.

“Biological research aiming to make people morally better has a dark history. And propranolol is not a pill to cure racism. But given that many people are already using drugs like propranolol which have ‘moral’ side effects, we at least need to better understand what these effects are.”

But Dr Chris Chambers, from the University of Cardiff’s School of Psychology, said the results should be viewed with “extreme caution”.

He said: “We don’t know whether the drug influenced racial attitudes only or whether it altered implicit brain systems more generally.

“And we can’t rule out the possibility that the effects were due to the drug incidentally reducing heart rate. So although interesting, in my view these preliminary results are a long way from suggesting that propranolol specifically influences racial attitudes.”