Barack Obama Uses N-word during Discussion on Racism – Audio

THE GUARDIAN: Obama says the United States has not overcome its history of racism – and uses the N-word to make his point. In an interview with comedian Marc Maron, Obama adds to the debate over race and guns following the racially motivated murder of nine black churchgoers in South Carolina last week. He says: 'Racism, we are not cured of it. And it's not just a matter of it not being polite to say nigger in public. That's not the measure of whether racism still exists or not. It's not just a matter of overt discrimination. Societies don't, overnight, completely erase everything that happened 200 to 300 years prior.'

In-your-face Racism Has Returned and Few Are Fighting against It

THE INDEPENDENT: Those at the top say nothing, while ethnic-minority politicians are the biggest cowards of the lot

Last week on the No 9 bus, a middle-aged white woman shouted “bloody Paki” and spat at me. The sputum landed on the back of my seat, grey and revolting as she was.

No one said a thing, not even the black and Asian people around me. They all lowered or averted their eyes. I was spat at in 1972, too, after exiled Ugandan Asians with British passports arrived here. That time I was sitting quietly in a park in Oxford, reading Middlemarch. So you think it’s much better than the really bad old days? The truth is that, since 2001, in-your-face racism has returned. But those who suffer it just have to swallow the insults and degradation.

The difference is that, back then, we had politicians of all parties, including Tories, who felt keenly that racial prejudice and discrimination were unjust and reprehensible. They passed laws, used government purchasing power to get companies to operate fairly and, bit by bit, made racism unacceptable in the public space. Now those at the top – with the exception of Diane Abbott – say nothing and do even less about this stain on our society. Ethnic-minority politicians are the biggest cowards of the lot. » | Yasmin Alibhai Brown | Sunday, November 09, 2014

Roma Boy Attacked in Paris: The Picture That Will Shock France

Darius was found in a supermarket trolley

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: François Hollande calls brutal gang assault on 16-year-old Roma boy 'unspeakable and unjustifiable attack on all the principles on which our republic was founded' Warning: graphic image readers may find distressing

It is the photo that will shock France.

Beaten to a pulp, dumped in a supermarket trolley and left for dead on the side of the road.

That was the fate of 16-year-old Darius, a Roma boy snatched from his family by a vigilante mob who accused him of burglary.

The teenager was in a medically induced coma on Wednesday in a Paris hospital, where doctors said it was not certain he would pull through after suffering multiple skull fractures.

But already this gruesome attack has sparked wide condemnation.

President François Hollande denounced it as an “unspeakable and unjustifiable attack on all the principles on which our republic was founded”. » | Rory Mulholland, Paris | Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Anna Soubry: Some People with Immigration Concerns Are 'Frankly Racist'

Anna Soubry, the Conservative defence minister, says that the overwhelming majority of immigrants come to Britain to work not to 'scrounge'

Read the Sunday Telegraph article here | Sunday, June 01, 2014

Ukip Councillor Under Investigation Over Racist And Homophobic Comments

THE GUARDIAN: Newly elected Redditch councillor Dave Small referred to gay people as perverts and African immigrants as scroungers

Nigel Farage is dealing with fresh allegations of racism and homophobia in his party only days after the local and European elections as Ukip was forced to launch an investigation into comments made by one of its newly elected councillors.

Dave Small, who was elected to Redditch borough council on Friday, faces being kicked out of the party for referring to gay people as "perverts" and African immigrants as "scroungers".

In comments posted on Facebook, he also attacked BBC broadcaster Clare Balding and singer Elton John over their sexuality and referred to "our sworn enemies in the Muslim world". » | Kevin Rawlinson | Saturday, May 24, 2014

Related »

Jeremy Clarkson 'Begs Forgiveness' Over N-word Footage

Jeremy Clarkson came under fire after apparently using the
N-word in unbroadcast footage from the BBC's Top Gear

THE GUARDIAN: Top Gear presenter says his efforts to obscure word while reciting eeny meeny miny moe 'weren't quite good enough'

Jeremy Clarkson has begged viewers' forgiveness after he appeared to use the N-word during filming of his BBC programme Top Gear.

In a video statement posted online on Thursday, he said that he had tried to obscure the word when reciting the "eeny, meeny, miny, moe" nursery rhyme to chose between two cars, but that his efforts to do so "weren't quite good enough".

Clarkson had previously issued a robust denial of the allegation, telling his 3.2 million Twitter followers: "I did not use the N-word. Never use it. The Mirror has gone way too far this time."

But footage of the incident was later posted on The Daily Mirror website. In it Clarkson recites the beginning of the children's nursery rhyme "eeny, meeny, miny, moe" before apparently mumbling: "Catch a nigger by his toe."

His apology came after a day of growing calls for the BBC to sack him. The corporation issued a strongly worded statement saying: "Jeremy Clarkson has set out the background to this regrettable episode. We have made it absolutely clear to him, the standards the BBC expects on air and off. We have left him in no doubt about how seriously we view this." » | Josh Halliday, Nicholas Watt and Kevin Rawlinson | Thursday, May 01, 2014

Fury as Racist Christian Patrol Drive Armoured Car in Muslim Street Giving Out Booze

DAILY EXPRESS: BRITISH faith leaders have united to condemn a BNP-linked vigilante group called Christian Patrols which drove two armoured vehicles into a Muslim-dominated street and baited residents with alcohol and cigarettes.

The Bishop of Stepney and the chairman of the East London Mosque issued a statement yesterday to call for a halt to the stunt.

They were reacting to a recent incident in which nationalist group Britain First drove two Gulf War armoured Land Rovers down the length of Brick Lane, one of the most famous streets in the east London borough of Tower Hamlets.

The group said they were there to “defend British soil against Muslim extremists”.

They said they were reacting to the so-called “Muslim Patrols” who were convicted in December for threatening non-Muslims in the area.

Britain First’s chairman Paul Golding, a former Sevenoaks councillor for British National Party in Kent, told the East London Advertiser he was deliberately taunting people with beer and cigarettes. (+ video) » | Ted Jeory | Wednesday, February 05, 2014

Mormon Church Addresses Past Racism

Brigham Young

THE GUARDIAN: Statement rejects previous teachings which banned black people from the lay clergy until 1978

The Mormon church has issued its most comprehensive explanation yet about its past exclusion of black people from the priesthood.

The statement disavowing previous teachings was posted on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' website.

It says an era of great racial divide influenced the early teachings of the church, founded in 1830. The article pins the ban on an announcement in 1852 from Brigham Young, the church's then president.

The church barred men of African descent from the lay clergy until 1978, when church leaders had a revelation. In the 35 years since that landmark moment, however, the church had never explained the reasons behind the ban or addressed the once widely held notion that black people were spiritually inferior, said Matthew Bowman, an author and assistant professor of religion at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia.

In the new article, posted on Friday, the church finally addresses what had become a sensitive topic for current leaders and members.

"The church disavows the theories advanced in the past that black skin is a sign of divine disfavour or curse, or that it reflects actions in a premortal life; that mixed-race marriages are a sin; or that blacks or people of any other race or ethnicity are inferior in any way to anyone else," the statement read. "Church leaders today unequivocally condemn all racism, past and present, in any form." » | Associated Press in Salt Lake City | Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Bias Bash – Oprah's Idea on How to End Racism

Cal Thomas on the comments made by Oprah Winfrey that racism 'will end when all the old white people die'

Oprah Winfrey Defending President Obama with the Race Card

Talking Points 11/18

Related »

Oprah Winfrey: The Butler, Racism and Obama

BBC: American broadcaster and actress Oprah Winfrey said there was a whole generation of racist people who were "born and bred and marinated" in racism who would never change their ways, but that would die out.

She spoke to the BBC's Will Gompertz while in the UK to promote her new film The Butler, in which she plays Gloria Gaines, the wife of a White House butler. Watch BBC interview » | Wednesday, November 13, 2013

How Wild Rumour Led a Mob to Murder an Innocent Man

Guilt haunts the community where an Iranian eccentric falsely accused of being a paedophile was beaten and burned to death

Read the Sunday Telegraph article here | Jake Wallis Simons | Sunday, November 03, 2013

Tommy Robinson: 'I Renounce Racism and Violence'

Former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson tells Channel 4 News he wants to work with moderate Muslims and says he despises Nazis and Islamists.

Related »

Oprah Winfrey Talking About Race

Talking Points August 14, 2013

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Oprah Winfrey 'Sorry' for Naming Switzerland in Race Row

BBC: US talk show host Oprah Winfrey has said she is sorry for a "blown up" media response after she claimed she encountered racism in an upmarket handbag store in Zurich.

Speaking on the red carpet premiere for her new film, The Butler, Winfrey said: "I think that incident in Switzerland was just an incident in Switzerland."

"I'm really sorry that it got blown up. I purposefully did not mention the name of the store. I'm sorry that I said it was Switzerland," she added.

Her claims were made amid a political row in Switzerland over asylum seekers' rights. » | Tuesday, August 13, 2013

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Switzerland Apologises to Oprah Winfrey over Handbag Incident

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Switzerland's national tourism office has apologised to Oprah Winfrey over an incident involving a handbag

The media mogul, who is one of the world's richest women, told the US TV programme "Entertainment Tonight" that a shop assistant in Zurich refused to show her a handbag because it was "too expensive" for her.

Forbes magazine estimates that Winfrey earned $77 million in the year ending in June.

A spokeswoman for the Swiss tourism office, Daniela Baer, told The Associated Press on Friday "we are very sorry for what happened to her".

The tourism office also posted an apology on Twitter, saying "this person acted terribly wrong".

Winfrey told fellow US talk show host Larry King on internet channel ora.tv: "I'm in a store, a name-brand store. I'm by myself, absolutely nobody else with me. And I say to the woman, 'I would like to see that bag on the shelf'.

"And she says, 'No, that one's too expensive. I'll show you this one'," said Winfrey.

Trudie Goetz, head of the Swiss luxury chain Trois Pommes, denied her saleswoman had ever sought to stop Winfrey buying the bag.

"Everyone wants to sell a crocodile bag," Goetz told AFP. "It's a misunderstanding," she said, adding that the saleswoman always put the customer first and tried to be "too kind". » | Agencies | Friday, August 09, 2013

Related »

Oprah Winfrey 'Victim Of Racism' In Swiss Shop

YAHOO!: Oprah Winfrey has said she recently became a victim of racism when a shop assistant in Switzerland refused to show her a £24,477 handbag saying it would be "too expensive" for her.

The US chat show host, who is one of the richest women in the world, was in Zurich for Tina Turner’s wedding when she decided to go shopping alone.

Winfrey told Entertainment Tonight: "I was in Zurich the other day, in a store whose name I will not mention. I didn't have my eyelashes on, but I was in full Oprah Winfrey gear. I had my little Donna Karan skirt and my little sandals. But obviously The Oprah Winfrey Show is not shown in Zurich.

"I go into a store and I say to the woman, 'Excuse me, may I see the bag right above your head?' and she says to me, 'No. It's too expensive.'"

The bag was apparently in the shop window behind a security wall.

When Winfrey insisted again, the woman replied: "No, no you don’t want to see that one, you want to see this one because that one will cost too much. You will not be able to afford that."

The assistant then started to show the media owner smaller bags before she asked for a third time and was refused again.

"She said, 'Oh I don’t want to hurt your feelings' and I said, 'Ok thank you so much you’re probably right I can’t afford it.'" said the 59-year-old.

Winfrey, who is the world's only African-American billionaire, then walked out of the shop calmly. » | Sky News | Friday, August 09, 2013

BLICK:CH: «Wir schäumen vor Wut» : Schweiz Tourismus entschuldigt sich bei Oprah für Zürich: ZÜRICH - Talk-Ikone Oprah Winfrey beschwert sich über Zürich: Sie habe eine Luxus-Tasche kaufen wollen, sei aber nicht bedient worden. Schweiz Tourismus tut das leid. » | Freitag, 09. August 2013

French Far-right Leader Stripped of Immunity

AL JAZEERA: Marine Le Pen loses legal immunity as EU Parliament deputy, exposing her to possible prosecution over racism charge.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has been stripped of her European Parliament immunity and may now face charges of racism over comments she made comparing Muslims praying on streets to Nazi occupation during World War II.

Parliamentarians voted on Tuesday to ratify the decision, as recommended by a judicial committee, so that Le Pen, who leads the French National Front party, could defend herself against a charge of inciting racial hatred brought by French prosecutors in 2011.

Le Pen, who was present for the vote, said she stood behind her comments and looked forward to defending them in front of a judge.

"I'm going to defend myself ... and I'm absolutely convinced that the court will rule in my favour and protect my right to say to the French the truth about the situation, notably prayers in the streets but not only that," Le Pen said in an interview on French television.

If found guilty of inciting racial hatred, she would face a maximum penalty of one year in prison and $60,000 in fines. » | Source: Agencies | Tuesday, July 02, 2013

"My Name Is Paul Weston, and I Am a Racist"
View the video here | June 2013

Racist Raids: Anti-Arab Violence by Jewish Youth On Rise in Israel
With street violence against Arabs and the number of 'price tag' attacks, often involving Israeli youngsters, on the rise, PM Benjamin Netanyahu has been forced to decry "racism against Israeli Arabs and acts of hooliganism against Palestinians."