Arlington, Texas Mayor Orders Black Couple to Remove Racist Graffiti Spray-Painted on Their Home

On the morning of December, 21, 2007 as many in the Texas town of Arlington prepared for the Christmas holiday, a local black contractor named Broderick Gamble was horrified to discover that someone had used a can of red spray paint to deface the brand new white garage doors of the dream home he'd been building since 2006.

The words "KILL" and "DIE NIGGER" (see photo above left) cast a dark shadow on the neighborhood and indeed the town itself.

Just two days earlier, Gamble's fiancee Etha Kay "Silk" Littlejohn had been assaulted with a two-by-four and subjected to racial slurs by Grace Head; a 66-year-old white neighbor who lives four blocks from the Gamble home.

Head was indicted on charges of aggravated assault and criminal mischief, both charges carry additional weight because it was classified as a hate crime.

But the town, and the two victims became embroiled in a controversy after Gamble repeatedly refused orders to remove the offensive graffiti and pledged to leave it up to demonstrate the scope of racism he claims to have been subjected to since breaking ground on his dream home.

The story got quite a bit of local media attention, there's even a 2 minute 41 second clip on youtube. Good amount of blogging too. The spirit of the holidays won out though as strangers pooled together friends to contact Gamble and his fiancee and bring them Christmas gifts.

Nice to see human nature and goodwill win out over ignorance and fear.

Geraldine Ferraro Out of Clinton Campaign After Controversial Interview

In her latest obvious attempt to intentionally insert race into the minds of the American electorate Senator Hillary Clinton called on former Queens Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro to do the dirty-work .

In a fiery interview with Torrance, California newspaper the Daily Breeze, Ferraro attributed Senator Barack Obama's campaign success and position as a possible Democratic presidential candidate to the color of his skin.

"If Obama was a white man he would not be in this position." the former vice presidential candidate was quoted as saying. "And if he was a woman of color he would not be in this position. He's very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept."

Taken out of context? Read the original article for yourself.

The Obama camp vented steam publicly over the incident with the usual indignation now common to candidates from both parties - the New York Post's page 19 headline labeled it a "Slap at Obama."

When asked about top Obama adviser David Axlerod's accusation that her comments were proof positive that Clinton was condoning the use of race Ferraro asserted in a follow-up interview with the the Daily Breeze, "I really think they're attacking me because I'm white. Hows that?"

Was it anger over never quite having gotten over the ass-kicking she Walter Mondale got at the hands of the Reagan-Bush ticket in 1984? A hot-flash perhaps?

Whatever it was Hillary was quick to distance herself from Ferraro's somewhat pedestrian reduction of Obama's broad-based support to his skin color.

She danced cunningly onto the stage of the National Newspaper Publisher's Association (an association of over 200 African-American community papers) and was all apologies.

Then she ceremoniously slapped Ferraro's wrist by booting her off the campaign's finance committee.

On the one hand I'm kind of glad to see Gerry's still out there mixing it up but the reality is her confusing old neighborhood Queens-inspired take on Obama's political appeal does nothing to raise the level and quality of dialog and exchange of ideas in this race.

If that's all the Clinton camp can offer up to distract the voters and media from Obama's victory in the Mississippi primary then there's a sense of either ruthless desire to win this race, or desperation.

I suspect it's a mix of both with some plain old-fashioned political savvy mixed in. Shrewd strategic play for Hillary and to me it demonstrates she's clearly a tactical thinker who can delegate - even if it was passing on the responsibility of playing the race card to others.

Stay gold Pony-girl.

23 Year-Old PSU Student Victim of Brutal Anti-Semitic Hate Crime Beating On Temple University Campus

For one young student of my Alma mater Penn State University, the tales his grandfather told him of his experiences in Auschwitz during World War II seemed remote and far-removed from the young millennium's idyllic suburban Philadelphia upbringing.

But the walls separating the 23-year old young man's perspective from the totalitarian brutality of the Third Reich was shattered in a violent February 29th attack that took place on the Temple University campus (seen left) outside the Alpha Epsilon Pi house on North Broad Street in Philadephia around 1:30am.

The Philadelphia Daily News reported that Michael Walsh, 20, of Florham Park, N.J.; David Scott, 20, and Steven Scott, 19, two brothers from Willow Grove, Montgomery County; and Bryan Pediero, 19, of East Brunswick, N.J. - turned themselves in to face charges according to Philadelphia police.

The Philadelphia Inquirer's coverage of the story seemed somewhat more sedate - insisting the the incident was "tentatively being labeled" a hate crime.

When four guys jump a Jewish guy and his friend coming out of a pizza joint at 1:30am, demand to know if they're members of the Jewish fraternity across the street then start beating the shit out of him while yelling anti-Semitic slurs I think the average reasonable person would say that fit's the definition of a hate crime.

But regardless of how it was reported, at least it was reported. It's clearly a sad testament to the growing number of hate crimes happening right now in communities not just across the US, but across the globe - skeptical?

Check out paulasays.com an extensive detailed list of anti-Semitic attacks from countries around the world.

The Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Report documented 888 known hate groups in the United States in 2007 - an increase of 48% since 2000.

It's heart-breaking to imagine a grandfather with the courage to somehow survive the horrors of Aushwitz being reduced to tears at the news that his grandson, a promising college student, was savagely beaten by four men who yelled out anti-Semitic slurs while their inner hatred rained down on a cold winter night in 2008.

Red Cross Reports 180 Civilians Dead in 2008 as Tensions Between Sri Lankan Govt and Tamil Minority Approach Boiling Point

The bloody war raging between members of Sri Lanka's (formerly Ceylon) minority Tamil population and the ruling government has shifted into an even deadlier and more violent phase.

Equally disturbing is a recent government crackdown on access by journalists and human rights observers to any areas near the battlefields and sites of violence, making the horrifying details almost invisible to any scrutiny by the world media.

The decades-old conflict is once again a hot media topic in a busy slate of world events dominated by the most violent terrorist attack against Israeli citizens in recent memory and mounting anxiety over the situation in Darfur.

The above photo of a Tamil Tiger soldier preparing to fire an RPG at government forces in the Sri Lankan jungles (note the small sticker on the rear of the weapon with an image of Tamil Eelam leader Velupillai Pirapharan) symbolizes the brutal nature of this conflict that has raged across this island nation since the late 1970's.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (frequently referred to as the LTTE or Tamil Tigers) is a nationalist organization formed by Pirapharan (also spelled Prabhakaran) in 1975 in response to frustration by members of the ethnic Tamil population over marginalization by the government and a desire for a separate homeland in the north and east of Sri Lanka.

The LTTE has been engaged an insurgent war for years, taking advantage of guerrilla tactics, small scale attacks against high-value targets such as local police and a number of political assassinations including Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiappah and even Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Ghandi in 1991.

A number of nations including Canada and India currently list the LTTE as a terrorist organization.

In January a brokered cease-fire agreement established in 2002 was declared void by the government of current Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Government troops have embarked on a coordinated offensive against the LTTE across the country - the Red Cross reports that at least 180 civilians have been killed since the start of this year alone. In recent days Sri Lankan officials claim to have killed at least 40 Tamil rebel fighters according to the BBC News Website.

There are civilian reports that a number of Tamil citizens are being systematically "dissappeared" by government forces.

There are numerous accounts of violence committed by government forces upon innocent ethnic Tamil civilians as well. The Tamil Eelam Website has disturbing photos and a detailed account of the Monday August 14, 2006 government attack that killed 61 schoolgirls and wounded 150 during a two-day first-aid training session for girls in Sri Lanka's Mullaithivu district.

Government Kfir jets bombed the compound where the training session was taking place.

The cultural mistrust, anger and hatred has claimed at least 25,000 lives and the UN reports there have been more disappearances in Sri Lanka in 2008 than in any other nation in the world.

This conflict illustrates a broader cultural schism that stretches across the socio-economic and Geo-political spectrum.

A tear in the fabric of mankind's cultural consciousness - a rip, one of many in the culturegeist that begs the question; how long will racial, religious and cultural divisions win out against reason and the desire to evolve as a species?

The 21st century is just getting started so what does this beginning say about the larger human condition?

At the least, it's an alarming signal that doesn't quite seem to be reaching everyone. It remains to be seen if a solution will emerge from within Sri Lanka and it's warring sides, or will this require more of an international focus and effort.

Hard for journalists and the media to raise the profile of this problem when Sri Lankan officials have put the clampdown on any outside access to the front lines of this simmering human tragedy.