Racism

h/t Sociological Images

Rep. John Cauthorn (R-Mexico) supports Speaker Steve Tilley's idea to limit driver tests to English, even though the Missouri State Highway Patrol "sees no safety issues for drivers who are not well-versed in English."  Why does Cauthorn support the idea?  Because he doesn't like Spanish.  The Tribune's Rudi Keller reports:

Rep. John Cauthorn, R-Mexico, said he likes the idea and thinks his constituents will, too.

“The average guy on the street hates Spanish, and it is everywhere,” Cauthorn said. “To the average guy, that is important. We are almost to the point of losing our identity as a nation.

I think John needs to move to a street in the 21st Century. 

A new report released today by Attorney General Chris Koster shows that "black motorists were 70 percent more likely than white drivers to be stopped by police last year -- and twice as likely as Hispanic drivers."

"These findings continue a disturbing trend for African-American drivers in Missouri," reads the report's executive summary.

Read the full report here.

UPDATE: Jason Rosenbaum of Missouri Lawyers Weekly has posted an excerpt from Koster's press conference.

Glenn Miller, a white supremacist and anti-Semite, is causing quite a stir in Springfield and Kansas City with radio ads promoting his write-in candidacy for U.S. Senate. According to The Star, Miller has been "described by the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., as a white supremacist and former paramilitary organizer."

KCTV5 pulled together the audio of five of the ads, which I've embedded here.  But fair warning: they're truly awful. It's hard to believe they're real. 

As part of RNC Chairman Michael Steele's ongoing "off the hook" public relations campaign, he explained yesterday how white Republicans are scared of him.

Stand by for a correction and/or clarification of the Chairman's remarks from the RNC.

It's always somewhat surprising (and always sad) the way bits of racism creep into our daily lives:

Statewide data indicates that African-American drivers were 67 percent more likely than Hispanic drivers to be stopped in 2008, despite being 15 percent less likely to be arrested following the stop.

"The increasing rates at which African-American drivers are stopped are of concern to all Missourians," Koster said. "While no single factor can provide the entire explanation for these numbers, one goal remains fixed -- application of the law must be colorblind."

Koster noted that the report contains information on vehicle stops from 639 law enforcement agencies, so each individual community can examine its own data and situation. For example, it is helpful to compare departments of a similar size or from similar geographic areas. Additionally, factors such as crime patterns or the existence of an interstate highway in a given region may affect data samples.

The executive summary and full report with data for individual law enforcement agencies can be found online at http://ago.mo.gov.