This has been making the internet rounds for the past few days, and you can expect more to come out of this today on MSNBC. For some reason, the posters our favorite right-wing smear website Freak Republic can't seem to understand why everyone is so upset over them seeing Malia Obama wearing a peace sign t-shirt and calling her "Ghetto street trash", "A typical street whore" and other sick and racist things. That's right, we are talking about the same people who went after David Letterman over his jokes about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Maybe they are still ticked off over the fact that while Sarah Palin's poll numbers dropped just before she resigned her seat for no reason (oh, wait she actually blamed Letterman), Dave's ratings have gone up since the jokes that got the conservatives all in a tizzy. Let us remember that Letterman apologized twice, even though many said he had nothing to apologize for, especially since the "outrage" over his jokes looked nothing more than a contrived political campaign. Don't expect the Freak Republicans to have it in their heart to apologize for dumping on Malia though, even though one of the moderators, Kristinn Taylor (who after all we been through together never got back to us) said it was "not our finest hour". See not only do today's conservative activist apologize when they are wrong, they like to blame everyone else for their mistakes! In this case, they are suggesting that this is payback for how everyone treats Sarah Palin and their children. Ironically, the Palins are getting zapped for things that these same people would have skewered the Obamas for if they did it. All Malia did was wear a t-shirt. That's all it took for this crowd to attack not only her, but her race. So unlike with them over Letterman, the outrage is real. The fact that we were alerted to this issue by black conservatives incensed over it should be a warning to them.

Vancover Sun

These are a small selection of some of the racially-charged comments posted to the conservative 'Free Republic' blog Thursday, aimed at U.S. President Barack Obama's 11-year-old daughter Malia after she was photographed wearing a t-shirt with a peace sign on the front.

The thread was accompanied by a photo of Michelle Obama speaking to Malia that featured the caption, "To entertain her daughter, Michelle Obama loves to make monkey sounds."

Though this may sound like the sort of thing one might read on an Aryan Nation or white power website, they actually appeared on what is commonly considered one of the prime online locations for U.S. Conservative grassroots political discussion and organizing - and for a short time, the comments seemed to have the okay of site administrators.

Moderators of the blog left the comments - and commenters - in place until a complaint was lodged by a writer doing research on the conservative movement, almost a full day later.

"Could you imagine what world leaders must be thinking seeing this kind of street trash and that we paid for this kind of street ghetto trash to go over there?" wrote one commenter.

"They make me sick .... The whole family... mammy, pappy, the free loadin' mammy-in-law, the misguided chillin', and especially 'lil cuz... This is not the America I want representin' my peeps," wrote another.

Such was the onslaught of derision on the site that the person who originally complained about the slurs, a Kristin N., claims only one comment in the first hundred posted actually criticized the remarks as inappropriate.

A note on the front of the blog reads, "Free Republic does not advocate or condone racism, violence, rebellion, secession, or an overthrow of the government," but one comment on the thread read, "This disgusting display makes me more and more eager for the revolution," while another read, "I never actually wnated [sic] to be a pistol before but..."

After attention from other blogs, the thread was suppressed and placed under review, but before long it was returned to the site intact, and attracted a new series of racial slurs when the original complaint email was posted publicly to the site, with the sender's email address intact.

"The writer has a point," wrote site owner Jim Thompson sarcastically. "We should steer clear of Obama's children. They can't help it if their old man is an American-hating Marxist pig."

"I agree Jim," wrote commenter, by the nickname NoobRep. "The kids didn't pick their commie pinko pansy of a father. Nor did they choose to be put into the spotlight. But Obama/Soetoro is fair game and so is his witch of a wife."

"Poor kids. I hope they're not 'punished with a baby'," wrote another. "Hopefully they won't deal cocaine like the Kenyan."

"DIRTBAGS! All of them. Our [White House] is now a joke to the rest of the world. We have no respect and this is not going to turn out well, mark my words. We will be hit, and much worse than last time. We are now seen as weak and vulnerable. Ghetto and Chicago thugs have taken over."

Only after significant negative attention from a host of left wing political blogs did the maintainers of the Free Republic site place the thread under review for a second time, before finally pulling it.

In the wake of the controversy, some Free Republic posters complained about the vitriol.

One poster by the name of "fullchroma" wrote, "To Jim Thompson: The recent uptick here in racist vitriol, aimed at Barrack, Michelle and their children has made me wonder if I belong. My objection to Obama has nothing to do with skin tone. Is the ugly stereotype of Conservative racism true?"

Another, going by the name of TChris, wrote, "Free Republic is a political discussion forum. It SHOULD be beneath us as a group to stoop to such juvenile tactics as I see increasing here lately. Do we REALLY have to insult Mrs. Obama's appearance like a clique of nasty 14-year-old girls?"

But such opinions were not shared by all. Said Roses of Sharon, "Poor libs .... Too late, the battle has been joined."

Booker Rising To Freepers: "Y'all Need To Chill With The Racist Attacks. Also, Kids Are Off Limits!"

Booker Rising

Thanks to reader Rikyrah for the heads up. The folks over at the conservative Free Republic website are upset over something major. What's the calamity, you ask? Well, Malia Obama wearing layered T-shirts with the peace sign printed on them two days ago while touring Rome, which triggered vicious and racist comments. Here is my open letter to the Freepers (I created an account at Free Republic just to post my letter - which is "under review" right now - and I've sent my letter to Free Republic's contacts):

Free Republic,

One of my blog's readers has called attention to an incident on your website. I am troubled by the racist language displayed on Free Republic in regards to Malia Obama - the 11-year-old daughter of President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama - after she wore peace sign T-shirts in Rome and after her interaction with her mother on a private tourist visit.

First of all, those of you who claimed that Mrs. Obama was doing "monkey sounds" for spending a fun moment with her daughter at the Coliseum in Italy are ignorant. What happened to promoting family values? Supposedly a conservative virtue? Also, since when was being the President and First Lady "ghetto" and growing up in Chicago's black middle-class - as Michelle Obama did and as I did for part of my childhood - "thug ghetto culture"? Keep the focus on policies, not on personal attacks.

Now, on to Malia Obama, on which the racist attacks are even more offensive to me as a black center-right woman. Trashing an 11-year-old girl - "typical street whore", "nasty radical hair", "street trash", "freak kid", "flea bag who looks to be dragged from the trash dumpster" is cruel, low-class, and unacceptable. Sexualizing an 11-year-old girl because she is black ("typical street whore", "wonder when she will have her first abortion", commenting that she's sexually attractive) - thinking that black girls are "fair game" - is highly unacceptable.

I don't know if the Obamas put Malia up to wearing those T-shirts or not. It's also very plausible that she supports a nuclear-freeze stance on her own. After all, at age 11 (I'm now 38), I thought apartheid was horribly wrong and racist. I also come from a political family (including past elected officials) and loved reading National Geographic about other countries. Either way, it's no business of yours what Malia wears or doesn't wear. She's a minor private citizen and her fashion is her and her family's choice. Also, what happened to freedom of expression?

By the way, a black female choosing to wearing her hair naturally - as lil' Malia is doing is not "nasty radical hair". She's wearing her hair as God/nature/whatever-you-want-to-call-it intended for her to wear her hair. Do I have "nasty radical hair" because I wear my hair in braids?! I've also worn my hair in twists - which is how Malia is wearing her hair - in the past. How about black female conservatives like Star Parker (braids) or Amy Holmes (curly 'fro)?! How about the libertarian June Arunga of Kenya, who wears a short Afro?! Are these women with "nasty radical hair"? Not only do you display sheer ignorance about black hairstyles, but you are disrespecting many black center-right women with such stupidity.

What happened to judging someone on the content of their character, and not the color of her skin and how she wears her hair? And children being off limits? If 14-year-old Willow Palin is off limits - and she should be - then 11-year-old Malia Obama should also be.

With racist views like the comments displayed on your website, you do absolutely no favors to the cause of persuading more blacks to embrace center-right values like individual liberty, capitalism, small government - in essence, a free republic. You merely reinforce the already-prevalent view in Black America that conservatism is for racists and the mean-spirited. I would strongly encourage you to stay out of the racist gutter, show some class by not picking on kids, and stay focused on policy disagreements.

Shay Riley
Booker Rising webmaster
http://www.bookerrising.net
news site for black moderates and black conservatives