The new Al Sharpton

Every generation of aggrieved white folk seem to need their own figure of fear and loathing that represents a direct attack on their way of life. If the "New Black Panther Party" hadn't been created, the void would have been filled by someone else. Nevertheless, this sort of thing is not helpful. In the midst of protests over the definition of a "hate crime" (and, for the record, that tying the victim to the back of his truck represents an "aggravating factor," rather than a "hate crime," for which South Carolina has no statute).

In recent days, the New Black Panthers have been at the center of an unrelated furor over what conservative commentators like Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin say is reverse racism in the Obama administration. And the New Black Panther Party is itself a hate group, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Even Bobby Seale, a leader of the original Black Panther Party of the 1960s, has called it “a black racist hate group” that is usurping the original Panther name.

My emphasis, nach. Actually, if thee was any "reverse racism," it occurred while the Bush administration was still in office, at least in the case the Palin and Limbaugh -- our leading lights on racial outreach-- mention. It would be helpful if the newspaper of record could put the record straight on that rather than further hype charges that have no basis in fact.