James Baldwin vs. New Hampshire Police Chief Who Called Obama the N-Word

So, did you hear about 82-year old Robert Copeland, the New Hampshire police commissioner who called President Obama the 'N-word' while dining in a public restaurant? It turns out that a citizen heard him and wrote a complain to City Hall complaining about his blatant racism.

Do you think that the old codger apologized? Not even a little bit.

In an email response to O’Toole’s complaint to town officials, Copeland, admitted to having made the comment, writing,

“I believe I did use the ‘N’ word in reference to the current occupant of the Whitehouse. For this, I do not apologize — he meets and exceeds my criteria for such.”

Copeland is one of three elected police commissioners in Wolfeboro, an overwhelmingly white town with 6,300 residents, about 20 of whom are Black. His boss, Joseph Balboni Jr. says that he doesn’t plan to ask Copeland to resign.

“He’s (Copeland) worked with a lot of Blacks in his life,” Balboni said.

Being white in America often means you can be elected to a public office without ever having to apologize for your racist remarks or behavior. Racism still runs rampant in America. Sometimes there are consequences.  Other times there are not.   The Wolfeboro ctizens hope to use 'shame' to get Copeland to resign.

Author and activist James Baldwin spoke on this matter over 50 years ago:



Copeland is a old and foolish. The fact that he is responsible for law enforcement policy in his town makes him dangerous. But, maybe it's our fault...

Related articles

• NH Police Commissioner Refuses to Resign After Referring to Obama With Vile Racial Slur
• New Hampshire town's white police chief calls Obama N-word
• New Hampshire Town's White Police Official Calls Obama "N-Word"

Hillary Clinton Wins in New Hampshire ... What Next for Barack Obama?

I am trying to understand what happened tonight in the New Hampshire primary. A few hours ago the polls showed Barack Obama was leading in New Hampshire by as much as 13% ... yet, when the New Hampshire voters went behind the curtain of the voting booth they changed their minds and voted for Hillary Clinton.

Why? What the heck happened up there in New Hampshire?

• Women Voters - Obama won among women voters in Iowa. Clinton won bigtime among women voters in New Hampshire. I guess her emotional moment where she cried on television was a turning point for the women of New Hampshire. That moment ... scripted by Hillary or real? Personally, I think that she did it on purpose to get sympathy ... and it appears to have worked. Who knew?
• Bill Clinton - Yesterday, the media was portraying Bill Clinton as Boo-Boo the fool. Today he is a queen-maker. It appears that Bill Clinton is paying back his wife for his infidelities by doing whatever it takes, including being the attack dog on Obama. Bill Clinton ... who many of us referred to as the first Black president is now willingly taking regular potshots at a truly competitive Black presidential candidate. Do we miss the 1990s so much that we want a re-run in the White House?
• Young Voters - It looks like the youngsters in New Hampshire willingly came out to the campaign events ... but, apparently, some of them forgot to go vote. It feels like the young voters in New Hampshire were enjoying the tailgating party ... but, didn't buy a ticket to the dayum game itself!.
• Black Voters - Oh yeah, there weren't many in New Hampshire. There are plenty in South Carolina. Will brothers and sisters in South Carolina buy into the 'Yes We Can' motto of Barack Obama ... or will we follow the lead of Civil Rights era Blacks like John Lewis, Andrew Young and others.
• Bradley Effect - I lived in Los Angeles back when Tom Bradley ran for governor of California. The polls all indicated that he would win. However, on election night the victory went to George Deukmejian. White voters simply lied to pollsters. But Villager ... the polls called it right in Iowa ... Yeah, but Iowa was a caucus state and you had to stand up in front of a crowd ... so your inner race-based fears of the Blackman can't show itself as easily as it can when it's just you behind the voting booth curtain.

What do you think? Why did the air come out of the Barack Obama balloon in the New Hampshire primary? Did racism begin to poke its head out from the voting booths in New Hampshire? Perhaps equally important ... what does this say about his chances in Nevada and South Carolina?

Villager Joins NPR Blogger Roundtable

La Shawn Barber of La Shawn Barber's Corner (BBR #9), Debra Dickerson of Mother Jones (BBR #4), and I joined Farai Chideya on her NPR News & Notes show on Wednesday, January 9. Our 15-minute discussion focused on the New Hampshire primary results, Cynthia McKinney's presidential bid, and another protest planned against BET.

This was the second time that I've been on this Blogger Roundtable. However, other AfroSpear bloggers are appearing more frequently in the mainstream media.

Click here to listen to the roundtable discussion. Villagers, any thoughts on the three topics we discussed on the NPR show this week?