Another Allen teammate recalls deer head incident

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/09/27/allen_deerhead/

A former college football teammate of Sen. George Allen's has confirmed details of a controversial hunting trip in the early 1970s, during which Allen is alleged to have placed a severed deer head in a mailbox that he believed to be owned by a black family.

On Sunday, Salon reported that Ken Shelton, a former teammate of Allen's who works as a radiologist in North Carolina, claimed that Allen asked after a hunting trip for directions to a neighborhood populated by black residents. Shelton said Allen then drove him and another teammate, Billy Lanahan, to the area and put the severed head of a deer they had killed into a mailbox.

George Beam, a nuclear engineering company manager who lives outside Lynchburg, Va., now says he can confirm parts of that story. Beam, who played football with Allen, said he remembers Lanahan, who is now deceased, describing the hunting trip with Allen and Shelton.

"We were sitting around drinking beer," Beam said in an interview Wednesday morning, recalling the conversation with Lanahan. "Billy said, 'George and Kenny and I went hunting, and we decided at some time to cut off this deer head and stick it in a mailbox.'"

Beam said he does not remember Lanahan saying that the incident was racially motivated. He also said Lanahan did not specify who had the idea to put the deer head in the mailbox.

[nam78_two]

1. man....if VA votes this guy into power....

I don't even know what I will think anymore...

[LiberalFighter]

17. There we go... a deer head in everyone's mailbox

Allen promises everyone that votes for him will get deer head and it will be at least a 12 pointer. They will have to get someone do the mounting for them.

[rkc3]

25. Given the recent reports on Republican sexual proclivities -

they shouldn't have any problems finding one who would mount deer for them.

[Johnny Noshoes]

41. Oh man

there's an image I didn't need to have in my head :rofl:

[LiberalFighter]

42. Be worth it for all their repug friends to see and enjoy

[Tesha]

35. Yeah, next thing you know, the U.S.'ll be endorsing torture! (NT)

[TheCowsCameHome]

2. Good Ol' George, what a cut-up he must have been.

He must have been one funny country boy. Dang, he sure knew how to have a good time.

[Canuckistanian]

3. They can't claim this was a made-up story now

And even if this wasn't racially motivated (doubtful now, doncha think?), it certainly was a huge lack of judgement and civility on Allen's part.

It was mean, thoughtless and in extremely poor taste.

And perpetrators of these kind of actions don't usually change that much over the years.

[godai]

4. Felix will never admit to this and the 3rd guy is dead

I'm sure that it's true. Maybe there is a police report. Hopefully reporters are trying to find it.

Felix would drop out of the race rather than admit to this.

[Virginian]

6. According to AAR today, Allen has admitted to it.

He said it was a gift.

[godai]

20. Really...sounds like a joke (a gift?)

I haven't seen any news stories confirming this, just stories that Webb also used the n-word.

[Virginian]

52. It could have been a joke - Al Franken told it.

Sometimes I have to listen to him for a little while to tell if he is telling a joke or seriously reporting the news.

[grytpype]

5. I am so happy this is happening.

Really I couldn't be more pleased.

To have a Republican exposed as a racist, a flat-out, unambiguous racist, is an unbelievable sight.

And it's going to get us a Senate seat, so it's not just a moral victory. We are actually getting something out of this.

[Divine Discontent]

9. I'm giddy

George Allen, thanks for being a racist. (never thought I'd say that)




www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable <<-- antibush prodem stickers/shirts

[aaronbees]

11. Nice to see all this coming out of the woodwork

I mean, it's not nice that anyone has had to experience Allen's unbridled racism. But it's good to see the truth about this man come to light for so many to see. I've always found the tolerance for such bigots behind the scenes to be a sickening way to prop up officially-sanctioned bigotry in our government.

[ms liberty]

7. Now we just need the owner of the mailbox to confirm it...

All this other stuff is probably going to take him down anyway. It's at the point now that probably most people will believe this story, because it's just one more incident. But if the homeowner of the mailbox came forward, or someone found that a police report had been filed - wow, that would bury him forever.

[0007]

8. I smell a dead possum!

[LiberalFighter]

19. If he is still alive unless someone else in the family is still alive

Won't be able to locate the family unless we know the address.

[northzax]

27. police report?

from a black family in rural virginia in the 70's? not likely.

[Irreverend IX]

10. The question that needs to be asked is...

How many Virginians will feel compelled to vote for this guy _because_ he's a racist? Will they be outweighed by the voters who oppose him due to his racism? If Allen gets elected on the basis of his racism it'll suck, but I guess a state that elects someone based on their history of violent bigotry has basically turned into an annex of Hell on Earth anyway.

[Zynx]

12. Virginia is not Alabama. I honestly think Wisconsin probably has the

same percent racists and reactionaries as Virginia.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

18. Seriously?

I have no clue, but that's encouraging if true. I may have to rethink my opinion of the Commonwealth!

[Stuckinthebush]

24. A point of observation from one Alabamian

I should start off by saying that I don't make it a habit of defending my State in areas of racism, classism, and sexism...we have our definite problems and I do want to acknowledge those problems.

I have found it interesting, however, that racism is still connected strongly to the deep south to the point that it is ignored elsewhere. We have a bloody, racist past here in Alabama...

I can drive five minutes to downtown Birmingham and tour the Civil Rights museum once I walk past the cast iron statures of dogs attacking depictions of 1960s Alabamians of color.

I can drive an hour south to Montgomery, the original seat of the confederacy, and tour the museum there that details the march from Selma when so many were attacked on the Edmund Pettis Bridge.

I can go to my local Unitarian Universalist church and talk to the old timers who remember quite vividly the constant bomb threats received by white Alabamians who were appalled at our church supporting "negroes". These threats were so common, that the church secretary told a man on the phone who had called in a threat, "You are going to have to stand in line behind all of the others, sir. We will get with you shortly."

When I drive to the airport, I pass the cemetery where four little girls are buried. The sign there reminds me of the terrible bombing at the 16th Street Baptist Church on my way to board Delta to Atlanta and beyond.

I can even drive to Tuskegee and talk to individuals who remember the Syphilis experiments quite vividly.

Why do I mention these things? Because from the time I was a young boy in the early 70s, anti-racist messages have bombarded us here at home. We lived in the heart of darkness and we were forced to deal with it. We are constantly forced to relive our past as the racist South. This is a good thing...It makes us constantly focused and aware.

Does this eliminate racism? Hell, no. We see it around us still, but you will also hear others denounce racist actions by their friends and coworkers. "Don't be a racist ass, Bob."

My many trips to Boston, DC, New York, etc. have made me conclude that we do a much better job of anti-racism here in the heart of Dixie than in many of the non-Southern towns. Why? I think it is because we are always reminded of it...and we are always cognizant of our actions. We sure as hell aren't over it, but we are working on it.

So when I see "racism" and "Alabama" connected, I get a little sore. Virginia has some seriously racist folks. Missouri has some seriously racist folks. Hell, Minnesota has some seriously racist folks....and these are people who have never been asked to delve into the inner most reaches of their racist thoughts.

Let's just be careful in assuming that Alabama or Mississippi or Tennessee are still the center of the heart of darkness in regard to racism. It blossoms everywhere! We Southerners have been vividly aware of it for decades, and while we have a long way to go, are constantly working on it.

Just some thoughts....

[civildisoBDence]

38. I LOVE NEIL YOUNG and DU, but I hope they'll all remember:

Southern man don't need them around, anyhow.

At least the Godfather had the balls to put that horse's head in the bed, not in the mailbox.

Newsprism

[pampango]

51. Most excellent post.

As someone who has lived in the midwest for many years, first in Chicago and now in Ohio, but with much family in southern Alabama, I would heartily agree.

Racism in the north is rarely confronted. It is still common for people here to assume that things are worse in the South, just because racism was horrible there in the past. I agree that the main reason for the improvement in the South, with a long way still to go, is that they have had to confront their racism on a daily basis. Blacks live everywhere in the South, not just in the ghettos of big cities like in the North.

Most small midwestern towns have practically no blacks living in them. Most have more Mexicans or Asian than they do blacks, so that people in these towns have not experience dealing with and understanding the racism of the past. It is just a text book and television deal for them. As you go around the South there are blacks and whites everywhere, small towns, big cities, rural areas, you name it.

[Virginian]

56. You are so right, Stuckinthebush!

I apologize for my fellow Virginian, and appreciate your enlightening response.

I get so sick of being stereotyped as a racist because I live in a state with a history of slavery. We can't ignore our history. It happened. It was real. We can't rewrite our history as much as some wish we could. We have to own our history and learn from it how to correct our attitudes so that the life that was "normal" to our ancestors is not "normal" to our children. Most of us have started this evolution of the mind but some still resist. Those are the ones you read about in the papers. I am thankful that most workplaces offer sensitivity training. It helps reinforce the effort.

I thought that all parts of the nation were working on improving race relations, but I guess in those areas where they didn't have slavery, those people don't feel they need to do anything but criticize us and defend their status quo. Bigotry takes all forms.

I suggest Jimmy Carter's book "An Hour Before Daylight" as a look into the South in the years before the Civil Rights act of 1964. I think President Carter explains the rural South well enough that even someone from Ohio or Minnesota or Massachusetts can get a feel for what it was like.

Now, I live in a region of this state that is more "moved here" than "born here," and many of the "moved here"s came from another country. There are so many more colors than black and white - so many new cultures to add to the American melting pot. Black issues sometimes get pushed to the back burner and they shouldn't. New citizens vote. My old neighborhood was more than 60% non-white professionals. In the little election we had in January for a state delegate, my precinct went 85% Dem.

[Captain Hilts]

29. Pennsylvania probably has more. nt

[WorseBeforeBetter]

31. And you base that statement on what?

Every state has its share of racists, rednecks, hillbillies, name your poison. Can we please refrain from the state-bashing?

[Captain Hilts]

32. Who's 'bashing' PA? My mother's from there.

They have a lot of of the same demographics as Virginia.

PA is a BIG, diverse state, but there's a reason The Deer Hunter was based/filmed there. That's not a slam on PA. A very good friend of mine is a Penn. deer hunter. Great guy. Good liberal.

[9119495]

28. This is exactly what I was thinking. He keeps going up in the polls

So what is the deal? How could Virginians hear this stuff and think, "well, it's a dirty campain...I'm still going to vote for the guy?"

I know that Virginia is chaning from the old "sic semper tyranis" Virginia, but will it be fast enough for this election?

[yurbud]

13. there is a sizable group of cons that like their racism straight up, no

cream or sugar.

If he fails, it could mark the beginning of the end of the Southern strategy and blacks as whipping boys. If he wins, it will be even uglier next time. Republicans will be coming forward to admit they were in the klan the way Dems admit they used pot.

[yurbud]

14. tangent--did you ever hear a racist say that what happened in New Orleans

was wrong, or that he at least felt bad for the black people there?

I know some people who will say stupid, right wing racist shit, but when it gets down to the nitty gritty, they treat people right and respond to people as humans.

[Judi Lynn]

15. May all the love Allen gives away return to him on election day.

I hope he remembered to call this citizen "Macaca" when he visited New Delhi. You just can't have too many friends, can you?

[humbled_opinion]

16. Allen is CaCa n/t

[mwb970]

21. I thought Felix was a dope the very first time I saw him on TV.

I thought "OMG, who is this silly ass?" Then the announcer came on and told me that he was a "promising candidate" for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008! Oh. I should have known.

I'm glad his cover was blown in time to get rid of him for good.

[cabral]

22. what the vote rating of African American in the race?

I can't help to think that with a a little turnout in African American community, we can kick this racist ass from virginia to klansland!

[Maryland Liberal]

23. Call me sceptical

How do you fit a deerhead in a mailbox? This has got to be a rightwing trap.

[mikeytherat]

30. That would depend on the size of the mailbox and the size of the head

A small doe's head would easily fit in most mailboxes (about the size of a medium dog's head), and fawn's heads are pretty small, too. Perhaps it was a small buck who'd shed his antlers?

mikey_the_rat

[swimboy]

33. Doe, a deer, an e-mail deer . . .

Kinfolk said, George move away from there. They said Californy is the place you ouughta be

[mikeytherat]

34. Lemme tell ya'll a story, 'bout a man named George

Lemme tell ya'll a story, 'bout a man named George,
an empty shell whose "Good 'ol boy" credentials are all forged.
If his daddy wasn't famous we'd have never heard his name,
(reminds me of this other guy whose first name is the same).

mikey_the_rat

[kwassa]

36. Fa, a long long way to ruuuuuuuuunnnnnnnn!

Run, George, Run!

George, George, George of the Jungle!
Watch out for that tree!

[Richard Steele]

40. The average deer head would fit easily in a standard post-mount mailbox.

The antlers wouldn't, but just a head? No problem.

[LostinVA]

43. Call me unskeptical

I've seen enough deer and deer heads in my time. Without antlers, any deer heard would fit in a mailbox, buck or doe, fawn, yearling, or adult. With antlers, the neck would easily fit in, up to the jaw.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

48. Deer heads are not that large...

And rural mailboxes can be big enough to put shoebox-sized packages into.

And how would it be a rightwing trap?

[verse18]

26. A plea to all my White brothers and sisters-

On behalf of all of your Black brothers and sisters who live in fear that a cross will be burned in their yard or a severed doe's head will be placed in their mailbox because they are the closest "niggers" around, please tell your racist family, friends and associates; "Hey, that's not cool. I don't appreciate it when you make racial statements, jokes, etc., because I find it offensive. I don't share your same views and beliefs about people of color." Thank you.

I understand why his college friends are coming out about this now, but they must of thought this was okey-dokey back then because not one of them tried to stop him. I spent part of elementary and middle school in the part of SW VA were "macaca" went down, and as a child, I was always afraid that someone would do something to harm our family simply because we were the only Black family in the neighborhood. We had a next door neighbor who was very racist and would take his son's BB gun and shoot at our cars and property. His son was the first person to ever call me a nigger and we were supposed to be friends.

If you know of someone would do something so despicable and hateful simple based on the color of someone's skin and you don't bother to object, IMO you're as racist as they are.

[kwassa]

39. my thought was that this was average jock behavior in that time and place

racist as it was, and without excuse for Allen's behavior. From what I've seen of that part of Virginia, I am not surprised by it. Stupid and backwards, like much of that stuff.

Take heart, though, because in Charles Country, MD, where there is an influx of black professionals buying homes, and racist graffitti has suddenly appeared, everyone in country government is standing up against it.

[LostinVA]

45. What part of Virginia? CHARLOTTESVILLE?????

That's the liberal bastion of Virginia, and has been for a long time. It's a blue as you can get. Very Progressive, a very large gay community, etc.

[LostinVA]

44. I do -- and I have alot of racist relatives

They very pointedly use the word "Black" around me, because I'll call their asses out. And, they no longer use "spic" around me either... instead, they call every and all Hispanic "Mexican." Hey, I take what I can get with those Freepers.

[LibDemAlways]

37. This wasn't George Allen's first racially motivated "prank."

As a senior at Palos Verdes HS in Feb. of 1970 he spraypainted anti-white graffiti on the walls of the school to make it look like the work of black students from Morningside High in Inglewood on the eve of a basketball playoff game. He was trying to stir up some racial tension but was caught and had to publically apologize. Today he admits the graffiti, but denies it was racist. Just like he denies knowing what "macaca" meant or what the Confederate Flag symbolizes to many. In addition to being a racist, George Allen is a world-class liar.

[LostinVA]

46. That's Palos Verde's CALIFORNIA

Dude isn't even a linear Confederate. Poseur.

[LibDemAlways]

47. Yep, Allen didn't even set foot in Virginia until he

was a 19-year-old college sophomore, and came only because his dad took the Redskins coaching job that fall. After high school, he attended UCLA for a year.

[LostinVA]

50. Even worse than Bush that way, imo

Even that moran doesn't try to pass himself off as a member of the Sons of the Confederacy...

[dreamsvsnightmares]

49. The really sad part of all of this is if the voters of his district vote

him back to where he never should have been in the first place.

[Virginian]

53. Many of them didn't know anything about him, just voted for the name.

Sadly for us, he has the same name as his father who was a winning coach of our favorite NFL team. Jocks don't always follow politics, some people have no idea who they are voting for until they get in the voting booth and see the ballot. To them, voting is like going to the racecourse and betting on a favorite number or liking the horse's name. (Oops, I just gave away my winning betting strategy.)
If I remember correctly, this state didn't even indicate the party of the candidate on the ballot when Allen ran for Governor.

In spite of everything we are called by other regions of the country, Virginia is really a pretty middle of the road state when it comes to state politics. I believe the electorate here tends to move like a pendulem, a little to the left and then a little to the right. The governor before Allen was our first elected African American Governor. The candidate against Allen was a very well qualified woman. I think the mistake the Democratic party made was to try to have two "firsts" in a row. If they had encouraged Mary Sue to wait and run four years later, instead of immediately following Doug Wilder, Allen would have had a harder time of it against a white male and Mary Sue may have been the first woman governor of our Commonwealth. I hated that election because Mary Sue Terry lost as much as it hated it that George Allen won.

George Allen has always given me the creeps. That plastic smile of his means he never shows his emotions. He will attack with a smile on his face. You can never tell where he is coming from but I think it is from no place I ever want to visit. He just seems like there is extreme cruelty hiding behind that smile.

[VegasWolf]

54. GOP -- The place to go for Family Values!!!! nt

[antonialee839]

55. If this jerk had any sense of decency, he'd resign.