A Halloween Warning for Obama Supporters

I recently received an E-mail from a coworker that read "Scary Halloween" on the subject line. When I opened it, it contained a slideshow knock-knock joke that read as follows:

"Knock knock"

"Who's there?"

"Eyes"

"Eyes who?"

"Eyes yo new Prezident!"

And of course this final line contained a very racist drawing of Barack Obama complete with a Halloween scream and the Looney Tunes "That's all, folks!" music. Sending racist E-mails like this would get you in trouble in a lot of workplaces, but not where I work (I live in the South).

But I don't expect the racist anti-Obama Halloween antics in my neck of the woods to end with a few silly E-mails. With Sarah Palin fueling the racist fire, things are going to get a lot worse as McCain supporters get more and more desperate. I know Sarah Palin hasn't said anything that's outright racist, but McCain's supporters have been waiting for anything to give them excuses to shout out derogatory comments about Obama at rallies, and the fact that Sarah Palin hasn't silenced them when they do so is what's really scary. But back to the whole Halloween thing.

Around here, I would not be surprised to see a KKK Halloween costume alongside a Barack Obama with a noose around his neck or a fake gunshot wound. It sounds extreme, but there are some pretty scary people out there who would love to see Obama assassinated, and the types of Halloween costumes that people might be wearing this year could be more than a little frightening. I do also expect to see a few costumes that mock Sarah Palin and John McCain (Joe Biden just doesn't seem to have the star power the rest of the candidates do), but they may not be quite as bad as what some of the anti-Obama extremists might come up with. However, what people really need to worry about when Halloween rolls around is their personal property.

People across the country have been stealing Obama signs from yards, which isn't unusual when it comes to political yard sign warfare. However, with pranksters running amok on Halloween night, those with Obama signs in their yards could become potential targets for disrespectful McCain supporters and vice versa. Signs will be stolen; houses will be toilet-papered and egged; and some unlucky supporters could even suffer worse property damage if the right person comes across their home.

So my advice to you is to remove any political signs you have in your yard before Halloween night. Things are scary enough as it is without supporters of political parties being personally targeted due to their beliefs, and Halloween should be about ghouls and goblins, not politicians (although there really isn't too much separating these groups).