The Black Informant

Police concerned about order to stop weapons screening at Obama rally

By JACK DOUGLAS Jr.Star-Telegram Staff Writer

DALLAS — Security details at Barack Obama’s rally Wednesday stopped screening people for weapons at the front gates more than an hour before the Democratic presidential candidate took the stage at Reunion Arena.

The order to put down the metal detectors and stop checking purses and laptop bags came as a surprise to several Dallas police officers who said they believed it was a lapse in security.

Dallas Deputy Police Chief T.W. Lawrence, head of the Police Department’s homeland security and special operations divisions, said the order — apparently made by the U.S. Secret Service — was meant to speed up the long lines outside and fill the arena’s vacant seats before Obama came on. (more…)

Unless this is part of government being transparent to the people, I never heard of the secret service making it public that security will be laxed.

Then I read the following article this morning:

Many Blacks Worry About Obama’s Safety

By DAVID CRARY

AP National Writer

NEW YORK (AP) - For many black Americans, it’s a conversation they find hard to avoid, revisiting old fears in the light of bright new hopes.

They watch with wonder as Barack Obama moves ever closer to becoming America’s first black president. And they ask themselves, their family, their friends: Is he at risk? Will he be safe?

There is, of course, no sure answer. But interviews with blacks across the country, prominent and otherwise, suggest that lingering worries are outweighed by enthusiasm and determination.

“You can’t have lived through the civil rights movement and know something about the history of African-Americans in this country and not be a little concerned,” said Edna Medford, a history professor at Washington’s Howard University.

“But African-Americans are more concerned that Obama get the opportunity to do the best he can,” she added. “And if he wins, most of us believe the country would do for him what it would do for any president, that he will be as well protected as any of them.”

Clyde Barrett, 66, a longtime U.S. Labor Department employee now retired in Tampa, Fla., says he often hears expressions of concern for Obama’s safety. One young acquaintance, Barrett said, declared he wouldn’t even vote for Obama for fear of exposing him to more danger. (more…)

Remember we were getting all of those Department of Homeland Security alerts right before the last presidential election? Numbers of folks believed that Bush was somehow behind this in order to remind folks that he was the best choice over Kerry in regards to our war against terrorism. That could be a stretch, but it certainly played to Bush’s advantage. Scaring folks who have become emotionally wrapped up in a candidate sounds just as plausable to me. True, many Black folks were avoiding throwing their support behind Obama because of this fear at the begining of his campagin, but I wonder if Obama will use this to his advantage: “There are those out there who don’t want this nation to hope or dream….”. Folks have become too emotionally involved to see Obama go down at this point.