# White supremacist finds out he has black ancestry **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 12, 2013, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-supremacist-finds-out-he-has-black-ancestry/673702 "2013-11-12T05:02:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![rhysf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f14d63/32.png) [@rhysf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhysf)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-supremacist-finds-out-he-has-black-ancestry/673702/41 "2013-11-14T03:52:19Z")
This is not unlike [what happened to the white supremacist, Richard Barrett](http://www.smh.com.au/national/mississippi-stirring-20130916-2ttj1.html). A few years ago, as part of a documentary, [John Safran](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Safran) obtained a DNA sample from Barrett and had a DNA test done without his consent (he got him to blow up a balloon and used the saliva inside). It showed recent African ancestry in the maternal line. Safran announced the finding at an awards ceremony organised by Barrett but never got to air the documentary because of threatened legal action. A year later, Barrett was murdered by a young black man who it seems was being paid by the homophobic white supremacist for sexual favours. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-supremacist-finds-out-he-has-black-ancestry/673702/42 "2013-11-14T13:45:18Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Public shaming is the problem No, it isn’t. We don’t do nearly enough of it for people who deserve it. It is a far more effective punishment than any others. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-supremacist-finds-out-he-has-black-ancestry/673702/43 "2013-11-14T14:16:54Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > The premise is, “let’s get someone we all hate, and then point and laugh at him.” If the hatred and ridicule arise from traits that are 1)freely chosen and 2)deserving of contempt (both of which are the case here), there’s nothing wrong with that. Not only is it not wrong, it is positively _right_: it discourages others from adopting racist jackassery and inhibits the spread of racism by making its adherents less willing to promulgate it in public. > [@Loach](#): > > If you read the article you will see that the revelation did not effect the guy in the least. He just believes the test is fake and he is still doing really scary things in North Dakota. Even if it didn’t change his attitudes, it most certainly did affect him – becoming a public laughingstock is going to degrade his ability to do really scary things in North Dakota or anywhere else, at least insofar as it makes it more difficult to recruit allies. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-supremacist-finds-out-he-has-black-ancestry/673702/44 "2013-11-14T14:28:34Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > My point is that this was a total set-up, done specifically so the host/audience could, as I said before, “feel superior and let out some hate of their own,” in a publicly approved way because of course it’s so obvious that this man deserves to be hated. > > Well, maybe he does deserve it, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and I am wary and uncomfortable around people who justify public ridicule because it makes them feel good and the victim is so obviously wrong. There are so many other and actually effective ways to bring about change, if change is what people want. Resorting to being an ass to someone because you can get away with it is not an admirable action. I am reminded of the _Robot Chicken_ “Dicks With Time Machines” scenes, where somebody would mess with historical figures just to be a jerk… until the last sketch, in which an Adolf Hitler speech was interrupted by putting up a screen behind him and presenting a film of him straining on the toilet The audience to cracked up laughing and quit paying attention; at this point, the title changed to “_Heroes_ With Time Machines”. I’m not sure what punchline you would have come up with if you’d written those sketches, since you’d still consider the trickster to be a dick. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-supremacist-finds-out-he-has-black-ancestry/673702/45 "2013-11-14T19:30:45Z")
> [@Valgard](#): > > When a grownup is an intentional asshole and it blows up in their face, I have no problem laughing at them. Yeah–I’m with others who think that public shaming is a good thing. There’s a pernicious human desire to be seen as a maverick hero, a figure from legend, blah blah blah. It leads to plenty of awfulness, like this dude. If other awful people like this dude see him turned into a ridiculous buffoon **even by their own standards** , it might have some prophylactic effect. And that’s awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-supremacist-finds-out-he-has-black-ancestry/673702/46 "2013-11-14T19:34:22Z")
> [@ctnguy](#): > > Reminds me of the story of [the anti-Semitic politician in Hungary who discovered he was actually Jewish](http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/08/14/158773637/leader-of-anti-semitic-party-in-hungary-discovers-hes-jewish). The New Yorker just wrote a profile about him this week. He’s now an Orthodox Jew and he seems honestly regretful about what he’s done. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-supremacist-finds-out-he-has-black-ancestry/673702/47 "2013-11-14T20:01:18Z")
> [@ctnguy](#): > > Reminds me of the story of [the anti-Semitic politician in Hungary who discovered he was actually Jewish](http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/08/14/158773637/leader-of-anti-semitic-party-in-hungary-discovers-hes-jewish). That was my first thought too. But the guy in the New Yorker article became an ultra-orthodox Jew. No half measures for him. I concluded that he was inclined to fanaticism and didn’t much care fanatical what. Immoderation in everything. It would be as if the guy mentioned in the OP joined the NAACP, became a fanatical advocate of black power, etc. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-supremacist-finds-out-he-has-black-ancestry/673702/48 "2013-11-15T03:39:20Z")
Let’s do the math > [@](#): > > Host Trisha Goddard announced during her “Race in America” series that a test determining genetic ancestry revealed racist Craig Cobb’s genetic makeup is 86 percent European and a whole 14 percent sub-Saharan African. 100/8 = 12.5. No need for the Kraft paper bag test at 14% he more than qualifies as an [octoroon.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octoroon) ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-supremacist-finds-out-he-has-black-ancestry/673702/49 "2013-11-15T11:50:05Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Yeah–I’m with others who think that public shaming is a good thing. There’s a pernicious human desire to be seen as a maverick hero, a figure from legend, blah blah blah. It leads to plenty of awfulness, like this dude. > > If other awful people like this dude see him turned into a ridiculous buffoon **even by their own standards** , it might have some prophylactic effect. And that’s awesome. As I already said, I agree, but I have to dispute your description of this desire as “pernicious”. The desire to be seen as a hero sometimes leads people to do actual heroic things, so on the whole it is at worst a double-edged sword, ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-supremacist-finds-out-he-has-black-ancestry/673702/50 "2013-11-15T12:36:04Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Let’s do the math > > 100/8 = 12.5. No need for the Kraft paper bag test at 14% he more than qualifies as an [octoroon.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octoroon) I’m both happy and embarrassed to say the etymology of _ **octoroon** _ isn’t nearly as offensive as I thought it was going to be. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-supremacist-finds-out-he-has-black-ancestry/673702/51 "2013-11-15T14:12:46Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > If the hatred and ridicule arise from traits that are 1)freely chosen and 2)deserving of contempt (both of which are the case here), there’s nothing wrong with that. Not only is it not wrong, it is positively _right_: it discourages others from adopting racist jackassery and inhibits the spread of racism by making its adherents less willing to promulgate it in public. Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. It will only strengthen their feeling of being oppressed and make them even more convinced that they are right and everyone against them are wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-supremacist-finds-out-he-has-black-ancestry/673702/52 "2013-11-21T17:18:44Z")
More bad news for Cobb. [He’s been arrested for acting like a maniac.](http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-white-supremacist-dna-arrest-20131119,0,280523.story#axzz2lIhWmt7N) ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-supremacist-finds-out-he-has-black-ancestry/673702/53 "2013-11-21T18:01:13Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > More bad news for Cobb. [He’s been arrested for acting like a maniac.](http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-white-supremacist-dna-arrest-20131119,0,280523.story#axzz2lIhWmt7N) This isn’t going to end well: > [@](#): > > Cobb told a judge that he planned to represent himself in court Also, according to [another news story](http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-white-supremacist-20131120,0,6029460.story#axzz2lElYWLwN), one of Cobb’s fellow idiots painted racist graffiti on Cobb’s house. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-supremacist-finds-out-he-has-black-ancestry/673702.md?page=2)