Woe, Arizona

  PRESCOTT, Ariz. — Progressive, vibrant, inclusive, this northern Arizona city seems a refuge from the “them vs. us” rage rattling a state under the political control of hard-liners.    And yet, even Prescott can’t escape it. The race question. White vs. brown. Them vs. us.   That’s what it was when a mural painted on the…

Hate and its media cheerleaders

     Great moments in media-abetted hatred:      1890s — L. Frank Baum, who would later pen "The Wizard of Oz," writes editorials in the Aberdeen (S.D.) Saturday Pioneer calling for the extermination of native Americans. He calls them “a pack of whining curs.” Two weeks later, federal troops massacre hundreds of Sioux camped at…