On September 14, a fight broke out on a school bus headed to Belleville West High School in Belleville, Illinois. An early statement from local police suggested that the fight may have been racially motivated. A white male student was punched repeatedly by two black male students.

Police quickly recanted the claim of racial motivation:

"No evidence is present to suggest that the motive for the conduct was the race of the victim," Haida said, referring to the possibility of a hate crime. "Illinois law requires such evidence in order to support that charge. Illinois law is clear that the fact that a defendant and victim are of different races is insufficient without more evidence to support a hate crime charge."

This same article interviews the first student to throw punches. Here is his story of what happened, where he is referred to as the fourteen year old:

The ninth grader said the older student entered the bus and walked to the rear area and told the 14-year-old to move his books, and when he didn’t, the 17-year-old pushed them to the floor.

"He told me to move my stuff, and then he pushed my stuff on the floor and sat down. I told him to pick up my books and he didn’t say anything. He elbowed me, so I pushed him back. He pushed me again and then I started hitting him," said the youth, who has been suspended from school for 10 days. He receives his school assignments at home.

The video marked "Bus fight: full version" at this same website confirms the story of the fourteen year old. As the older student sits down, his arm appears to sweep something off the seat and the two begin shoving one another immediately.

Even though at least five minutes elapse between the two sets of punches being thrown, irresponsible reports in the right wing media have fanned this incident into a racial crisis. Here is the fourteen year old, again from the same story:

The 14-year-old said that what he later saw on Fox News was an edited version of the videotape that made it seem like there was one continuous fight.

"They pumped it up and they made it seem like something it wasn’t. They made it more than it really is," he said.

I searched Fox News and I found several links to video they produced, but none were functional. Here is a compilation by Comcast that includes a video that may well be the edited clip seen by the fourteen year old. The video does put the two sets of punches next to one another, but, amidst the outrage, the anchor does mention that there is a five minute gap between the two sets of punches.

Drudge then picked up the story, and as reported by Raw Story, blared the headline "White Student Beaten on School Bus; Crowd Cheers".

Not to be outdone, Rush Limbaugh then jumped into the fray, and, according to MediaMatters, said:

It’s Obama’s America, is it not? Obama’s America — white kids getting beat up on school buses now. I mean, you put your kids on a school bus, you expect safety, but in Obama’s America, the white kids now get beat up with the black kids cheering.

It should come as no surprise then, that we learn this morning that a white supremacist rally is now planned for Belleville:

The protest has been promoted on several supremacist Web sites, including the National Socialist Movement and Stormfront.org.

The event is "to protest the racial double standard with hate crimes. If it had been white kids doing the beating they would have been charged with a hate crime," stated a link on Stormfront.org, which boasts the slogan "White pride world wide."

On the National Socialist Movement Web site, Cpl. Jason Bonn writes, "People in this town are rightfully angry at the double standard that we know how this would be working if the races were reversed."

A counter protest is planned:

In response, the Rev. John Curry, of Conqueror’s Christian Center in Belleville, is organizing a silent peace rally across the street. Those participating expect to hold signs that say, "We love you," and, "No more us and them."

It should be reiterated that both the police and another student who was on the bus have stated that the attacks were not racially motivated:

D’Vante Lott, 16, said he was on the bus and witnessed the attack by the two black students.

The victim walked onto the bus, looking for an open seat, but students kept turning him down, as D’Vante said happened often with this student.

But Monday, the victim apparently tired of asking for a seat, D’Vante said, moved one student’s book-bag off a seat, and just sat down.

The student next to him then started hitting the victim for moving his bag, D’Vante said.

But the second assailant was just trying to act tough, D’Vante said. "The second guy hit him because he wanted to hit him," he said.

D’Vante didn’t think the attacks were racially motivated.

"Nobody even knows the kid," D’Vante said. "He’s a quiet dude."

Let us all hope that Saturday in Belleville is peaceful. Any violence that takes place, however, can be laid directly at the feet of Drudge, Limbaugh, Fox News, Stormfront and the rest of the radical right. Limbaugh deserves a double dose of responsibility for any violence from his effort to link this incident to Obama, adding more fuel to the racist hate of Obama seen in Beck’s 9/12 rally.