Name this singer, win a prize.

With so many new eyes checking me out this week, it’s time for another contest. Here’s how it works: you click here, listen to the streaming mp3, and tell me who that singer is.

The first person to put the singer’s name in the comments section will win a prize. That prize is a copy of “Hating Whitey: and other progressive causes,” a 1999 book by big-shot neocon David Horowitz.

A view of America’s racial landscape from his unique lapsed-leftist perspective, “Hating Whitey” contains harsh words for Toni Morrison, Cornel West, Charles Rangel and other enemies of the state… including Camille Cosby!

And, oh… what’s this? On page 44 of “Hating Whitey,” Horowitz proclaims: “In 1994, there were twenty thousand rapes of white women by black men, but only one hundred rapes of black women by white men.”

Uhhh… really?

Horowitz vaguely cites “Justice Department statistics,” but he provides no footnotes. Nary a clue as to where those numbers came from exactly.

They sure do smell like bullshit, don’t they?

Let’s call up the 1994 version of the Justice Department’s National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). Click on chapter three, “Victims and Offenders.” Here we go…

The NCVS estimates that 313,000 white women were raped or sexually assaulted in 1994. In how many cases was the attacker perceived to be black? Around 31,600. That’s 10 percent of the total (for you Auster fans who need help with mathematics).

The NCVS also estimates that 53,700 black women were raped or sexually assaulted that year. In how many cases was the attacker perceived to be white? Around 5,400. That is also 10 percent.

Now, the NCVS points out that the white-on-black estimate is unreliable because of the small sampling. But however unreliable that 5,400 figure may be… Horowitz’s claim of “only 100” white-on-black rapes is insanely wrong.

Of course, the striking thing about the 1994 data is that the supposed “phenomenon” of black men “targeting” white women for rape – which Horowitz’s boy Lawrence Auster is still trying to sell – dissolves away into dust. Going by the ’94 numbers, the rates of “interracial rape” cut the same both ways; 10 percent of white victims attacked by blacks, 10 percent of black victims attacked by whites.

I guess it’s no surprise that Horowitz published Auster’s gross misinterpretation of government rape statistics 10 days ago. Horowitz has a history of doing the same thing. Under his own name.

Anyway… have fun with the contest, y’all!

UPDATE (05/13/07): Well, this one was over in a heartbeat. Steven Rubio correctly identified the singer as English folk revivalist Shirley Collins. (Well done, mate.)

The song – a good ol’ fashioned Caucasian “murder ballad” – is called “Murder of Maria Marten.” Collins is backed by the Albion Country Band. (Gotta love that hurdy-gurdy solo!) The tune appeared on her 1971 album “No Roses,” which is available for download at iTunes.

Now, somebody tell me why in hell white folks wrote so many songs about death and murder. I would hate to rush to any untoward conclusions.

FYI, to hear an old-school version of this traditional tale, sung a cappella by one Freda Palmer, click here. Maddie Southorn also recorded a sprightly, contemporary arrangement; it’s here.