Obama Called “The Magic Negro”
I can’t even begin to express how insulting I think this article written yesterday by David Ehrenstein of the LA Times is:
AS EVERY CARBON-BASED life form on this planet surely knows, Barack Obama, the junior Democratic senator from Illinois, is running for president. Since making his announcement, there has been no end of commentary about him in all quarters — musing over his charisma and the prospect he offers of being the first African American to be elected to the White House.
But it’s clear that Obama also is running for an equally important unelected office, in the province of the popular imagination — the “Magic Negro.”
The Magic Negro is a figure of postmodern folk culture, coined by snarky 20th century sociologists, to explain a cultural figure who emerged in the wake of Brown vs. Board of Education. “He has no past, he simply appears one day to help the white protagonist,” reads the description on Wikipedia http://en.-wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_Negro.
He’s there to assuage white “guilt” (i.e., the minimal discomfort they feel) over the role of slavery and racial segregation in American history, while replacing stereotypes of a dangerous, highly sexualized black man with a benign figure for whom interracial sexual congress holds no interest.
It gets even more offensive as the article goes on. But, it serves to prove a point I have often made. White liberal elitists are FAR more racist than they could ever give Republicans credit for being. But the LA Times proves once again that Negroes is still a problem for some for some White folk.
Pathetic and patently racist.
Posted by Falcon
March 21st, 2007 at 11:16 am
Falcon,
This is a shocking story on two levels - the first is the magnitude of racism on display here, and the second that a newspaper thinks that it is fit to print - the author feels confident to express it.
Appalling. Disgusting. Liberals have no shame.
The hatred in this piece is hardly veiled. It is so offensive, I find myself in disbelief. Can you imagine if this was on FOX news or if a republican columnist had said it?
Ehrenstein needs counseling.
What passes for commentary in the liberal media…
ARGH!
March 21st, 2007 at 11:56 am
El Rushbo emntioned this on his show yesterday, and then he wondered how soon it would be before HE got tagged with creating it.
What part of “content of our character, not the color of our skin” don’t liberals get?
March 21st, 2007 at 12:23 pm
I read this story yesterday and thought about posting on it, but I didn’t quite know what to say about it. You are the right man to comment, Falcon, and you are so right. It is so offensive.
March 21st, 2007 at 12:54 pm
Kathy, wow I find it surprising you think this article so offensive and racist…the author of this article basically agrees with a number of things I have read in these blogs expressed by a number of you about Obama…The author expresses Obama has come out of no where…In a number of the blogs I have read statements about his inexperience and the fact he has just appeared on the political scene…In the authors opinion Obama has not shown any substance basically saying it’s not what Obama has said but the way he said that is getting attention (referring to Obama’s charisma Kathy you compared Obama to Clinton) …..If you take a close look at the article and get over the fact words like “negro” and “whites” are used in the article you will find the author has basically the same opinions about Obama I see expressed by a number of you here in these blogs, the author agrees with you…I guess this article is kind of like getting up first thing in the morning and looking in the mirror at your face…..It just doesn’t look as nice until you’ve washed it and put some makeup on…..
March 21st, 2007 at 1:05 pm
Bruce,
“except for the use of the words negro and whites”?
I think “magic negro” is about as offensive a term as I’ve heard in a long long time.
I understand you and Hitler both like chocolate cake, does that make you a nazi?
I don’t like Obama, but for reasons of his political philosophy, his inexperience, and his shady real estate dealings. My opinion is based on the man, not the color of his skin.
The fact that you see no problem with this racist diatribe is a sad commentary on you, and the liberal viewpoint it represents.
March 21st, 2007 at 1:07 pm
And Bruce-ette, if you keep talking about makeup - you’ll have to change your pseudonym.
March 21st, 2007 at 1:14 pm
I might add, Bruce, that you obviously know nothing about our Falcon. He is the most qualified person among us to speak on this subject.
March 21st, 2007 at 2:11 pm
COgirl…Did I say anything against Falcon, I think not read my blog again…..anyway what is it about Falcon that makes him so qualified on this subject…could it be because he is black…now isn’t that basing his expertise on the color of his skin (if I am wrong about this please forgive me Falcon)…..
Kathy, Kathy, Kathy,….”My opinion is based on the man, not the color of his skin.”….Did I say anything about the color of Obama’s skin…I think not… read my blog again What I did say was the opinions expressed by the author about Obama are in agreement with with a number of opinions I have read in these blogs……I specifically brought up Obama’s inexperience and his so called “charisma”…I said nothing about color….so get past all of that and admit you agree with the author about Obama…or is it that scary to be in agreement with a liberal…..Oh by the way the author is black…now what does that say about diversity in opinion among the so called “black vote”…
March 21st, 2007 at 2:57 pm
Well Bruce, as it turns out, I am Black. But Kathy and COgirl have also written well on these topics before. Im sorry you cant see that calling someone a Magic Negro is like calling them a houseboy. But, you DID say you agree with the article.
March 21st, 2007 at 3:05 pm
BTW, I havent seen ONE center-right blog refer to Obama as the white man’s boy. Also, in case u didnt know, black people can be racist too.
March 21st, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Bruce,
I can’t get ‘past’ the terminology in the article. I can’t. I don’t care if the guy’s conclusion is that sky is blue - if he gets there by disparaging a race of people, he took the wrong route. And frankly whether or not it’s his own race is immaterial. Being member of any group doesn’t give anyone carte blanche to be offensive.
Actually Falcon’s opinion is widely well-regarded on a whole host of subjects. For one thing, he’s a former democrat, like me, and once having seen through the phony platitudes about race and feminism, I’d say Falcon and I share a similar path. As a matter of fact, this site is full of former democrats, didn’t mean to leave you out COgirl, and Big Mo.
But this article is in fact not a character analysis of Obama - which is what you’ve found on these pages, but in fact a dehumanization of him based on his race. And the part about ‘highly sexual’ - what does that have to do with policy, politics, or anything that merits public discussion? The man is running for president, not trying out for the starring role in a porn flick. It does play to a lowbrow reader.
Base, coarse, ignorant, bigoted, putrefyingly insulting.
Typical liberal.
March 21st, 2007 at 3:45 pm
Falcon, “But, you DID say you agree with the article.”
Did you really read my blog I never said I agreed with the article…What I did say is the article agrees with a number of statements I have read by people on this blog about Obama..Read what I said again please….And you don’t have to defend COgirl and Kathy…They are very “articulate” and do a very good job of defending themselves and expressing their opinions….But they did base your expertise on the fact that you are black…Well just for the record and in case you haven’t figured it out I am also black ….I never said the term “magic negro” wasn’t offensive…but in light of some of the racial slurs and epitaphs that have been directed at me over my lifetime I find “magic negro” to be rather mild and almost humorous. It caught your attention didn’t it…and yeah you are right if “Rush” would have used the term I probably would have been ready to lash out call him a racist…(like I haven’t done that before) (and yes there is some kind of double standard at work here)…..but at least I can tell you the truth about what I think……..
March 21st, 2007 at 5:07 pm
Bruce,
Do you know why men speaking out on the topic of abortion have less credibility than women? Because women can have them and suffer the consequences in ways men can only read about.
The same can be said of racism. There are interracial children in my family so it cuts a little close to me when the author of this article sneers at it. But you are right, I trust Falcon’s sensibilities about racism over my own, because he’s more likely to have suffered the consequences of it. And it grieves me doubly because he is my friend.
Oh - don’t get me wrong - I know what it’s like to be treated like a second class citizen. Almost any woman who entered the field of science or engineering before 1990 can tell you about that… And as long as there are religions like Islam that treat women like cattle, I’ll understand in my limited way about racism, it’s a first cousin to misogyny.
The fact that you are Black and see no problem with these remarks just makes me sad for you. It doesn’t matter who puts you down, you should not excuse it based on the source.
If you think any of the remarks on this page re Obama were racially oriented, I’d like to know which ones so I can address them.
To my knowledge we have expressed a lot of concerns, and absolutely none of them originated with the color of his skin.
March 21st, 2007 at 6:45 pm
Kathy, “The fact that you are Black and see no problem with these remarks just makes me sad for you. It doesn’t matter who puts you down, you should not excuse it based on the source.”…….Thanks for the sentiment but here is no reason to feel sorry for me…..I don’t make excuses for the source but I do consider the source…I would take and handle a racially slanted remark coming from a 5 yr old child a lot differently than I would that same remark coming from a 50yr old adult. Hope you see the point I am trying to make. I consider the source and then consider how I will react to it. If I didn’t consider the source then in a lot of cases then I would find myself being just an angry black man blaming, not listening and not really hearing what is being said. The author made some comments that were offensive look at my last blog I think I acknowledged that……. “magic negro” is not a new term this author did not come up with something new in fact most of his article just repeats what is online in the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia…but it sure seemed to shock a lot of you… Maybe because he said out loud what a lot of people may be thinking but because of being politically correct won’t say….these are things I deal with everyday…Sometimes its good to be offended because if nothing offends you then you don’t stand for very much……So please don’t feel sorry for me I am a very proud black man and nobodies victim….and yes I think Obama is the man for the job…..and yes part of it is just because he is black….but if I didn’t think Obama brings a new perspective, new qualifications and new direction to the job of president then I would be the first to say don’t vote for him…..and maybe in this little debate you can sway me…but I doubt it
Falcon, You have some good friends here….that is a good thing…..
March 21st, 2007 at 7:10 pm
Bruce, I think what those of us at HRP would like to see happen is for everyone to just look at the candidates as people and ignore race. I know that many people object to the labels that the media attaches to candidates or their families. For Obama, it’s the “black” label. For Dick Cheney’s daughter it was the “gay” label. We always hear Republican candidates described as “conservative”. We don’t hear labels like “liberal” for Democrats. Like it or not, the main stream media frames the discussion about many candidates.
It’s good that you like Obama and that you support him, but wouldn’t it be nice to just have the discussion about him center around his views without using the word black? What difference does it make? I look at him and I don’t see color. But the media constantly reminds us. And I can’t objectively answer the question of whether or not he’s so popular now because of his views or because the media loves the idea of a black candidate.
And yes, Falcon has some great friends here. We (speaking for the ladies, of course) love him — he’s a vital part of our team and we feel fortunate to have him with us.
March 21st, 2007 at 11:18 pm
To Kathy and COgirl - MUCH love.
To Bruce - you keep mentioning your blog but I’m having trouble finding a link for it. I’m also very troubled by your statement, “…I find ‘magic negro’ to be rather mild and almost humorous. It caught your attention didn’t it…and yeah you are right if “Rush†would have used the term I probably would have been ready to lash out call him a racist…(like I haven’t done that before) (and yes there is some kind of double standard at work here)…..but at least I can tell you the truth about what I think……..”
My friend, THERE in lies your problem. But, I’ll writing a post on this. Stay tuned…
March 22nd, 2007 at 7:36 am
[…] Limbaugh has the right idea. When a despicable insult has been leveled by a liberal. Turn it around and make fun of them. Al Sharpton sings “Barack […]
March 22nd, 2007 at 11:44 am
you keep mentioning your blog but I’m having trouble finding a link for it.
Falcon: Please excuse me I guess my terminology was wrong when I said my blog I was just referring to my last comments…I don’t have a blog….I will watch that in the future….