Any self respecting NEGRO who calls him or herself a Republican in 2008 is a card carrying member of Self-Haters Anonymous.
The latest race-based controversy to strike the party of the Southern White Folks is the Barack the Magic Negro CD fiasco. Chip Saltzman is running for RNC chair and decided to send its members a mix tape. The Hill reported the story in an article on December 26th.
The CD, called "We Hate the USA," lampoons liberals with such songs as "John Edwards’ Poverty Tour," "Wright place, wrong pastor," "Love Client #9," "Ivory and Ebony" and "The Star Spanglish banner."
Several of the track titles, including "Barack the Magic Negro," are written in bold font.
The song, which debuted on Limbaugh’s show in late March 2007, latches onto an opinion column in the Los Angeles Times of the same title. That column, penned by cultural critic David Ehrenstein, argued that Obama could serve as a balm to whites who felt guilty about past treatment of African Americans.
The article quotes Saltzman's response when confronted about his actions:
Saltsman said he meant nothing untoward by forwarding what amounts to a joke more at Ehrenstein’s expense than at Obama’s.
"Paul Shanklin is a long-time friend, and I think that RNC members have the good humor and good sense to recognize that his songs for the Rush Limbaugh show are light-hearted political parodies," Saltsman said.
http://thehill.com/...
So right from the start, Saltsman's defense was that it was a "joke" and that it was political satire. The RNC currently has three (3) black members. That is not a typo -- I said, three. One of these three black RNC members, Dr. Ada Fisher wrote an open letter to the Republican Party in response to the flap.
It is time we all grew up and exhibited some sophistication in how we act as it relates to this Republican party we supposedly love and support. Racist actions and deeds have no place in the party. The lack of sensitivity in understanding the historical election we just had and the challenges this nation faces as we must bind our wounds as well as bring our people together requires that we set aside our biases and search out those constitutional principles inherent in our nation's foundings and our parties operation which must undergrid us as we move forward.
This is the party of Lincoln and it was founded on the backs of the oppression of blacks. If we are to be the leading party we had better understand that and act responsibly in addressing the needs of all of the citizens as we strive for more inclusiveness.
Ada M. Fisher, MD
NC Republican National Committee Woman
For more on the letter, http://projects.newsobserver.com/...
On the same day as Dr. Fisher offered her condemnation of GOP racism, Ken Blackwell who is vying to become head Negro in charge of the RNC, defended Saltsman:
"Unfortunately, there is hypersensitivity in the press regarding matters of race. This is in large measure due to President-Elect Obama being the first African-American elected president," said Blackwell, who would be the first black RNC chairman, in a statement forwarded to Politico by an aide. "I don't think any of the concerns that have been expressed in the media about any of the other candidates for RNC chairman should disqualify them. When looked at in the proper context, these concerns are minimal. All of my competitors for this leadership post are fine people."
Thomas, oh excuse me, Blackwell thinks that he is the leading candidate at this point to lead the Republican Party from the 19th into the 20th century. I say Good Luck to him. I predict that the GOP has lost black people's votes for another two generations at least.
I was actually prompted to write about this controversy today because of the following headline that I noticed on the front page of Politico:
'Magic Negro' Flap Might Help Saltsman
This is NOT Alice in Wonderland. A few Republicans spoke out against Saltsman's actions calling them "insensitive," "stupid," "counter-productive," and "appalling." But apparently even more RNC members are actually "rallying" around Saltsman now against the mean Liberals who have no sense of humor. http://www.politico.com/...
Apparently the GOP is divided over whether "negro" is a slur. They plan to hash this out at their emergency meeting scheduled in January.
Steve Benen of the Washington Monthly ablely summarizes the sentiment being expressed by Saltsman's defenders:
Indeed, taking this to the next logical step, some RNC members are saying that Duncan and Anuzis may have hurt themselves by criticizing Saltsman's judgment. One RNC member told the Politico, "Those are two guys who just eliminated themselves from this race for jumping all over Chip on this. Mike Duncan is a nice guy, but he screwed up big time by pandering to the national press on this." Several more have "expressed anger toward Duncan and Anuzis 'for throwing a good Republican under the bus.'"
So, to summarize, a leading candidate to lead the Republican National Committee promoted a song calling the next president a "magic negro." This has improved his chances of getting the job.
Tamron Hall had the extremely FIIINNNNE Jammal Simmons on her show along with some nice white Republican lady to discuss the matter. The nice white Republican lady told the audience that this was a parody and that it was actually mocking Al Sharpton which made it OK. Tamron informed the nice white Republican lady that black people do not appreciate being called "negroes" anymore.
HALL: Well let me tell you this — if someone referred to me as "Tamron Hall the Magic Negro Anchor Lady," I would never see it as anything funny or amusing.
Hall later told Obenshain, "you’re not going to win a lot of people over calling them ‘Magic Negros.’"
Think Progress has the full transcript of the exchange here:
http://thinkprogress.org/...
I am going to give Adam Serwer of Tapped the final word on the matter. I agree entirely with his sentiment when he concludes:
Given the fact that the party officials seems to be rallying around Chip Saltsman for being brave enough to do something that makes liberals mad, it doesn't seem like many Republicans actually want to appeal to nonwhites, because if they weren't so lazy and stupid they'd be Republicans. The GOP are the Real Americans after all, and who would want to change that by diluting the party with people who have "had the government take care of them their whole lives"?
He offers a lot more analysis here:
http://www.prospect.org/...
Update #1 --
Thanks to commenter gooners for providing this link to a great Huff Post piece about GOP white supremacy.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Gooners points out the following hard numbers to iillustrate the lilly whiteness of the GOP:
- Zero African-American GOP members of Congress out of 219 or 220
- Zero black GOP Governors out of 22
- Four Republican Latinos in Congress, all Florida Cuban-Americans
- One non-white or Hispanic Senator, who is retiring.
- Four out of Five Jewish Americans voted Obama
- 3 Republican Jews in Congress, vs 42 Democrats