Jackson Free Press

As if the Republican Party didn't need something else to divide it; the reaction to this will go a long way toward separting the wheat from the chaff. CBS News:

On Friday, the news broke that former Tennessee GOP leader Chip Saltsman, who ran Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign, had distributed a CD to Republican National Committee members for Christmas featuring a song called "Barack the Magic Negro." Saltsman hopes to become RNC chairman. The current chair, Robert M. "Mike" Duncan, who is seeking another term, said he was "shocked and appalled" by the decision to send the CD, which also included songs like "Love Client #9" and "Down on the Farm with Al Gore."

"Barack the Magic Negro" is a parody set to the music of "Puff The Magic Dragon" and sung by an Al Sharpton imitator; it references a Los Angeles Times column of the same name. "Yeah the guy from the LA paper said [Obama] made guilty whites feel good," the Sharpton-imitator sings on the track, which aired on Rush Limbaugh's radio show. "They'll vote for him and not for me 'cause he's not from the hood."

You can hear the whole thing here. UPDATE 5:25 p.m., Dec. 29: Youtube has removed the video saying:"This video has been removed due to terms of use violation."

Saltsman has defended his decision to send the CD, releasing a statement saying that "our party leaders should...refuse to pander to [the media's] desire for scandal."

Previous Comments

ID

142555

Comment

Enough. Of. This. What's so hard about letting a man stand on his own merits? Sheesh.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2008-12-29T19:39:54-06:00

ID

142566

Comment

It seems to me the point of the L.A. Times article and the song is that He doesn't have many merits to stand on. That he comes out of nowhere, with no history, to leap frog over other black leaders to save us all, magically.

Author

WMartin

Date

2008-12-30T10:06:24-06:00

ID

142582

Comment

Well, WMartin, if that's what they're saying, they're ignoring reality. Obama has repeated ad nauseum what his history is, and anyone who says he doesn't have a history is either ignoring its existence or has selective memory. Those are the ones you can't help because they don't want help. I'll just let them be and move on. No use getting more aggravated than necessary.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2008-12-30T21:55:59-06:00

ID

142593

Comment

True, but at the time the column came out and then the song parody was made that wasn't the case. The column does make an interesting point about how it's a peculiar Hollywood device to have a "Magical Negro" suddenly appear from nowhere to save the white protagonist. Here is a link to the David Ehrenstein opinion piece: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-ehrenstein19mar19,0,5335087.story?coll=la-opinion-center Btw of course you already know that ideologues have no problem ignoring reality.

Author

WMartin

Date

2008-12-31T11:40:06-06:00

ID

142600

Comment

It says a lot about the Republican Party that some are saying that the magic negro flap may strengthen Saltsman's bid to chair the GOP. I hope they make it their 2010 theme song AND nominate Sarah Palin, their magic air head, rabble rouser. Maybe old dogs (or old parties) won't learn new tricks, but will just keep barking.

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-12-31T13:11:22-06:00

ID

142608

Comment

Although the term "Magic Negro" is cringeworthy on its own, the original Times article made a fair use of the term in saying some political writers were trying to fit Obama's candidacy into the "Magic Negro" narrative. While I may dislike the term, I didn't interpret it as a racial attack on Obama. I can't say the same about the RNC so-called parody quoted above. It's a racial taunt and coming from Limpball not surprising.

Author

Jeff Lucas

Date

2008-12-31T16:18:18-06:00

ID

142609

Comment

The phrase "magic negro" was originally used by critical race theorists to describe the archetypal role of a perfect black man or woman in fiction, exemplified by Sidney Poitier in Lilies of the Field, who swoops in and inexplicably does wonderful things for completely altruistic reasons. These characters are never three-dimensional and are created, usually by well-intentioned white liberals, in a ham-handed attempt to get rid of racist stereotypes. Some of these theorists had argued that Obama's public image was grounded in the "magic negro" archetype, e.g. that he was being promoted in such a two-dimensionally perfect way that it would not work unless the audience had been conditioned to accept two-dimensionally perfect black characters in fiction. For the record, I think this assessment of Obama is bunk but I can understand why people might be concerned about this. The trouble is that Rush Limbaugh's audience knows absolutely nothing about critical race theory. So out of context, to folks who don't know where the term came from or what it means, "magic negro" sounds like an epithet that can be directed against any black man or woman who is deemed "uppity"--e.g., "oh, you must be the magic negro." Which is not what the term refers to at all. It refers to bad writing and superficial assessments of black public figures, not the role or personality traits of actual black folks. I don't know what the guy who wrote the song had in mind, but I'm reasonably sure I know what Limbaugh's audience would think about when they hear the song, and it's not critical race theory.

Author

Tom Head

Date

2008-12-31T16:29:59-06:00

ID

142610

Comment

The issue isn't the use of the phrase as parody. It's the idiocy of political-party leader giving it away as a Christmas present to fellow politicos. The fact that some can't see the problem with that is startling.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2008-12-31T16:34:56-06:00

ID

142611

Comment

I think an equivalent use in a similar context would be if Jesse Jackson acted surprised if rural conservative white women were offended if he called Sarah Palin a (she is very charming). I bet the GOP pundits would be ablaze with outrage. When African Americans use the term negro to describe one of our own it is usually not to praise the person --- as in meaning .

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-12-31T16:40:15-06:00

ID

142612

Comment

Agreed, but I would also argue that the context of the phrase's use can make it racist. For example, if I order a book from India about Hindu theology, it'll often have a swastika on the spine or the front page. In that context, a swastika doesn't really bother me because I know it's being used as a Hindu religious symbol. But if I found one drawn on my front door in magic marker... Same thing with "magic negro." It's fine to use it, correctly, in the context of critical race theory. But when people who are both ignorant of and hostile towards critical race theory use it, and direct it against real people, and popularize it without explaining what it means, then it becomes a racial slur. What they're basically doing is saying "uppity negro" using language they can get away with. So I would see this as less of a faux pas or sign of ignorance and more of a direct, blatant attempt to appeal to racist sentiment. I don't know much about the current controversy, but I know Rush Limbaugh played this track on the radio at least once and I doubt his listeners were extensively familiar with the work of Cornel West, et. al., so they would have had no reason to believe the term wasn't a racial slur. I'm actually kind of surprised it hasn't caught on in certain segments of the blogosphere as an all-purpose insult directed against black politicians, but it may yet.

Author

Tom Head

Date

2008-12-31T16:42:24-06:00

ID

142613

Comment

I don't know ... if you listen to the song, which is still up on youtube, it's a parody of Al Sharpton being upset that Barack would come into the picture and go right by him in terms of popularity because he appeals to whites in a "magical" way. The song follows the thread of the column imho. Which is supposed to be it's inspiration. The ignorance y'all are talking about is definitely apparent in the way the GOP doesn't understand what it means and is eating it's own over it. Whitley, I'm sure you know Tina Fey did do a very good parody of Sarah Palin, Caribou Barbie and etc..., but the big difference between this and that was that her's was funny. I listened to the song a couple of times and didn't even chuckle.

Author

WMartin

Date

2008-12-31T17:19:22-06:00

ID

142615

Comment

Actually, I am not bothered by the magic negro song. I doubt BO is either. It is mild compared to some of the other serious stuff they conjured up like the whole Arab terrorist thing. The magic negro song is just tacky. It just makes them look bad in the context of the kind of tacky campaign they ran. I say, Heckuva job Salty! Keep coming up with more great PR ideas.

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-12-31T17:50:13-06:00

ID

142624

Comment

The song follows the thread of the column imho. Which is supposed to be it's inspiration. More like the song uses the LAT article as cover to include the now rarely used term "Negro" in attacking Obama and Sharpton. It's consistent with Rush's disdain for civil rights leaders and prominent blacks whom he believes are unfairly elevated and protected by the LMSM (think Donovan McNabb). He uses these kind of low-class parodies as an appeal to the bigots in his audience who in this case couldn't give a crap about the scholastic origins of the term "Magic Negro". But like Whitley, I think its fairly tame compared to the downright evil, racist stuff that's been put out about Obama in the blogosphere over the last couple of years.

Author

Jeff Lucas

Date

2009-01-01T10:11:40-06:00

ID

142641

Comment

FOX NEWS scroll wishes well: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/02/fox-news-airs-magic-negro_n_154761.html

Author

FreeClif

Date

2009-01-02T12:44:09-06:00

ID

142709

Comment

Ok. Don't know where to put this but I just heard on the news that Obama wants Sanjay Gupta for Surgeon General. How cool is that! http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/cnn-medical-correspondent-as-surgeon-general/?hp

Author

Jennifer2

Date

2009-01-06T17:50:01-06:00

ID

142711

Comment

Who is Sanjay Gupta and why would that be cool?

Author

BubbaT

Date

2009-01-06T18:02:23-06:00

ID

142712

Comment

Some hottie from CNN. Not sure about his qualifications, but it could be true for a lot of women, and men, that if man who looks like that tells you to quit smoking, you might go cold turkey. ;-)

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2009-01-06T18:40:46-06:00

ID

142713

Comment

He's not just a hottie or a talking head. He's a neurosurgeon who practices his specialty as well as working for CNN. One time he was on location reporting from Iraq or somewhere like that and assisted in surgery. Plus, Indians are cool. Great food, great fiction.

Author

Jennifer2

Date

2009-01-06T18:54:30-06:00

ID

142714

Comment

Sorry, I didn't know. I kinda remember his reporting in the past (Amthrax?), but I don't watch cable news much. He is a hottie, though. ;-)

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2009-01-06T19:28:18-06:00

ID

142807

Comment

Gupta did a CNN special on healthcare reform. It seems that they may intend for him to be the tip of the spear in their health care reform attack. It may be a signal that they are gearing up to make a major effort on an issue that will be crucial to the economic future of our country. We cannot be a first rate power with a third rate health care system.

Author

FreeClif

Date

2009-01-09T15:49:19-06:00