Is There Any Helping "The Help?"

Isn't it always the case the book is better than the film? The book's success withstanding, it seems the controversy surrounding Kathryn Stockett's "The Help" has taken on a life of its own. It appears the line between fiction versus non-fiction has been blurred and no one can tell which is which anymore.


Despite the controversy some critics take with the author's choice of vernacular or the lawsuit Ablene Cooper is bringing against Stockett, I tried walking into a pre-screening of this film with an open mind. A few weeks ago, my girl (and fellow cultural critic) April Scissors and I walked in all revved up and ready to analyze.

As we shift further into another era of popularity for the interracial narrative, I couldn't help but worry this would be yet another "white savior" film. You know what I'm talking about: a person of color (and their community) is portrayed as disparaging and desperate; enter: the white character. Through an intimate relationship, the white character is able to guide the other character(s) into the status quo (read: whiteness) thus saving them from what would otherwise be a horrible life. Right? You know, neo-colonialism. The reservations I had going into this screening were the exact sentiments I had before finally deciding to watch "The Blind Side."

Unfortunately, this film falls into this niche all the same. While "The Help" does very little to challenge the racial status quo of Hollywood, it does have its own shining moments. After all the success and Academy attention "The Blind Side" received, did you really think studio executives weren't going to run with it?

It probably didn't help I had already been in the mindset of exploring Black women in Hollywood and their relationship to the maid trope. Between re-reading the first few chapters of Donald Bogle's "Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films" and catching the previews of Sanaa Lathan's performance in Lynn Nottage's "By The Way, Meet Vera Stark", I have been trying to understand America's obsession with the maid/domestic narrative. What is it about seeing a Black women continually play the maid that keeps the trope timelessly digestable? Regardless of time's passing, it has never gotten old. From Victor Fleming's "Gone With the Wind" to Jessie Nelson's "Corrina, Corrina" and now Tate Taylor's directorial debut with "The Help", we've gone through decades of familiar narratives being told on screen. So what makes "The Help" different?

I will say I appreciated the white leading character, Skeeter (Emma Stone), approaching the topic of cultural appropriation with sensitivity. There is a scene where Minnie (Octavia Spencer) is brought into the plan to share "the help's" stories. Minnie questions Skeeter's intentions and audiences have the potential to see a white character examining what her whiteness means and how it is operating. This does not mean this film had flawless scenes but one could at least see the racial consciousness that had been built within Skeeter by interacting and developing an intimate relationship with Aibileen (Viola Davis) and Minnie. Skeeter's development throughout the film force other white characters to reflect on the ways in which their actions reinforce white supremacy. There is a scene where one character shamefully admits to Skeeter that "courage sometimes skips a generation." The courage being referenced is the courage to stand up for your values even when they involve risks.



The thing I appreciated most about this film was its acknowledgment that without Black women, these white women would have been nothing. Black women nurtured the self-esteem of white children and allowed them to grow up with a stronger sense of confidence, a confidence that is often attributed to their biological parents. In several scenes, Aibileen is seen telling the child she cares for, "You is kind. You is smart. You is important." In a cultural moment where attacks are being made on Black mothers and imagery of the "welfare queen" continue permeating society, "The Help" highlights how white supremacy took/takes some Black women from their own children to tend to white children (or to work for ridiculous wages in an area far from home). It showed the negligence on the part of white families. To me, it put accountability into the hands of white folks; all the while, never blatantly using the buzz words people don't like to hear--racism and white supremacy.

Furthermore, films such as these illustrate the contradictions of white supremacy. In one scene, Hilly (Bryce Dallas Howard), the uptight, self-loathing trouble-maker, addresses "the help" as liars and thiefs. Oddly enough, the book Aibileen, Minnie and Skeeter are working on becomes a tell-all for all of the intimate lies the white women of Jackson, Mississippi tell regularly. The film attempts to reverse the gaze. While Hilly painted these Black women as untrustworthy, she was the one lying all along. Duh moment, right? However, her white skin gave her a legitimacy the Black characters were not afforded. White privilege.



This film will frustrate some; it will please others. It will frustrate some because they will ask why there aren't many movies where Black folks save the day, where Black folks save Black communities. It will please others because it is a familiar narrative, where the morality of white folks are restored and they don't have to feel entirely bad about themselves. This is what Hollywood does. It re-creates truth but it also creates illusions. The illusion being that white people can dismantle white supremacy by staying comfortable. The work of anti-racism and decolonizing the mind is rarely, if ever, comfortable.

Ultimately, I hope this film will inspire [white] folks to self-reflect--not only about the historical significance of this film, but in acknowledging that racial tensions still prevail in our society. Oftentimes, I find myself saying we are in the Brown v. Board era of cinema. By that I mean, just because nine Black people were allowed into the school that is Hollywood, it doesn't mean we don't have work to do.

What's your take? Is there any helping "The Help"? See for yourself. Tate Taylor's "The Help" is out August 12th, 2011.


Johnathan Fields is a graduate student at DePaul University in Media & Cinema Studies. With a bachelors degree in African & Black Diaspora Studies and Philosophy, his areas of interest include: media representations of race, gender, and sexuality in popular culture, Black feminist theory, Diasporic literature and critical race theory. He is also the latest addition to this site's family of contributors. For more information, visit www.adventuresofaboxcutter.com

Slave Catcher of the Week: Rev. Al Sharpton The "Refined" Agitator, Mascot, & Sellout

Usually when I feature who deem to be slave catchers or anyone exhibiting slave catcher behavior, I do so without apology. Having said that, it sorta pains me to present Rev. Al Sharpton in this light. Yes many of you Negroes have talked shit about the man in the past, and yes I've defended him and deemed him very necessary in the struggle. However, I caught his interview on 60 Minutes last Sunday, and well, let's just say I saw some things about the man that well, doesn't sit too well with me. The brother was in slave catcher mode.

To put it mildly, he has become, in fact, the "Black Mascot" of the White House as Dr, Cornel West warned him of becoming a few weeks ago. And it's sad that he's happy to be just that in "post-racial" America as it is today.

Don't believe me? OK, well checkout the interview for yourself and tell me I'm wrong. Uh-huh, pay attention to where he says "America has changed and therefore Al Sharpton has changed." And if that doesn't convince you, pay attention to his justification on not critiquing the president on anything ever and especially in the face of double digit black unemployment. I could be wrong, and maybe you can convince me, but Rev Al Shapton has truly sold out.

Sorry Al, but sitting around smoking cigars every week with very wealthy white men in Manhattan is a long way from the days of wearing track suits and carrying a bull horn. And while Negores are still hungry and jobless, that's not a good look. But g'head and get your corporate on while you can. Obama ain't gon' be there4 forever. And lucky for you, cops are gonna shoot yet another innocent Black body in the future. We in the hood are watching you, pimp.

Sign of the Times: Dead Birds, Dead Fish, & Even the N-Word Dies in Huckleberry Finn

Look people, there's some really weird shit going on in America right now. No seriously, we got birds falling out of the sky in Arkansas and Louisiana by the thousands; fishes going belly-up all of a sudden; then, Wacka Flocka  and Gucci Mane get arrested and mysteriously the I.Q. of black youth has increased.

The shit is scary, people!

And of course some are touting these as events of biblical proportions - yes, the Gucci Mane arrest too - signalling the end of the world with that "we're living in our last days," talk. But me, I think this is all some delayed Y2K shit that has hit us eleven years late, so you won't see me on some Dispensationalism kick.

But then again, they never caught Bin Laden, so this could be some terrorist shit as in birds and fishes coming home to roost. Oh well, end of the world or not, I'm gonna enjoy what little post-racialism we have left. Especially since South Carolina is talking about releasing "Coon Hunters" license plates, and the word "nigger" is being replaced in the Mark Twain literary classic, Huckleberry Finn:

Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a classic by most any measure—T.S. Eliot called it a masterpiece, and Ernest Hemingway pronounced it the source of “all modern American literature.” Yet, for decades, it has been disappearing from grade school curricula across the country, relegated to optional reading lists, or banned outright, appearing again and again on lists of the nation’s most challenged books, and all for its repeated use of a single, singularly offensive word: “nigger.”

Twain himself defined a “classic” as “a book which people praise and don’t read.” Rather than see Twain’s most important work succumb to that fate, Twain scholar Alan Gribben and NewSouth Books plan to release a version of Huckleberry Finn, in a single volume with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, that does away with the “n” word (as well as the “in” word, “Injun”) by replacing it with the word “slave.”

“This is not an effort to render Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn colorblind,” said Gribben, speaking from his office at Auburn University at Montgomery, where he’s spent most of the past 20 years heading the English department. “Race matters in these books. It’s a matter of how you express that in the 21st century.”

“After a number of talks, I was sought out by local teachers, and to a person they said we would love to teach this novel, and Huckleberry Finn, but we feel we can’t do it anymore. In the new classroom, it’s really not acceptable.” Gribben became determined to offer an alternative for grade school classrooms and “general readers” that would allow them to appreciate and enjoy all the book has to offer. “For a single word to form a barrier, it seems such an unnecessary state of affairs,” he said. (Source: Publisher's Weekly)

Probably good news for those Negroes who may have purposely forgotten that they were, and in some cases, still are "niggers". But so not a good look for Native Americans, or former "Injuns", who will now be known as "slaves". Can't wait for them, to redo that infamous "My name is Toby," beat-down in Roots with creative license and in the name of political correctness be changed to "time out" much like kids are disciplined. Damn shame for the world to end now just as Black folks started to enjoy it with all this post-racial bliss and all.

Two Black Republicans Elected to Congress: Thank You Jesus; We're Finally Post-Racial!

I'm not in a very good mood right now, folks. Well, put it this way, there's some stuff I'm hearing that has me pretty foul right about now; and it has to do with my beloved president. I hope it's just a rumor, but I'm hearing talk about the White House caving to the republicans, and choosing to extend the Bush Tax Cuts. Yeah, that combined with the talk of proposed cuts to Social Security, and an increase in gas tax has me a little ticked off right now.

But I don't want to to talk about that right now; no, not yet. However, I do want to throw something out there that I received in email a couple of days ago from my cousin AverageBro. It's an article written by that beautiful Nubian Goddess above, Star Parker. A woman who up until a little over a week ago, like me, didn't believe that here in Amuur'cuh, our society is post-racial. However, she firmly believes we are now, and here's why:

Will the NAACP be celebrating the arrival of two new black faces to the U.S. House of Representatives?

Don’t hold your breath. They certainly will not.  These two new black congressmen are Republicans.

There’s a powerful message here that should and must be digested.

We have arrived in post-racial America but establishment blacks – lodged in the political left – refuse to accept it and are doing all they can to get black citizens to refuse to accept it.

The sobering reality is that the black political establishment doesn’t want Dr. King’s dream.  They don’t want an America where people are judged by the content of their character.  They want an America that is Democrat and left wing and this is what they promote today under the banner of civil rights.

The campaign by the NAACP and leading black journalists – all liberals – to paint the Tea Party movement, the push back against government growth and intrusiveness over the last two years, as motivated by racism is shameful.

You Can be President of the US, but not of your Middle School Class... if you're BLACK?

by Joanna (JuJuBe)

So, apparently, in this, our SO CALLED post racial America, if you are Black, you can be president of the United States, but for the students of at least one middle school in Mississippi, until today, you could not be president of your class.

Yes, it is sad but true. Nettleton Middle School in Nettleton, Mississippi recently released its guidelines for students running for office. And one of the "qualifications" for the office of class president was whiteness.

The highest office a Black student could hold at Nettleton Middle School was vice president of the 8th grade. Out of twelve available offices, 8 were reserved for whites, while 4 were set aside for Black students. Apparently, the school believed that for children, "good moral character" (another requirement for holding office) included accepting segregation.



In the same tradition, the guidelines for the school's homecoming court does not allow for the election of four INDIVIDUALS, but rather for two COUPLES - one Black and one white. Apparently, they want to avoid the appearance of supporting miscegenation if students of opposite races were to be chosen as King and Queen. And, these rules are in place DESPITE the fact that the school principal is an African American woman!

I guess that goes to show that those "at the top" are often just a figurehead for those who REALLY hold the power!

The policy of segregated elections has apparently been in place for 30 YEARS, and was ONLY CHANGED TODAY after an "emergency meeting" of the school board. The impetus for the meeting? A parent, Brandy Springer, alerted the media to this discriminatory policy. Of course, the school superintendent Russell Taylor had a ready excuse on hand (we all could have predicted this one).

"It is the belief of the current administration that these procedures were implemented to help ensure minority representation and involvement in the student body,"

"Therefore, beginning immediately, student elections at Nettleton School District will no longer have a classification of ethnicity. It is our intent that each student has equal opportunity to seek election for any student office."

Source

So, in order to ensure "minority representation" you relegate Black students to only lower offices? And expect nobody to see it for what it really is - blatant racism? And it took 30 years and a media savvy parent for you to "see the light" and change the policy??? Bravo, Superintendent Russell. Bravo, Nettleton School District. (rolling my eyes)

Mississippi has been extremely reluctant, even in recent years to move past its history of segregation. It was only last year that, partially through the efforts of Morgan Freeman, Charleston HS in Mississippi integrated its prom. And while the students seemed to enjoy the new, inclusive prom, a group of white parents decided to sponsor their own, private prom in protest.

And this year, a federal court had to intervene to keep a school from creating segregated classrooms within its walls, and allowing white students to transfer to the districts remaining majority white school. But, this is a POST RACIAL America.

Brandy Springer, the mother who originally alerted the media to this travesty, withdrew her children from the school, and claimed that even if the election policy is changed, the attitude would remain, and she does not want that kind of influence on her kids. I hope she sticks to her guns and does not send her child back into that toxic environment!

White Students Hang Banana Peels At Black Hangout: Why I Want To Slap Their Parents!

May I just inquire what the hell is going on with American teens this week? Hell, what the hell is in the water in Washington this week? First, two 17 year old girls get hardbody with an ARMED cop (and he couldn't restrain them), and now white students at a local high school decide to hang banana peels at an area where black students congregate called "The Jungle." See what happens when you don't spank your kids, America?

They do shit like this... No home training.

"If I did offend anybody, then I apologize," said Andrew Carel, 18.

An apology may not be enough to let Carel and his friend Kyle off the hook after the prank they pulled Friday morning at Auburn-Riverside High School.

"We bought the bananas," Carel said, "got about 3 feet of fishing line, and the tied them up on the balcony."

And why string up bananas in that particular location? Carel said students it's because of the nickname that stairwell has received for the black students who gather there.

"They all hang out under the stairs," he said, "and we just call it "The Jungle" because... that's what even the black people call it too." (source)

Guess what happened next? One of the black students got so upset, that when approached by a security guard, the student "assaulted" the guard, and was arrested. REALLY? Can we not interview the guard? What did the student do? Unfortunately, having actually been in that position, just so much as touching the guard (which is what I did), is considered assault. I myself narrowly escaped being charged by the police because I was a good kid (and God was looking out for me).

Long story short, an interview with a cop (real nice guy) and my teeth being messed up pre-braces (he said I bit him, but my teeth didn't match the bite marks!), I was able to get off with an anger-management class. So I feel for the student. I get it. They were upset, and you know mob mentality, they get real hyper. With that said, just like I was an idiot for falling for that and should've known better, this student should've known better. Besides, do you really want to give the little Klan members in training that kind of satisfaction?

The Mis-Education of the Neo-Negro: Yaphet Kotto, Gucci Mane & Harry Reid

I need to work on perfecting my "Negro Dialect" - can't have Rod Blagojevich outshine me. Besides, it's not like I have aspirations of becoming POTUS anytime soon, nor do I have plans of bleaching my skin. Damn you RiPPa, you won't let this Negro sh*t die won't you?! Nope because the word Negro isn't racist, and unlike my Neo-Negro buddies (yeah, that's my new soon to be copyrighted word ), I refuse to allow the white media, liberal or otherwise, trick me into believing that they actually care to protect or promote political correctness and a meaningful discourse on race.

Sorry, I'm not gonna fall for the banana in the tailpipe or the tricknology my friend. Besides, you wanna know how I know the word Negro isn't racist? I never get the spell check squiggly lines as I do when I type Barack Obama. However, I wanna talk about what Senator Harry Reid said; in particular, let's talk about what has everybody's draws up their asses. Yep, let's talk about light-skinned blacks having a more favorable advantage for success in any endeavor especially if they do not posses that "no Negro dialect" as is the perception.

See the guy in the picture above? That's Yaphet Kotto; he's an actor. Haven't seen him in years, but you might remember him from back in the day if you're my age or older. Like Barack Obama, he's American, but his father was the Crown Prince of Cameroon, which makes him a Prince. Yes, just like Obama he is of direct African descent. As cultured as he is, having studied theater and all, but as dark as he is, do you think he would have a chance running for president? Well, he might given the fact of him being cultured and an actor; never mind him holding a gun and looking like a criminal, he played Othello for crying out loud. But what if he sounded like the rapper Gucci Mane, and his big lips proved to be a a speech impediment like that of "Dumb Donald" from the cartoon Fat Albert?

What if as a politician he spoke like this:

Here they go with this stuff again - racist Barack Obama billboard in Colorado

Ok people, no seriously, isn't this shit getting old? I'm just sayin': this shit is as tired as an old Negro spiritual. Apparently it's profitable to cash in on racist advertising targeting Barack Obama. Yes, racism and marketing has obviously made a comeback in America. First we had the ass-hat down in Mississippi who felt the need to protest health-care alluding that Obama's health care plan was "NIGGER-RIGGED".

WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. — A billboard showing President Barack Obama wearing a turban has sparked a lot of attention at the suburban Denver used car dealership that put it up.

The sign, completed Friday by artist David Lee, shows a grinning, cartoonish Obama and bears the words "PRESIDENT or JIHAD?"

Underneath the president's image is a big yellow square with the phrase, "BIRTH CERTIFICATE, PROVE IT!"

The words "WAKE UP AMERICA! REMEMBER FT. HOOD" appear at the bottom of the billboard at Wolf Interstate Leasing and Sales, about seven miles west of Denver. The sign is visible from Interstate 70. 

Lee said there were plenty of honks as he painted it. "One lady came by and gave me the 'shame, shame' look," said Lee, of Arvada, another suburb of Denver.

Dealership owner Phil Wolf was unavailable for comment Friday, but General Manager Wayne Means said the business has seen strong opinions about its sign.

"We've had people come by and say, 'Keep it up.' We've had people come by and say, 'Take it down,'" Means said. "We can have differences of opinion. This is America." (Source: Associated Press

Now we have a freshly painted billboad out in Wheat Ridge Colorado connecting Barack Obama to being a Muslim terrorist, sanctioned by an auto dealership. Yes, a car dealership. Apparently this guy wishes the whole "Cash For Clunkers" program was still around and he's upset. But hey, this isn't about race; it's about policy, right? Oh well, I guess they're right, this is America and you're free to do as you please.

MoveOn.org currently has a petition up and running in an attempt to boycott the dealership who has four locations in Colorado. You may not have any plans of buying a car from these folks in Colorado. But this is America, and you're free to click the link below and sign the petition; that's if you see the racism that is.

PETITION

How dare Jimmy Carter say that racism plays heavily into these protests against Obama! Jimmy Carter...."You Lie!"

Yeah, I'm gonna need someone to talk me down on this one because you know I agree with him, right? Surely he can't be right about this and what he said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and likening it to a system of apartheid like he did a few years ago, right? What is he a glutton for punishment? He took a lot of heat when he said what he said about Israel. What, is he trying to get kicked out of the country now? Surely he can't be right about this one. Nope, all these protests are all about policy and not race, right?

I mean, yesterday Rush Limbaugh said in response to an article in Newsweek [read it here] which alluded to babies being born racist that "If homosexuality being inborn is what makes it acceptable, why does racism being inborn not make racism acceptable?" Surely Jimmy Carter didn't get the memo as did Rush Limbaugh. Obviously Jimmy Carter doesn't know that racism, and or racist behavior is acceptable all due in large part to this country having the first Black president, right?

Oh lord Jesus I can't take this racism thing anymore.

America is changing and I'm so confused.

One minute we're post-racial, and the next we're not.

Now that racism is acceptable in America what is I's gon' do?

Oh well, I guess I'm gonna jig like the rest of these Black republicans...

Racism? If it ever be is, I ain't be seen't it!

Reason #4080 as to why Black people are wrong when they say we're not a post-racial society

Remember the good old days when race relations in this country was different? You know, back in the days when "certain people" felt the need to hang nooses all over the country as an act of intimidation after the Jena 6 movement took off? Remember that? Yeah, that was back in the pre-post racial days when, well, quite frankly, we were racist? But not anymore; see, unlike back then, "certain people" are happy. Yes, they make a point to go out of their way to show it as they show so much love to our recently elected Black president. You know, sending "special" emails expressing their gratitude and affection. Yeah, some of them would even like to go as far as to give the man a 21 gun salute at these town hall meetings but the cops just won't let them. Oh how times have changed for the better, and I love it.

Check out what happened yesterday:

Four teenagers were arrested in connection with racist phrases and symbols made from strips of sod at an elementary school in the Manassas area, Prince William County police said Tuesday.

The strips, spelling "KKK" and "White Power" with a swastika in the middle, were found about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday at a parking lot at Sinclair Elementary School, said Sgt. Kim Chinn, a police spokeswoman.

The male Stonewall Jackson High School students, ages 14, 15, 16 and 17, three of them white and one black, were released to their parents, Chinn said. As of late last night it appeared that they had not been charged. [source:washingtonpost.com]

Ok, so I know many of you - especially you Black readers - are going to say that it's messed up that a Black kid would be a party to something like this. But see, that's just you seeing the glass as half empty as Black people often do. Uh huh, my non-minority friends tell me that's one of our problems, and who better than they to psychoanalyze Black people, right? The way I see it, this is a triumphant moment in Black history. What this does, is to show just how Black and White people can come together for one common cause.

Sure you might be thinking that if you were the parent of the Black kid you'd be beating his ass 'till dawn. But hey, what type of message would that be sending to the kid, his White friends and their parents. Do you really want to be known as a non-teamplayer? I mean hell, those kids were just having fun just like the kids who hung those nooses in Jena Louisiana. I mean hell, it was a Swastika for crying out loud! It's not like they're not following in the footsteps of some of the adults we see on TV at these town hall meetings expressing their undying love for socialists and Nazis like myself [see my recent post on this].

So look, let's collectively as Americans come together and embrace this event as a necessary act of progression. It's a new day in this country folks, and yes, it is time to move forward and beyond the days of old - circa Jena Louisiana 2006. Lets be honest, it's not like any of those four teenagers in D.C. were charged with anything. The last thing we need is to get a few of you angry Negroes upset over nothing and get to marching and stuff all because of a prank.

Lets See: Michelle Obama looks like a monkey; Barack Obama is going to tax aspirin 40% because it's white; and none of that is racist?

There's a blog that I regularly read that's called "Stuff White People Do". It's a great blog that I recommend you guys checkout. The author of that blog - Macon d - is himself a White man, and I have to give it to him, he's honest when he speaks on race and perceptions thereof. I wish more White folks were as honest as he is. I mean, like the next few people I'm gonna talk about for example:

I hang out on twitter quite a bit, and I am following quite a few GOP-ers, and lemme tell you, they are some of the most vile, obtuse, and pathetic muthafuckas I've ever encountered. I've had a few debates with them where I've busted their heads wide open to where they don't even fuck with me. But the screenshot above is an example of the stuff they talk about all damn day long on twitter. The above screenshot captures a convo or comment made by a South Carolina GOP operative Mike Green. When the good folks over at Talking Points Memo confronted him about what he said on Twitter this past weekend, this was his response:

"Let me give you a call back."

Oh so these assholes are big and bad enough to spew bullshit like this as jokes but not man enough to own up to them. Yeah, but these right wing chowder heads are giving Dave Letterman hell for what he said about Sarah Palin's 18yr old daughter?

Moving right along...

Another South Carolina GOP activist Rusty DePass -- hey, what the hell is up with South Carolina? -- made the above comment on Facebook last Friday in response to a Gorilla becoming loose at a a zoo in his state or town. Yup, and that was his response. Uh huh, you guessed it, his was another joke. When confronted about this, he had this to say:

DePass told WIS-TV in Columbia, "I am as sorry as I can be if I offended anyone. The comment was clearly in jest."

Then he added, "The comment was hers, not mine," claiming Michelle Obama made a recent remark about humans descending from apes. The Daily News could find no such comment. [source]

You read that half ass bullshit? He never acknowledged that what he said was offensive. Instead he ushered in the "I am as sorry as I can be IF I offended anyone." In other words, if you were not offended, then it's no big deal. Yup, it's cool to go around making racist jokes like that especially when you're sure you're not gonna get caught.

Moving right along...

Yup, finally we have this "goof" by a fellow Tennessee resident who happens to be legislative aid for Tennessee state senator Diane Black. What she did was to send the above image which depicts President Barack Obama as, well, you saw it above; tell me if that's not racist and insensitive. I'm guessing that she thought she could get a pass on this because her boss's last name is Black. Well anyway, she gets confronted about it, and she says in her apology:

“I went on the wrong email and I inadvertently hit the wrong button.”- Sherri Goforth [source]

Really? You hit the wrong button? Oh so you didn't mean to send it out to those friends, but another set. Yeah, she meant to send it out to the cool kids in the office who would have had a laugh and not snitched on her, right? I swear, these folks are a damn trip. Yup, and all of this happened all in one weekend. I don't know folks, but I think this is the type of stuff that happens when you belong to a party short on ideas; it's wonder Black Republicans never have shit to say about stuff like this. Oh well, us Negroes will just have to stomach it for the next 4yrs I guess. I mean really: it doesn't matter when they can't even sincerely apologize for any wrong doing.

BUNS OF STEELE

"I am glad these traitorous leaders of the Republican Party appointed this Black racist, affirmative action advocate to the head of the Republican party because this will lead to a huge revolt among the Republican base. As a former Republican official, I can tell you that millions of rank-and-file Republicans are mad as hell and aren’t going to take it anymore! We will either take the Republican Party back over the next four years or we will say, “To Hell With the Republican Party!” And we will take 90 percent of Republicans with us into a New Party that will take its current place!"- David Duke (Former Grand Wizard of the Klu Klux Klan)

America is indeed changing folks - yes it is. A little over a week ago we saw the swearing in of the first Black president, and people were quick to use it as the exclamation mark on our "post racial" society. It's just too bad that David Duke didn't get the memo like the rest of us Americans.

Heck, even a few well known Black celebrities endorsed this notion. Me being me, I never wanted to accept it, and in doing so, I had to fight to prove to the online world that old racists such as myself don't die too easily.

Yes folks, I'll be cool for now, unless another innocent unarmed Black man gets shot by the cops or something like that. I'll be basking in the glow of post racialness as I sip a drink of tolerance. Hell I might even form a my own social organization....

GAY BLACK JEWISH KLANSMEN OF AMERICA

Oh yeah the GAY part has a double meaning: Tolerance! How cool is that?!!

So why the change? Well its obvious that racism is now officially dead now that Michael Steele has been appointed chairman of the republican party. I mean who would have ever thought that would happen? See, look at me sounding like the old "Happy Negro" on November 5th. Only difference is that I have no tears in my eyes. Thats right folks, I'm not that happy.

Not that I'm hatin' on Michael Steele or anything. Believe me when I say that I am proud of his accomplishment as a Black man. I mean, him being elected chairperson of the RNC has to be the equivalent of O.J. Simpson stumbling upon a KKK cross burning in the backwoods of Mississippi, and living to walk away unharmed without any rope burns around the neck, with an open invitation to the next BBQ, or even being named Godfather to one of their kids.

Ok well maybe not that deep but kinda. I mean the guy wasn't even a comitee member for crying out loud. He was an outsider in the grand scheme of things. Hell he needed a majority vote of 85 out of a possible 185 to win, and they had to vote 6 times before he even got the 91 he received. Could you imagine the deliberation among the voters as they voted all six times?

Yes folks, things haven't been too good for the republican party for a while now, and like another now famous "Magic Negro" Michael Steele is the messiah. Thats right, he is the man who will be responsible for bringing sexy back to conservatism. Lets face it, when you have Rush Limbaugh going toe to toe with Obama and coming off like he's running the party you're in trouble.

In all honestly, I wish him the best of luck in his endeavors as RNC Chairman because he's gonna need it. But then again maybe he doesn't need luck. Maybe this is indeed a new America, and hence a new republican party. Maybe gone are the days of the old Nixon Southern Strategy, divisiveness, dirty politics and all that democrats and liberals have come to love about the republican party. Maybe this is in fact a new day.

Lets hope that it is for Michael Steele's sake. I'd sure hate to be him having to walk around with my asshole tight for fear of being screwed by my people. It surely is a new day when the children of Black Conservatives can honestly grow up to believe and think they can actually be the face of the republican party after all the years the party proclaimed it never needed the Black Vote.

I wonder if he's Muslim?

MISGUIDED NEGROES IN THE MEDIA

Wassup people? Real quick. I know you guys have read about the backlash surrounding Aaron McGruder the producer of the show "The Boondocks" and his remarks about Obama not being Black because he doesn't share the legacy of slavery with African-Americans. Ok, well this post is not about him or what he said; I've discussed this in a previous post so no need to revisit this.

Since that press release, he has come out and cleared up what was said. To sum it up, it would appear that the media took a quote and ran with it. I could be wrong, but that's what I think for now at least. The media is brutal, and in an attempt to run a story, they will sell the masses on what they deem to be profitable. In other words, they don't give a shit what we the common man thinks. Instead, they'll stick a mic in the face of a famous person. Conveniently, they've sought input from celebrity Black people this week concerning the significance of Obama's presidency.

Here's another brother that had a mic in his face that helps to shape the perceptions of the White majority....

"For me, it was something that I've always believed. I've read the Declaration of Independence. I've read the Constitution. I have the preamble memorized. It's something I've always believed in, and when Barack Obama won, it validated a piece of me that I wasn't allowed to say out loud - that America is not a racist nation.

I love that all of our excuses have been removed. African-American excuses have been removed. There's no white man trying to keep you down, because if he were really trying to keep you down, he would have done everything he could to keep Obama down. Yes, there are racist people who live here, absolutely. But they're not the majority anymore.

I'm an African American, and I was able to climb to a certain point in Hollywood. On that journey, I realized people weren't trying to stop me. Most people were trying to help me. Before Obama won the presidency, it was like, I'm the exception. Tiger is the exception. Michael Jordan is the exception. Bill Cosby is the exception. But there's something about being the leader of the free world, with every other position on earth below that. You can't argue with that. If Barack Obama can win the presidency of the United States, you can absolutely be the manager at Saks.

Come on. It was such a fantastic experience for me to be able to say out loud that I love America and not be called an Uncle Tom. That I can stand out, and I can say out loud that I love this country and not get funny looks.

I don't think we are African Americans, Irish Americans or Japanese Americans anymore. I think Americans are a new race of people. We are Americans of African descent. We are Americans of Irish descent.

It's a whole new world."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/personal-reflections.htm

Ok, so if you clicked the link provided, you would know that the quote above came from Will Smith. Yup, Will Smith, you know, the first Black superhero who happened to be dysfunctional? Yeah, that Will Smith. Now I like Will Smith as an actor especially since his roots were in hip hop. Me being a hip hop fan, I love the fact that he came up from an art form which has been the source of blame for all our social ills within the Black community. He went from that, to being a man who is now a major Hollywood blockbuster guy. But does that make him an authority on "Blackness"? But because he is who he is, what he said is and has been looked at as the truth by many of our non-Black brothers and sisters here in America you can expect it to be accepted as truth. I mean, it's Will Smith and not that bastard Al "Ambulance Chaser" Sharpton, right?

I wrote this in an attempt to show just how the media has a big influence in shaping our lives. I mean, if Will Smith said it, then it must be true. After all, he's a Black guy, right? And just the fact that he's wealthy probably means that if he can do it so can everybody who happens to be a minority. No excuses, remember? I don't know about you, but I'm Black and I'm a parent, and this is not what I will teach my daughters. At this point in my life, I seriously doubt whether I'll tell my kids, that from this day forth, they no longer have to work maybe twice as hard because of their minority status. But then again, Will said that parents just don't understand, so maybe I'm wrong.

RECOMMENDED READING: YOU'RE SPECIAL SO JUST DEAL WITH IT By Brotherpeacemaker

WAFFLES: THE NEW FRIED CHICKEN

So, its wrong to allegedly refer to the white woman as a pig in lipstick, but its cool to put the Black man on a box of waffle cereal and sell it for $10 a box at a conservative event promoting family values? I would call this hypocrisy coming from the republican party, but hey, everybody (black) knows the rules: never fuck with white women.

Now I laughed at the New Yorkers depiction of my boy Barry O, and his wife a couple months ago because it was satire. People were outraged, but hey, its the New Yorker, what else would you expect. I mean, it would be like going to see a Mel Brooks movie expecting to laugh, and walking out crying from sadness; its just not gonna happen. But coming from a conservative function? The Family Research Council? This is what you teach your kids??

WASHINGTON (AP) - Activists at a conservative political forum snapped up boxes
of waffle mix depicting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama as a
racial stereotype on its front and wearing Arab-like headdress on its top flap.

Values Voter Summit organizers cut off sales of Obama Waffles boxes on
Saturday, saying they had not realized the boxes displayed "offensive material."
The summit and the exhibit hall where the boxes were sold had been open since
Thursday afternoon.

The box was meant as political satire, said Mark Whitlock and Bob DeMoss, two writers from Franklin, Tenn., who created the mix. They sold it for $10 a box from a rented booth at the summit sponsored by the lobbying arm of the Family Research Council.

SOURCE

I'M GLAD IT WASN'T FRIED CHICKEN

So not only is Obama a non-pork eating muslim, he eats waffles? Yeah, that's what I got out of that. Sadly, the two men responsible for this are from Tennessee where I live. The same state that gave Harold Ford, a black man from Memphis, a hard time with racially charged commercials when he ran for the senate not too long ago (watch it here). Ironically, it was a democratic congressman from Memphis Tn (Steve Cohen) who's Jewish, who was responsible for authoring the Bill for the U.S. apology of slavery, and Jim Crow, which passed recently.

Well damn, and I thought this was supposed to be a post-racial society we live in. I mean, thats what they all say since there's a Black man making a successful run for the presidency? They even took a shot at Muslims by depicting him as a muslim with head gear on the top of the box. And they even took it a step further by depicting him as a mexican on the back of the box wearing a sombrero. The picture was above a recipe for "Open Border Fiesta Waffles" and it said you can serve "four more illegal aliens...while waiting on these zesty treats to invade your home, why not learn a foreign language? "

Wow!

I can't help but to think that Ted "Mr. Law & Order" Thompson, former 2008 presidential candidate, and former senator from the great state of Tennesse had something to do with this. But then again, I don't think he's stupid enough to try and pull this off and sabotage his acting career. On second thought, this is the south, and the good ole boy network is still alive and well. I swear, this shit is getting uglier as we get closer to November 4th's election date.

As fucked up as this move was, it could have been worse. They could have depicted him eating fried chicken on a T-Shirt, and sold it for $20 a pop. As bad as they need money for this campaign, I'm surprised they didn't do it, after hearing that Obama raised $66 million dollars in August. Coming from conservatives, it just shows that they're desperate, and have nothing to offer by way of change as they say. This one's not funny in my book folks. But you know what they say, you can put lipstick on a pig and its still would be a republican.