Wednesday, December 31, 2008

The reality behind this whole "magic Negro" drama

It should come as no surprise that most people are reacting to what they think the whole "Barack the Magic Negro" is about without really knowing what it's about. To look at where it began you have to first flash back to the whole Magical Negro as a fictional character, which existed before David Ehrenstein and his March 2007 column that then created the whole Rush Limbaugh satire song, which then hung around a while with people laughing about it until after all of this time, now it's offensive.

Ironically, Ohio's own Ken Blackwell, who tried and failed to become Ohio's first African American Governor, is calling the recent Republican drama over is it funny or is it not, “hypersensitivity.”

What's also ironic is the song does not diss Barack Obama, it disses those in the black community, very similar to the cartoon that Saturday Night Live ran that did not create such a stir. So what's the difference? If the perceived to be more liberal Saturday Night Live takes jabs at Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and a few at Obama too with the way they exaggerate his treatment of them, that's okay and that's funny...Yet a song that basically does the same thing isn't?



Watch the cartoon, read the song lyrics:
Barack the Magic Negro lives in D.C.
The L.A. Times, they called him that
'Cause he's not authentic like me.

Yeah, the guy from the L.A. paper
Said he makes guilty whites feel good
They'll vote for him, and not for me
'Cause he's not from the hood.

See, real black men, like Snoop Dog,
Or me, or Farrakhan
Have talked the talk, and walked the walk.
Not come in late and won!

Refrain:
Oh, Barack the Magic Negro, lives in D.C.
The L.A. Times, they called him that
'Cause he's black, but not authentically.

(repeat Refrain)

Some say Barack's "articulate"
And bright and new and "clean"
The media sure loves this guy,
A white interloper's dream!

But, when you vote for president,
Watch out, and don't be fooled!
Don't vote the Magic Negro in
'Cause...

The song is sung to sound like Al Sharpton is singing it and then ranting at the end, and Sharpton has used the phrase "What’s wrong with denouncing white interlopers?" as well as similar ones in the past.

It's hard to believe the idea of Obama placing a doggy shock collar on Al Sharpton ends up being less "offensive" than a parody song...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think the entire thing is disgusting. Hopefully, Saltsman is not what the RNC is looking for at this time, unless they are hell-bent on making more mistakes. The party is on life support because of members like him. To me, SNL skit was pushing the limit, but it was at least a little funny. I don't see the humor in a song about our Nation's first African-American president calling him a "magic negro". Really! I don't remember hearing any little diddies about any white, transformational presidents where the title included, "special cracker."