Thursday, March 13, 2008

Good Negro Down

Katt Williams is a popular comedian with a short stature and a big mouth.

With his slickly processed hair and glib tongue, he seems to fit the pimp persona he deploys in his comedic routines. One of the most popular phrases from his first nationally televised show was "Pimp down!," a phrase the diminutive jokester claimed to have used when knocked to the ground during a fight.

Collectively, I believe most of the Negro community is now yelling "Good Negro down!."

From all accounts, Barack Obama is a good Negro. He's educated, clean, articulate, friendly and ambivalent about race. Obama graduated from Harvard and Columbia, doesn't have a baby's momma and has stayed off welfare his entire adult life. Sure, he smoked a little weed and snorted some coke in college, but he doesn't have cornrows and none of his teeth shine.

Clear characteristics of a good Negro.

Obama doesn't remind people about racism. He's not one of those angry Negroes who sits by themselves in the cafeteria. He gets it. As one of his colleagues in the state legislator noted, Obama doesn't make white people feel more white. He actually transcends race.

For a long time, Obama had achieved the highest echelons of Negro life as many white voters proudly proclaimed they had actually forgotten that he was a Negro.

He understood the rules.

Rule 1. A Negro looking for success should never discuss the entrenched racism in America and must never insinuate that he worked harder than a white person to achieve his present position in life.

Rule 2. A Negro should never become angry at racist comments or attribute those comments to the racist beliefs of the speaker or those agreeing with the speaker. No Negro is mentally equipped to identify racism.

Rule 3. Racism is a myth perpetuated by angry Negroes who do not want to work. If immigrants can make it, everybody can be successful.

There are many more rules, but Obama has managed to keep them all. He hasn't fallen into the traps laid by corrupting forces who would force him to make reparations or discrimination a central part of his campaign. He's avoided the tempations of Evil Negroes like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Louis Farrakhan who love to talk about the "race problem." Obama understands the big picture. Hell, he's almost white.

But, sometimes almost just is not good enough if you truly want to be an unhyphenated American.

See, Hillary Clinton and her supporters have broken the spell that the Magical Negro named Obama initially cast over the electorate. By reminding angry white voters that "the blacks" regularly steal jobs they don't deserve, sell drugs to innocent white kids and love to play the victim, Clinton has placed Obama's Good Negro status on life support. After all, even if he has similar political qualifications to FDR, Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, he's still a Negro. And, it's indisputable that Negroes are never qualified for a job that a white person wants.

Never.

Consequently, Obama is now scrambling to get his campaign back on track.

This development has perplexed the many Typical Negroes who support Obama in overwhelming numbers. They have watched him follow all the rules, they have watched him avoid all the pitfalls, and yet, he seems to be getting treated like a Bad Negro. It's as if no matter what a Negro does, he can never wipe away the stain of bad negritude. It waits around ever corner, ready to brand him as "one of them."

Many Typical Negroes are upset by this development. After all, most of them readily admit that they have not managed to follow the Good Negro script as well as Obama. They often slip up and discuss racism as a systemic problem, not a collection of personal anecdotes. They can't seem to avoid pointing out the enduring effects of past discrimination on the current plight of Negroes.

In fact, most Typical Negroes cannot go a single day without forcing white people to remember that they are Negroes. They just don't get it.

Typical Negroes are worried because if Obama's perfection is not protection enough from being branded a Bad Negro, what hope do they have? How can they every be considered solely on their merits? How can they ever be considered qualified if Obama failed? What do they tell their children?

A Good Negro is down, and Black People are confused.

9 comments:

The Christian Progressive Liberal said...

Not this Negro. I know exactly what happened here.

The Borg Queen is saying "If I can't get POTUS, no Uppity Negro is going to get it either."

Forget the fact that Obama is a fellow Democrat; what Hillary Clinton has done is burst the phony bubble that the Democratic Party is a "big tent, all-inclusive" party.

Many people have complained that in the past 20 years, there's no difference between the ReThugs and the Democrats. I honestly believe that just like the ReThugs, the Democrats preach accountability, but don't want to be held accountable to anyone or anything.

They are good at talking the talk, and their walk never matches the talk.

I'm not confused at all. Obama tried to start out as a good, non-threatening Negro who wouldn't make White People uncomfortable to be around. He succeeded in doing that, but he began to believe his own hype.

What is happening will either make Obama "Man Up" and stop playing nice-nice, or it will eviscerate him and his political career.

He does not have to act like Al or Jesse (Lawd help us!). What he needs to do is show himself to not run the way the wind blows. And right now, the wind is blowing in the direction of tossing Dr. Wright under the bus, instead of standing on the rock where Jesus stood and tell Sean Hannity, "Bring It On1"

As in, "You want to know about my church, the UCC? Fine, how about coming to 8:00am Sunday service; Michelle, Sasha, Malia and I would love to have you join us. Then we can go get brunch and talk this thing out. You can bring a camera crew as well, and I won't tell the pastor when you're coming, so it won't be a staged deal for your benefit.

"Tell Arianna Huffington, Hillary Clinton, Gerry Ferraro and Josh Marshall, they can come, too."


Game, set, match, AND battle to Obama. That's the way to deal with this issue.

No tap-dancing, no sidestepping - just a direct challenge that says "I have nothing to hide, and I'm not ashamed of how I chose to worship God."

That also shuts up the "Obama is a Muslim" crap, too.

He needs to put up so Hannity and his ilk will be forced to shut up. As will the old hags known as Ferraro and Hillary Clinton.

Look what having dinner in Harlem at Sylvia's with Al Sharpton did for the Falafel Man. At least he can no longer claim we don't know how to act in public restaurants and we don't scream for refills of "M---F---ing" iced tea.

Big Man said...

Liberal, you really need to update your blog more often because you are always saying the good stuff in comments sections on other blogs.

You're right about what happened, and I agree with the solution you proposed. Despite what the post says, I don't think black people are confused. I think we udnerstand what happened, but deep inside, at least with me, we feel a deep sense of frustration. I mean, this cat played by every single rule, and has still been labeled a race baiter. It just proves that no matter what, black skin is all the proof many people need. Not all, but many.

Anonymous said...

I'm a little, okay a lot, heartsickened right now over this. I'm thinking that he must have a way past this because he's so brilliant there's no way he didn't know this was coming.

I have to hold on to this belief.

I'm not black, I don't consider myself to be a "bleeding heart, guilt ridden liberal" and I just really try to examine my motives and actions and to give that same consideration to others. I've heard similar opinions to the Reverend's before and they make perfect sense to me. However, to grasp them requires stepping outside the realm of many peoples' everyday lives. Maybe that is where we're doomed to repeating this cycle, due to our inability to listen and hear and grant validity to another's experience, no matter how shocking.

Over on Politico, Ben Smith has an embedded sermon of Wright's, the famous inspiration for the "audacity of hope" and it moved me to tears. I'm not christian either (buddhist but not so great at the rituals) but the message rings so true.

There are times that I feel that hope is a kind of madness, times that I believe that it demands great courage. Today, right now, the madness of it seems to be pervading our world but I'm praying my way to the side of courage.

It's really all I'm even close to capable of at the moment.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0308/Defending_Wright.html#comments

That's the link to Ben Smith's post about this today.

I completely agree that the only and best way to answer this is with the invitation to go Wright's church, everyone's church, and bring everyone's beliefs out into the sun but you know, that would take more work and effort than most people are willing to commit.

The Christian Progressive Liberal said...

Big Man, I have been suitably chastised. Go take a look at what you started. LOL

Anonymous said...

I feel like you felt two weeks ago. I'm down and discouraged. This Rev. Wright fiasco is a M-E-S-S.

I'm so bothered by this that I refuse to watch the major media circus outlets.

I need a pick-me up. I'm hurting...

All-Mi-T [Thought Crime] Rawdawgbuffalo said...

Rush L would be proud of u using his phrse f magic negro. great post

Big Man said...

Thanks everybody who read the post and commented. I also avoided the news all weekend because of the Rev. Wright thing. I did catch a real good program on ESPN about black basketball players though. And spent some time with the fam.

Anonymous said...

Just saw this pop up again on the Today's show. They are a week late, but keeping it alive. Hopefully Barack will invite the world to his church.

Anonymous said...

Is doing a stint on welfare, as an adult, sufficient to make you a "bad Negro?"




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