How about a heart-felt rendition of "Honest Injun'..." Once again (for those of you who've avoided it) the backstory on "Barack the Magic Negro." http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-ehrenstein19mar19,0,3391015.story Obama the 'Magic Negro' The Illinois senator lends himself to white America's idealized, less-than-real black man. By David Ehrenstein L.A.-based DAVID EHRENSTEIN writes about Hollywood and politics. March 19, 2007 AS EVERY CARBON-BASED life form on this planet surely knows, Barack Obama, the junior Democratic senator from Illinois, is running for president. Since making his announcement, there has been no end of commentary about him in all quarters — musing over his charisma and the prospect he offers of being the first African American to be elected to the White House. But it's clear that Obama also is running for an equally important unelected office, in the province of the popular imagination — the "Magic Negro." The Magic Negro is a figure of postmodern folk culture, coined by snarky 20th century sociologists, to explain a cultural figure who emerged in the wake of Brown vs. Board of Education. "He has no past, he simply appears one day to help the white protagonist," reads the description on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_Negro . He's there to assuage white "guilt" (i.e., the minimal discomfort they feel) over the role of slavery and racial segregation in American history, while replacing stereotypes of a dangerous, highly sexualized black man with a benign figure for whom interracial sexual congress holds no interest. As might be expected, this figure is chiefly cinematic — embodied by such noted performers as Sidney Poitier, Morgan Freeman, Scatman Crothers, Michael Clarke Duncan, Will Smith and, most recently, Don Cheadle. And that's not to mention a certain basketball player whose very nickname is "Magic." Poitier really poured on the "magic" in "Lilies of the Field" (for which he won a best actor Oscar) and "To Sir, With Love" (which, along with "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," made him a No. 1 box-office attraction). In these films, Poitier triumphs through yeoman service to his white benefactors. "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" is particularly striking in this regard, as it posits miscegenation without evoking sex. (Talk about magic!) The same can't quite be said of Freeman in "Driving Miss Daisy," "Seven" and the seemingly endless series of films in which he plays ersatz paterfamilias to a white woman bedeviled by a serial killer. But at least he survives, unlike Crothers in "The Shining," in which psychic premonitions inspire him to rescue a white family he barely knows and get killed for his trouble. This heart-tug trope is parodied in Gus Van Sant's "Elephant." The film's sole black student at a Columbine-like high school arrives in the midst of a slaughter, helps a girl escape and is immediately gunned down. See what helping the white man gets you? And what does the white man get out of the bargain? That's a question asked by John Guare in "Six Degrees of Separation," his brilliant retelling of the true saga of David Hampton — a young, personable gay con man who in the 1980s passed himself off as the son of none other than the real Sidney Poitier. Though he started small, using the ruse to get into Studio 54, Hampton discovered that countless gullible, well-heeled New Yorkers, vulnerable to the Magic Negro myth, were only too eager to believe in his baroque fantasy. (One of the few who wasn't fooled was Andy Warhol, who was astonished his underlings believed Hampton's whoppers. Clearly Warhol had no need for the accouterment of interracial "goodwill.") But the same can't be said of most white Americans, whose desire for a noble, healing Negro hasn't faded. That's where Obama comes in: as Poitier's "real" fake son. The senator's famously stem-winding stump speeches have been drawing huge crowds to hear him talk of uniting rather than dividing. A praiseworthy goal. Consequently, even the mild criticisms thrown his way have been waved away, "magically." He used to smoke, but now he doesn't; he racked up a bunch of delinquent parking tickets, but he paid them all back with an apology. And hey, is looking good in a bathing suit a bad thing? The only mud that momentarily stuck was criticism (white and black alike) concerning Obama's alleged "inauthenticty," as compared to such sterling examples of "genuine" blackness as Al Sharpton and Snoop Dogg. Speaking as an African American whose last name has led to his racial "credentials" being challenged — often several times a day — I know how pesky this sort of thing can be. Obama's fame right now has little to do with his political record or what he's written in his two (count 'em) books, or even what he's actually said in those stem-winders. It's the way he's said it that counts the most. It's his manner, which, as presidential hopeful Sen. Joe Biden ham-fistedly reminded us, is "articulate." His tone is always genial, his voice warm and unthreatening, and he hasn't called his opponents names (despite being baited by the media). Like a comic-book superhero, Obama is there to help, out of the sheer goodness of a heart we need not know or understand. For as with all Magic Negroes, the less real he seems, the more desirable he becomes. If he were real, white America couldn't project all its fantasies of curative black benevolence on him. Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
I want Rush to buy it, and in his first move as an owner, pull off a deal to bring in Vince Young as the starting QB.
It is racist, indeed, because the notion behind "the magic negro" is that the "character" ascended to his position because of his race more than because of his qualifications. But I don't think that is the kind of racism you are charging. And, of course, ironically the "magic negro" image is large in liberal culture-- not exactly Rush's stomping ground... yet you try and hang it around his neck! He's making fun of it, you know...
I saw Spike Lee talk about the Magic Negro in films, except he used a different N - word. He mentioned characters like Bagger Vance and the guy in The Green Mile, how patronizing it was to blacks. Rush's song was playing off that, how white people see Obama as this magical figure that will assuage all their residual guilt. That's what the L.A. Times story (written by a black man) was about, that's what Spike Lee was talking about, that's what Rush was parodying. There was nothing racist about it.
late to the party: i don't care if he buys the team as minority or majority owner. yes, he's racist, but he has the right to be a racist. i'm also ok with the nfl forbidding the selling of the team to him, either because he's a racist or simply because they don't like his hairstyle. i'd pay to have him buy an afc team, only to have mcnabb beat him in the super bowl. (capitols are for overachievers)
Coming in late too and I largely agree. The NFL is a business and I don't see any problem with them making a business decision if they feel that Limbaugh's inflammatory image hurts the NFL brand. Also don't you mean "CAPITALS"? I'm not going to say for certain that Limbaugh is a racist but he certainly plays fast and loose with the langaunge to incite people. In regard to the NFL particularly his comments on Donovan McNabb already point out how his rhetoric can harm the NFL brand.
I have no problem with him being allowed to buy a team and have no problem with him being forbidden. It would be funny though if he bought a team and nobody would play for him. That might make it worth it.
I wonder what the Rooneys have to say about him. He's a huge Steeler fan and seems like kind of an intimate. Doubt he'll pass the NFL muster because of the controversy he causes... or is that publicity? When is the NFL is going to mandate a lifetime ban against players that bring controversy and a tarnished image to the NFL... because that is what this pro-active effort to undermine Limbaugh's bid is going to accomplish. I can smell a lawsuit coming out of this. He's been convicted in the press of charges which are unprovable. They should have just kept quiet and hoped someone else won the bidding war; there are a handful of groups involved.... but Checkett and Rush do have Missouri roots.
Rush needs to learn that you reap what you sow. All he does is talk hate and fear without any rationality or justification other than "I'm better than these people because I believe this way and I hate them because they think differently... and you should hate them too!!" Our society doesn't tolerate intolerance anymore. While Rush and his followers don't see anything wrong with what he says or the way he delivers it, they fail to realize that his message and delivery are insensitive, hateful and hyper-inflammatory to a very large percentage of the population. I hope they shoot down his bid and I dare him to sue.
outstanding post. if rush cries about this, he may want to practice some of that personal responsibility that he and his ilk demand others practice but never seem to practice themselves.
is jessie jackson trying to buy an nfl team? if he was, would you support him suing them if they denied his bid because of his controversial statements?
I would not be in favor of Jesse Jackson being an NFL owner but I have no basis on which to prevent him from being one. My observation is that the Executive Director is trying to stir up the players to publicly demean Limbaugh in order to preclude his ownership pursuit and it is largely based on an image crafted by Limbaugh's opponents. Were that being done to Jackson it would be objectionable but we know that if it were Jackson attempting to make a bid, the ED of the NLPA would be fanning flames of support. Do you really doubt that? I think very little should be determined by mere controversial statements especially when many of the ones most prominently promoted cannot even be proven to have been uttered by Limbaugh but are instead fabrications of the machine set against him. I know that Limbaugh would only be a minority owner, but I bet he would be an owner like Robert Kraft of the Patriots (a true fan before being an owner) or the Rooneys in Pittsbugh or even Jerry Jones (another true fan before being an owner-- Cowboys would be better off if he didn't think he knew so much about football though)
i don't understand how you don't get that rush limbaugh is a divisive figure (racist or no) in this country who has basically spent a lifetime offending half this country and because of that, people whose business depends a lot on pr might not want him being a part of their business. not to mention, they have every right not wanting him being part of their business. would you support a lawsuit by rush?
That would be pretty ironic for a guy who often rails against judicial activism to go running to the courts to either force a private business to allow him in and / or to shut people up.
