Virginia lawmaker uses "tar baby" in speech about Medicaid debate

[Hekate]

56. Brer Rabbit is the direct descendent of the Trickster Hero Anansi, from West Africa

Because public education is so niggardly in its choices of cultural curriculum and reading assignments, not to mention spelling and breadth of vocabulary of the English/American language that is our common heritage, it appears more and more of our citizens are so ignorant it's breathtaking.

Suppressing African American folk tales (which are both African and American) out of sheer ignorance, does a disservice to all of us. When you strip away the old attempts to record dialect they become more understandable to the modern eye and ear, but they retain their cunning, humor, wisdom, and teachings of traditional Trickster stories of Anansi, Coyote, Brer Rabbit, and their kin.

The Tar Baby is black because it's made out of tar, a common substance at the time the stories were told. "Don't throw me in that briar patch!" is the Trickster's way of getting his old rival the Fox to toss him back into his very home, where he will be safe from capture.

If there are any words or concepts in what I have written here that you take offense at, I suggest you look them up in the dictionary, with particular emphasis on the etymology of the words. Beware of false etymology.

And get yourself a book of American folklore before it's gone forever.

Meanwhile, Brer Fox, he lay low.