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In reply to the discussion: Any thoughts why Cornel West always finds it necessary to refer to the color of the Presidents skin [View all]bigtree
(85,988 posts)44. googled on DU, our internet community (which is the ONLY relevant comparison)
An audio diagnostic, Zimmerman saying, "fucking coons'
DJ Fired For Calling Condoleezza Rice 'Coon'
I Was 'King Coon' Until I Hit Back (my own article)
from my article:
. . .you're right, Google is my friend.
DJ Fired For Calling Condoleezza Rice 'Coon'
I Was 'King Coon' Until I Hit Back (my own article)
from my article:
My parents certainly knew the importance of civil rights, as their own livelihood and their own expectations of comity and acceptance were challenged by my African-American mother's pale skin - which was often mistaken for that of a Caucasian individual - and her marriage to my dark-skinned father. Their own work experience was advantaged by the new civil rights initiatives which were opening the workplace for blacks and providing opportunities which often were in the very civil rights field that they were counting on to lift them out of the oppression that their earlier lives had endured during segregation, Jim Crow, and the like . . .
Thing is, though, most of the racism and discrimination was well undercover. Reasons and justifications needn't be openly discussed to deny a kid access to those elements of society that folks wanted to restrict for themselves. You just turn your back. Or, you just decide, as a group, to exclude. That characterized most of the problems I had as a result of the color of my skin. No open hollering racial epithets at me when I walked down the street, like the folks in Cumberland, Md. did when I visited there in 1979. No outright discrimination like I experienced as an adult looking for work and in the actual workplace. Just indifference and exclusion. Coded racism, undercover.
I did have one small period where I was under direct and open assault for the color of my skin. In my overwhelmingly white-populated junior high school, there was a fellow and a few of his friends who thought it would be funny to follow me around the hallways calling me 'Jigaboo' and 'King Coon'. The open use of obviously derogatory insults like the N-word would have been out of the question in that community at that time.
For folks not familiar with these epithets, they are terms used at the worst periods in our nation's history to belittle blacks. I knew of them, because my father had used those terms, 'coon' and 'jigaboo', in a derogatory manner, to cynically describe someone he knew.
This taunting from my classmates continued for weeks, with other students emboldened to jump in with their own taunts. I'd keep my head down and hurry to class. One day, I had had enough and I saw the ringleader standing beside the gym. I didn't wait for the taunts. I just opened-up and hit him square on the jaw. I fell and cracked my elbow in the process which swelled like a balloon.
Upshot of it all, the fellow was surprised beyond his belief that I would strike back in such an arbitrary manner; as were all of his friends standing around. I wasn't a large or menacing kid, but I'd made enough of an impact by striking back in that fashion that I never had so much of a hint of taunting or confrontation based on my race from anyone there again. In fact, the fellow I had hit came to me in private, shook my hand and apologized. He said he really didn't know what he was doing or why. I never forgot that.
Much of the racism we experience in this 'modern' age -- so far from the overt and institutionalized expressions of our nation's racist and discriminatory past -- isn't overt or obvious; especially to those who haven't been at the receiving end of it all. That reality requires a special kind of vigilance among us which isn't readily understood or identified with by folks who don't see the perniciousness in small, seemingly benign and marginal slights and insults which once were so openly accepted and encouraged against our black population.
In many ways, I see the need to move past the reflexive defensiveness which often deepens the controversies or draws unwanted attention to something which is, perhaps, better left unremarked on. There has been remarkable progress past the old civil rights battles for acceptance and acceptability among our peers which is a product of an enlightened generation determined to put all of that behind us.
Yet, I can't countenance having our discourse go all the way back to the place where folks were comfortable and secure that their slurs and their stereotypical insults wouldn't be met with forceful condemnation by society as a whole, and met by individuals determined to elevate our interactions above these opportunistic appeals to those things we sometimes use to divide or alienate.
There seems to be a revival of that racism and bigotry which is being encouraged by the cynical politics practiced by the present batch of republican candidates. That attitude is certainly trickling down to folks in our communities who are encouraged by these pols to identify their own opposition to this presidency with these racist and bigoted appeals which have root in our nation's tragic past.
In many ways, President Obama has refrained from directly confronting the rhetoric; choosing instead to direct the conversations to something more substantive than those things folks use to divide and conquer. That's likely the most productive course, but, it involves biting back those things which we feel we need to defend against (if only to define ourselves outside of the insults and stereotypes offered in these sly attacks on our humanity).
I'm not convinced, though, that enough folks out here are truly familiar with all of the nonsense which has been resurrected from the past in a cute attempt to replicate the divisive attitudes and expressions which characterized a more confrontational age. It's going to take some education from those of us whose life experiences aren't readily available in a google search; rendering our experiences mostly invisible and mostly unbelievable to a new generation. I hope for understanding. I fear, though, we'll be fighting many of the old battles out in the open again. That may well be for the best, in the long run.
In the time being, though, the sly appeals to the racism and toleration of the resurgence of some of the divisive rhetoric and attitudes of the past is a disturbing and disheartening trend which will require vigilance and a determined response.
. . .you're right, Google is my friend.
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Any thoughts why Cornel West always finds it necessary to refer to the color of the Presidents skin [View all]
still_one
Aug 2014
OP
Maybe he's racist? Maybe he doesn't like Obama? I really don't know why he does that.
Autumn
Aug 2014
#1
If you don't like Obama that is one thing, but what does that have to do with the President's race?
still_one
Aug 2014
#4
I think he's just still pissed off that he never made it into even the outer circle of advisors.
MohRokTah
Aug 2014
#2
That is a probable reason why he is bitter, but always referring to the President's race inter-
still_one
Aug 2014
#5
I'm trying to think of an ex. of a repug white guy talking shit like that about George Dumya.
JaydenD
Aug 2014
#107
Tavis & West were the "go-to" folks for black thought back in the day. As you say, Obama stole.....
Tarheel_Dem
Aug 2014
#76
stalking? I'm responding to your remark about 'a hidden secret Colorism' in THIS thread
bigtree
Aug 2014
#29
You seem to be determined to follow me all over DU today to respond to my posts
HipChick
Aug 2014
#34
personal attacks? e-bullying? Are you suggesting that I've no right to respond to your slur?
bigtree
Aug 2014
#41
If you feel you've been 'personally attacked' then ask a jury to take down my posts
bigtree
Aug 2014
#45
I am disgusted and disappointed in Cornell but your comment was beyond offensive
Number23
Aug 2014
#85
If you think that then you show that you don't know the black community one damned bit.
ancianita
Aug 2014
#48
I believe that 100%. When Corny said that Obama "fears free black men" he lost me FOREVER
Number23
Aug 2014
#83
Then give me one to prove your 'Corny said that Obama "fears free black men"' quote.
U4ikLefty
Aug 2014
#111
Aren't you and your demands precious. And as unnecessary as they are laughable
Number23
Aug 2014
#112
You may make demands of your family members without a "please" but I ain't your family
Number23
Aug 2014
#114
Lots and lots and lots of people have posted lots and lots and lots of comments
Number23
Aug 2014
#116
Thank you, greyl for doing the poster's work for them. "..Obama has a certain fear of free black men
Cha
Aug 2014
#120
You could have taken the 2 seconds it took me to find it. And it's even worse in context.
pnwmom
Aug 2014
#147
"Barack Obama has a certain fear of free black men,” West says" Others are doing your work for you.
Cha
Aug 2014
#121
http://www.eurweb.com/2011/05/video-cornel-west-believes-obama-fears-free-black-men/
raven mad
Aug 2014
#151
Wow, frazzled! Maybe that's why Dr West didn't get invited to the Inauguraton.. could not be.. but,
Cha
Aug 2014
#108
That is true, but doesn't really answer the question, unless it is for shock value
still_one
Aug 2014
#10
You nailed it. And some are all up in that other thread with their "Brutha West speaks the troof"
Number23
Aug 2014
#86
I don't know why you are stalking me all over DU?..Anyone can google and see what Jesse called Obama
HipChick
Aug 2014
#27
two threads, both about Cornel, which you chose to post in. Not stalking, responding to your remarks
bigtree
Aug 2014
#33
you're the only one I've seen with the temerity to call this accomplished African Americanprofessor
bigtree
Aug 2014
#39
yet if you google, you will find approximately 34,567 hits saying the same thing...
HipChick
Aug 2014
#40
That's a defense commonly used by right wing bigots. You don't want to use that defense anymore.
ancianita
Aug 2014
#53
Except Jessie recognized it was wrong and apologized for it, and meant it. Big difference
still_one
Aug 2014
#57
Cornel West called Al Sharpton ‘the bonafide house negro of the Obama plantation
HipChick
Aug 2014
#31
Yeah, well the whole plantation metaphor can explain all of us and our positions on the "capitalism
ancianita
Aug 2014
#52
Not assigning anything; describing how I've heard this same accusation made, many times, and yet I
ancianita
Aug 2014
#84
It wasn't overtly "racist", but effectively saying the President isn't "black enough". The latest
still_one
Aug 2014
#62
That answer was completely clear. Telling people that 2+2 = 5 perfectly describes
sabrina 1
Aug 2014
#149
You're right. Because he believes that black authenticity is part and parcel of humanity, and that
ancianita
Aug 2014
#56
Those are the choices? Interesting list. I've no idea what any "new" black is.
ancianita
Aug 2014
#89
Yeah. Because, being black, any and all blacks do that if they damned well feel like it. And calling
ancianita
Aug 2014
#50
Meh... the academic cultural left doesn't like being transcended or challenged
Sen. Walter Sobchak
Aug 2014
#51
And that is the DU Post of the Month. Sub in the "DU cultural Farthest Left," and you have
msanthrope
Aug 2014
#61
Isn't that special.... Ironic because the right wing haters believe that is what Obama does
still_one
Aug 2014
#66
ok, that may be, then why not word it as you just did? Instead he prefers to make the critique
still_one
Aug 2014
#59
It's the language of betrayal. Cornell West has been fighting the good fight for a long time.
Wella
Aug 2014
#64
This isn't about Mr. West, and he has made it so by his rhetoric. You and I obviously have
still_one
Aug 2014
#65
That is right. He effectively is saying the President isn't "black enough". What does that have to
still_one
Aug 2014
#119
I didn't take it that way: I thought he meant that he doubted the President's commitment
Wella
Aug 2014
#122
I wish he had just stuck to that then, instead of adding the inflammatory rhetoric in like an
still_one
Aug 2014
#128
Dr West is his own worst bitter enemy. Yeah, it's all Obama's fault that Cornel has gone
Cha
Aug 2014
#123
West was doing it before Obama became President.. I don't buy any vicious whine Cornel is selling..
Cha
Aug 2014
#129
I find it troubling that he finds it necessary to personalize the race of the President in
still_one
Aug 2014
#80
His verbosity about the President has NOTHING to do with a "color-blind" society. It has to do with
still_one
Aug 2014
#102
Then go post on those threads .. we'll discuss Dr West's assholery. And, quite capable of
Cha
Aug 2014
#125
Says West's "Cheerleader".. Yeah, he's been a "consistent" asshole talking about everyone's
Cha
Aug 2014
#133