Saturday, January 03, 2009

Seriously. It's called "Barack, the Magic Negro."

I'm going to write a song called "McCain the Salty Cracker," followed with it's remix, "Sarah, the White Trailer Trash." It's not meant to offend, because it's just political satire.

For those who don't know, Chip Saltsman, a candidate for Chairman of the Republican National Convention, distributed a CD recently to his fellow RNC members that contained parodies of popular songs that mock "liberals," because this is what Republicans do when they're not hurting America. Apparently, the song that's causing all the controversy, "Barack, the Magic Negro," first aired on the Rush Limbaugh Show in March 2007, almost two years ago. There isn't a statute of limitations on when I can get mad about this, because in my defense, Black people don't listen to Rush Limbaugh.

According to Dictionary.com, the definition of "satire" is: "a literary composition, in verse or prose, in which human folly and vice are held up to scorn, derision, or ridicule." That basically means that you're supposed to provide a hilarious send-up of one's flaws or mistakes.

Now, someone tell me, what does calling a Black man "The Magic Negro" have to do with politics or satire? I'm willing to bet both my balls that they only reason why they called it "Magic Negro" is because they couldn't defend it at all if they called it "Magic Nigger." Are they trying to tell me that being Black is "folly" or "a vice?" Do they believe that something is wrong with being Black? Really, it's probably just semantics, but if they're going to claim that it's satire, it's at least good to know what the word means.

Some white people might not see what the big deal is about all this and of course you don't, because it's not about YOU. If I decided to write a song called "Jon Stewart, The Covetous Jew," would the picture become a little clearer? Maybe if I did one called "Ted Kennedy, The Drunken Mick Bastard?" Thank goodness I didn't do "Hu Jintao, the Slanty-Eyed Laundryman," or else we'd be going to war with China soon.

In fairness, I haven't heard to song at all, because I can't get past the part where they say "Barack the Magic Negro." The title of the song is all I need to hear, because it says everything about what they think about us. To ALL Black Republicans, put down your shine boxes and listen: To them, you are still second-class citizens.

But I'm not trying to rally Black Republicans to release their grip on the slavemaster's nuts; I really just want to help the Republicans understand what satire is. We went through this during the election numerous times and they still don't seem to get it. Calling President Bush a "mouth-breathing, helmet-wearing moron" is satire. Calling President Bush "white, peckerwood trash" is not satire.

This song is in the "white peckerwood trash" category. So are all my other made-up song titles.

If title was "Barack, the Slow-Talking, Flip-Flopper," there would have been no problem. All the jokes that Republicans made about Barack being "The Savior," and the cracks about him parting seas and walking on water were fair game. The second race is brought into it, it becomes a problem because we, as a nation, can't even publicly discuss our racial problems without it becoming a fight, so don't ever believe that we're on such good terms racially that you can poke fun at being Black.

Race is always where the line is drawn, not just for us, but for everybody. Do you call your Mexican friends "bean-and-tamale-eating border hoppers?" Of course not, because that's Carlos Mencia's job.

We both have a long way to go, because Black people are quick to make fun of white people. The difference is, the political realm is national news. For a long time, the only people seeing the "white jokes" were Black people, only comedians were telling them, and unless they're caught by police giving rides to transvestites, comedians don't make the national news. Not only that, there wasn't a comedian alive claiming that it was just "political satire." We all knew what is was. And there were white comedians doing the same thing, so that doesn't even count. The second that one of my songs starts making the rounds to the Black Congressional Caucus, both sides of the political spectrum are going to start playing the victim. Will I be able to claim "political satire" card then?

Dave Chappelle, who made a living doing racially charged humor, said that it's all about "the subtleties," and there's nothing subtle about this song. It's the difference between Jimmy Kimmel doing Karl Malone or Frank Caliendo doing Charles Barkley versus, say...performing in blackface. One is clever, one is offensive. Being clever is making fun of the fact that neither one of these men can speak properly. Being offensive is writing a song called "Barack the Magic Negro."

What's funny is actual satirist Andy Borowitz's parody of the official apology from the RNC denouncing the song: The RNC offered "an official apology to America's negroes." They said that the song was "tone-deaf, unacceptable, and offensive to every negro in the country," Following with, "We do not want one ill-considered song parody to create the wrong impression. The Republican Party has always been, and will always be, the friend of the negro."

Suddenly, a light bulb went off in someone's head and the RNC realized where it went wrong in making their apology. They quickly issued an apology for the apology that stated, "It has come to our attention that we misused a word in our first apology. We should have capitalized 'Negro.'"

Now that's comedy. VOTE GOP!!!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good insights, Tony.
But you should go to www.YouTube.com and listen to the song because Paul Shanklin is singing in Al Sharpton's voice- and the point that "Sharpton" is making is that Barack's Black Heritage is not one of ancestral African roots and that he isn't from the "hood."
It's making a statement that Obama "magically" appeared on the scene and Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have been fighting the good fight for equality, etc. for many years- and Obama eclipsed them.
I was more offended by Jesse Jackson's comment that he wanted to cut off Barack's nuts!

Anonymous said...

You should research the song before you comment negatively. A black editorial writer wrote a column in the LA Times and said whites would vote for Barack out of guilt. HE refered to him as "the magic negro". Rush was mocking the media and others who perpetuate the "white guilt"...a term written about by black author Shelby Steele.

Anonymous said...

You should research the song before you comment negatively. A black editorial writer wrote a column in the LA Times and said whites would vote for Barack out of guilt. HE refered to him as "the magic negro". Rush was mocking the media and others who perpetuate the "white guilt"...a term written about by black author Shelby Steele.