Oops, black-on-black fiasco!

You, that is, my regular readers, know that nothing has me salivating more than a nice juicy piece of irony wrapped in a paradox.  Thus, I have derived much amusement, albeit tinged with melancholy, that in the short period of America 'enjoying' a black president one of the major disasters, apart from the economy, the banks, the nationalised health service and so on ad nauseum, has been race relations.  I lived through, and watched with sympathy, the period in which the Great Republic wrestled with its conscience and finally came to terms with its race problem.  Such deep-rooted cancers are never cured instantly but it has been remarkable to watch over the decades the rise and rise of black Americans to the highest levels in the nation, and even more, to see white Americans becoming more and more comfortable with it, to the point where it seemed to me from 'over here' that the tumour had almost wasted away to nothing.  Obama's presidency, for all its vices, seemed to set a capping stone on a monument to the civil rights battles of yesteryear. 

And yet ... and yet ... exactly the opposite has happened!  Almost from the off, Obama's instinctive racism - and I use that word in the sense of a visceral dislike of white authority figures - was made explicit by his condemnation of a white police officer caught in a kerfuffle with a black professor who screeched 'racist' after being, quite properly, arrested.  Obama spoke honestly because his words expressing his true inner feelings were immediate, instinctive and prior to knowing any of the background.

His 'commissars' have been quick to pick up the message.  The Attorney General's office which is supposed to stay strictly neutral in enforcing the law has been caught back-pedalling on pressing serious charges against a couple of Black Panther hoodlums seen outside a polling station menacing voters.  According to a whistle-blower, orders were issued to the effect that a soft line was to be taken against Black Panthers, in particular, and anyone black, in general.  The NAACP joined in by mounting a campaign accusing the Tea Party movement of being racist.  No sooner done, than undone, because Andrew Breitbart laid hands on a video showing a black woman employed by the Agriculture Department giving a speech to the NAACP in which she confesses (apparently - see below) to giving a distressed white farmer less help than she would have provided for a black - and the audience can be seen and heard cheering and clapping.

This was too much for the White House who instantly put the squeeze on the Agriculture Department who in turn pestered the woman concerned by telephone as she drove her car and insisted she pull off onto the hard shoulder and resign immediately via her Blackberry.  Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on where you stand on all of this) the woman was all over the airwaves yesterday pointing out that the video had been edited and the incident she had referred to took place 24 years ago and that in fact she has realised that her black/white approach was wrong and that the underlying causes were rich/poor irrespective of colour, so in effect, she was a good, old-fashioned socialist.  Incidentally, the farmer has been traced and spoke nothing but good of the lady concerned and reckoned she had saved their farm for them, so probably the lady was stretching a tale from her memory for the benefit of a contemporary audience.  Today, both the Agriculture Department, and its hapless boss who denies, honestly he does, that the White House exerted any pressure, are reconsidering the lady's resignation; and the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Coloured Prats, perhaps) is busy spinning round in circles and tripping over its own feet.

All of this follows closely Breitbart's other scoop (see post below) in which the 'Journolist' cabal of progressive media people has been exposed trying to fix the news agenda and foil any criticism of Obama, not least by taking every opportunity to use (or mis-use) their media access to accuse his critics of being - yes, you guessed it - racist!

Suddenly, the ghosties and ghoulies of a darker time have been resurrected - and by a black president.  Now, if that ain't a nice, rich humbug to suck on, I don't know what it! 

Comments

[dearieme]

I first took an interest in the plight of the American blacks because, although it's a bit of a non sequitur, I'd discovered the music of Johnny Dodds, Kid Ory and company. It was rather interesting to watch the Civil Rights movement succeed as a non-violent popular protest (much kudos to MLK) and further watch the politicians slither aboard and try to claim credit (e.g. Kennedys). But there is a problem with this remarkable long-term success - how is a race-hustler to make a living in future? Perhaps that's the question that Barackmandias is trying to answer. What a pity, what a great bloody pity.

[David Duff]

"Barackmandias" - love it! And yes, "Oh the pity of it".

[JK]

Hopefully, this will clear up any mis-perceptions.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036789/#38341224

[David Duff]

Another hoot can be enjoyed at the fact that the White House appears to be scared of Glenn Beck, but an even bigger one is to be had from the fact that Beck didn't feature the story that night, and the following night he supported the lady in question.

Storm-in-a-teacup stuff but in the meantime race relations in America take a hit.

[JK]

I had this feeling you'd have a hoot when I heard Mr. Beck's name mentioned. Yet another can be had (but then you'd have to know something about the traffic patterns on Interstate Highways) but it coulda been bad, bad, bad when Ms. Sherrod went from the left lane to the right shoulder in her [apparently] allotted time.

[David Duff]

But her defence, had an accident occurred, would have been, "I was only obeying orders!"