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The Magical Negro Extended
The Atlantic ^ | December 8, 2009 | Ta-Nehisi Coates

Posted on 12/08/2009 9:39:37 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

An interesting comment from CPR:

I can't speak for all white people, but I think white people want the Magic Negro because they want forgiveness. Obama's election and some of the incredibly weird things I heard some white people say about it made me realize that there is a fundamental injury that all americans carry with them (slavery and its aftermath) that has never been addressed adequately, and on the white side of the street, there is more unexplored/unexpressed guilt (which morphs into defensiveness or fear pretty easily) than I ever would have guessed. So in an archetypal way, the "unconditional gentle love of a maternal black figure" to a white person is about forgiveness, I think. Of course, it is on the cheap, as the one being forgiven hasn't faced what they need forgiveness for.

I don't have much experience with "white guilt," and really haven't spent much time examining it. But I like this point about absolution on the cheap. One problem with the debate around reparations, when it was hot, was that it allowed us to go where we are all most comfortable--our respective corners--and yell at each other. The focus on money, or on some form of direct payback, obscured a potentially deeper discussion in which white folks acknowledge some of the distressing roots of this country, and black folks acknowledge that some debts can not be repaid. Instead we got this cheap, cartoonish debate about cash. It's like everything else.

And yet it can't afford to be like everything else. The Black-White divide, to steal a phrase, this country's birth defect. (More accurately, it's one of two birth defects.) Some of it's greatest patriots--Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Frederick Douglass--were consumed by it.(continued)

The Author

(Excerpt) Read more at ta-nehisicoates.theatlantic.com ...


TOPICS: Heated Discussion
KEYWORDS: affirmativeaction; blacks; economy; magicnegro; obama; reparations; slaveryreparations; whiteguilt
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I deny any involvement in or benefit from slavery or Jim Crow and I refuse to have money taken from my pocket to pay any reparations.
1 posted on 12/08/2009 9:39:37 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Maybe the people who want forgiveness feel they have done something to be forgiven for. I would guess that maybe deep down these liberals have personal animus or some negative feelings towards blacks that makes them feel guilty.


2 posted on 12/08/2009 9:42:25 AM PST by cvq3842 (A fool and his liberty are soon parted.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Ditto. I would also add that it’s a rather senseless emotion to feel guilty for something one had absolutely nothing to do with.


3 posted on 12/08/2009 9:43:53 AM PST by RU88 (Bow to no man)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

What’s this guy been smoking?

My ancestors have been here in the South 200 years. I have no guilt.

And I befriend black folks because I like them, not because I owe them something different from the same respect I owe any other person.


4 posted on 12/08/2009 9:44:33 AM PST by hoe_cake (A member of the Society of the Descendants of the Signers of the Constitution.)
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To: cvq3842
Slavery is wrong. I had nothing to do with slavery. Ask the people wanting reparations if they are better off here in the US or back where their ancestors were from. Betcha I know the correct answer. They ought to be paying us for the chance to have a future versus (pick one) live in hunger and squalor or die young from atrocities or the hands of Muslim extremists. Africans sold Africans into slavery. You didn't suffer, they did, so drop the con game.
5 posted on 12/08/2009 9:47:43 AM PST by dumpthelibs (dumpthelibs)
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To: cvq3842

Count on it! As I commented the other day, some of the most vile-mouthed racists I’ve ever run into were self-proclaimed liberals. In private they use slur words, mock minorities, and speak in a paternalistic manner about non-whites. But because of their political affiliations, they think they are innoculated against criticism.

If I were them I’d feel mighty guilty.


6 posted on 12/08/2009 9:48:02 AM PST by Scanian
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Well, when the racists dissolve the Black Caucus, then I’ll start paying attention. (I’m still trying to contact the chairman of the White Caucus ... anybody got an email address?) /s


7 posted on 12/08/2009 9:48:11 AM PST by ThePatriotsFlag (http://www.thepatriotsflag.com - The Patriot's Flag)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

If a white writer has submitted such a piece of sophomoric pseudo-psychological trash, it would have been returned if and only if return postage had been included.

Look at what affirmative action has done to writing, publishing, ad nauseam.


8 posted on 12/08/2009 9:48:50 AM PST by GladesGuru (In a society predicated upon freedom, it is essential to examine principles,)
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To: hoe_cake

His last paragraph had this:

“..... I think a lot of us can come to some peace, can come to understand that whatever happened to us, there are limits on what anyone can do to make it right, and while those limits have to be pushed, some of this we’re going to have to carry ourselves. And then with a even broader sense we can understand that our suffering is not singular, that it isn’t the only suffering......”


9 posted on 12/08/2009 9:52:13 AM PST by PeteB570 (NRA - Life member and Black Rifle owner)
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To: ThePatriotsFlag
"...I’m still trying to contact the chairman of the White Caucus...anybody got an email address?)..."

Sure: http://byrd.senate.gov/byrd_email.html

10 posted on 12/08/2009 9:55:12 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (I will raise $2 million for Sarah Palin: What will you do?)
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To: PeteB570

“whatever happened to us, “

what’s happened to HIM?

Affirmative Action, appeasements, apologies, gimme programs, ...


11 posted on 12/08/2009 9:55:23 AM PST by hoe_cake (A member of the Society of the Descendants of the Signers of the Constitution.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Most of todays, America did not benefit from “slave” activities, nor did their ancestors.

For those that were involved a lot have time has passed, also, a lot of the “wealth “ “taken” from the blacks has been squandered. As far as “income” goes? Today farm labor is still the lowest paid job going with the workers narrowly getting by. The farm owners? Are having a tough time as well. I doubt things were much different then.

The blacks should be thankful they are here and have every opportunity open to them to fall in the system and be someone as opposed to their brothers in Guinea, Sierra leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana etc etc.

Most people in West Africa wish they could be in America..... for the opportunity that used to be.


12 posted on 12/08/2009 9:55:59 AM PST by himno hero
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To: RU88

Bingo, my ancestors were slaves under Ottoman rule for 500 years and I have yet to see the Turkish government get cornered into payment a plan.

Guilt is nothing more than anger turned inward, so I have no idea why I would have anything to feel guilty for. PC bullshit is so prevalent in our society at large and ingrained into our youth that “white guilt” has become the populist’s tool of choice in drumming up kooky ways to hand over our freedoms to these communist hacks.


13 posted on 12/08/2009 9:56:32 AM PST by montyspython ("I don't believe in 'no win' scenarios." - James T. Kirk)
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To: ThePatriotsFlag

I’m still looking for the Caucasian College Fund


14 posted on 12/08/2009 9:57:32 AM PST by hoe_cake (A member of the Society of the Descendants of the Signers of the Constitution.)
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To: hoe_cake

It’s called a lemonade stand.


15 posted on 12/08/2009 9:59:12 AM PST by montyspython ("I don't believe in 'no win' scenarios." - James T. Kirk)
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To: montyspython

Lemonade stand! That’s rich. LOL.


16 posted on 12/08/2009 10:00:15 AM PST by hoe_cake (A member of the Society of the Descendants of the Signers of the Constitution.)
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To: GladesGuru

Since I am waiting for a conference call with the engineers, I may as well take the time to point out a few points on the “reparations” issue.

Central to the black racists pushing “reparations” is these undeniable facts:
1. Blacks are poorer than whites.
True, but why are blacks poorer than whites? The answer is in the next fact.
2. Blacks hold lower paying jobs. Why do blacks hold lower paying jobs is answered in #3. below.
3. For cultural, not genetic reasons, blacks reject academic hard work in schools. Thus they are less able to compete for better jobs because they are less educated.
4. Blacks have fostered an ‘inner city’ culture which glamorizes “attitude”, foul language, loathsome behavior towards women, crime - all of which may create extra costs for any employer who hires them.

Reverend Manning has it right. Acting like the “Long Legged Mack Daddy”, or almost any of the iconic figures in urban Black Culture is no way to go through life.

Blacks are indeed suffering, not because of slavery, but because of their own choices.


17 posted on 12/08/2009 10:04:08 AM PST by GladesGuru (In a society predicated upon freedom, it is essential to examine principles,)
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To: cvq3842
"...maybe deep down these liberals have personal animus or some negative feelings towards blacks that makes them feel guilty."

I think this is the real kernel of the problem. Overcompensating for one's own secret racism would explain a lot of this. And it doesn't take a psychiatrist to figure it out, either.

18 posted on 12/08/2009 10:04:55 AM PST by redhead (Hmm.... Copenhagen.. Hopenchange... Copenhagen... Hopenchange....)
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To: cvq3842
Dear Ta-Nehisi Coates;

Please exclude me from the body of white people seeking forgiveness for slavery and the plight of the African-American community. I never owned slaves and am not responsible for slavery in this nation in any way. Additionally, the amount of taxes I pay that end up supporting the employment-challenged portion of the African-American community is more than enough penance for any such feelings any human being could possibly harbour.

Sincerely;
AD from SpringBay
White Guy Who Isn't Looking for Negro Magic
19 posted on 12/08/2009 10:10:43 AM PST by AD from SpringBay (We deserve the government we allow.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

We son’t like your kind there mister.
We’re gonna take you and your kind and put you in a re=education camp there fella.

You WILL pay.

Lot of crap huh?
Lock and load.


20 posted on 12/08/2009 10:12:32 AM PST by Joe Boucher (This marxist punk has got to go.)
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