Racism not part of Tar Baby tale

Atlanta Journal Constitution ^ | May 27, 2006 | LUCINDA MacKETHAN, professor of English at North Carolina State University.

[kinoxi]

i like my racism with extra chocolate

[D-fendr]

I guess "Black Beauty" is racist now too.

sheesh.

Illiterate, PC nazis.

[ansel12]

"Sure enough, when Brer Rabbit encounters the Tar Baby on his path, he is insulted when the doll refuses to acknowledge his greeting, and he grabs hold of the sticky arm and soon finds himself hopelessly stuck (Snow's analogy to his own situation in the Bush White House might be all too appropriate)."


This college professor is using one of my favorites to make another silly leftist point.

How long has Snow been with the White House, 2 or 3 weeks, a month?

[edpc]

The plantation South was the slaves' brier patch, and the Tar Baby just one of many traps set by a powerful foe.

In the modern version of The Tar Baby does Brer Fox get taxed to provide welfare to Brer Rabbit's litter? Does Brer Rabbit ask for reparations for years of being hunted?

[Renderofveils]

"However, he understood the slaves' ability to survive, and he never altered the plots of the Brer Rabbit tales that he had heard when he worked on a plantation himself, as a white boy living in poverty in middle Georgia."

White people worked on plantations?! Who knew? /sarc

Someone needs to smack the Dims upside the head with that last phrase (the one from the article, not my sarcastic remark) enough times that it sticks. We may want to use tar. And some feathers would make a nice touch as well.

[Ninian Dryhope]

"all slaves, who in order to survive had to depend on quick-wittedness and deception."

I see. So that is why only the quick-witted slaves survived. That explains a lot.

[Jimmy Valentine]

Try the word "niggardly"

A D.C. govt. official used that one and lost his job over it.

[9999lakes]

tar-baby, catch a tiger by the toe, Brazil nuts, Indian-giver, Jaw the price down, Or you might get Gypted --- All phrases from my childhood, that I KNOW were taught to me innocently, but which now, cannot be used.

My recommendation -- In all cases substitute Christian words -- That done each phrase is politically acceptable.

Xian-baby {Use the X version all you wish}, Catch a Preacher by the toe, Preacher-toes, Deacon-giver, Oral the price down, or you might get Falwelled.

[DumpsterDiver]

Or you might get Gypted

I once convinced someone that the phrase was referring to Egyptians and not gypsies. :)

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I like Mark Twain's story of introducing Joel Chandler Harris to some children of his acquaintance. "He's White!", they shrieked in disappointment. He was a big hit, despite his racial handicap.

My favorite Joel Chandler Harris epigram is on the subject of money, to the effect: "What is money? It cannot revive the dead dreams of youth; it cannot restore the shattered portals of a broken home or mend a broken heart. I speak, of course, of Confederate money."

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

The very word, "Gypsy", of course, arise from confusion about the origins of the Romany as being from Egypt, rather than the Subcontinent.

[6SJ7]

In this dreadful PC environment, I guess we'll have to change the story to "Brer Rabbit and the Post-it-Note Baby".

[Bear_Slayer]

I once convinced someone that the phrase was referring to Egyptians and not gypsies. :)

I was taught that gypsies were muslims from Egypt, in europe.

[GodfearingTexan]

i absolutely live to piss off these racist leftists. i love it when they make complete fools of themselves over these non-issues.

[Carry_Okie]

This story really blew an opportunity, preferring to retell the tale of B'rer Rabbit instead of completing the story of Joel Chandler Harris.

Harris was an amateur anthropologist. He had traced the origins of these stories through the slave trade to as far as India. Harris had seen many versions of them but preferred those told by black slaves. They are ancient. They were taught to the children of white masters. He was so taken by their wisdom and love for the people who told them that he wanted to capture them for posterity, using the phonetic puns in the text that was a popular vehicle for humor in that day.

His was a powerful intellect expressing the antithesis of racism. That the "Politically Correct" have removed these stories depicting a rich and sophisticated side of black culture from the literature IS an act of racism.

Methinks they didn't want the children of the welfare state to learn how they were being had.

[wizr]

I love ethic jokes, as well as other jokes.

I explain that I can tell them because I'm Cherokee/Norwegian and you can't get much more screwed up than that.

There are way too many thinned skinned people in this country. We need to laugh more, and take offense less.

[DumpsterDiver]

I was taught that gypsies were muslims from Egypt, in europe.

All I know about gypsies is that my grandmother used to threaten us by saying she would lock us outside at night and let the gypsies steal us.

[USS Alaska]

Or you might get Gypted.

I once convinced someone that the phrase was referring to Egyptians and not gypsies.

gypted, isn't that what Maha Rushie does when he broadcasts portions of live press conferences on his show?

[DumpsterDiver]

gypted, isn't that what Maha Rushie does when he broadcasts portions of live press conferences on his show?

I thought gypted was when you stole Kennedy's last bottle of booze.