Barack, the Magic Negro
by Linda ThiemanI’m sure by now you’ve heard the tale of the parody entitled “Barack, the Magic Negro” – sung to the tune of “Puff, the Magic Dragon.”
The supposedly-funny racial slur satire received little attention when it first aired several times on Rush Limbaugh’s increasingly irrelevant radio talk show in 2007. But then, thanks to one of the good ol’ boys of the Grand Old Party—Chip Saltsman, who is/was? running for head of the RNC—the “magic” hit the fan when he distributed a “Christmas” collection of supposedly satirical songs by Limbaugh contributor, Paul Shanklin, which included “Barack, the Magic Negro.”
It’s not hard to choose exactly which part of this parody is most offensive, as it is easy to see that there are some deep-seated racial stereotypes being called on. The one I am primarily referring to is the question of Obama’s “authenticity” as a black man.
For one thing, Shanklin uses a pseudo-Al Sharpton to accuse Obama of not being an authentic black man because he’s not from “the ‘hood,” which would seem to indicate that only a portion of African-Americans could be considered “authentic,” as if Shanklin were implying that to be born into a well-educated or a well-off middle- or upper-class African-American family makes you less black and less real.
Another questionable line has whites voting for Obama because they feel guilty and voting for Obama makes them feel good. And this idea was supposedly taken from a March, 2007, opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times.
In effect, the parody is saying that it’s all about race. It’s not that we vote for Obama because we agree with his policies or because we believe that he can do the job better than any other candidate. It’s because he is a non-threatening, non-buffoonish black man who helps us alleviate “white guilt.”
But, really, I should think that being non-threatening and non-buffoonish would be a prerequisite for any candidate to be elected to the office of POTUS. However, these qualties would not preclude a person from stealing the office, however, as we have daily proof. But I digress….
It is disturbing that some in the GOP can see nothing wrong with the lyrics, claiming instead that there is a “hypersensitivity in the press regarding matters of race.” Or maybe the insensitive members of the GOP are just shocked that suddenly someone is making a big to-do about something that no one noticed for over a year. Well, I suppose we expect this kind of low behavior from Limbaugh, but we may actually hold the leaders of the GOP to a higher standard. This whole thing reminds me of something drunk men would do at an office Christmas party–it's ill-advised, ill-considered, and accompanied by a doozy of a headache in the morning.
If you haven’t yet taken the time to listen to the so-called parody, you can listen to it here.
Read the lyrics here.
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