The Garnet Spy

The “Black National Anthem” was recently sung at Denver’s “State of the City” event INSTEAD of the National Anthem of the United States. The mayor was unaware this was going to happen. It was perpetrated by the selected singer “to express how I feel about living in the United States, as a black woman, as a black person.“

Get ready for more of this kind of crap if Barack Obama is elected President.

“Crap?” Since when is love of one’s heritage “crap?” Well, there IS the issue of the Confederate battle flag in South Carolina. Though The Spy is no fan of flying that flag over the State House or at the Confederate Memorial in front of the State House (if ya gotta fly a Confederate flag, why not the flag of the Confederacy?), heritage is heritage.

It’s fair to argue that some legacies are less noble than others, but what, exactly, is the point in accentuating African-American agendas? Segregation.

GASP! Segregation? That’s BAD! Jim Crow!

Bleehhh.

African-Americans have been systematically segregating themselves from American society for years and all the while expecting – demanding – the country to accept it as cultural expression.

Seems “cultural expression” trumps intelligence. Remember the Washington D.C. official who caught so much flak for using the word “niggardly” that he resigned?

Political correctness is damaging enough, but as it has been applied to a specific ethnic minority (as in 13% of the population), it’s become worse than Draconian.

There are even WORDS we can’t say because they are offensive to a minority of individuals. WORDS! And by “we,” I mean anyone other than an African-American, particularly rappers and comedians. Of course, similar words that demean other ethnic groups, words like “honky,” “cracker,” or “redneck” are perfectly acceptable.

Why, even this post is gonna get The Spy labeled as a racist.

And now, we can’t criticize a major party candidate FOR ANY REASON because to do so is racist.

casting Obama as “out of touch” plays harmoniously with the traditional notion of blacks as “others” at the edge of the mainstream, separate from the whole. Despite his ability to articulate the frustration and yearning of broad segments of Americans, his “otherness” has been highlighted effectively by right-wingers who harp on his Kenyan father and spread false rumors that he’s a clandestine Muslim.

In a country so changed that a biracial man who is considered black has a shot at the presidency, the subterranean biases are much less discernible now than when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. They are subtle, unacknowledged and unacceptable in polite company. But they lurk below, lending resonance to the criticisms of Obama. Black professionals know the double standard. They are often labeled negatively for traits deemed positive in whites: A white is assertive, a black is aggressive; a white is resolute, a black is pushy; a white is candid, a black is abrasive; a white is independent, a black is not a team player. Prejudice is a shape shifter, adapting to acceptable forms.

So although Obama’s brilliance defies the stubborn stereotype of African Americans as unintelligent, there is a companion to that image — doubts about blacks’ true capabilities — that may heighten concerns about his inexperience. Through the racial lens, a defect can be enlarged into a disability. He is “not ready,” a phrase employed often when blacks are up for promotion.

An Obama presidency will just enable more of the same. It’s a CYA effort… a smokescreen to protect Obama from viable critiques of his loony left-wing policies. Can’t talk about his racist, anti-American, Stalinist preacher – Jeremiah Wright. Can’t whisper a thing about his controversial wife. Can’t even say his middle name! Can’t talk about his inexperience because, well, that’s just racist. In fact, according to Wesley Clark and Jim Webb, we can’t even talk about McCain’s military experience!

Even African-Americans can’t criticize him for not showing up at an African-American event! Honkey Please!

So far, there hasn’t been noticeable protest about cartoonists emphasizing Barack’s big ears, but it’ll probably come.

So, in an Obama presidency, will there be allowance for the kind of vicious, hate-mongering, indecent slams George Bush has had to endure? Will the kind of mockery the First Black President generated be tolerated by an Obama Administration?

Surely, Obama’s tenure in the White House will be all sunshine and lollipops, so criticism and mockery likely won’t have a home there, but, just in case – an outside chance – that there is some little slip-up during his administration, will it be OK to say something about it?

Probably not.

First Amendment, it was good knowin’ ya.