Wednesday, January 23, 2008

The Dance Card.


"I have to say that you know,you know, I would have to, you know, investigate more of Bill's dancing abilities you know, ad some of the other stuff before I can accurately judge whether he was in fact a brother."


Those were the words which the "O" man uttered to the CNN moderator the other night in response to a question about whether Bill Clinton was actually the "first black president." Of course the "O" man caught some flack from some folks, but it didn't bother the field one little bit. Hell, I was just wondering what kind of test I would use to find out if Bill was really one of us in disguise: "Quick, what's your favorite EWF song? "And if the son of a bitch broke out with "Reasons" without even blinking an eye, I would quickly have another one for his ass: "Do you have to use lotion in the winter time?" Or, "how do you know when you are being followed in a department store?" Or, "have you ever been stopped by a very polite state trooper who just wanted to see your license, proof of insurance, and registration please?" See, there are other tests I could give Bill other than merely wanting to know if he could dance. I mean come on "O" man, some of us can't even dance, and we are brothers fo real. But I get it, Bill and Hillary are playing the race card, so you might as well play the dance card right back at em.




Of course Hillary had a come back for the "O" man. She wanted the "O" man to know that it could be arranged for a sit down with Bill to see if he was really a brother or not. Mmmmm.....now if Hillary really wanted to set off some political fireworks, she could have said something like: "Hey, he sure seems like a brother to me." But then I am sure Michelle Obama would fire off a statement the next day saying something like: "Hillary I know what it's like to be with a black man, and trust me, Bill ain't no black man." To which Hillary might have then replied........ahh fuck it, I am going to leave this one alone. But you get the point. This is what happens when we combine race with our politics folks, there is just so much craziness we can endure in one political season. I know Toni Morrison regrets making that A-merry-ca's first black prez statement, because folks have been running with that shit ever since. And the scary thing is that Bill himself is actually starting to believe that shit. That's why he is so comfortable talking about the "O" man every chance he gets. He thinks he is one of us.

But I bet Bill couldn't pass my little pop quiz, oh he might be able to dance his ass off, but I used to see white boys on Soul Train all the time.






47 comments:

Toure Zeigler said...

Even if he did pass the test, it still doesnt mean that he gets black people, it just means he has affinity for the culture, it doesnt mean that he understands the struggle though.

I say that because some of the most ignorant white people that I ever met were the ones that thought they knew black culture and thought they knew all of our capabilities.

rikyrah said...

Obama should have answered:

I doubt he has a problem catching a cab.

And left it at that.

SouthernGirl2 said...

Field

You're too funny. You had me laughing out loud. And "Hillary I know what it's like to be with a black man, and trust me, Bill ain't no black man" had me rolling!

field negro said...

"I doubt he has a problem catching a cab."

rikyrah, Barack needs to hire you right now!:)

bc planning, your observation about white folks who think they know our culture, but are still ignorant about us is dead on.

justice58, I am glad you caught that ;)

Anonymous said...

Bill will be a black man for now, but then he'll magically transform into a white man again, at the stroke of midnight, when Hillary takes over the White House.

Then he'll shed his afro, his dashiki, his fly hat, his black underwear, and his rolled-up sock just below his navel, and jump in bed with Hillary.

Maybe he won't shed the sock.

Ann Brock said...

Field, you are funny! Do you have to used lotion in the winter time? Now that is a test.

Christopher said...

"Hillary I know what it's like to be with a black man, and trust me, Bill ain't no black man."

ROFL! Good one, Field!

Francis Holland said...

I've decided! Hillary IS going to be the nominee, so I'm going to vote for Barack Obama, so that Obama will have a greater chance of becoming the V.P. nominee.

Before I was sure Edwards was out of the race, I might have voted for Hillary to stop Edwards. But now that Edwards is out of the race, a vote for Hillary is a effectively a vote against Obama. A vote for Hillary at this point is a wasted vote, because it confirms what is already, in my mind, a foregone conclusion: that Hillary will be the nominee.

However, a vote for Obama is NOT a wasted vote because it's a vote that advocates for something revolutionary - either a Black president or a Black vice president.

I want Hillary to be the nominee, but I'm not going to urge Black people to vote for her. Particularly in light of this crap about Edwards potentially getting the VP nomination instead of Obama, I continue to support all Black people in deciding to vote for Obama. That's what I've been saying all along, and this crap about Edwards for V.P. just reconfirms the correctness of this path.

meditations71 said...

Dancing ability is a poor measure of 'blackness'. Even I can dance better than Marvin Gaye (great voice, marvellous tunes, no rhythm).

Anonymous said...

Maybe he should have asked if Bill knew where the "kitchen" is on a woman. Or is that just a southern black thang?


If Hillary is the nominee, for the first time in my life I will not be voting the Democratic ticket for president (having voted independent and even GOP in state and local elections).

Bridge is burned.

Christopher said...

I've had more black men in my bed than Hillary can ever dream of and girlfriend doesn't know what she's missing.

No wonder she's so brittle and shrill.

The Christian Progressive Liberal said...

Clinton might try that shyt on Soul Train, but I'd like to see him try it at The Apollo before they boo him off the stage.

Toni Morrison needs to apologize for giving Clinton that Honorary Negro card before she talked to us about that. The only one I know whose earned that card is Eminem. Even Justin Timberlake knows Jay-Z and Damon Dash will not take his phone calls after he left Janet Jackson hanging (literally) during the Super Bowl, and the Grammy people threatened to ban his ass from the Awards ceremony if he didn't apologize to America for shocking them at Halftime.

Janet told them to kiss her ass for that, and I couldn't have been more proud of her for putting down in the Fields like she did.

Clinton wants to hip-hop, shuck and jive, and party with Negroes, but doesn't want to go to jail with Negroes. He has the complexion for the protection - his skin protects him, no matter if he really believes he's a Negro like those of us who were born into the race.

Field Negroes are those who look like Clinton, but tell you straight up that they're Negro - even if they could have an easier life passing for white. Clinton's sixty years old - and turned into a "brotha" when he was 46 (when he won POTUS)? Give me a break.

Quoting MLK doesn't make you down with Black People. If it did, Rush Limbaugh would quit quoting King to back up his bigotry, and Mitt Romney wouldn't have lied and said his Pappy marched with him.

When Clinton can put it down in the Fields like the white people you have given the "Field Negro of the Day" status to (Sean Penn, Harry Connick, Jr., et al), then we should consider giving him that Negro pass back, but not until then.

Right now, he's too busy looking like he's wearing the Hood and getting ready to light up the cross on the lawn right next to Bob Johnson has been standing for the last two weeks.

Yobachi said...

I literally cringed at his response, and all the fools in attendence who laughed that thought that was funny.

I also think it was an inappropriate question for a socalled presidential debate. This crap is why the media gets no respect. This type of nonsense is what they're pushing. Culture pabluum about some white guy being Black; what the hell does that have to do with anything. I'm surprised they didn't ask some Britnay Spears questions while they were at it.

brran1 said...

SMH...regardless of who's black or not, why can't people just stick with the issues? Whoever brought this up looks foolish...

Anonymous said...

I always thought the statement that Bill Clinton was the first Black president was dumb. I believed any black person that supported that notion was weak minded and had no pride. Do you think a jewish person would ever call a gentile american president, "the first jewish president" under any circumstances? I believe that to be highly unlikely.
Morrison's explanation for calling Clinton black was because he came from a broken home. To me that is not something to celebrate or promote. No matter what the statistics are on the Black family, the goal should be improve the condition, not to make it expectation for race of people. That means not making it a reason to call a white man, a black man.

Anonymous said...

I could do a similar "pop quiz" to see if Bill or Obama are "sisters". I am sure they would fail. What would it prove? Let's face it people of color and women have both been at a disadvantage during the "rule of the white rich man". Women have been passed over for jobs, excluded from professions and universities, pushed to give sexual favors to their bosses (think Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas), raped, beaten, had laws deny them the vote, property rights, etc. I am sure the white rich men are loving watching women and blacks slug it out over this one. I agree with Obama's message on 'Unity", but it is not unity between democrats and the republicans that I want to see. We have basic policy and life view differences. I cannot find a compromise, unity position on torture. I cannot find a compromise, unity position on the right for every American to have a right to a fair trial with a lawyer. I cannot find a compromise, unity position on lying and frightening a a nation into a pre-emptive war. I cannot find a unity position on dismantling the New Deal. I could go on but we all know all the verses already. I wish Obama and Clinton and all their supporters would quit attack each other and start going after the real enemies. Has anyone ever heard of Divide and Conquer? I sure Karl Rove has.

Admiral Komack said...

"I've decided! Hillary IS going to be the nominee, so I'm going to vote for Barack Obama, so that Obama will have a greater chance of becoming the V.P. nominee."

-Obama will not be Hillary's VP.

rikyrah said...

The Media's Three-Fifths Compromise: The Insulting of Black South Carolina

Anonymous said...

In a speech to black college students, James Baldwin, the most insightful non-fiction writer about race relations and racial politics of the sixties (see "Fire Next Time") said something very simple yet wise: "We've been dancing too long." He urged blacks to stop shucking and jiving and go out and start marching and supporting Dr. King.

The real shucking and jiving is being done by Hillary and Bill Clinton and their surrogates and house negroes, who have been intentionally trying to make this racial election by riling Obama and distorting everything he says.

In today's Huffington Post, commentator Art Levine summarizes fatcheck.org's report on how the Clinton's distort mischaracterize Obama for praising Reagan's APPROACH but not his policies, when both Clintons have done the same thing. The article even supplies quotes from both Clinton as they have praised Reagan. Of course neither Clinton added that Obama said the Reagan policies have been triend and proven not to work.
----------------------------
"As factcheck.org, the non-partisan research site of the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center, reported regarding the spurious claims about Obama used by Hillary in this week's debate and amplified in the phony new ad...

Clinton falsely accused Obama of saying he "really liked the ideas of the Republicans" including private Social Security accounts and deficit spending. Not true. The entire 49-minute interview to which she refers contains no endorsement of private Social Security accounts or deficit spending, and Obama specifically scorned GOP calls for tax cuts."
Fat.check.org
--------------------------------
After the way they've been dogging Obama under the theory that Karl Rove's means justify the end, after the way President Clinton has totally lost all his credential of a statesmansh by bashing Obama, I really can't see why any black person, or any person sensitive to our history or the history of any oppressed people, can justify voting for Sen. Clinton. If Hillary becomes the nominee, she is going to send our house negro all over black communities to urge us to unite and go to the polls to beat the Republicans. They're going to say what they say everytime: That there's too much at stake not to vote democratic. Always on the look out for an individual opportunity, and acting like little children being sent off to school by momma, these boys are going to fall on bended knees like old, black ladies in hats in church on Sundays begging us to vote for momma Hillary.

But here's what I have to say about unity as a result of Karl Rove-style tactics and racist identity politics of the Clintons:

Shame on you, you so-called black man! Shame on you for supporting and helping to get elected a white person who bitch-slaps your people with Karl Rove's bible. Shame on you for toting water on behalf of the Clintons who play blacks and whites against each other just because they feel that should have two Us presidents in their family; For losing what's left of your soul in hopes of getting a comfortable job in the administration of a people who used the code word "experience" to say a black man is not smart enough to be president. Shame on you; and, no, she won't get my vote!

One more thing: If Bill and Hillary continue to piss off black people, Hillary-- if she gets the nomination-- will not become president. Why? Too many negatives against her for white women who like her (there are many who don't) and hispanics to make up the percentage of black votes she will not get. That's why the best thing black folks can do is say to white democrats is this:

"keep messing with Obama and I won't vote for you in the general election!"

grown said...

Amen Yobachi! WTF kind of question was that anyways? Obama should have answered with the good old "No Comment" and phucked their dumbasses up.

If Obama accepts the nomination for VP, I will disown him forever. I definitely won't vote for him in 2012.

Christopher said...

Michelle Obama countered increasingly fierce criticism from Hillary Clinton’s campaign on Wednesday in an impassioned speech at a Greenville restaurant, defending Barack Obama’s votes in the Illinois Senate, his experience and his ability to stand tough to Republicans.

"The one thing that is clear is that when power is confronted with real change, they will say anything," she said.

She also told nearly 100 local women at The Lazy Goat that when it comes to the difficulties they face balancing work and family, her husband is "one of the few people who gets it," in part because of her own dilemmas as a "regular person."

Michelle Obama never mentioned the Clintons by name, and she told The Greenville News afterward that despite the involvement of former president Bill Clinton in his wife’s campaign, her role will remain "that of spouse," and that she’s "not a politician."

http://greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080124/NEWS03/301240002

Anonymous said...

Amen, Macdaddy.

James Baldwin was brilliant. We should make him required reading across the land. I force my students to inhale his essays.

My mother, one of those older black women who love southern white men who "seem" to treat black folks with dignity (because she grew up there and knows the other way), who had a photo of Bill hanging in her house during all those years, who defended him against any and all accusations, including the Monica mess (though she was, being a church lady, naturally disappointed) who stuck with those Clintons through thick and thin -- my mother is so pissed off she won't even mention Hillary's name.

My mother will not for for Hillary and neither will I.

Black people do have dignity. Many of us.

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

Toni Morrison is one of my favorite authors. Please tell me she wasn't the one who STARTED "the first black president" nonsense. sigh.

I will say it again, Barack will not be the VP. I don't think they will ask him. I wouldn't accept it if I was him. Hillary better pray Huckabee or Romney gets the nom. If it's McCain she is done. Even the conservative Republicans who are salty with him because of his immigration
bill with Sen. Kennedy would get out of the house and vote. Not for him but against Hillary.

Bernadette Merikle said...

hillarious. but tragic all at the same time. Comments right on point...Edwards as VP...cause that worked for dems so damn well last time. Right.

Anonymous said...

"I will say it again, Barack will not be the VP. I don't think they will ask him. I wouldn't accept it if I was him."
--myc/caribbean
---------------

No, they wouldn't ask Obama. But they probably would ask one of their advisors like Sen. Bayh. To try to make up for lost black votes, they may also ask Governor Bill Richardson to be VP. He owes the Clintons for making him an ambassador.

Liz Dwyer said...

If the Clintons had any class they'd step up and say that Bill Clinton being called the "first black President" is inappropriate because he will never know what it's like to be black no matter how friendly he thinks he is with the black community.

gordon gartrelle said...

nyc/caribbean ragazza,

Toni Morrison was the first prominent person to say it in public, but we weren't supposed to take it literally; she was employing irony in the service of fighting racial stereotypes.

Vlove29 said...

All I have to say is...wow.

http://www.indyeastend.com/1editorialbody.lasso?-token.folder=2008-01-23&-token.story=72453.113117&-nothing

Le Colonel Chabert said...

"Toni Morrison is one of my favorite authors. Please tell me she wasn't the one who STARTED "the first black president" nonsense. sigh. "

it was an article in the new yorker; her point was that bill clinton was being treated by the mainstream press - the nytimes, wapo, the networks - in a bizarrely invasive, disrespectful, pruriently nosy fashion that had been traditionally reserved for black men in public life; that is, they were attaching "sex and drugs" to his image, were obsessed with his private life and his appetites, cameras even gazed without any kind of politeness at him jogging while journos made fat jokes and big mac jokes. this was an unusually demeaning, prying and odd general posture for mainstream jornos to take toward the Head of State, (the same jornos observed absolute discreet silence about george bush i's mistress, though the relationship was common knowledge) and Morrison was noticing that the way clinton was being objectified by the press was basically the way black politicians and public figures are treated by the mainstream US press. (Someone else at the same time noted the press was 'feminising' clinton with the way they spoke about him and pictured him; they were getting at the same phenomenon.) Then this series of observations Morrison made in the new yorker got all taken out of context and distorted.

Mark said...

Yobachi is right.

The media loves this gossipy shit. More questions about Dennis K and UFOs than about climate change, for example.

I didn't cringe, but I am thinking, let's talk about something.

Woozie said...

Field, you should post a Blackness test on here.

Anonymous said...

I googled Morrison's statement to see it in context, because I'm so tired of it being tossed around like someone had given Clinton a golden ghetto pass. The ironic thing about what she said (which was basically: Bill Clinton is Black bcse hegrew up poor, with a single mother, plays sax, likes junk food, can't keep it in his pants, and got caught up) in her intro to the statement is this: "this is our first black President. Blacker than any actual black person who could ever be elected IN OUR CHILDREN'S LIFETIME." Even Toni Morrison couldn't imagine a candidate like Barack. Dag.

Anonymous said...

It just goes to show how weak and powerless the congressional black caucus is, and why new leadership is needed. The very fact that they would let a statement like "the first black president go unchallenged is shameful and down right reprehensible.

In addition...what the fuck cnn, why would you ask a dumb ass question like that during a debate anyway! What relevence does it have to anything that's taking place today.

Here's my take...for all those congressmem and women who feel its ok to support HRC because as they say "it's not about color it's about the issues." Well your day is coming, and I don't want here shit about a RACE CARD when your asses get voted out of office.

field negro said...

"In addition...what the fuck cnn, why would you ask a dumb ass question like that during a debate anyway! What relevence does it have to anything that's taking place today."

Great question Francis, and that was what I was trying to point out in my post. The absurdity of such a question to a presidential candidate.

"My mother will not for for Hillary and neither will I."

janine, I understand the passion and the anger. But I am sorry, I think I will have to holcd my nose and vote for her. I cannot afford to let any of these rethuglican candidates take the WH. Not when there might be three picks for the the Supremes for the next Prez.

If you think the laws are f****d up now; think of what it will be like with an all conservative court whose justices are strict constructionist when it comes to the Constitution.

Anonymous said...

~
If you think the laws are f****d up now; think of what it will be like with an all conservative court whose justices are strict constructionist when it comes to the Constitution.
field negro 9:48 PM

'sa matter field? Do you not think that we're covered in the original intent of the founding mothers, er, fathers?
`

Anonymous said...

I am not going to hold my nose and vote Missy Hillary. We are not beholden to anyone person, party or ideology. The laws are fouled up now because we have strayed away from strict Constitutionality. If the Democrats had not chipped away at the XIII-XV Amend, we would not have needed a Voting Rights and Civil Rights Act a 100 year later. Yet the negro still sacrifice his bollocks to be burned on the the Jack asses alter. Its time to be independant and objective for once

The Public Servant said...

Good evening all. I'm new to this blog, but I am very disturbed by all the bickering that has been going on lately, and I'm trying to get some answers. If you'd like to contribute, click on my name to get to my blog. The first post is where I pose my questions, but feel free to read (obviously). I look forward to hearing from you.

Anonymous said...

Vlove29 said...
All I have to say is...wow.

I agree: WOW!

gordon gartrelle said...

glandsman,

The Democratic and Republican parties of the 19th Century bear no resemblance to the Democratic and Republican parties of today. Not on specific matters of fighting black subjection, not even on broad approaches such as strict vs. loose constructionism.

That notion is perpetuated mainly by self-serving Republicans and their "Party of Lincoln" BS.

Anonymous said...

"Hearing her talk about the presidency, her policies and answers for America's big problems, we are hugely impressed by the depth of her knowledge, by the force of her intellect and by the breadth of, yes, her experience," it said.

The board also spoke favorably of Sen. Barack Obama, calling him "incandescent," but concluded that "we need more specifics to go with his amorphous promise of a new governing majority, a clearer sense of how he would govern."


http://news.aol.com/elections/story/_a/new-york-times-backs-clinton-mccain/20080124223909990001

http://www.nytimes.com
/2008/01/25/opinion/25fri1.html
`

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

Thanks to above posters who replied to my question about Toni Morrison.

The media and some of our folks really need to stop calling Clinton "the first black president." It's not funny, cute, ironic or clever.

I'm sure my dad would like to school mr. clinton on what it means to be a black man in America.

Lola Gets said...

I really, really wish theyd move off of that "Bill is first Black president" thing. We all know he wasnt and he aint, and it demeans the debate/political process to keep bringing it up! There are more relevant issues to discuss people.

And Christopher, I just love you: Come over to my site and comment man!
:)

L

Anonymous said...

Gordy:
Dont make the sacrifice bro', We are more enslaved to the partianism now than at any other time. Its time to make a clean break form the Jackasses Plantation. The Jackass party is just as self serving as its ever been. While the Elephant simple ignores us.At this point its better to be simply ignored than bound, emasculated, somdomized and used by the party of Jeff Davis. What has any party "given" us? 40 years of welfare enslavement and dependancy?worthless progams? NAFTA, GATT? ITs time for us to stop pandering and broker our reamining voice and clout independantly. It time out for being hat in hand shuffling apologists.

LittleMissSolo said...

I agree with many of you who wondered what was the need for such a question to begin with. He handled it much better than I would have... the look of disgust on my face would have given a clue to my response well before any words left my mouth.


I'm sure the CBC had some sort of say or input to these questions - I know someone, incorrectly, thought this question was "cute", but it wasn't. What it was, was unnecessary.


I have been a volunteer on the Obama campaign for months now. I've spent many Saturday mornings on a van headed to SC where I spent time canvasing neighborhoods, going to college game day tailgates, and putting in work. My very first day, at my very first house I was greeted at the door by a older (maybe early 50s) black male. While he said he would probably vote for HRC, he listened to us with an open ear and gave us his contact information so he could be contacted by the Obama campaign in hopes to learn more about him.


Just as we were about to leave, his wife, a black woman, comes to the door and wants to know why we are there. We proceed to tell her who we're with and our reason for stopping by. Before I can finish what I'm saying, she interrupts to tell us that she will NEVER vote for a black man for president because (and I kid you not) he will put rims on his limo, walk around with his pants sagging, move all his cousins into the White House, have cookouts, and say the n-word on TV.

I stood there with my mouth open, im sure, as I filled with anger. She was so serious! I know she meant every word she said and probably truly believed those would be the results of having a black man in office. As she talked, because she went on for about 5 minutes, I looked at her husband. I could tell he was embarrassed but didn't know what to say - hell, I was embarrassed!


I guess I told that story to say this... I know everyone is all excited about his numbers in SC, but no matter what those polls say, all I can think about is that woman. I know his message of change crosses many topics, but for me, his message of change can represent the change in how we see ourselves. The positive change I imagine for black people and the change having a black man as POTUS can have on children. Now, when you look your child in eye and tell them they can be anything they want to be, even the president, you can mean it...


My son and I are getting up at 5:00am tomorrow (Saturday) to get on a van and ride 3 hours to SC one last time. January 26th is an important day and I just hope that people like the woman I met either have a change of heart, have become informed, or simply stay at home!


-k

Jonne Austin said...

Wow @ 404Kim.......

Anonymous said...

404Kim, that's one shocking story. It's especially shocking in this 21st Century.

This black woman certainly must have some mental issues. That's the only way I can process such a response.

field negro said...

"Just as we were about to leave, his wife, a black woman, comes to the door and wants to know why we are there. We proceed to tell her who we're with and our reason for stopping by. Before I can finish what I'm saying, she interrupts to tell us that she will NEVER vote for a black man for president because (and I kid you not) he will put rims on his limo, walk around with his pants sagging, move all his cousins into the White House, have cookouts, and say the n-word on TV."

It's called self hate, and it's sad :(