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TURNER’S TWO CENTS: Obama Faces “Silver Streak” Racism
*There’s a scene in the classic buddy comedy “Silver Streak” where Richard Pryor rescues Gene Wilder from a suave British mobster by pretending to be a bumbling train steward.
The bad guy gets increasingly annoyed as Pryor fusses about with dishes on a lunch tray. When Pryor “accidentally” spills something on him, the white mobster finally says what we know he’s been thinking all along: “Niggerrrrr!”
That scene keeps running through my mind as the racists become increasingly hysterical about Barack Obama.
As the Illinois senator gets closer to clenching the Democratic nomination for President, the bigotry of certain white Americans has become more blatant.
We saw early signs of it in Pennsylvania, where some 19% of white voters essentially admitted that they didn’t vote for Obama because he’s black. A survey in the April 28 edition of Newsweek corroborates those findings on a national level.
These voters are using the ballot box to say what that mobster said to Richard Pryor in “Silver Streak.” “Niggerrrrr!”
Now, a saloon owner in Marietta, Georgia has started hawking t-shirts that depict Obama as a monkey. The shirts feature a pirated cartoon of Curious George peeling a banana above the slogan “Obama in ’08.” Mike Norman, who is selling the offensive shirts at his Mulligan’s Bar and Grill, claims the image isn’t racist. Yeah, right. We all know that equating black folks with monkeys and apes is one of the oldest of all racist stereotypes. A good ol’ Southern boy Mike Norman knows that, too. That foul t-shirt is his way of saying, “Niggerrrrr!”
Rap star Nelly said the Curious George t-shirts were “the lowest of the low” and he offered some sound advice to Obama and his supporters on how to deal with crap like this. Nelly told SOHH.com “I think what he has to do is show thick skin on this one. I think we have to show our thick skin, for everybody that's supporting Barack and just say, 'You know what we ain't gon' sweat it. We know y'all getting desperate! Because where else do you have to go? You're not challenging his mind. You're not challenging what he is standing for. You're going into something now that's almost childish.’”
Racism hasn’t been fashionable in the U.S. for a few decades, but it’s still going strong on the D.L. Racists are offended and frightened by the idea of a black man becoming President of the United States – even if he’s a good-hearted man like Obama who wants to unite the nation, bring peace to the world, educate our kids and end global warming. The racial attacks are likely to get more overt and more numerous as Obama moves forward. But the bigots won’t stop Barack because a new day is dawning in the United States and the majority of Americans are embracing that new day.
Thanks for listening. I’m Cameron Turner and that’s my two cents.
THINK! IT AIN’T ILLEGAL…YET!
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