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From John Sununu to Sarah Palin, Racism is the Lexicon of the Right

By: Tim From LAOct. 26th, 2012more from Tim From LA

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Here we go again. The former governor, former 2008 Vice President candidate and former Miss Alaska pageant entrant, opening up her mouth and trying to defend herself from racist comments she posted on her Facebook page…for ALL to read.

The controversy started when Sarah Palin posted the following comment:

Obama’s Shuck and Jive Ends With Benghazi Lies
by Sarah Palin on Wednesday, October 24, 2012 at 8:39am ·

As I mentioned on “On the Record”

last night, there is breaking news that just two hours after the September 11th attacks on our consulate in Benghazi, the White House and State Department knew that an Islamic terrorist group with ties to al Qaeda claimed credit for the attack. We now know that the State Department sent an email to the White House, the Pentagon, the FBI and others in the intelligence community about this Islamist group claiming responsibility. And yet for days afterwards the White House and State Department led everyone to believe that the attack was the result of a spontaneous protest over an obscure YouTube video that had been uploaded months prior. Anywhere from 300 to 400 people from the administration and our intelligence community would have seen that email. Why the lies? Why the cover up? Why the dissembling about the cause of the murder of our ambassador on the anniversary of the worst terrorist attacks on American soil? We deserve answers to this. President Obama’s shuck and jive shtick with these Benghazi lies must end.

- Sarah Palin

What is Shuck and jive? Well, according to Urban Dictionary</a:

To shuck and jive” originally referred to the intentionally misleading words and actions that African-Americans would employ in order to deceive racist Euro-Americans in power, both during the period of slavery and afterwards. The expression was documented as being in wide usage in the 1920s, but may have originated much earlier.

“Shucking and jiving” was a tactic of both survival and resistance. A slave, for instance, could say eagerly, “Oh, yes, Master,” and have no real intention to obey. Or an African-American man could pretend to be working hard at a task he was ordered to do, but might put up this pretense only when under observation. Both would be instances of “doin’ the old shuck ‘n jive.”

So Sarah decided to counter the complaints by posting her response on Facebook…one more time:

Sarah Palin
17 hours ago
For the record, there was nothing remotely racist in my use of the phrase “shuck and jive” – a phrase which many people have used, including Chris Matthews, Andrew Cuomo, and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney to name a few off the top of my head. In fact, Andrew Cuomo also used the phrase in reference to Barack Obama, and the fact that Mr. Cuomo and I used the phrase in relation to President Obama signifies nothing out of the ordinary. I would have used the exact same expression if I had been writing about President Carter, whose foreign policy rivaled Obama’s in its ineptitude, or about the Nixon administration, which was also famously rocked by a cover-up.

I’ve been known to use the phrase most often when chastising my daughter Piper to stop procrastinating and do her homework. As she is part Yup’ik Eskimo, I’m not sure if this term would be deemed offensive when it’s directed at her or if it would be considered benign as in the case of Chris Matthews’ use of it in reference to Rachel Maddow. Just to be careful, from now on I’ll avoid using it with Piper, and I would appreciate it if the media refrained from using words and phrases like igloo, Eskimo Pie, and “when hell freezes over,” as they might be considered offensive by my extended Alaska Native family.

The outrageously outraged reaction to this expression from perennial hypocrites like Chris Matthews has only made me laugh. Mr. Matthews, let me share with you my favorite Irish toast: “May we always be happy, and may our enemies always know it.”

- Sarah Palin

Her logic? “(M)any people have used, including Chris Matthews, Andrew Cuomo, and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney to name a few off the top of my head.”

So if Matthews, Cuomo and Carney say it, then it’s fine? With that logic, there would be no issues from her if I call her a, “big F@@@@ing cry baby” or call her the “C” word because Howard Stern on Sirius Satellite said it? Howard Stern – Sarah Palin's Statement – 01/13/2011 Is that OK? Of course not, and neither is shuck and jive.

With her right-winged logic still clouding her brain, Palin said:

I’ve been known to use the phrase most often when chastising my daughter Piper to stop procrastinating and do her homework. As she is part Yup’ik Eskimo, I’m not sure if this term would be deemed offensive when it’s directed at her or if it would be considered benign as in the case of Chris Matthews’ use of it in reference to Rachel Maddow. Just to be careful, from now on I’ll avoid using it with Piper, and I would appreciate it if the media refrained from using words and phrases like igloo, Eskimo Pie, and “when hell freezes over,” as they might be considered offensive by my extended Alaska Native family.

Huh? So you tell your daughter to stop shucking and jiving, and you’re offended when people say igloo, Eskimo pie and “when Hell freezes over” because Piper is part Yup’ik. The Yupik are a group of indigenous or aboriginal peoples of western, southwestern, and southcentral Alaska and the Russian Far East, and you call her an Eskimo?

Another thing, Eskimo Pie, in case you did not know, was an ice cream. It was vanilla ice cream covered in hard chocolate: Eskimo Pie It was taken off the shelf because it was offensive to the indigenous people. So which media is bringing up Eskimo Pie? Chris Matthews? Rachel Maddow? Randi Rhodes? Thom Hartmann? Who?

Then Palin said that saying Hell freezing over is offensive to the Native Americans. Is Palin now saying that Alaska is Hell? The “Eskimos” are demons? The true offender here is Sarah Palin, and when she does her best to try and explain herself, she falls flat on her face.

Now it seems that another Republican wants to go one step deeper in racism and that’s John Sununu, a top Romney surrogate, former Governor of New Hampshire and White House Chief of Staff under President George H.W. Bush. He said:

“Frankly, when you take a look at Colin Powell, you have to wonder whether that’s an endorsement based on issues or whether he’s got a slightly different reason for preferring President Obama,” Sununu said.

“What reason would that be?” asked host Piers Morgan.

“I think when you have somebody of your own race that you’re proud of being president of the United States, I applaud Colin for standing with him,”

Sununu: Colin Powell May Have Endorsed Obama Because Of His Race

So when Sununu said:

“I think when you have somebody of your own race that you’re proud of being president of the United States, I applaud Colin for standing with him,”

His race. President Obama is of Kenyan ancestry. Is Powell also Kenyan? Because, there are 54 fully recognized sovereign states (“countries”), 9 territories and three de facto states with limited recognition and they are: Countries of Africa. It’s like saying Mexicans and Brazilians are the same race. Or Chinese and Koreans are the same race. All four groups are on two different continents, but are totally different races.

Sununu backpedaled and said “Colin Powell is a friend and I respect the endorsement decision he made and I do not doubt that it was based on anything but his support of the President’s policies.”

Because Colin Powell never endorsed: Rev. Jesse Jackson, Shirley Chisholm or Rev Al Sharpton and according to Powell’s record of voting and endorsing white Republicans, what proof does Sununu have to say Powell is basing his endorsement on race? Powell is endorsing Obama’s policies, not his skin color.

Racism is alive in well in the Republican Party, and just because a black Republican endorses a half black Democratic president, it doesn’t mean he’s voting for him because he’s black or because Obama is of Kenyan descent. We don’t know even know what ethnicity Powell is. He may be Kenyan, Zaire, Chad, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire. So how can it be of race? Or what if he’s from: Saint Kitts and Nevis, Anguilla, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda? A lot of black folks there too?

So yes, whether it’s Sununu or Palin, the hatred for our president will continue, and supporting today’s Republican Party only fans the flames of racism.


From John Sununu to Sarah Palin, Racism is the Lexicon of the Right was written by Tim From LA for PoliticusUSA.
© PoliticusUSA, Oct. 26th, 2012. All Rights Reserved

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