tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post4179109360004434078..comments2024-03-22T20:34:13.792-05:00Comments on Indomitable | The online home of Chauncey DeVega: The Real Problem With the Boston Herald's Barack Obama Watermelon CartoonLady Zora, Chauncey DeVega, and Gordon Gartrellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138154899923808806noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-54640947056948326762014-10-04T12:38:48.595-05:002014-10-04T12:38:48.595-05:00These are cultural scripts we all learn in a given...These are cultural scripts we all learn in a given society. What happened here was either 1) intentional or 2) his deep subconscious attitudes making themselves clear.<br /><br /><br />I vote for 1 given his history and audience.chauncey devegahttp://wearerespectablenegroes.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-88306357842339031552014-10-04T11:52:08.835-05:002014-10-04T11:52:08.835-05:00So much of humor is done to embarrass and humiliat...So much of humor is done to embarrass and humiliate as to illustrate imbedded cultural anti-nomies which we internalize. Particularly, humor is the prophylaxis of racist demonizing as when racists defend the indefensible by saying it was just a joke.joe manningnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-57923805564263767392014-10-04T05:47:34.664-05:002014-10-04T05:47:34.664-05:00Seriously. I'm sixty two and every White Racis...Seriously. I'm sixty two and every White Racist trope was quite thoroughly imprinted upon me by the time I was nine or ten and I came from a 'liberal' family. And we're not just talking Black folks here either. Back then even Italians were not yet really considered 'White'.Michael Varian Dalynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-9675570327543056712014-10-03T22:29:35.962-05:002014-10-03T22:29:35.962-05:00This was a cheap, obvious and gratuitous shot. Ho...This was a cheap, obvious and gratuitous shot. Holbert could have easily made his professed point without throwing in the watermelon reference, which then made it about what he probably intended in the first place. <br /><br /><br />This was just another racist shot at the President; another reminder that you may be President, but you're still a n*gger.Gable1111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-15326717950597702662014-10-03T19:10:17.638-05:002014-10-03T19:10:17.638-05:00I will need to follow up on that story. Racism and...I will need to follow up on that story. Racism and sexism are intimates. The great book Contract in Domination is a must on the topic.chauncey devegahttp://wearerespectablenegroes.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-77058844074767182352014-10-03T19:09:37.743-05:002014-10-03T19:09:37.743-05:00Wow. I never made that connection. Smart link to t...Wow. I never made that connection. Smart link to the death camps too. The continuity of human wickedness and also triumph and desire to survive.chauncey devegahttp://wearerespectablenegroes.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-65679614578254024712014-10-03T19:08:42.377-05:002014-10-03T19:08:42.377-05:00He is a piece of work. Yet, he defenders buy his b...He is a piece of work. Yet, he defenders buy his b.s. because they agree with him on a basic level regarding their racist animus towards Obama and black people more generally.chauncey devegahttp://wearerespectablenegroes.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-60418891563322347742014-10-03T19:07:55.411-05:002014-10-03T19:07:55.411-05:00Obama isn't allowed a proper bathroom. That wo...Obama isn't allowed a proper bathroom. That would be too uppity.chauncey devegahttp://wearerespectablenegroes.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-76489144643543648322014-10-03T15:46:48.144-05:002014-10-03T15:46:48.144-05:00Gob-smacking racism aside, look at the bathroom he...Gob-smacking racism aside, look at the bathroom he drew. A radiator? A combo tub and shower with a curtain? Toothbrushes in a cup on the sink? The man lives in a fully-staffed, presidential mansion - not a Cleveland suburb.DanFnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-19876174592471073852014-10-03T15:30:23.212-05:002014-10-03T15:30:23.212-05:00The watermelon trope arose from the murky depths o...The watermelon trope arose from the murky depths of plantation slave-labour camps. Men, women and children - who enriched the lazy sociopaths who forced them into backbreaking bondage in sweltering 90-degree heat for 16-hour days - might occasionally find some human relief from a fruit that contained water. If there were any shame in American-style racism, any mention of watermelon would only indict the "white" people in the audience - not out of collective guilt - but out of shame. Instead, White Supremacy turns their own shame into a weapon of attempted humiliation.<br /><br /><br />Persecuted inmates at Nazi labour camps ate the rare radish too, because they could not share the loaves and cheese that the jackbooted racism-motivated maniacs who imprisoned them enjoyed. I'm sure 18 year-old camp-guards giggled at the sight of a radish. Yet somehow, there are no giant radish cartoons appearing next to Jewish politicians in prestigious German newspapers today. German society can manage that much decency, which seems forever to evade Americans.<br /><br /><br />That a racist moron like Jerry Holbert can hold a lionized position for as long as he has is as good an indicator of Affirmative Action for "white" men as anything else.balitwilightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-41258189763455508842014-10-03T14:52:06.754-05:002014-10-03T14:52:06.754-05:00Many white men want to continue to have the power ...Many white men want to continue to have the power to say what they want, and do what they want to people who they've deemed to be sub-human. The idea that they cannot tell us how to feel anymore is causing great shocks to their system.KissedByTheSunnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-35095531143132282562014-10-03T14:07:15.252-05:002014-10-03T14:07:15.252-05:00I doubt that Jerry Holbert fully knew the depths o...<i> I doubt that Jerry Holbert fully knew the depths of the toxic well-springs of his inspiration.</i><br /><br /><br />I have to wonder about that. He was born in 1958; he's 56 years old. Surely, at one point in his life, he would have encountered the "we all sure loves watermelon!" racist meme. If he were a twenty-something, he might get away with pleading ignorance. I was born in 1958, and I'm old enough to be aware of all the watermelon sambo blackface imagery that used to be mainstream. <br /><br /><br />It's obvious he thought he'd sneak in a little dog whistle to his loyal "right thinking" fans, and then was appalled when people called him out on it.<br /><br /><br />If you research his body of work (if you can call it that) you will see he once portrayed Obama as a pimp. He has used every toxic stereotype, just like the giggling white racist that he is.<br /><br /><br />His excuse about his "kids using watermelon toothpaste" is obvious bullshit. He's almost sixty years old. His "kids" are pushing thirty.Buddy Hnoreply@blogger.com