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Please "big picture" this for us?
"One Ignorant White Person", observing that SOME Black people get incensed by the association of Barack Obama with images of a monkey because he is Black and the monkey has been historically used against Blacks.
Thus the "monkey associations" used against the current president, that when used against the immediate past president STICK, where as they were taken in stride by the other president and his supporters. Against the Black president, however they are worthy of scouring the nation and attacking those who cross this line?
(Please note: I do not yield that the NY Post cartoon purposely hit upon the epithet where "Blacks and monkeys" but instead was simply not mindful of the sensitivities there in)
I just received an e-mail from a "progressive" e-mail distribution list that I am a part of that was sent out by the NAACP. The NAACP patted itself on the back for having gone out in 52 cities to give petitions to various Fox affiliates in protest of The New York Post and...........(what a surprise)......Fox News Channel.
My argument is this Janet:
If we make measure of the critical problems that are bashing the Black community upon the head and those which THE NAACP or ANY OTHER GROUP PURPORTING TO REPRESENT THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE BLACK COMMUNITY are driven to respond to in order to mitigate these problems the incriminating evidence is seen in what they FAIL TO RESPOND TO rather than what can get them on the streets in protest.
Even if you believe that the cartoon in the Post WAS racially motivated - there are going to be MANY MORE slights, perceived and real, that will be constantly streamed at you.
At some point the Black community is going to have to define a strategy and make sure that no "flack" is able to derail this agenda. Thus, to be clear, I am NOT ignorant of the sensitivities over the monkey imagery among some of our people. I AM ONLY saying that once "our enemies" realize that the most effective way to distract us is to DISTRACT US........they win, you lose.
I debated a "progressive" on the great changes in this nation. Where as at one time Black people were attacked when they attempted to register to vote......today she had to scour the nation and find ONE INCIDENT in which a White racist attacked a Black person on the day that a Black man was elected president.
In her perverted mind - the actions of this ONE IGNORANT WHITE PERSON outweighed the actions of about 80 MILLION other White foks who VOTED FOR A BLACK PRESIDENT. Thus - THIS NATION IS STILL RACIST in her mind.
The threat of this "external chasing" is that it allows your adversaries to define your agenda, regardless of the priority.
and
it allows the operatives who purport to have your best interests in mind to escape needed scrutiny because they have you focusing on the external threat rather than the THREAT that they are failing to address that is INSIDE. They seek to attack "conservative critics", claiming that their due criticism is racially motivated when much of it is DESERVED per the situation at hand.
I have a series called "What is making Black people cry today?" on my blog site for the purposes of driving home the CIVIL RIGHTS VIOLATIONS that are going on within the Black community today.
community who use the N-word as a badge of honor, need to come to
realization that the word was never meant for the good of us. We have to
start doing better first. I don't know who put the book in the display
window at Barnes & Noble, but it was done in poor taste. It is another in a
long list of insensitive taunts against President Obama. Sorry, I just can't
see this for anything other that what it meant. I accept B&N's apology
because there would have been some fallout over this if they hadn't been so
swift. In the grand scheme of things, a monkey book isn't a big deal, but
placed in a display for the President, an African American (who is really
biracial), it takes on a whole different meaning. As always, I may not agree
with you, but I respect your feedback and look forward to reading your
comments. As they say back in Jamaica, "nuff respects!
Janet
www.thedefendersonline.com
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/bookdispla...
How do you logically rationalize that Barnes and Noble is corporately responsible for the actions of "one ignorant employee"?
I am a regular consumer of B&N and this has NO IMPACT upon my relationship with this store chain.
[quote]I don't care to do business with any company that does not give African American's the same level of respect they give to all other consumers.[/quote]
Did the MANAGEMENT give sanction to this placement BJW?
If only you and others would boycott music stores that sold "Young Jeezy" and "Lil Wayne" music THEN you would be doing something.
relationship with B&N. I went there today to purchase some books. My
experience both here in Atlanta and when I lived in NYC are about the same
-- courteous, knowledgeable and friendly. I wouldn't say the company did
this and I appreciate the fact that the corporate office apologized for this
right away.
You are right. We need to go after Young Jeezy and others who deliberately
denigrate women and are just downright wrong in their rhetoric. But with
that said, the record labels that put out this garbage are culprits as well.
You can't target Young Jeezy without targeting the record company behind his
music. The record stores shoulder some blame in this as well. You are right.
I do think that we should ignore the sneaky cowardly things that are done in the dark, NO NEGATIVE COMMENTS will change the fact that President Obama IS the president of the United States,and that both positive whites and blacks voted him in, and that where this negativity is coming from; those who are sorely disapointed that he won against al odds ,
Remember, these problem kids are the same folks with that "Deep Southern mentality, they used to; and still do hide under sheets to intimidate, and cause fear, lets not give them that power.
Hey! I do have a question though. Didn't Barns&Nobles say that it was a customer who placed the book on the shelf? well, HOW do they know that it was in fact a customer, and not an employee? and if it was a customer, how did that customer gain access to what appears to be a closed/secured window display? I'm just curious.
Perhaps they already know that it was one of their very own employees, maybe even a manager, therefore; they would refuse to fire the individual.
It seems possible that a customer could have slipped the monkey book into the display without knowledge of store management and then went outside to take pictures. According to B&N’s press release, store mgmt was not responsible for what happened and when they became aware of the switch four days after the display was established, they rectified the situation. It also seems possible that the monkey book remained four days with no employee or customer bringing it to mgmt’s attention. Also, if you look very closely at the picture, a reflection of what appears to be two youthful white males can be seen in the B&N storefront window. One is taking the picture and they both seem to be wearing T-shirts. If you look at the picture of the storefront I got from Google, it seems that their display is easily accessible by almost anyone.
I would have felt a bit better had B&N stated which book was in the center before the switch was made. Still, unless someone credible comes forward to challenge B&N’s explanation, there is no factual basis to think or do anything more.