The Black Informant

There has been yet another disturbance in the force–the blackosphere. This time, Darth Limbaugh has dropped one on Obama…or did he?

I even got an e-mail on this, so I figured I would say something about it.

Question: Where did Rush get the inspiration to create the “Barack the Magic Negro” song?

A. From a recent Klan meeting

B. From President Bush and V.P. Cheney

C. A Black liberal

D. “He’s a racist cracka, who cares?”

If you said “C”, you are correct!

In all the posts and comments that I have read over the past day or so, NOT-ONE-PERSON mentioned the fact that David Ehrenstein for the LA Times was the individual who first referred to Obama as the “Magic Negro” (you can check Technorati for yourself. Please prove me wrong–I’m very serious!).

Ehrenstein writes (source):

AS EVERY CARBON-BASED life form on this planet surely knows, Barack Obama, the junior Democratic senator from Illinois, is running for president. Since making his announcement, there has been no end of commentary about him in all quarters — musing over his charisma and the prospect he offers of being the first African American to be elected to the White House.

But it’s clear that Obama also is running for an equally important unelected office, in the province of the popular imagination — the “Magic Negro.”

He then mentions a link on Wikipedia that further explains what is a “magic negro”. Let’s jump there for a minute (again, this is the definition Ehrenstein pointed to):

The magical negro is typically “in some way outwardly or inwardly disabled, either by discrimination, disability or social constraint,” often a janitor or prisoner. He has no past; he simply appears one day to help the white protagonist. He is the black stereotype, “prone to criminality and laziness.” To counterbalance this, he has some sort of magical power, “rather vaguely defined but not the sort of thing one typically encounters.” They are patient and wise, often dispensing various words of wisdom, and are “closer to the earth.”

The magical negro serves as a plot device to help the protagonist get out of trouble, typically through helping the white character recognize his own faults and overcome them. In this way, the magical negro is similar to the Deus ex machina; a simple way for the protagonist to overcome an obstacle almost entirely through outside help. Although he has magical powers, his “magic is ostensibly directed toward helping and enlightening a white male character.” It is this feature of the magical negro that some people find most troubling. Although the character seems to be showing African-Americans in a positive light, he is still ultimately subordinate to whites. He is also regarded as an exception, allowing white America to “like individual black people but not black culture.”

To save the white protagonist, however, he would do anything, including sacrificing himself, as Sidney Poitier did in The Defiant Ones, the prototypical magical negro movie. (source)

If I was an Obama supporter, I would frankly find this definition quite offensive. The definition clearly paints the picture of a individual who ultimately has no real power unless he is a subordinate to Whites. This is a slap in the face of all of those (some I have personally challenged) who have expressed that Obama is well-qualified to be the next president. When this article first came out, I remember only a few Black bloggers and websites out there who referenced it. Rush made it into a song and now folks are ready to yank him off the air on the grounds of (gasp!) blatant racism.

“But when Ehrenstein said it…”

Awwww, nevermind!

Instead of looking for the latest offense, put together a solid list detailing WHY some of you have already made the choice to vote for him (this is my ump-teenth time asking for this).

P.S. If I have made some of you angry with this post, if you feel that I have completely “sold out” to the White man by defending Rush on this particular issue, I want to hear from you. No one-liners–explain yourself after reading all the above information.