Way, way back there in January this year, you may recall that I wrote a post called Barack Obama: America’s Magical Negro. It’s strange to quote oneself, but here I go:

One thing’s for sure, Obama may be Magical and Safe, but ain’t nothin’ magical about Al Sharpton. ‘Cept possibly his hair.

As I explain in the article, the term “Magical Negro” refers to a literary or creative device used to introduce an archetypal character into a narrative. My question was whether Obama possibly fit the bill for certain white supporters.

Later, a certain LA Times reporter wrote a longer article entitled “Obama, the ‘Magic Negro’” on March 19. Funny that his column links to the same Wikipedia entry that I referenced and uses similar examples. Now David Ehrenstein didn’t give a sister any credit and maybe he really did think this article up all by himself. That’s really not my beef.

From the DailyKos yesterday I got the tip about this little ditty and YouTube video that Rush Limbaugh had featured on his show: “Barack the Magic Negro”. It was so infuriating on so many different levels, I needed a day to calm down and compose my thoughts. It’s straight up racist. How racist? Well one of the people who posted the video on YouTube also posted a video that links Islam, Judaism and NYPD firefighters to Nazism. That’s a non-fun video. The other most popular version of the video was posted by a self-described black conservative grandfather. Hmmm…a self-hating, cheese-eating Clarence Thomas in disguise, perhaps? Geez, beware the company you keep, brother.

This video manages to attack both Al Sharpton and Barack Obama at the same time — a real feat. It also seeks to portray Obama as a DC insider and “not authentically black”. Al Sharpton is portrayed as a greedy opportunist shouting incoherently through a megaphone. Most insulting is the “dialect” accent the Sharpton cariacature is given. Plenty of dem, dese and dose. Charming.

Media Matters does a great job in covering the Rush Limbaugh angle of the story. Like Don Imus, Limbaugh is racist for a living. The question is whether we’re all still ok with that here in America on our public airwaves or if it’s time to expose his lies and hatred and give him the boot.

Anyway, here’s the video. View on an empty stomach. Sing along at home!

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