Friday, March 30, 2012

Rick Santorum Calls Obama A "Government N*gga" - It Never Stops

I can't believe it. When it rains it seems to pour.

Santorum was speaking at a rally in Janesville, Wisconsin, still locked in the ferocious nomination battle with Mitt Romney and still desperate to become the true conservative standard-bearer of the Republican party.
"We know the candidate Barack Obama, what he was like – the anti-war government nig …" he seems to say, then suddenly stopping, and changing tack to add: "America was a source for division around the world, that what we were doing was wrong."

 It seem incredible and yet enough wiggle room that people can believe it didn't happen. Did Rick Santorum really refer to the first Black President of the United States by such an ugly and racist word? As a black man raised in the United States, I can't say I'd be surprised - not shock but a more of an attitude of having my own suspicions proved correct.  Personally, I think that most of President Obama's critics and political opponents frequently refer to him this way in private.

People are divided on whether or not its true or not. I admit that I don't know Santorum's heart and I can't read his mind, but I don't see how this is not a Freudian slip.



I’ve watched this video 14.5 times.  I’ve meditated on it, prayed over it, laid hands on it, and sent it to my mama.   I had to take a moment to thank God that Rick Santorum, in his conservative brilliance, has finally released videotaped evidence of the kind of smoking gun that many millions of us can use to prove that he is every bit as racist as we’ve always known him to be. -  Dr Boyce Watkins Source


Not everyone agrees, but sees other possibility.

It is hard to think of exactly what word Santorum was about to use. What word beginning with "nig-" comes naturally after government? It has been suggested he was trying to say "-nik", as in peacenik or beatnik. That is possible. Or perhaps, it was some non-specific verbal tic: a random vowel-consonent flub. - Paul Harris Source

Okay. I don't buy it. But Okay. Here is the offending part of the speech.





Here are three articles on this.
Rick Santorum: another slip of the tongue but was it the 'N-word'?
Did Rick Santorum almost say the n-word during speech?
Rick Santorum Calls Obama A "Government N*gga" | News One

Disgrasian: Where The Killing Of A Fictional Black Child Exposes How We Feel About The Killing Of A Real Black Child | K Tempest Tumbles

I recently posted a short blog article that basically argues that the killing of Trayvon Martin and the controversy of black characters in the movie/book series Hunger Games are both parts of the same poisonous tree of American racism. How little things really change. I came across a very insightful article on Tumblr in which an article discusses how society feels about the killing of fictional black youths correlate to how it feels about killing real people. I think the point is true.

What I’ve been stewing over for the last few weeks is exactly that, that there’s a sickening bottom line in this country, and it is simply that certain people’s lives are valued less than others. I don’t know how we continue on as a society knowing this. Because a society where mothers of black boys have to worry that when their children run out for candy, they might never come back–that society is broken. A society where the Muslim mother of five children could be beaten to death in her own bed where her killer left a note that reads “go back to your country, you terrorist” is a society that demands to be fixed. Every piece of legislation that criminalizes a person’s skin color–whether with regard to immigration or homeland security or law enforcement–needs to be challenged. Every cultural message that says one race is “less than” another needs to be checked. Is it a movie we’re watching about a dystopia that doesn’t give a shit about its disenfranchised or are we living it? The line for me has become increasingly blurred.

 I should point out that this point really isn't new. For years there has been discussion of how black characters in movies and television have been treated as fodder. Y'know the trope: The token black guy always dies by the end of the movie. I can think of very few example where black supporting characters (male or female) does not get killed.  We all know that stories have more resonance when a character you care about dies, but why is seemingly always the black friend of the white main character? It's become cliche. You know the black guy/girls screen time is numbered the moment they are introduced. Perhaps this has carried through to real life in how some people think about black people. I was horrified to hear that people card less about one of the characters in Hunger Games when they realized she was a black girl. Sad. Really sad.

Disgrasian: Where The Killing Of A Fictional Black Child Exposes How We Feel About The Killing Of A Real Black Child | K Tempest Tumbles

Watch The Snob Discuss the Trayvon Martin Case on BBC World "Have Your Say" - The Snob Blog - Danielle Belton's The Black Snob

I have found that Danielle Belton's blog really useful for news and insightful commentary. She has been posting some articles on the Trayvon Martin case and she recently appeared on a BBC show discussing the case.




Watch The Snob Discuss the Trayvon Martin Case on BBC World "Have Your Say" - The Snob Blog - Danielle Belton's The Black Snob