A straightforward blog post title seemed to be in order for this story.
At a Republican fundraiser yesterday, Representative Davis had this remark about Senator Barack Obama’s ability as Commander-In-Chief:
“I’m going to tell you something: That boy’s finger does not need to be on the button, he could not make a decision in that simulation that related to a nuclear threat to this country.”
It’s imperative to note here that Congressman Davis is a white, middle-aged man from Kentucky who happens to be 3 years older than Senator Obama.
Does anybody have a problem with a white Congressman from a former slave state referring to the potential Democratic nominee for President, a black man educated at Columbia and Harvard, as a boy?!?!
Oh, and just for good measure, Congressman Davis also decided that Senator Obama isn’t qualified to be Commander-in-Chief and later in his speech he used the term ’snake-oil salesman’ to describe his candidacy and politics. So, he impugned Mr. Obama’s ability to be Commander-in-Chief, referred to him with the racially loaded term ‘boy’ and compared him to a con-artist looking for a quick grift. Perhaps he just should’ve called Senator Obama a coon, going by this description:
“The pure coons emerged as no-account niggers, those unreliable, crazy, lazy, subhuman creatures good for nothing more than eating watermelons, stealing chickens, shooting crap, or butchering the English language.”
Whether intended or not, Representative Davis cast Senator Obama as unreliable, indecisive, somewhat crazy and obviously subhuman because he’s just a mere BOY at age 46,.. even with his degrees from Harvard and Columbia. Oh, and that con-artist grifting sets him right up with those chicken-stealing, gun-toting racist stereotypes from yesteryear.
Or, unfortunately, yesterday.
A friend raised the point that ’snake-oil salesman’ does not always have racial overtones.
While it certainly does not ALWAYS have racial overtones, the idea of snake-oil as a product originated in China and had a very ethnic association for many years. In the US, it was sold in the 20s by Native Americans who were recruited as low-level con-artists to hustle the stuff as ‘natural medicine’ to the public.
So, while it may not have an association with black stereotypes, it certainly has a history of racially charged uses. The term is used to describe the actions of an outsider (many times, racially) who tries to con a person into buying a product that will not deliver what is promised. To deny the racial element of the term is just plain ignorant.
Combined this with the much, much stronger racial overtones of the word ‘boy’ and one starts to see a clearer picture. Add to this the fact that Mr. Davis is a life-long Kentuckian, a poor and rural former slave state that still has problems with white supremacy and latent racism.. Well, it seems pretty obvious that we either have a massive coincidence or some pretty damning evidence.
By: themostbrianever on April 14, 2008
at 10:41 pm
I agree that in a public-speaking sort of context, the word “boy” applied to an adult male who is of one’s own generation can only mean: (1) the rhetorical application of categorical inferiority, or (2) identification of a white male with others of his class/status/standing (one of the good ol’ boys).
But given the long-standing propensity of Southern Republicans to practice a “southern strategy” of conflating racially-loaded terminology with otherwise not racially defined policies that are not favored by Republicans (see: busing enforcement in the 1970s/80s), my guess is that your intuition is right.
And in that case, yep, he’s an asshat.
By: e on April 15, 2008
at 2:17 pm
I just wanted to let you know that your blog is brilliant!
By: sableverity on April 15, 2008
at 2:25 pm
Thanks for the comments, guys.
I tried to give this guy the benefit of the doubt, but everything added up to this guy being an asshat in so many different ways. He really should be ashamed of himself and I hope he takes gets some help with cross-cultural learning or a basic American History course.
By: themostbrianever on April 15, 2008
at 3:19 pm
Um, the guy was named after the president of the Confederate States of America. Not surprising that he’s a racist asshat. Prob’ly not raised in the most open minded home…
By: John McCollum on April 19, 2008
at 8:52 am