Get It Out Of Your System Already
In an old white man made a politically incorrect statement on national TV news, Chris Matthews has managed to steer some of the attention away from President Obama with his on-air revelation that for an hour he forgot what box the President would check off on his census forms as he delivered the State of the Union address.
For those of you unfamiliar with the name Chris Matthews here’s a sample offering of the gold he dishes out weekdays on Hardball which airs at 5:00 PM EST on MSNBC (cut the check, MSNBC…a plug is a plug):
Those of us familiar with the show aren’t the least bit surprised that Chris managed to mouth this off with a straight face. These sorts of comments are very typical of him. Chris seems to have an affinity for speaking without being bogged down by the tedious task of thinking first. His heart may have been in the right place, but his tongue obviously opted to go in another direction.
I can imagine how many of you reacted to this clip:
1. First, you take a second to try and make sure your ears aren’t deceiving you and ask yourself, “What did that muthafucka just say?” Then you put that cup down to raise your middle finger.
2. If you’re white and know better, you put your head down in shame and ponder why God didn’t step in and turn his mic off before he could finish his statement.
3. As you hear him continue to go on you begin to wonder just why you didn’t turn to CNN this time.
4. You then recant his words in your head and that’s when you get even more pissed that this old cashew had the audacity to bring up Barack Obama’s race in the context of a discussion about race.
Wait, before you start pointing your fingers and plotting on how to throw your red cups at me hear me out.
Or better yet, hear his do over:
Now this…this is better. He gets one point for realizing he probably didn’t say the smartest thing the first time. I wouldn’t remove his dunce cap, but I appreciate the clarification.
Chris Matthews once said he got a “thrill up his leg” listening to Obama speak. Clearly he’s a fan albeit an aloof one.
I’m irritated by Chris’ choice of words, but upon further reflection and hearing him trying to clarify I get what he’s saying. The only problem is there aren’t that many people of different persuasions in his world to help elevate him and his audience in discussions pertaining to race.
Whether we like it or not (I personally despise it) the media is still controlled largely by out of touch older white men of privilege. That means their reality is likely the only one they know and despite their cute little statements of this non-existent utopia called “post-racial America” they haven’t really tried to get a real understanding about the racial politics of this country.
So, they don’t know that they’re inclined to irk the hell out of people by saying things like “I forgot President Obama was black.” They’ll never get the chance to either if they’re burned at the stake because we collectively continue to dilute ourselves into thinking maintaining political correctness equates progress.
That’s not me being a white apologist; it’s me hoping that we have a period where people with good intentions but limited understanding can speak freely therefore allowing themselves to be corrected accordingly. There’s only so much enlightenment a person can enjoy if they only speak this way in the comfort of their homes.
But, let me just say while I do want some people to open up and get it out of their systems with the hopes that eventually ridiculousness will die down there are only certain levels of idiocies I can tolerate.
“Negro dialect” I can stomach. Sudden amnesia, uh, whatever, I suppose.
Bullshit like comparing people using free lunch in schools to stray animals? Not so much.
Now that’s the type of shit people ought to get burned for.
I don’t excuse Chris Matthews. I won’t dare try to defend what he has to say. My only point is I get the feeling if political correctness had died down years ago there’s a chance that some of this sort of talk (at least in the media) might have subsided by now.
I could be wrong, though, and I’m sure you’ll let me know if you think so in the comments section. Hint, hint.
maliasasha
January 28, 2010 at 10:35 am
You are so on point. Now if we could whisper in our president’s ear that this is how all thos pink supporters feel about him. The Don’t see him as Black…unless Michelle is on his shoulder or Ms Robinson is giving them her shade look. But you know what Barack know this he needs these mofos a little longer… maybe till 2011(when Oprah retires) there is going to be some white folks falling all over the place because remember Barack not only got rid of his opponents in Chicago…the nicca whiped them off the ballots. Be patient my beautifull black, brown and yellow folks…ya’ll know who you are….an ass whippin is coming!! Tru dat!
Lorin
January 28, 2010 at 12:23 pm
I agree with you. I understood what he meant when he said it; that Obama had somewhat reached a point where he isn’t the Black president, but the President of the United States. But I am sure as the sky is blue that we aren’t “post-racial” anything. I think white leaders and supporters tote this mantra because they still don’t understand the actual race situation. They have no race. They aren’t subjected to decipher between more than one classification on the Census or on any application. They normally don’t have to stress out in finding “someone like me” in a lecture hall of 300. They don’t have to search the everlasting channels on the television to find they’re an mirroring image that isn’t behind bars, on ESPN, or on someone’s stage. There is still a lot to learn, to be taught, to share. And it can only begin with moments of uncomfortable but needed dialogue like this. We have to be prepared to address it with the appropriate level of opposition. We can’t be the angry black person all the time; yet we don’t want to fall into the post-racial crap either.
TNR
January 28, 2010 at 5:29 pm
I was going to comment but Lorin said it all. I guess I can leave a small comment. LOL
But I understand where Chris was coming from. It is a great place to be where people can just see Obama as the president and not the “black” president. BUT we are no-where close to post-racial anything.
krissyk
January 28, 2010 at 9:21 pm
I get it, but what I don’t get is the lack of dialogue. Once some white man, in this case Chris Matthews, says something that could ignite a conversation on race, they are made to clarify and apologize, but the actual conversation NEVER takes place. Same thing happened with Sen. Reid. No one actually gets to hear why we aren’t in a “post-racial” America and what these statements actually mean to all the Black people who aren’t President Obama. But, leave it to the media to not highlight the real story *smh*
Sunset
January 29, 2010 at 7:50 am
I completely agree that we sacrifice facing some harsh truths for the sake of political correctness. I think it’s also a reason why many white people are afraid to start or to engage in meaningful dialogue about race. As someone who’s been the lone black girl in many instances, I have been confronted (and confounded) by some white people’s notions about people of color, but oftentimes, they were simply ignorant, and actually were asking questions out of genuine curiosity. It takes some willpower and patience, but I find that gently enlightening them can be pretty effective.
lurker # 1
January 30, 2010 at 12:38 am
whenever i hear comments like these from white people it just lets me know that they don’t actually have any real black friends b/c if they did they would have had discussions like this with before they even got to fix their mouth and say something like that.
i don’t begrudge chris mattews or anybody else like them b/c i know deep down inside they mean well and they could be saying that sh1t and be fox news instead of cnn/msnbc, but i’m just tired of white people never really making an effort to learn more and just think outside of themselves.
how many f8ckiing teachable moments are we going to have to endure?! why can’t these motherf8kers take some initiative and teach their own got-dam selves?!
this is why i don’t watch the news or keep up much with anything b/c it’s just going to piss you off and make you hate white people and hate america and lord knows i can’t afford to go to work acting like an angry black man.
from now on , i’m going to make sure to skip your political posts and just stick to the entertainment fluff b/c you already got my blood pressure up!
nice .gifst though! lololol…
Rayve
January 30, 2010 at 5:01 am
First of all I have to say you are the KING of the .gifs lmao… they always have me crying in the back of my classes.
Anywho….. When I heard about Chris Matthew saying this…. I couldn’t do anything but smh. This is what…. the third incident in A MONTH that somebody done said something ignorant about President Obama and him being black. At this point…. Im so done with all news sources…. Imma just stick to the Daily Show and The Colbert Report.