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I see the material mask, so don't
call me a coon
E. Ablorh-Odjidja
October 22, 2015
The material mask ( N. B.
Andrews, MASKS: A VENERABLE AFRICAN TRADITION) becomes more
revealing, especially when it is applied to the global scene.
The Guardian of October 21, 2015,
wrote "Latin America’s enduring fondness for grotesque racist
caricatures has returned to the spotlight with the political
rise of Guatemalan performer Jimmy Morales," who used to portray
" a hapless character called “Black Pitaya”, or Black
Dragonfruit" in his comedy routines.
The publication also mentions
Peru, which it says "has some of the continent’s most racist
characters. Negro Mama is a popular blackface television
personality who wears a prosthetic nose, lips, and black hairy
gloves on his hands. His motto is: “I might be a blacky, but I
have my little brain” (Podré ser negrito, pero tengo mi
cerebrito)'.
The question, is it possible to
make grotesque racist caricatures of people without first
harboring some contempt for them?
And can racist caricatures be
directed at people who can and are willing to fight back
visciously against the slight?
In the above two questions are
some observable truths - human and objective. The two co-exist
conspicuously, but the former requires a constant inquiry to
drum up its processes, while the latter, the objective truth
that is, can easily be perceived.
So, ask who is a racist?
And here the Hispanic comedy, as in the usage of mask,
kicks in to allow damage to our humanity and at the expense of
not only the clueless but all of us.
It is within the human experience
that racism is revealed.
But for the layers and masks, be it attitudinal,
cultural, or political, the real racist could easily be found.
The Hispanic will not change his or her racial attitude
just only because of a jump across the Southern border.
Blacks mostly ignore this human
truth when it comes to racial politics.
All minorities are one,
regardless of individual propensities, the majority of
Black voters in America assume.
No need to point out the contrary or you become an
outsider in your Black community.
And should you observe anything
negative against the white woman or the trans-gender, you will
best be known as racist, sexist, homophobic, or Uncle Tom and by
definition a Black Republican.
Democrats, including white
Hispanics, despite observable anti-racial tendencies, can hide
behind liberal ideology and be excused of racism.
In
summation, if Jimmy Morales of Guatemala were here in the United
States and had sense enough to become a Democrat, he would be
protected from black political wrath, even by the Black
intelligentsia.
And why not, some will say.
This oversimplification of the
political tack, the one-party leaning attitude, has already lost
the political ground games for us.
Our black leaders, instead of
fighting for Black interest, have taken the civil rights gains
and turned them over to the Democrat party to be used as common
property to settle all non-civil rights grievances - and for
votes.
As I write this, the Benghazi
hearing is going on in the House of Congress. Hillary Clinton,
the former Secretary of State is undergoing grilling at the
hands of Republicans, and guess who is running the hardest
interference and defense for her?
None other than our honorable
Elijah Cummings, a black Democrat, an early civil rights
activist with stellar credentials.
Missing in Cummings' defense
ardor for Hillary is the simple fact of the destruction of
Libya, an African state, in 2011; with Hillary as the architect
and the then secretary of state in the Obama administration.
Most Likely, Elijah would run the
same defense for a white Hispanic Democrat, but not the same for
Libya, and never for a Black conservative.
The
likes of Justice Clarence Thomas or Dr. Ben Carson deserve no
defense because they are not liberal enough.
Defend liberal causes and vote
Democrat all the way, so goes the accepted black political
battle cry.
In 2012, the black vote for Obama
was 95%, down a mere 4% from the 99% of 2008.
Before Obama, it was 93% for
Kerry (2004). Gore's was 95%, despite the pedigree of his racist
father. (Gallup)
The black vote was critical for
Gore in 2000.
Even in Gore’s case, after the
95% of the Black vote, Democrats still had to rush to the
Supreme Court to dredge more votes from essentially Black
communities in Florida 2000.
This rush for recount showed how
dependent Democrats are on the Black vote.
Hispanics in turn have used Black acquiescence to push
themselves up to gain the majority/minority upper hand, thereby
making the Black political support for Democrats less critical
than it once was.
The election of Obama in 2008,
though historically predictable, demonstrated that the
overwhelming Black vote for him could not have been suppressed.
Even black Republicans, the so-called Uncle Toms, caught
in the historic excitement, were glad to have voted for him.
There is nobility in claiming to
be racially color-blind in politics. But constantly perceiving
the other party only as racist may be self-destructive.
It leaves no leverage or a chance to fight back
effectively within the political system.
A knock on the door. It is Jose,
your Democrat party comrade. Are you coming out for the parade?
What parade and for whom?
My guy is out there.
Says he is running for president. Morales is his name,
from Guatemala and we need your vote. You coming out?
No, I am for Ben Carson.
Shiee! You are a Tom. A coon!
If you go by the one-party line,
the Democrat dictate, you are likely to overlook your interest
lodged in the heart of the Black conservative.
And you would be expected to vote the party line,
alongside the Hispanics.
Through this approach, most of
the civil rights gains have been given away.
Still, you are asked to push for the party, while the
power quotient of other minorities in your party keeps growing
and enhanced, at your expense as always.
Considering the racist cartoons I
have seen from South and Central America, the sentiment of
diversity does not sit well with me.
These " grotesque racist "
cartoons and comedies from the South of the border may just be
for laugh. But there
is no assurance that the "grotesque racist" cartoons in Hispania
will stop after Morale’s election as a Democrat.
And there is no indication that
the Hispanic who came to my door, your one-party white Hispanic
comrade, is not a racist either. Racism will not just disappear
because Hispanic members of the Democrat party happened to have
arrived in the United States.
They will be here and hiding
behind the mask of the same comedy routine.
And though comedy is a serious matter, with a worldview,
it still does not take away the fact that the material has an
intended prey. And
the prey has always been the least protected by society, which is why
there has been a need for civil rights protection.
The stereotypical work you see in
Hispanic comedy South of the border is meant to demean and hurt
the Black man, which is what racism is about.
Never would you see the
white Hispanic ridiculing the white European American.
By the way, the same Guardian
publication says there is in Mexico a comic book of" a little
black boy with the face of a monkey who is slightly exotic,
charming and sympathetic, but also inferior and in constant need
of discipline and education."
This little comic Black boy is an
icon in Mexico because there are pictures of him on postage
stamps. This is the low
esteem we get for our blackness or negritude in the Hispanic
world.
E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Publisher
www.ghanadot.com, Washington, DC, October 22, 2015.
Permission to publish: Please
feel free to publish or reproduce, with credits, unedited. If
posted on a website, email a copy of the web page to
publisher@ghanadot.com. Or don't publish at all.
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