I have the most off the wall sense of humor, but could someone please explain what I was supposed to find humorous about this? Is it meant to be funny? How sad for this person!

I've met Steve. He's African-American.

He's also way off-base on this one (he's way off-base alot, but it also drives traffic).

I don't understand how having different political beliefs is the equivalent of leaving the race.

KingBastard: You don't understand it because there's essentially nothing to understand. If there were something to understand it would imply there were something that made sense. Since that blog, that posting, and the writer of that posting are liberal hypocrites, and nothing there makes any sense, there's nothing to understand.

Understand?

In all seriousness, I could have predicted he was black. In other postings he uses the term "nigger" freely. And everybody knows as long as you're black it's perfectly acceptable to go around saying "nigger" and drawing minstrel faces on back men like the Lt. Governor, referring to him as a Sambo. As long as THEY'RE doing it, it's fine.

I find that to be a great educational method to show young black children how to learn tolerance and nonracism. But then again, as far as I'm concerned, there are "niggers" and there are African-American people, just like there are Caucasians and white trailer-trash people. You are what you make of yourself and your cries for tolerance and non-racism start with YOU.

Dear Pam:

You're welcome to it!

Nope, he won't because Gilliard is black.

Hi guys. Believe it or not, I have no idea what this story is about. I've been out of the loop for most of the day today. Also, the whole Harriet Miers thing (not to mention the CIA leak investigation thing) has pretty much sucked all the oxygen out of the sphere today.

I do occasionally read Steve Gilliard's web log. I glanced at a post on his site today, after seeing something posted on Atrios site. But honestly, I couldn't understand what the hell Gilliard was talking about, it was written that badly. It must not have been the original post?

I also did not click on Rosemary's link for the reason she stated.

So, please feel free to fill me in -- I might just surprise you with my reaction.

Ara,

He painted Maryland's LT.Gov (an African American man)up to look like a minstrel. Then he called him little Sambo and preceded to attribute comments to him that sounded like illterate plantation speak.

Vickie- I knew exactly what you were saying loud and clear! I should have worded that better!

OK. I saw the picture. I read the posts. And I believe you want to know if I thought it was racist?

Hmmm.

The short answer is yes, simply because the popular definition of the word has grown rather, um, expansive in recent years.

But (since you asked, Wince) let me give you an expanded answer.

First off, I'm somewhat old-school in how I define racism:

Racism is prejudice or discrimination based on the belief that race is the primary factor determining human traits and abilities. Racism includes the belief that genetic or inherited differences produce the inherent superiority or inferiority of one race over another.

Given that definition, I asked myself how I would measure these comments if the target of the comments was, say, Barak Obama and the speaker was, say, David Duke. No question -- I'd have judged the speaker's comments to be racist, if not also Neanderthal. Sambo?? Get serious.

But -- lo and behold -- Gilliard is an African American man, something that I didn't know (or care) about until today. And that puts another spin on his comments.

How so, you ask?

Think about it: if Dave Chapelle had said something similar about Condi Rice (and he probably has), would we think he was racist? Not really.

But Gilliard isn't a comedy genius -- not even close.

What if Harry Belafonte had said the same thing about Colin Powell (which he did). Would we think he was racist? Not really.

But Gilliard isn't a cultural icon -- not even close.

I'll leave it to someone more qualified to explain what exactly motivates guys like them to take shots at people like Rice and Powell.

All I know is that Gilliard's use of racial stereotypes is insulting and not particularly funny. Not only that, it demeans him AND his target in the eyes of people who really are racist.

Bottom line: Gilliard is part of the problem, not part of the solution because his comments make racism more of a problem, not less of one.

Satisfied, Wince?

Ara:

Where did you get that definition of racism?

Ara,

I'm satisfied, although I think I can make a slight improvement. Your definition is:

Racism is prejudice or discrimination based on the belief that race is the primary factor determining human traits and abilities.

I think this sentence by Gilliard from the comments is racist according to that definition:

You know if Black Republican wasn't a synonym for betrayer of black people we could debate their views.

So I'm very comfortable saying Gilliard a part of the problem.

Yours,
Wince

Pam:

Chappelles act, though very funny, is in fact racist. By your definition...

Yes. Well. You're not the first person to say that. And I'm going to cop out and not discuss it because this isn't a thread on humor. Sorry.

Maybe we could get Rosemary to post something about Chapelle and whether he is (or is not) racist. I'm not sure where Ro would come down on the question, but I have an idea.

The simple answer is that the brilliance of a Dave Chapelle goes waaaaaaaaay beyond overt racism. The guy is a wicked genius and hilariously funny. But he also actually has a point.

For example, have you ever seen his classic sketch about the blind white racist who didn't know that he was actually born black? Watch it sometime then let's continue this discussion.

Ara: I'll ask again - where did you get your definition of racism?

Vickie asked:
"Ara: I'll ask again - where did you get your definition of racism?"

That is the historic definition of racism. Here's another good one (this pertains more to the history of the European Continent in the last two centuries than to America's history, though it spilled over onto us in the form of two World Wars):

"Racism is the bad habit of looking for one's compatriots in other people's countries."
-G. K. Chesterton, The End of the Armistice

Dear Vickie:

You're quite welcome!