By now a lot of people have heard about the song “Barack the Magic Negro,” written by conservative satirist Paul Shanklin. The song has been around for a while. But it has a new lease on notoriety because John “Chip” Saltsman, a former GOP chief from Tennessee who is a contender for the Republican National Committee chairmanship, distributed the song as a Christmas gift to fellow conservatives.
The song is supposed to parody an article in the Los Angeles Times written by a black writer, David Ehrenstein, who ascribed Barack Obama’s popularity with white voters to his being a non-threatening black hero, akin to actor Sidney Poitier, capable of eliciting votes based on white guilt.
The man who sings the song in a video clip is an Al Sharpton-esque character who complains that a Johnny-come-lately to the national political scene, like Barack the Magic Negro, should not have the upper hand over more deserving black men like rapper Snoop Dogg, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and others who have “walked the walk and talked the talk.” The singer bemoans white voters’ proclivity for shunning black candidates who hail from the hood, while embracing someone like Obama with no hood credentials.
Finally, in a last verse laced with double negatives — presumably an attempt by Shanklin at “black authenticity” — the singer worries his free handouts will cease with the election of Obama. This song, Saltsman says, is a clever parody and should be viewed lightheartedly by his conservative buddies and other Americans.
The most devious thing a white writer can do is to put his racist slurs and rhymes in a black singer’s mouth. It is bitterness by proxy, a case of “I didn’t say it.” A black writer wrote this way in the Los Angeles Times, a black singer is singing it, and this is exactly the way many black politicians and celebrities view Obama’s election. They are angry an inauthentic black man stole their thunder and beat them to the goalpost, and are afraid his election will throw cold water on their cries for justice and free buffets.
The song is a shameful lie. Obama earned 97 percent of the black vote. He won the full support of numerous black politicians, even those who envied him and disagreed with him. Blacks showed no doubt or fear that by electing Obama they would bring about the amelioration or abolition of white guilt and thereby put themselves at a future disadvantage in arguments about racial disparity. Men from the “hood” did not view Obama as a refined black interloper who made no sacrifices for the black cause.
This song is also mischief of the most insidious kind because it presumes it can storm the black psyche and lay bare its skeletons. It masquerades as a witty rhyme, and when attacked, its distributor, Saltsman, hides behind his right to free speech and honest-to-goodness American humor.
Shanklin needed no excuse to call Obama “Barack the Magic Negro.” Those words are no parody. They are insults penned with deliberation, the Los Angeles Times article a handy cover for Shanklin’s prejudice. Saltsman became publicist for this song not because of a lapse of judgment but because he was sure his fellow Republicans, in the privacy of their bedrooms, would roll over and guffaw at the cleverness of its lyrics. The Republican leadership should unanimously put Saltsman’s certitude to the lie.
The RNC should not pick a man who in the depths of his blindness cannot recognize the changing demographics of this country, a man who lives in the past and displays a puerile need to impress with off-color jokes about race. If it wants to revive and thrive, the Republican party should expand its voter pool beyond the likes of talk show host Rush Limbaugh and his aficionados.
Usha Nellore is a writer living in Bel Air. Reach her at [email protected].
