’)Sometimes, the mask slips.
U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins offered encouragement to conservatives at a town hall forum that the Republican Party would embrace a “great white hope” capable of thwarting the political agenda endorsed by Democrats who control Congress and President Barack Obama.
Jenkins, a Topeka Republican in her first term in Congress, shared thoughts about the GOP’s political future during an Aug. 19 forum at Fisher Community Center in the northeast Kansas community of Hiawatha.
In response to inquiries by The Topeka Capital-Journal, a Jenkins spokeswoman said Wednesday the congresswoman wanted to apologize for her word choice and to emphasize she had no intention of expressing herself in an offensive manner.
Translation? “Sorry I got caught, next time I’m a racist I’ll make sure there aren’t any reporters around.”
Racism is a slippery thing to pin down since it’s nearly always impossible to prove intent. Someone says something that sounds racist and lots of people get upset, understandably, because racism shouldn’t be ignored; and lots of other people get exasperated at them for being upset, understandably, because it’s easy to assume the worst and cry wolf at the drop of a hat and be offended by everything. Accusations fly (this person is racist, that person’s the self-appointed PC police), tempers rise, battle lines are drawn, and you’re either with the angels or the devils. Anyone who professes not to lay blame is, of course, assumed to be with the devils.
I don’t know if Lynn Jenkins was blowing a dog whistle on purpose or not. It’s certainly possible, and there’s certainly precedent for conscious strategy of that kind. It’s also possible that she was using the phrase “great white hope” in an entirely innocent way; it’s a fairly common trope in our culture that I’ve heard used many times in contexts that had nothing at all to do with race.
Now, the phrase originated in a context that was absolutely, undeniably about race and racism. So it has that resonance. But it’s a resonance that a lot of people, white people, may not hear (or may not realize that they hear). Here’s another distinct possibility: Jenkins’ use of the phrase was not deliberately racist, but did reflect the kind of subconscious nervousness/fear that many white people feel when they are negotiating the presence of a black person, which nervousness/fear often manifests itself as accidental racism.
I’m a lifelong liberal who was born and raised in a liberal town that was and is very white. It wasn’t until I went away to college that I did much interacting with black people. And I felt nervous. I was scared of saying or doing something inappropriate, of misrepresenting myself and having my intentions misunderstood, and of course that fear made it all the more likely that I’d do just that. I’d suddenly realize that I was using the sort of outdated, mainstream-co-opted black slang that hipster white kids often use around each other in an ironic way, only now I was talking to hipster black kids, and what the hell must they think of me? It was like the way I’d suddenly realize I’d just made a “your mom’s a fill in the blank” crack to a friend whose mother had died. Not trying to be unkind or thoughtless, just giving unpremeditated expression to the awareness I was trying not to display.
I don’t know if Lynn Jenkins is on the side of the angels or the devils. I mean, she is a Republican, and I’ve learned to be wary of feeling empathy toward people who choose that political orientation. But people of all stripes say things they wish they could take back, or say with more nuance. Just heft that stone in your hand a few times before you cast it, is all I’m sayin’.
Calls her man the great white hope
Says she’s fine, she’ll always cope, ooh
Woman in chains, woman in chains
Tears For Fears, “Woman In Chains”
Jennings is only a couple of years older than I am, and the phrase “Great White Hope” brings up the 1989 Tears For Fears song, not the movie that came out when I was three and she was seven.
J.
Jay must be a founding member of the Tears for Fears fan-club, because I have no idea what you’re talking about.
That’s good, Jaim. Embrace your ignorance. Don’t engage in denial.
They’re not my favorite band, but Roland Orzabal has an amazing voice. Check out this song — or “Shout” (the original, not the Disturbed cover) or “Everybody Wants To Rule The World.”
J.
Jay Tea: that’s a reach of desperation, which is typical of your willful ignorance and stubborn idiocy. Jenkins is not making a Tears for Fears reference, your desperate attempt to cover up for this typically conservative race-resentment eruption notwithstanding. There’s a reason Republicans are doomed to an electoral exile, because Americans see that Republicans are typically assholes like you and Jenkins.
One does have to wonder what moral goal is being served by covering up for race-baiting on the part of the GOP, here. The rational response from Jay Tea would be to apologize for this conscious/unconscious stream of idiocy out of Jenkins’ mouth. But instead we get apologies from it.
As was typical of Jay Tea when he would mindlessly defend and promote GW Bush for 8 years straight. There’s little reasoning with the angry and stupid of the GOP trying dearly not to admit that they hitched themselves to the wrong wagon and ended up failing in life. Better for him to defend these racial eruptions than to admit that his life is a moral waste. This is what we’re dealing with when it comes to the GOP: a bunch of people willing to act in an actively destructive manner rather than repudiate the false values that the Republicans hurt the country with over the past 8 years. You’re not fooling anyone, Jay Tea: a Bush loving moral midget like yourself isn’t exactly a voice of authority on what Jenkins was thinking.
Errm. It was a play based on racism and segregation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_White_Hope
Hmm, I just did a search as well, and it’s all about the movie and play. And of course Lynn Jenkins comment.
As far as using the phrase in non-racist contexts, the first link was to the kindle, which is apparently white, and the second to laundry.
Lynn Jenkins used it in the context of a Black President. She was either using it in a racist way, or she’s a moron.
“You know, I hate writing about racial issues.”
“You know, I hate writing about racial issues.”
And when people click through that link they see: “but so often instead of discussing policy differences and differing belief systems, Republican and conservatives jump to race.”
Oh, Tyro. Please calm yourself. That’s most unbecoming. You’re making a scene.
My whole point was one of declaring ignorance — it took a little poking around for me to find the original context of the phrase.
I didn’t know about the history of the play-cum-movie, and wondered if my ignorance might be common.
Besides, it’s a beautiful song, with a really, really subversive and progressive message. The video (which also involves a boxer, come to think of it) is also quite powerful.
J.
The phrase originated with the Jsmes Jeffries/Jack Johnson heavyweight championship fight in 1910.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_J._Jeffries
Jay Tea, you’re still a fucking moron.
And I hate doing dishes, yet there I am, in the kitchen with a sponge and hot water, almost every day. Jeez, I must NOT hate doing dishes.
If someone does something, it is clearly not because they feel like it has to be done, it must be because they enjoy it.
thanks Dennis, for yet another enlightening contribution regarding human nature to this blog and the world.
To play devil’s avocado, it’s a sufficently well known phrase for her to have used it without thinking and without consciously meaning it in racial terms. Republican precedent does loom large over her, though.
Well if nothing else the discussion here has made me find a fairly good song from the 80s by a band I actually like but never got that into at the time, so that’s cool.
I’m not sure why the idea of the phrase originating (for Jenkins) with the song makes it such a good thing, though. The way I’m reading the lyrics it sounds like the “woman in chains” calls her man that due to a combination of (implied) abuse and pig-headedness, so trying to use that as a buzz-word for what the party needs is possibly not the best turn of phrase.
In fairness, as Jay suggests its quite likely someone wouldn’t mean anything specifically racist by it, rather than trying to make people remember a racially charged boxing match from a century ago. I mean I had heard the phrase before in terms of boxing but didn’t know the context, I might have used it unknowingly myself and hell, everyone does make mistakes.
But then, I’m not a politician. The odds that her and her handlers simply haven’t noticed the, if nothing else, perception of racial motivations in disparaging the president and looked at the words “great white hope” without thinking enough to check what they actually meant is, quite frankly, amazingly slim. If not racist, and she probably isn’t, then at the very least she was incredibly foolish.
Also, and this is a ridiculous question, I realize, but is there a picture of this woman anywhere where her smile won’t terrify me?
Wait. Jay Tea thought this was a reference to a Tears For Fears song?
That is the dumbest thing I’ve heard in 6 months.
Felix:
How about this: how about you nail someone who fucks up, and let them look and feel bad about fucking up, while assuming that it’s easy to fuck up – so, if a person does not show further signs of racism, you assume it was a genuine fuck-up, or that they learned their lesson.
How’s that sound? That way, you let people who are adults make their mistakes and learn from them (and learn from others’ mistakes as well), and you also allow people to learn that being told “that was racist” is not a life/career ending moment… it’s an opportunity for self-reflection, and a chance to show maturity (one that is often missed, alas).
People aren’t going to die from being told they said or did something awful. The idea that an accusation of racism is so horrible that folks have to avoid making it is, in itself, a form of racism.
Racism is a slippery thing to pin down since it’s nearly always impossible to prove intent. Someone says something that sounds racist and lots of people get upset, understandably, because racism shouldn’t be ignored; and lots of other people get exasperated at them for being upset, understandably, because it’s easy to assume the worst and cry wolf at the drop of a hat and be offended by everything.
So if a public official–one who serves people of all races–goes out in public and makes a comment that demonstrates her lack of interest or understanding of the history of racial conflict in this country, that’s understandable?
No, it’s not.
“stormfront posters are Tears For Fears fans”-cons
Jay, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: You are truly one of the dumbest and most disingenuous people ever. And a fucking bigot to boot. Or at least a defender of bigotry which makes you, um, a fucking bigot.
Tears for Fears? My god.
You are a cloaca of stupid.
Well apart from anyone else, who was still listening to Tears for Fears in 1989?
I have always heard the phrase as denoting a lost cause that is promoted for vanity or race conscious reasons. Or putting forward someone of dubious skill as the next savior of a ( team / company / whatever). Like “Brett Farve is the ‘Great White Hope’ for the Vikings this year, and we all know where that is going.”
Always used with derision and sadness, noting the clinging to a hopeless chance.
For Rep Jenkins, she seems to mean it earnestly, hence the accusations of racism.
eg:
http://www.sfweekly.com/2006-05-03/music/goldfrappuccino/ about UK electro bands trying to reprise some long lost era
http://www.sfweekly.com/2009-05-20/calendar/on-the-qt/ about Quentin Tarantino as the savior of American film.
non-racist uses of “Great white hope”. Other uses, you be the judge.
Princeton’s definition:
Noun
S: (n) white hope, great white hope (someone (or something) expected to achieve great success in a given field) “this company is the great white hope of the nuclear industry’s waste management policy”
—–
Amazing the people here, always the same ones, who see racism where there is none. Even liberals here can’t agree on whether this is racist, but the usual mind reading experts here sure can.
Dennis you are racist for saying her comments are not racist. Why you may ask… It is an easy wag the dog!
Zzzz.
No, I don’t ask anymore, Craig. The race allegations got boring a long time ago.
Is there anything definitively anti-black about the term “Great White Hope” inherently? Of course not.
Is there anything particularly racist or anti-jewish about the words “Final Solution” in a vacuum? Obviously no.
Should any politician damn well think twice before using either term, particularly describing them as what the country needs?
Should that politician’s handlers have known better than not to Google a phrase like that considering the, even minimal as they may be, racist undertones in the anti-Obama contingent?
Should we automatically assume that references to that undertone were completely unintentional, and that she and her speechwriters are simply, utterly, ignorant of what that term means for some people?
Should you be all that comfortable when your argument is: She’s not Racist, She’s just an imbecile, and that’s why we should utterly ignore this.
If your defense of Rep. Jenkins remarks depends on discounting the sensitivities of her constituents, you’re on thin ice.
If your defense of her remarks depends on excusing her ignorance of the racial provenance of her colloquialism, you’re saying it’s not important for her to care what black folks might think.
Quaker-
She apologized for her word choice and emphasized she had no intention of expressing herself in an offensive manner.
Apparently that wasn’t good enough for the usuals here who always cry racism when they thing a conservative is one. No, Oliver says: Translation? “Sorry I got caught, next time I’m a racist I’ll make sure there aren’t any reporters around.”
No one here has either said nor implied that it’s not important for her to care what black folks might think. What one black person says is that she is a racist and she is only sorry for having gotten caught, and that she will go on being racist. That her apology is just a lie. Not one word about this being a poor choice of words, just that the mask slipped.
A much different accusation than merely saying she’s insensitive to what black folks might think.
And disagreeing with that particular accusation brings out the usual charges of racism here, too. So what else is new.
No one here has either said nor implied that it’s not important for her to care what black folks might think.
No?
A much different accusation than merely saying she’s insensitive to what black folks might think.
Not really very different. There are two ways to understand Rep. Jenkins’ remarks and her follow up:
1) The sensitivities of her black constituents matter because she represents them to the same degree she represents her white constituents. They are equal partners in the political system. Recognize the error and apologize. This is the path Rep. Jenkins chose. Smart move.
2) Discount any complaint about her statement as “race-baiting.” This position holds that black constituents who may complain about her remark aren’t actually offended, but are only faking their outrage. This positions assumes that genuine offense is either not possible or, because it wasn’t deliberate, not really offensive after all.
This second position assumes that what is genuinely offensive is determined only by the standards of the mainstream, the majority. The White. The sensitivities of anyone else don’t count.
Does this fit anyone who has commented in this thread?
Shorter right-wingers: Hey, as long as we don’t actually say “nigger”; then you can’t prove it’s racist. As an aside, an old Rush-bot friend of mine’s biggest beef with Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, etc. is that they pussy-foot around and won’t just come right out and say “Nigger” and be done with it. He was very clear about this.
Not a single comment worth reading in this thread after Felix Helix’s initial post.
bikelib,
Yeah, and guess what, I know someone who posts highly offensive rants on liberal blog comments sections and does it posing as a conservative.
That someone happens to post comments here, too.
He’s very clear about his sock-puppet race-baiting.
No one here proves she’s a racist. Rarely does anyone here prove any their racism accusations. They just accuse, brand and implicate anyone who disagrees as racist too, and then move on.
Not a single comment worth reading in this thread after Felix Helix’s initial post
You’re free to move on.
Yeah, and guess what, I know someone who posts highly offensive rants on liberal blog comments sections and does it posing as a conservative.
Uh oh, sounds like Dennis is coming out of the closet.
No, that would be Zython, Crusty.
One of your own.
Right here in Riverville.
Why does this story fascinate you so, Dennis?
Which story, Quaker, the blog post, or Zython’s idiocy?
Whichever, both exemplify the desire and the malicious intent on the part of so many liberals and liberal bloggers to paint all conservatives as racist. Zython just shows the degree to which they’ll go to.
If Lynn Jenkins is a racist and one of the White Power Republicans, then someone please tell me what just what the hell this is:
The memo that’s about to shake the Atlanta mayor’s race
A memo arguing that African-Americans should unite behind a single black candidate in the race for mayor of Atlanta is about to become a prime topic of debate.
The material, which we include below, is said to be distributed by Aaron Turpeau, a long-time City Hall figure, on behalf of something called the Black Leadership Forum.
Turpeau argues that Council President Lisa Borders is the only candidate who can prevent the election of Councilwoman Mary Norwood as the first white mayor since Atlanta Mayor Sam Massell.…
Worth noting
http://ta-nehisicoates.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/08/gop_in_search_of_a_great_white_hope.php
Quite honestly, I don’t think this is worth getting upset about. For better or worse, people really do use the phrase “great white hope” without consciously connecting it to race. It’s certainly an unfortunate choice of words in this situation in particular, but let’s not get carried away with charges of racism. It distracts us from real problems.
This reminds me of the people who got upset when someone introduced Hillary Clinton last year by saying she made “Rocky Balboa look like a pansy.” I really don’t think he meant that as any sort of slur to gay people, but of course it was all over the news the next day.
It’s certainly an unfortunate choice of words in this situation in particular, but let’s not get carried away with charges of racism.
Who do you think is getting “carried away”?
I concur whole-heartedly with the snip Indeed gave us from Ta-nehisi Coates. I think he stops a bit short, though. If Rep. Jenkins doesn’t know that using the phrase is a bad idea, it’s either because she didn’t think about it or didn’t care.
Whichever, both exemplify the desire and the malicious intent on the part of so many liberals and liberal bloggers to paint all conservatives as racist.
I’m confused. First you declare that no one can prove racism because you can’t know motive. Then you assert that you can see the “desire and malicious intent” of those who make charges of racism?
That’s extraordinary.
“Tears for Fears? My god.
You are a cloaca of stupid.”
“… a cloaca is the posterior opening that serves as the only such opening for the intestinal, reproductive and urinary tracts of certain … [Republican]”
Had to look that one up.
First of all..her name is spelled Lynn JenKKKins.
I’ve read so many slimeball republicans say “she’s just telling the
truth”. So hypocrites..NOW..I guess it’s okay for anyone to tell the world that sleazeball Bush stole the Whitehouse with voter fraud, illegally tortured prisoners, violated the Constitution on a daily basis and he started a illegal war with lies..without being called “unpatriotic”….because that’s all the truth right ?!
I didn’t say that no one can prove racism because you can’t know motive, so yes, you are confused, Quibbie.
No one here proves she’s a racist. Rarely does anyone here prove any their racism accusations. They just accuse, brand and implicate anyone who disagrees as racist too, and then move on.
I suppose that could have been someone else posting under your name.
There’s an Onion headline in here somewhere: “Openly Racist Republicans Tired of Being Called Racist” or something to that effect.
It was me and not one of the at least two sock-puppets among us, both far-left libs curiously enough, but I didn’t say what you claimed I said. Those aren’t the same.
You are still confused.
Do you think she is a racist, and if so, why? Or, why do you think Oliver claims she is a racist and this is all about white power, Quaker?
And what of the story in Atlanta?
Or, why do you think Oliver claims she is a racist and this is all about white power, Quaker?
I am at a loss for an answer. I am not Oliver. Regardless of any other plots you believe may be afoot, I am not Oliver’s alias.
Do you think she is a racist, and if so, why?
I think she made a racist statement. Not knowing anything at all about the woman or her attitudes, I can judge only what she is reported to have said.
Understand that I do not believe that racism is the same thing as being driven in one’s actions by a consuming hatred of black people. I optimistically believe that the number of people in our country motivated by such hatred is quite small.
However, if you refer to my earlier comments, you’ll see that I also believe that racism manifests itself in the assumption that the white majority gets to decides what’s normal and acceptable and the concerns of anyone not white can be–or should be–discounted. Far from being typical only of robe-wearing throwbacks, I think this assumption at times informs the attitudes of most white people, myself included.
To put it as briefly as I can, Rep. Jenkins made a statement that amounts to: “You don’t count.” Wisely, she withdrew that statement.
Wow, funky comments.
Two cents: The connotation of “great white hope” is racist.
Or what Wilfredo said.
Lynn Jenkins is an accountant who voted with Bush to spend more money than any US president in history. She is pro-Iraq War, but did not enlist in Gulf War #1 when she was a spry 25 years old. She did NOT support the troops because she is a CHICKEN HAWK. That is the litmus test. The CHicken Hawk is the lowest form of hypocrite there is — sending other people to war, when she herself was too CHICKEN to fight. Buck buck buck!
Jay must be at a Tears for Fears concert.
Lynn Jenkins Receives Death Threat
Stay Classy, Dems.
My, that’s powerful stuff Dennis.
Death threat is not a good thing and should never be done, but I love that you get into high dudgeon over it but not the racial speech.
Next it will be the “white man’s burden.” Just saying. It’s all coming out. Frick in hell.
Dennis, why do you assume it was a democrat? Any evidence to support that? Her office even said they don’t know whether it was connected to any specific issue.
Besides, one lonely nut calling in a death threat? But you ignore the patterns of threats of violence from the right?
Besides, one lonely nut calling in a death threat? But you ignore the patterns of threats of violence from the right?
In a nutshell. (on at least two levels)
She did apologize – which I thought was mighty white of her.
I’d love to hear the learned dissertations regarding Kiplings poetic observations. Someone might do it but he’d be a better man than I. LOL
I’d love to hear the learned dissertations regarding Kiplings poetic observations. Someone might do it but he’d be a better man than I. LOL
Dude, is the Google Button on your computer machine broke’?
LOL Indeed,
You do not “get it.”
Is that why you are so “amused.” And an “observer.” Perhaps you “could” “explain” “it” to “me.”
“Thanks” in advance.