Imaginary Racism in La-La Land

Racism, or “White Supremacy Ideology” as I like to refer to it as, is a syndrome that will never go away. Not in my lifetime at least… and I doubt very much in my son’s. It’s difficult enough combating the numerous legitimate cases of racism we face individually or as a community, whether blatant or systemic, that we don’t need to create “imaginary” incidents. These fantasy based events do nothing but provide more fodder for those in the dominant community to dismiss… or at least question the credibility… of the real consequences regarding white supremacy ideology. 

The Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP claims that a Hallmark graduation audio card, featuring cartoon characters Hoops and Yoyo is racist and advocates violence against Black women. Here’s the card:

Here’s the press conference by Jasmine Cannick and the NAACP: 

Are you freaking kidding me!? This is what the L.A. chapter of the NAACP is spending their time and energy on!? They’re no actual incidents of racism for them to combat, so they have to make this sh*t up!?

It’s for antics such as this one that long, looong ago, I stopped caring (or even commenting) about the activities of the NAACP. They have become a caricature, an embarrassingly bad caricature, of a civil rights organization. Lately they are known more for their back-stabbing and in-fighting for personal power, as well as ridiculous publicity stunts (which includes their so-called “Image Awards”), than being involved in anything relevant in regards empowering the African-American community. They’ve become cartoon characters like Hoops and Yoyo, but with less relevance, even less credibility and no entertainment value.  

I don’t usually agree with the views of Bob Parks of Project 21, but in this case he’s pretty much right on point:

Crying Wolf Over a “Racist” Cat and Rabbit

It is said that you can’t debate the insane. That must have been Hallmark’s strategy.

After three years on the market, the greeting card giant Hallmark quickly pulled a graduation card after half-baked claims were made by the Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP that the card is racist.

Starring the Hallmark-designed characters Hoops and Yoyo, the controversial card contains a small speaker from which the cartoon cat and rabbit exclaim: “This graduate is going to run the world, run the universe and run everything after that. Yeah, whatever that is. And you black holes? You’re so ominous.” A few seconds later, they add: “And you planets? Watch your back.”

Apart from the audio, the card reads: “You’re graduating? Well then, it’s time to let the world know what’s coming. But not only the world. NOOOO! We’re talking the entire Solar System.” It additionally boasts: “Watch out, Saturn, this grad is going to run rings around you.”

Despite all the astronomical references, the NAACP members insist Hoops and Yoyo are advocating violence against “black whores,” not “black holes.” That’s what they claim the card says.

The logic of Leon Jenkins, the president of the NAACP’s Los Angeles chapter, certainly seems airtight. In a video posted on YouTube by community activist Jasmyne Cannick, Jenkins points out that something that is “ominous” is evil. Something that is evil must have a “body” or “conscious thought.” That fits a black woman — not a collapsed star, he says. And then, he adds, there’s the card’s “watch your back” threat.

Q.E.D.

Pay no mind that the “watch your back” taunt is made toward planets and not to whatever one might think that one particular word is. But Jenkins has that covered. As he explains in the Cannick-posted video, “if reasonable people can listen to this and interpret it the way I did, you need to pull it.”

Reasonable, eh?

Whether or not reasonable people can debate the legitimacy of cartoon animals personifying celestial objects is debatable all by itself. Whether this is a sinister conspiracy to incite children’s anger against a specific race and gender through a throwaway greeting card is yet another.

Both are silly, and Jenkins and his pals don’t have an intellectual leg to stand on.

It might have also been to the group’s benefit if everyone was on the same page. In a local news segment, NAACP member Minnie Hartley claimed the card says “black whores” and insisted “the r is in there.” Cannick transcribes it on her video as “black hos.” Jenkins seems to hear both, as he alternates in interviews.

Has there been an unexplained, up to now, surge in assaults on African-American prostitutes by recent grade-school graduates over the past three years? That might lend some credibility to wild-eyed claims of corporate conspiracy.

But why should logic prevail? Hallmark couldn’t rush to pull the card fast enough. Before the activists even had their press conference, Hallmark called to announce the card was being pulled.

Drug stores chains such as CVS and Walgreens also called Leon Jenkins to apologize for having it in stock. Jenkins says he is going to have a sit-down with CVS to “look at how they can do some… things for the black community.”

Do some things?  It sounds like Jenkins might have tipped his hand.

Two things come to mind as a motivation for this greeting card controversy: a cry for attention or set-up for a shakedown.

For every inspired modern NAACP crusade such as their funeral for the “n-word,” there are many more complaints about too few black actors on television, Confederate flags or this greeting card. There’s a failure to realize that flailing for relevance demeans the NAACP’s successful and storied history.

If this is the more sinister of the two — that racism is being cried to solicit money or influence — it’s a much more serious and possibly criminal situation.

What’s worse, a racist rabbit or a corrupt civil rights group?  

“Racial Incitement a One-Way Street for the Media” by Bob Parks

Commentary submission by Project 21

A couple of days ago, MSNBC’s David Shuster called me the n-word.

Later, Chris Matthews called me a “sellout.”

Keith Olbermann then called me a “Little Black Sambo.”

CNN’s Rick Sanchez also called me a “biscuit-and-chicken eatin’ white wannabe.”

I’m just kidding, of course. They never said those things — although Sanchez’s actual contempt for me is obvious.

But if I had really made such claims and meant them, these media celebs would demand that I produce evidence of the alleged incendiary accusations. If I couldn’t, they’d justifiably be on the phone with their lawyers.

On March 20th, during the tea party rallies on Capitol Hill, members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) chose — and I use that word tactically — to walk through the throng of protestors to go vote for the government takeover of health care. Surely, if the tea parties were one generation removed from the Klan, CBC members might’ve either taken a different route or would’ve had an armed escort greater than less than a handful of Capitol Hill cops.

I’m personally amazed that the allegedly objective mainstream media has failed to produce ONE video or audio clip out of the many shot by their crews and countless citizens who were also there with cameras, that backs up the claim of Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) that he was called the n-word by a tea party bomb-thrower. It should have been easy to catch, since Lewis is said to have compared the demeanor of the crowd to when he was beaten in Selma 45 years ago.

Obviously, it’s a given that the media will readily accept the word of a God-like politician such as Lewis. After all, he’s a civil rights icon. John Edwards can also explain how all that works. Making oneself a victim is easier for some than others. It is certainly different when it comes to the anti-tax, pro-small government tea partiers. The media is in almost perfect sync against them, running with the template that the tea parties are populated by a violent and racist horde.

Funny how my son and I — who are black, the last time we checked — went to the two large protests that weekend in Washington, D.C. The only name I was called was my own as I ran into many people who knew me from past activism or my website work. They assaulted me with hugs and demands that I pose for pictures with them. Other blacks and minorities in attendance  — who, from watching later media reports of the day, curiously must have hidden from the mainstream media’s cameras — didn’t seem at all concerned for their safety.

In fact, in all the tea parties held nationwide, how many arrests were made for disorderly conduct or property damage? I’m not aware of any. I figure there were none since, knowing the crack media as we do, we’d surely see images of those disturbances right along with the audible racial slurs hurled at CBC members such as John Lewis at an O.J.-like pace if they actually occurred.

Alas, either the media has done a very sloppy job at reporting, or… those events never happened. Why ruin the perfect chance to slime the opposition?

Once again, I would never claim someone such as a media pundit or newsreader used racial slurs against me without irrefutable proof. However, this should not be the one-way street that it is now. Until the media can produce evidence that can link hateful racial comments to an entire group of thus far non-violent, clean-up-after-themselves, civic-minded citizens, any claims are slanderous. To tell the truth, there are times I wish I was a lawyer.

Bob Parks is a member of the national advisory council for the Project 21 black leadership network and operates the website: Black and Right.

Other articles of of interest on the topic:

1. “Protesing the Protestors” by Cal Thomas

2.  Prefabrication of a Leftist: A Response to Cal Thomas by Eddie Griffin

“Why Rush Should Sue” By Bob Parks

Commentary submission by Project 21

After being ousted from a group seeking to buy the St. Louis Rams, Rush Limbaugh has a duty to punch the media in its collective mouth.

Not literally, of course. What Rush must do is sue the mainstream media for damaging his reputation. His earning potential in not being able to buy into the football team was clearly hurt when the media helped create a firestorm of controversy based on out-of-context or completely made-up statements.

By definition, the Merriam-Webster dictionary says “libel” is “a written or oral defamatory statement or representation that conveys an unjustly unfavorable impression… published without just cause and tending to expose another to public contempt.”

That seems to be what happened here.

For example, CNN’s Rick Sanchez and several sports columnists relied on an undocumented quote found on Wikipedia attributed to Limbaugh that allegedly lauded slavery. Rush denies it, and no one can produce evidence to the contrary.  Likewise, football player Mathias Kiwanuka’s assertion that Rush is racist went unchallenged in the New York Daily News.

After failing to filter out untruths or challenge wild assertions – something the media has criticized bloggers for – Rush has reason for redress. And it’s not just for himself.

No one is safe when the media can pull incendiary remarks out of thin air and allow them to be assumed to be true.

Think of the potential damages. The Rams may now be derided as the “St. Louis Lambs,” but they were “The Greatest Show on Turf” not too long ago. It’s cyclical.  Think of the team’s ticket sales, merchandising and broadcasting rights potential.  Even as a minority partner, Limbaugh stood to make a lot of money.

Who’s at fault? CNN’s Sanchez and those who fabricated the slavery quote in the first place, among others, certainly share moral culpability.

In the end, Limbaugh could end up owning portions of the networks that have been on a virtual crusade to destroy him.

Rush also has a bone to pick with non-media types such as NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay for taking the media’s cue and branding Limbaugh an enemy of the league.

Al Sharpton also cannot be allowed to continue dictating public sensibility without effective rebuttal. Just the fact that Sharpton said he was going to talk to Goodell is laughable. Why does he merit an audience? Could it be because Sharpton is a darling of the race-obsessed media?

If Rush doesn’t take the lying slanderers out back once and for all, they will do it again to anyone right-of-center who dares to open his mouth.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism professors who moonlight as cable news experts should not go to any old website and use a post with no attribution as the basis for character assassination. Likewise, partisan pundits shouldn’t hide behind freedom of the press to repeat false quotes.

Race hustlers should not be allowed to interject themselves into a false controversy and anoint themselves as speech arbiters.

News anchors similarly should not be allowed back on set after knowingly reading a false quote. And the players, who laughably claim to be victims, shouldn’t just go to the media and repeat false quotes.

The media in general also has to really believe in fairness and equality.

Now’s the time for those who willingly perpetrate smears to find out what it’s like to have their lives destroyed.  It’s time for the message to be sent that the arena of ideas is just that. Should they decide to play fast and loose with the rules, they must suffer the same consequences as the common man.

I believe Rush Limbaugh has an obligation to sue everybody involved in this sham.

Bob Parks is a member of the national advisory council for the Project 21 black leadership network and operates the website: Black and Right.