Huffington Post endorses blackface?

CVK
blackface huffington postThis is too appalling. I caught wind of this over at Slant Truth. Click over to read Kevin’s breakdown of what exactly happened, but basically this photo was used to illustrate a post over on Huffington Post criticizing Joseph Lieberman for supposedly engaging in “race baiting.”

The comments on the original Huffington Post entry make for amusing reading. I particularly like this one, from Bob1520 at 2:15 pm yesterday:

It doesn’t bother me from a racist perspective - I’m above that - but I just don’t see the point or the objective achieved here.

Gee I wish I was as evolved as him, to be “above” racism.
And they wonder why people of color aren’t more politically engaged. Just look at the welcoming environment they’re creating for us!

UPDATE: Today (Friday’s) New York Times covered the debacle:

In Conn. Race, Bloggers Throw Curves and Spitballs

Trackbacks & Pings

  1. Dork Nation on 03 Aug 2006 at 6:01 pm

    Voting, but pissed…

    Attention my party:
    You trawl the neighborhoods of people of color a few weeks before voting.
    So called progressives get hacked off when people of color support candidates of color instead of the white candidate in the primary with little or no history…

  2. September 2006 New Demographic Newsletter at New Demographic - an anti-racism training company on 06 Sep 2006 at 10:53 am

    […] Political blog Huffington Post makes the horrendous choice of illustrating a post criticizing Joseph Lieberman for supposedly engaging in “race baiting” with a doctored photo of Lieberman in blackface. Yes, this is 2006, folks. […]

  3. Gandalf’s Edict « Dork Nation on 07 Sep 2006 at 2:17 pm

    […] A lot of people were inspired to comment in their own blogs about what went down over at B’s place, writing it off completely with lame snark (guess he’s one of those people who are “above racism.”) or writing it off as a “semantic debate” (it most certainly was not that simple). It got people talking, at least. […]

Comments

  1. Gandalf Mantooth wrote:

    I have really had enough of my party’s so called progressives this time around. In some ways they are more suspect when it comes to race than the centrists. The way they reacted towards Harold Ford Jr back when he had opposition in the primary, they may as well have called him an uppity n*****. They put it off to his support of the Iraq war, however they go after him as if he was a republican while letting other Dems slide, and most all Dems voted to support the war. They are so upset that black voters choose black candidates over white candidates who run in majority black districts. I think they smoke crack.

  2. Stefanie wrote:

    Even given this, I’d encourage people that feel “unwelcome” to still be politically involved. To me, if you feel your views and values are under-represented, that should be more of a motivator than a deterrent to be active in civics/politics. Granted, as a white woman, I don’t particularly feel unwelcome on a racial basis, but as a political independent, my viewpoints don’t completely mesh with the Democratic or Republican party and I often find myself in the out-group, ideologically. It’s often uncomfortable, but I feel it’d be wrong to let it stop me.

  3. Gandalph Mantooth wrote:

    Who said anything about not wanting to get involved? I’m really talking abt internecine conflict. It is simply time for these progressives to get over themselves.

  4. Jenn wrote:

    The fact that someone concoted this image made me nauseous. The fact that the “artist” is defending this image is making me angry. Blackface is never excusable, under no circumstance should the various communities of colour sit idly by as an image like this perpetuates historical stereotypes of Blacks as clowning buffoons.

    And they wonder why communities of colour are so disillusioned with the Democratic party. If we’re still having THIS conversation, is it no wonder that we can’t imagine any real issues faced by people of colour ever being addressed by this party?

  5. Stefanie wrote:

    Sorry, GM, my post wasn’t a response to yours, but to this from the main page:
    ” And they wonder why people of color aren’t more politically engaged. Just look at the welcoming environment they’re creating for us!”
    I don’t think one should wait for a welcoming environment when it comes to politics. If the environment was welcome, there’d be nothing to change.

    Also, are people of color really disillusioned with the Democratic party? It was my understanding that most racial minorities who vote vote Democrat. Are there stats suggesting that this is changing? It’d be nice to see more voters vote on principles or cadidate’s platforms rather than simply along party lines or racial lines.

  6. Lyonside wrote:

    Stephanie:

    There is documentation to show that some traditionally Democratic demographics (say that 3x fast) did vote Republican in the last national election. Notably, some religious conservatives in the Latino and African-American communities voted Republican based on the “social issues” on recent ballots during the 2004 election.

    I recently heard a report on NPR focusing on the Ohio elections of 2004, and how the African-American vote essentially made the difference in who went to Washington, Most of the African-Americans in the state did vote Democratic - however, something like 6% more than usual went Republican… that number was the same amount by which Bush won the popular vote. The NPR story basically said that the Republican Party wasn’t looking to change ALL traditionally Democratic voters to Republican, but to chip away at it from other angles. In a very close, very divided country, the strategy worked.

    Now, if you asked those 6% of Ohio voters who essentially tipped the balance (I’m disregarding the controversies over the count, over voting ‘errors’, and voter intimidation for the moment), I’d bet that at least some were religious conservatives who were voting on the state “Defense of Marriage” bill that was also on the same ballot.

  7. Adina wrote:

    I live in Connecticut, and I happened to drive downtown in an inner-city mostly non-white neighborhood. I was appalled that out of all of the city, this was the only neighborhood where Lieberman had hundreds of large posters and signs pasted on the polls and buildings. There were also about a dozen African-American Lieberman supporters with more signs. I found the incident suspect. The streets are rundown and not updated as other more “prominent” (white) parts of town. It seems like the only day Lieberman was worrying about this part of town was the day he needs to be re-elected.
    Maybe I’m wrong and all of those supports really were sincerely rallying for Lieberman, and if that’s the case, that’s their right. But, if they were paid staff of Lieberman, there was something a little fishy about that. Why weren’t there supporters in front of the Government Center or other areas downtown? Why only this area?

Post a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.