“Now you see how many people actually stand with him,” one resident wrote on Facebook the next day. “And there is more than just the people . . . there tonight.”
January 13, 2017
"A school board member who wore blackface wouldn’t resign. Now, he’s praised."
Ted Bonner, of Blevins, Arkansas dressed for Halloween in overalls, a straw hat, and blackface and holding a sign that read "Blak Lives Matters." An elected official, he couldn't be fired. And the other day when he received an award for “Outstanding Board Member" — which he was entitled to simply for completing some mandatory training program — he had supporters there wearing "I Stand With Ted Bonner" shirt.
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40 comments:
"Forget it, Jake. It's America."
So this happened in Arkansas...shocking!
This happened in Arkansas. No mention of the Clintons, who not only hail from that state, but ran it for many years. An unimaginative journalist might even point to them as having "perpetuated the culture" during their leadership by not acting to curb such insensitivity. Identity politics uber alles practically requires it.
Headline makes it appear he's being praised for wearing blackface but, other than the idiots wearing the "stand with" shirts, the award's for something else, no?
bing Crosby wore black face in Holiday Inn for the Abraham Lincoln number. I want all copies of the movie rounded up and burned
Blevins, Arkansas has a population of 319 and yet this is national news?
"Titus said...
So this happened in Arkansas...shocking!"
More racists in Boston than people in Blevins, AK.
The worst mistake slave states ever made was making education of African Americans illegal. We suffer from it till now. Thank God Atlanta did it the opposite way since the 1880s, producing MLK's and Herman Cains instead.
But I suspect many Arkansas folks like to remember when someone once had less education than themselves.
I am confused. Since he doesn't work at a university he still enjoys Free Speech rights.
As such, what is the problem?
MayBee: Blevins, Arkansas has a population of 319 and yet this is national news?
Hey, a "racial outrage"-causing incident that 1) wasn't a hoax, and 2) had a white perp? Damn right it's news. Those criteria aren't easy to meet when it comes to "hate crimes".
The more cynical among us can gain amusement from the titles of linked articles sprinkled throughout the piece under discussion.
Who precisely was harmed by this antic? I mean, big newsflash, but sometimes people do do stupid things or tell unfunny jokes, or make fools of themselves, right? Is there some special rule that now exists that if you do something foolish and in some nefarious way, it impinges on racial sensitivities, you get flayed/hosed/fired/prosecuted and condemned?
One time at a bar in 1980s, in the midst of ordinary drunken revelries, I wore a funny Sombrero while drinking a Margarita - and, worse, someone took a picture of me! Do I need an attorney now - 32 years later? Gosh.
It may just be possible that we have reached the point where pointing and shrieking "Raciss!!!" has lost any effectiveness (except, of course, among the left, who still live in dread that someone will do it to them).
If Bonner completes another 25 hours of training, he’ll automatically receive the group’s Master Board Member award.
Whoa, a shocking gummint boondoggle!
“We probably do need to think harder about how we can do a better job raising awareness of diversity.”
"Raising awareness of" meaning "kissing the ass of".
Black Lives Matters should be laughed at. For that matter, all kinds of people should be laughed at.
“It’s our fault,” said Kristen GARNER, an attorney.
If Bonner completes another 25 hours of training, he’ll automatically receive the group’s Master Board Member award.
And if he completes another 50 hours of training, he'll automatically receive the Double Senior Jedi Executive Master board member award.
Lyle Smith said...
For that matter, all kinds of people should be laughed at.
Other people are the best people to laugh at.
"More racists in Boston than people in Blevins, AK."
Likely even on a per capita basis.
The black face antic is deplorable. I would have certainly have voted against him. Of course I'd also have voted against that azz hat that hung the cops as pigs art work in the halls of congress.
He shouldn't be a school board member.
And mccullough shouldn't tell others what they should be or do.
We seem to have reached an impasse.
I have found it more and more difficult to feel empathy for the offended. I suppose that is to be expected when being offended is rewarded and therefore persons are predisposed to be offended whenever possible and, moreover, actively go out and search for offensive things to be offended about. Furthermore, being offended has become an excuse for all sorts of horrible behaviors by the offended where minor slights become cause for massive disproportionate retribution. It also does not help that it has been decided that whenever I am offended that it does not count because of racism or privilege or some other double standard nonsense. It has very much become like children tattling on each other at the playground.
I just don't care. If this guy is refusing to do his job then that's another story, but if he has violated your delicate sensibilities I recommend that you learn to act like an adult instead of a whining baby or a delicate lady in search of a fainting couch.
I wonder how many of those shirts you'd see if there weren't people trying to get him fired.
Fernandinande,
We are all laughable.
What Static Ping said. Apparently my give-a-damn is broken.
To some people not the past but the present is a foreign country. Wearing blackface didn't used to be a racist hate crime. Now it is.
It may just be possible that we have reached the point where pointing and shrieking "Raciss!!!" has lost any effectiveness
My response now days is a quick "fuck you" when called a racist.
I was struck by the little history lesson at the bottom of the story: "Blackface minstrel acts were popular in the 1800s, when working-class white audiences preferred white actors to portray black people".
I think that Minstrelry was popular among all sorts of audiences, including blacks who flocked to see Silas Green from New Orleans in the 1940s and 50s - some 70 years after the putative date cited by the writer. And lets recall the first talking picture, The Jazz Singer, with Al Jolson. It depicts an orthodox Jew, who wears black face, who is confronted with the legacy of his rabbi father - and his loving mother to whom he sings "Mammy"...on his knee...in blackface. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIaj7FNHnjQ
"I'd walk a million miles for one of your smiles, my Mammy".
It isn't difficult to trouble the narrative at the middle brow Washington Post. Their PC patrol is showing signs of deterioration.
Anyone remember when Ted Danson wore Blackface with his then-girlfriend Whoopi Goldberg?
I do remember a mild storm, but nobody's career ended.
Hey, you can't wear Blackface in public, only we can wear Blackface in public!
Blevins is in the Hope area, four hours from where I live. Not an area I'm familiar with, but perhaps a couple national politicians from there will comment.
So the school board member got a medal or an "outstanding" award for completing some mandatory training.
What did Joe Biden accomplish to get his Presidential medal yesterday? Well he was an insurance policy for eight years. Nobody ever wanted to replace Obama with Biden. So there is that.
Coal miners' lives matter.
mccullough said...He shouldn't be a school board member.
Vote him out, then.
“I didn’t know there was no such a thing as blackface”--
School board member.
Blogger traditionalguy said...
"The worst mistake slave states ever made was making education of African Americans illegal. We suffer from it till now."
The worst mistake slave states ever made was importing black Africans to this continent. And we will be suffering for that crime for many generations to come. Indeed, it is unlikely that error will ever be corrected.
They should have picked their own damned cotton.
Why is any of this worth spending time or spilling ink on?
Readers! Please disregard the "spilling ink" reference above. Absolutely no reference to BLACK ink typically used in publishing newspapers was intended.
Jupiter,
Which colonies and states allowed slavery? Was it only the cotton picking ones? Was it so they could even pick cotton?
"Blevins, Arkansas has a population of 319 and yet this is national news?
Then Abraham logged in and said "Will you sweep away the righteous with the racists? What if there are fifty racists in the country? Will you really spare it and not sweep the place away if there are fifty racists in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing--to spare the racists with the righteous, treating the righteous and the racists alike. Far be it from you! Will not the judge of society do right?"
The Lord of Social Justice said: "If I find 50 racists in the country, I will destroy the whole place for their sake."
Then Abraham spoke up again: "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the lord, though I am nothing but whiteness and privilege, what if the number of the racists is five less than fifty? Will you spare the whole country for the lack of five people?"
"If I find forty-five there," xe said, "I will destroy it."
Once again, he spoke to xer, "What if only forty are found there?"
Xe said, "For the sake of forty, I will do it."
Then he said, "May the lord not delete my post, but let me speak. What if only thirty are found there?"
Xe answered, "I will do it if I find thirty there."
Abraham said, "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the lord, what if only twenty can be found there?"
Xe said, "For the sake of twenty, I will destroy it."
Then he said, "May the lord not ban my account, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?"
Xe answered, "For the sake of ten, I will destroy it."
When the lord had finished speaking with Abraham, xe left, and Abraham logged off.
"Soul Man" (1986) with C. Thomas Howell, Rae Dawn Chong and James Earl Jones would probably drive the humorless Leftwing racial justice warriors off a cliff.
Not a great or funny or poignant movie, and absolutely no chance it could be made today.
Lyle Smith said...
"Jupiter,
Which colonies and states allowed slavery? Was it only the cotton picking ones? Was it so they could even pick cotton?"
I'm not sure what you're getting at, but slavery is as human as language. I would guess it originated about the same time. Tribal societies kill the males and enslave (or marry) the females of "enemy" tribes. Read the Old Testament. At some point, societies become sophisticated enough that they can control the males.
It may or may not be coincidence that slavery became morally intolerable at roughly the same time -- and only in those places -- that it became financially unprofitable.
mikeski, you magnificent bastard. +10 Internets to you, my good man.
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