Posted on 07/03/2015 10:26:25 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Oh. Well, my mistake then. Yesterday I thought he was saying something racist.
What did this guy think his critics were accusing him of, if this is his “clarification”?
A few fans have written wondering whether I intended to utter a racist remark by referring to Justice Thomas as a “clown in blackface.”
“Blackface” is a lesser known theatrical term for a white actor who blackens his face to play a black buffoon. In traditional theater lingo, and in my view and intent, that is not racist. It is instead part of a racist history in this country.
I feel Justice Thomas has abdicated and abandoned his African American heritage by claiming slavery did not strip dignity from human beings. He made a similar remark about the Japanese American internment, of which I am a survivor. A sitting Justice of the Supreme Court ought to know better.
The first time I read that, I thought he was suggesting that people had misunderstood his “clown in blackface” remark to be a more straightforward racial slur, equivalent to calling Thomas a “black clown.” Reading it again, he seems to be making an even dumber point, which is that the practice of “blackface” isn’t necessarily racist. I … guess that’s true — Fred Armisen’s “blackface” as Obama on SNL wasn’t grotesque and intended to demean the subject, the way blackface usually is — but it’s almost always racist and it’s certainly racist when used to denigrate the racial authenticity of someone who’s actually black. It’d be like calling Thomas a “Sambo” and then claiming there’s nothing inherently racist about that nickname, even though it’s widely culturally understood to carry that connotation. When the left calls Thomas an “Uncle Tom,” which they do much more often than you’d expect in 2015 America, they at least have the good sense to defend themselves with a simple double standard (“leftists can’t be racists”) rather than a tortured argument about the etymology of the term.
If Takei’s being honest here and not feigning stupidity as damage control, he genuinely doesn’t see the problem in comparing Thomas to a white actor playing a “black buffoon.” He’s practicing racial essentialism — if you’re black, your position on slavery and inherent dignity is as follows — and then presuming to excommunicate Thomas from “authentic blackness” because, as someone whose family experienced internment in the 1940s, he somehow has the right to do that now. That’s insulting in the abstract and even more so when applied to Thomas, who, as Sean Davis reminds us, actually grew up in the Jim Crow south and knows something about maintaining one’s dignity during oppression. I wonder if Takei knows that about him — or maybe he does know and just figures that he’s entitled to lecture Thomas anyway because, as a gay man and former internee, he thinks he’s got victim trump cards to play. Either way, we’ve reached an interesting new turn on the path of progress when someone who’s not black is once again entitled to tell a black man what to think and how to behave.
Yesterday I called Takei’s comments “high-five material for jerkoffs.” Here’s Exhibit A.
Corrie ten Boom (who maintained her dignity at Ravensbrook),
Frederick Douglas (who maintained his dignity before escaping from slavery)
Louis Zamperini (who maintained his dignity in a Japanese POW Camp)
And your Mom,
are all examples of the human spirit that refute takei’s ill-advised words and mean-spirited attitude.
That would make a great post. Maybe someone who reads yours will create it.
Since I am not a liberal, I sometimes can’t keep up with the latest trends. So I need some clarification. Is his statement a “Micro aggression” or not? I know if I said it, it would be, but what are the rules for liberals? Possibly Sulu is declining into a Black Hole of his own creation.
How does Sulu feel about blacks and black ministers who also refuse to accept faggery as a wedge in traditional marriages? Are they all “fake blacks”?
And what, exactly, makes this Asian freak an expert on black people?
There are some really talented graphic artists here, think I’ll ping a couple I can think of off the top of my head.
Racist Hate Speech!
He's had homosexual sex with Black people. Can you say that?
Well, you're not qualified to comment then.
To be honest, this is the first I heard of the Tulelake fence.
As I recall Tulelake was largely intact as late as the 1970s in case the US Government needed them again.
He’s still a racist moron.
Also the Green Berets with John Wayne, David Janson.
Never knew Takai’s heritage was on based on homoexuality.
Why does Takei get to decide what is the real black experience? The left is becoming more tyrannical each day. They are bigots and bullies, and we need to fight back.
Takai is a fake man.
Leftists think its okay for them to be racist
Leftists think all of their rules only apply to everybody else
Probably maintaining it for us FReepers.
Sulu is a racist, and probably a bigot too.
A top shelf journalist needs to sit the arrogant homosexual activist down and further delve into his words about Tule Lake and his thoughts on human dignity. Alas, George Takei isn't worth the trouble being a washed up former character actor with an incoherent axe to grind.
George Takei ... spaced out and forever seeking Uranus.
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