Tasteless politics …
April 7, 2008
A few interesting images on the political news circuit which is leaving quite a bad taste in our collective throats:
1) We caught this photo courtesy of the DemocraticUnderground.com blog. For certain, Sen. Hillary Clinton didn’t do this on purpose, she just wasn’t thinking. But, when one lacks respect for the memory and the location, one is inclined to slip on what one thinks is the small stuff – but really isn’t:
2) So, here we go again, peeps inside the Beltway just love using Martin Luther King, Jr. as a political prop. Not certain what the background image of the MLK Memorial in Atlanta has anything to do with the content of a recent Political Lunch episode. Be different if they did a memorial episode which talked about King’s legacy. Again, cats aren’t thinking. Of course, like Clinton above, you didn’t mean any harm – but, we don’t get it:
3) And, this isn’t related to the 40th Anniversary of King’s assassination, but it’s another one of those moments where we have to school our Caucasian friends: would you, please, stop rubbing our heads. It’s not cool. Black men are not your pets. You know what we’re talking about – many of us grew up with the subtle, paternalistic and racially coded insults. Many still do it. To date, we have not seen President Bush rub the heads of any of his other male and White Cabinet secretaries. Even though HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson (shown below) is on his way out after resigning amid corruptions probes, we can see why many Black Republicans like him are having issues:
April 8, 2008 at 3:51 pm
To the author of the post above:
I’m the host of Political Lunch, and the person at the desk in the photo you posted. I’d like to point out that the episode you reference does, in fact, talk about King’s legacy. We also talk about the McCain/ MLK Holiday controversy that you reference here in another post. Perhaps you didn’t actually watch the episode? Considering that my program, and thus I, am apparently being accused of some type of racial insensitivity, quite inaccurately, I’d like to call for a retraction (or at least a correction).
Sincerely,
Will @ Political Lunch
April 15, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Greetings Will:
We appreciate your interest in Blackpolicy.org and the above post.
Actually, we are big admirers of the daily Political Lunch and watch it frequently through Capitol Hill Broadcasting Network. That won’t change – keep doing what you do. However, we took exception to the use of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial display in your 4 minute, 33 second April 4, 2008 segment. We watched the entire segment.
The majority of that segment focused on the election. We differ on the point that you discussed King’s legacy – it doesn’t appear that way, but we’ll have to agree to disagree on that. Out of 4 mins./33 seconds, you get to the McCain/MLK Holiday controversy after 2 mins/39 seconds into it. We actually appreciate your raising the point that McCain has much to explain on why he voted against the King Holiday. But, approximately 27 seconds on that alone does not, in our minds, constitute “… talk[ing] about King’s legacy.”
Was it “racial insensitivity?” We think not – nor did we imply or accuse you of it. Do we think you were being deliberately offensive? Not at all. Hence, respectfully, a retraction is not warranted. However, your use of the display speaks to the endless “horse race” climate that all us Washington-centered political junkies (proudly so) get caught up in. In the heat of the political moment, we sometimes say or do things or make references without thinking. It’s the nature of the beast and the business. We’re all guilty of it.
Certainly, because of who we are and what we do at Blackpolicy.org, we’re going to have a natural sensitivity to the memory of the great Martin Luther King, Jr. What we noticed is that around the time of his assassination’s “anniversary,” his memory is suddenly carted out for display as a political prop, used by campaigns and reporters to either make or score points with an already jaded electorate. It becomes rather patronizing and, yes, “tasteless.” We would apply the same principle to the assassination of other great figures such as Gandhi or Lincoln or brothers JFK and RFK.
These “anniversaries,” in our mind, require great, careful reflection on who we are as a nation, where we’ve been and where we’re going. If you had produced an entire episode on King’s legacy or (as CNN recently presented) an examination of the circumstances surrounding his assassination or, perhaps, a look into the politics of King when he was alive, we would see the use of that display as appropriate.
That all said, that doesn’t stop our admiration for the daily “Political Lunch.” Perhaps we should have prefaced our statement above with a note about how really good your show is. It’s a great public service and it keeps people informed. Rather than a retraction, we’ll post this instead for the public record.
Let’s stay in touch.
Best regards,
The Blackpolicy.org Editorial Board