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Friday, July 30, 2010 | 5:43pm
Thoughts on Barack Obama Calling Black Folks ‘Mongrels’ on The View?
Let the Racial Determination Committee Convene
@BarackObama @theviewtv #mongrel
To say the Barack Obama presidency has hit a bit of a snag is an understatement. The President is getting attacked by Conservatives, pundits, Tea Baggers and racist white folks from every angle on topics from the Gulf Oil Spill to Afghanistan. So its no surprise that comments made during his appearance on popular talk show, “The View” would be analyzed with a microscope. The visit which some say was designed to help re-establish his connection with woman voters may have turned sour with his questionable use of the word “Mongrel.”
When asked about his multicultural ancestry, Obama replied:
“We are sort of a mongrel people,” the President said of African Americans. “I mean we’re all kinds of mixed up. That’s actually true of white people as well, but we just know more about it.”
Those are fighting words right? Sound the alarm! Break out Captian African America right? Lets March! Well not so fast. I’ve been monitoring some of the responses as I always do following these “racist” comments and as expected the overzealous Blogosphere overreacted and was quick to break out the pitchforks. Now adays the conservative militia doesn’t even have to do much. The largely Democratic black Blogosphere does it to themselves. While historically southern racists have used the term to disparage interracial relationships which they considered the pure white race was that the use the president intended?
If these jump-the-gun bloggers (who I will reluctantly refrain from blowing up) would relax for a second and take a step back they would realize this Ivy League educated President didn’t intend the comment as inflammatory remark with his statement. So lets examine the true definition of the word, the definition that a Harvard grad would likely be more familiar with than a meaning in country racist slang vernacular.
Mongrel refers to mixed ancestry:
- In botany, a mongrel may refer to the offspring of varieties of a species which was in contrast to a hybrid
- Among pets, one whose parentage is of unknown or mixed breeds as opposed to purebred
- Among humans, mongrel and mongrelize are terms for the mixing of “races”, known as miscegenation
(via Wikipedia)
So clearly The President wasn’t referring to his own people as pooches so perhaps he was referring to a mix of races. Go figure he used the term correctly proving he was more familiar with the term than those who were quick to criticize him for using it. But lets let the Racial Determination Committee have at it. Was the President wrong for using the term? Do you feel the President’s “slump” has made it open season for criticism? Do you think he’s been unjustly criticized? SOUND OFF!
FILED IN Need to Know, News
Pres. Obama is the offspring of mixed races (I think he knows that). As you pointed out, he is an well-educated man. Of course there was no intention of putting anyone down. The pundits and detractors, they are just looking for something to attack him on. This is not one of those things.
Valid point of innocent word made to look negative due to the ignorance of people.
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The same incident happened after Huricane Katrina, when the people fleeing New Orleans were called REFUGEES; people who flee for safety, as in time of war. (Source Dictionary.com).
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I,m not sure who first used to title REFUGEE, but people were lighting pitchforks and ready to storm the castle due to this title. If my memory serves me correctly, and it almost always does, I believe Captian Africa was ranting a nd raving also.
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I think people need to take a breather and search into the definition of a word before they start an argument dealing in semantics.
Fact: We are Mongrels. I never found that word offensive. Any word can be offensive if used in a negative context but I never felt like Mongrel was a negative word on its own.
My feelings on the President’s Slump is a different subject. I feel like the Democrats in general are in a slump. I just wish they had the fearless policy making that the Republicans have. The Republicans always appear stronger then Democrats even when they are WRONG and that’s not good politics for the Dems.
i agree with all of you, he correctly used the word…. pres O is a little more educated than your average blogger though, but thats why we come to the nation, more sensible and educated responses….
Good points made by everyone. People are so quick to jump the gun without checking the facts first. And regarding Obamas slump, people seem to forget that our country is a democracy and not a dictatorship. The president cannot get things done when the opposing party is hellbent on stifling progress for their own political agendas. Their actions are pretty blatant, yet people blame Obama like it’s all his fault.
Great points, valid and completely true. Here is a hypothetical, just to see if you can keep it 100 with yourself. What if G.W. Bush would have uttered those words? What if he called black people mongrels? hmmmmmm..
with all due respect juan,the wikipedia link you’d cited in the post,has apparently has been updated…it is a derogatory term,as stated in other dictionaries as well…since it is utilized liberally in racist,eugenical/nazi texts like mein kampf.
so to say that the president just happened to use a word that just happened to go over the heads of a less ivy league educated public by using it, isn’t exactly helping things either…being that,if he’s that educated,in historical terms,he’d know better to avoid using it.
frankly,i’d never felt the need to use the term “mongrel” to describe my mixed heritage-or in any other capacity,in my 38 years up to this point,since it’s a pretty clinical,racist “old eugenics school” term,like “breed”….most people don’t exactly use the word”breed” when asked about their ethnicity.
but at the end of the day,many can and will ignore the past and make excuses for a really really bad choice of terminology on the presidents part.
…many will still consciously choose to be hypocrites,desperately clinging to a blatant double standard..while fully knowing what the term connotates historically…and defend it’s legitimacy via the president’s endorsement.
It is a derogatory term if you think it is. This is a personal decision. I don’t like or need “Capt. African American” or anyone else to tell me what I should find offensive. I am intelligent enough to discern intention by myself, thanks. I am also intelligent enough to notice the subtlety with which you insulted all of us, basically: the ones that “ignore” or the ones who “consciously choose,” as though you are the authority on not only the term “mongrel”, but we must agree with your authority…or we are derelicts or degenerates…I’m not buying what you’re selling.
Free pass.
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He could show up at the White House Halloween party dressed in a jockey outfit holding a giant ring, and I’d still give him a free pass.
naww you’re mistaken, since i’d never claimed i was an “authority” on the subject…and i did not call anyone degenrates,quite the contrary…but the truth of that specific documented historic term “mongrel” isn’t exactly subtle at all…either you feel it and know it’s insulting,or you don’t,it’s up to you.
i don’t have nothin to sell…got no angle to play here…unlike the powers that be…i’m not a politician…but i’ve read alot of often overlooked history…history not readily available…a history of an america steeped in eugenics and genocide,that’s purposely glossed over and ignored…since it’s pretty horrendous.
i’ll tell you what tho,keep using the word “mongrel” if you think it feels empowering.good luck with that.
but the truth is usually met with anger..but it doesn’t make it less true…watch the documentary maafa 21…do some research,in terms of the word “mongrel” usage in historical terms for some real perspective…it’ll surely give you alot more insight than i ever could.
again,i’m not an authority,never claimed to be like you’d just asserted…i’m just another comment on a blog.
my apologies if anyone was insulted tho,since that wasn’t the point of me chiming in.
naww you’re mistaken, since i’d never claimed i was an “authority” on the subject…and i didn’t call anyone degenrates,quite the contrary…but anyways,the truth of that specific documented historic term “mongrel” isn’t exactly subtle at all…either you feel it and know it’s insulting,or you don’t,it’s up to the individual.
i don’t have nothin to sell…got no angle to play here… and unlike the powers that be…i’m not a politician,nor do i have a political affiliation..both the left and right are liars as far as i’m concerned…but i’ve read alot of often overlooked history…history not readily available…a history of an america steeped in eugenics and genocide,that’s purposely glossed over and ignored…since it’s pretty horrendous.
i’ll tell you what tho,keep using the word “mongrel” if you think it feels empowering.good luck with that.
but the truth is usually met with anger..but it doesn’t make it less true…watch the documentary maafa 21 on youtube…do some research,in terms of the word “mongrels” usage in historical terms for some real historical perspective…it’ll surely give you alot more insight than i ever could.
again,i’m not an authority,never claimed to be like you’d just asserted…i’m just another comment on a blog.
my apologies if you or anyone was insulted tho,since that wasn’t the point of me chiming in.
dialog is always good..even if we don’t agree.
Thanks for taking the time to respond. Honestly, I can’t ever remember using the term “mongrel.” Just never found it necessary…I have in the past gotten turned off by people in blogs, so I stop visiting/opining. HN is the only one I come into now because the regulars don’t attack each other in an ignorant way. We do challenge each other, and that is ok…I am too a student of history and do agree that much of the atrocities perpetrated in the past have been glossed over and ignored (all over the world, really).
Oh My Goodness, I am so glad that for some strange reason, because of life, work and the universe that I did not vote for this knucklehead! Okay, I said it, he may be educated, and The President of the United States of America (yeah right) you just need to listen to this radio show, (yes I’m plugging) so you can realize how funny his whole ‘performance’ really is. I have taken the ‘red-pill’ fellow readers, not going to be able to go back, ya know…so O is not in my cypher…NEXT!
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