The NAACP: Consistency in Action

[Guest MikeSC]

Radio Host Calls Rice 'Aunt Jemima'

 

Fri Nov 19,12:33 AM ET

 

By JAMES A. CARLSON, Associated Press Writer

 

MILWAUKEE - A radio talk show host drew criticism Thursday after calling Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) an "Aunt Jemima" and saying she isn't competent to be secretary of state.

 

John Sylvester, the program director and morning personality on WTDY-AM in Madison, said in a phone interview Thursday that he used the term on Wednesday's show to describe Rice and other blacks as having only a subservient role in the Bush administration.

 

Rice has served as President Bush (news - web sites)'s national security adviser and was named this week to replace the departing Colin Powell (news - web sites) as secretary of state.

 

Sylvester, who is white, also referred to Powell as an "Uncle Tom" — a contemptuous term for a black whose behavior toward whites is regarded as fawning or servile.

 

He said Thursday night that he was referring to remarks by singer and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte that the price of admittance for blacks to the Bush White House was subservience.

 

As for Rice, "they're using her for an illusion of inclusion," he said, adding that he feels her history as national security adviser showed a lack of competence.

 

Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz called the remarks "racially insensitive," while Sen. Russ Feingold (news, bio, voting record), D-Wis., said in a statement he joined "all Wisconsinites in rejecting" the statements.

 

Linda Hoskins of the NAACP's Madison branch said she could not comment on Sylvester's remarks until she had heard them in their entirety.

 

The station's corporate office received about 100 calls about his comments, Sylvester said.

 

He added that he has a long history of commitment to civil rights and has supported Madison's black community.

 

He said he was planning a giveaway on Friday's show of Aunt Jemima pancake mix and syrup. "I will apologize to Aunt Jemima," he said.

 

The incident came after a radio host in Milwaukee had his talk show taken off the air all of last week after he used word "wetback" to refer to undocumented Mexican immigrants, sparking protests from Hispanics.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=...ark_2&printer=1

Hmm, why do I get the idea that if this was said about, oh, a liberal blacks --- the NAACP might not be QUITE so constrained in their criticism. Especially for a guy who is not apologizing for it.

-=Mike

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

Don't be silly,

 

we all know that Powell and Rice aren't really black.

[2GOLD 0]

Well...how nice.

The NAACP will not comment till they hear all the facts.

 

When the hell has that EVER happened?!?!?!

 

This is obvious racism and if they don't call it for what it is just because he is insulting someone the NAACP may not like then they are a bunch of hypocrites and should be called on it.

[Guest MikeSC]

Well...how nice.

The NAACP will not comment till they hear all the facts.

 

When the hell has that EVER happened?!?!?!

 

This is obvious racism and if they don't call it for what it is just because he is insulting someone the NAACP may not like then they are a bunch of hypocrites and should be called on it.

This has been the NAACP modus operandi for years.

 

I'm simply trying to make it public.

-=Mike

[AndrewTS 0]

I thought Condi's racially insensitive nickname was "Wild" Rice?

[Guest Cerebus]

All minorities are liberal. Minorities that are conservative are just white people in the wrong color skin.

 

I thought you would have figured this out by now Mike.

[Guest MikeSC]

All minorities are liberal. Minorities that are conservative are just white people in the wrong color skin.

 

I thought you would have figured this out by now Mike.

I've been working on that. I might need more racial sensitivity courses or something. I havent't been called a Nazi or bigot in months now --- so I might be losing my sensitivity.

-=Mike

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

I agree that this is racist BS and should be labeled as such. Rice's skin color should not be a factor to her critics.

 

There's lot of better things to criticize her for.

[Highland 0]

It's ironic: Bush could easily point out that his first Security advisor was a minority, as was his Secretary of State for each of his terms as is his second term Attorney General. The last I checked, those were not junior level positions.

[Guest Loss]

Wow. I do question Rice's character, but calling her an "Aunt Jemima" figure is not only hateful, prejudiced and derogatory, but it's WRONG. Condi is a very strong, intelligent, successful black woman. She should be a role model, not a divisive figure. She also deserves better than these insults, and the NAACP should be defending her in this.

 

I did lose some respect for Dr. Rice after her testimony, because I felt that she dodged every question. But to call her incompetent is ridiculous.

[Styles 0]

It's ironic: Bush could easily point out that his first Security advisor was a minority, as was his Secretary of State for each of his terms as is his second term Attorney General. The last I checked, those were not junior level positions.

Don't you get it, Republicans only give minorities subserviant roles in their government (you know like the highest level cabinet positions and top advisor jobs), while Democrats simply don't give them any positions because they know they can't handle it or something but they're the only ones who can protect minorities and make sure one day they too can reach the same success! Yeah, I can't figure it out either.

EDIT: Oh, and Bush doesn't NEED to point anything out. Most Republicans don't treat people like trophies, they judge them on their competence and character not their race. Bush isn't trying to make himself feel good here unlike the other party.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

On the subject of stupid partisan radio hosts...why do people listen to Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage?

 

-Limbaugh told an African-American caller, ''Take that bone out of your nose and call me back.''

 

-When a Mexican won the New York marathon, Limbaugh said, ''An immigration agent chased him the last 10 miles.''

 

-Complaining about American jobs lost to NAFTA, Limbaugh said, ''Let the unskilled jobs, let the kinds of jobs that take absolutely no knowledge whatsoever to do - let stupid and unskilled Mexicans do that work.''

 

-Savage called a gay caller a "sodomite" and told him to "get AIDS and die."

[Guest MikeSC]

On the subject of stupid partisan radio hosts...why do people listen to Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage?

 

-Limbaugh told an African-American caller, ''Take that bone out of your nose and call me back.''

 

-When a Mexican won the New York marathon, Limbaugh said, ''An immigration agent chased him the last 10 miles.''

 

-Complaining about American jobs lost to NAFTA, Limbaugh said, ''Let the unskilled jobs, let the kinds of jobs that take absolutely no knowledge whatsoever to do - let stupid and unskilled Mexicans do that work.''

 

-Savage called a gay caller a "sodomite" and told him to "get AIDS and die."

Sounds like TOTAL bullshit, to be bluntly honest. I don't even REMOTELY buy that --- having heard Rush more than a few times, that is not CLOSE to anything he's ever said. I'd like to see an ACTUAL transcript because this reeks of utter BS.

 

Savage is a douche.

-=Mike

[Styles 0]

I listen to Savage because he's outrageously over the top. Listining to a straight news commentary show is boring. I of course don't agree with most of what he says but I'll be damned if his fits don't make me laugh.

Rush I don't find to be that bad. He simply says what most conservatives believe. I don't know where that quote you sited came from, if its true it was a lapse in judgement. You'd think more of a media story would have been made over it...

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

I.

However, a helpful reader provided us with a copy of that Newsday article (from the 8 October 1990 edition), and that article does report Rush Limbaugh as admitting he felt guilty for once having told a difficult-to-understand black caller to "take that bone out of your nose and call me back." (This incident occurred not on Rush Limbaugh's now-familiar talk and political commentary radio program, but at the beginning of his broadcast career back in the early 1970s when he was hosting a Top 40 music show under the name "Jeff Christie" on either WIXZ or KQV in Pittsburgh.) The same article also quotes Limbaugh as confirming that he did utter another line commonly mentioned in tandem with the "bone" quote: "Have you ever noticed how all newspaper composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?

 

Since Rush Limbaugh presumably wouldn't have expressed feelings of guilt over an apocryphal story, and as far as we know he hasn't ever denied or disclaimed what Newsday reported he told them, we have to put this one in the "true" column.

 

http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/limbaugh.asp

 

II.

When a Mexican runner won the New York City marathon, Rush said it was because quote, 'an immigration agent chased him for the last ten miles.

 

http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/996835/posts

 

I got this from a Free Republic commentary. The author claimed that it was just a joke.

 

III.

On NAFTA: "If we are going to start rewarding no skills and stupid

people--I'm serious, let the unskilled jobs, let the kinds of jobs

that take absolutely no knowledge whatsoever to do--let stupid and

unskilled Mexicans do that work." (Radio show quoted in FRQ, Fall/93)

 

http://billandkent.com/blog/archives/000480.htm

[NoCalMike 0]

I don't listen to Rush so I couldn't comment, but as far as Savage goes, he definately DOES make outrageous comments like those above.

[Guest Cerebus]

Who cares what these clowns ahve to say? None of them speak to an audience that doesn't lick their ass anyway.

[Guest INXS]

Wow, the use of "Aunt Jemima" is out of order. Although Condi is disliked amongst the more natural thinking population I don't think that it is necessary to use racial slurs.

 

Oh and Mike - do you have a hard on for her or something?

[Highland 0]

Although Condi is disliked amongst the more natural thinking population

 

Please inform me what "natural thinking" is supposed to mean. If it means not having the same mindset as the masses (sheep) then I applaud her.

 

If you're going to critisize her, do it for things she has done wrong, like dodging questions during the 9/11 hearings, not for her ethnicity, which in this day and age shouldn't even be an issue.

 

I'll give Bush kudos for this: I don't recall him ever bragging that his top cabinet and advisors were ethnic minorities; he instead acted like he hired them strictly on their qualifications, as he should have, and that it was no big deal. I'm still puzzled that this historic event was overlooked.

[Guest MikeSC]

Wow, the use of "Aunt Jemima" is out of order. Although Condi is disliked amongst the more natural thinking population I don't think that it is necessary to use racial slurs.

"Natural thinking population"?

 

Great, you're anti-Semitic AND racist. You ARE a European-style leftist.

Oh and Mike - do you have a hard on for her or something?

Sure. A man couldn't possibly respect a woman for her accomplishments, right? They MUST want to bone them, right?

I'll give Bush kudos for this: I don't recall him ever bragging that his top cabinet and advisors were ethnic minorities; he instead acted like he hired them strictly on their qualifications, as he should have, and that it was no big deal. I'm still puzzled that this historic event was overlooked.

Due to Bush not obsessing over how his cabinet looks like America. When conservatives do things that go against the incredibly wrong stereotypes, it simply gets ignored.

-=Mike

...Madeline Albright got worlds of praise for being the first female Sec. of State -- but when we have an actually competent female Sec. of State (who happens to be black), she is the victim of insulting comments...

[The Czech Republic 0]

Frankly, I'm shocked that somebody from Madison could make such an idiotic uninformed statement!

 

 

hey wait a minute

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

The Rush bone-out-of-nose comment was made, if memory serves, when he was some FM dj -- I've heard worse from that medium.

 

The marathon comment had me laughing.

 

Haven't heard the third comment before...

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Sounds like TOTAL bullshit, to be bluntly honest. I don't even REMOTELY buy that --- having heard Rush more than a few times, that is not CLOSE to anything he's ever said.

 

[Guest Anglesault]

I thought Condi's racially insensitive nickname was "Wild" Rice?

The new one is "Brown Suga"

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

The Rush bone-out-of-nose comment was made, if memory serves, when he was some FM dj -- I've heard worse from that medium.

 

The marathon comment had me laughing.

 

Haven't heard the third comment before...

Then I guess you wouldn't condemn this other douchebag radio host's remarks about Condy?

[Guest MikeSC]

The Rush bone-out-of-nose comment was made, if memory serves, when he was some FM dj -- I've heard worse from that medium.

 

The marathon comment had me laughing.

 

Haven't heard the third comment before...

Then I guess you wouldn't condemn this other douchebag radio host's remarks about Condy?

Ah, so being "racist" is fine --- as long as you're of the correct political persuasion?

 

Got it.

 

The man also calls Powell an "Uncle Tom" --- ironic, considering that he's a paunchy cracka and all.

-=Mike

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

I really don't care, although I will condemn the lack of an "outrage" by the NAALCP. However, double standards like these are a dime a dozen and I've given up for the most part being outraged...

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

The Rush bone-out-of-nose comment was made, if memory serves, when he was some FM dj -- I've heard worse from that medium.

 

The marathon comment had me laughing.

 

Haven't heard the third comment before...

Then I guess you wouldn't condemn this other douchebag radio host's remarks about Condy?

Ah, so being "racist" is fine --- as long as you're of the correct political persuasion?

 

Got it.

 

The man also calls Powell an "Uncle Tom" --- ironic, considering that he's a paunchy cracka and all.

-=Mike

That's not at all what I insinuated. Wow.

 

I'm saying that that douche's remarks are equally as deplorable as the remarks of kkk's douche, Limbaugh.

 

If kkk thinks that none of these comments are outrageous, fine, at least he's being consistent. I think he's wrong and they're all fucking stupid and racist.

[Guest MikeSC]

I really don't care, although I will condemn the lack of an "outrage" by the NAALCP. However, double standards like these are a dime a dozen and I've given up for the most part being outraged...

I still love how the MSM portrays groups like NAACP and NOW as being non-partisan and crap.

-=Mike