Tar Baby Isn’t Always Racist
By Duane Lester • Jul 23rd, 2008Tar baby. Oh, yeah…I said it. Just using the term as it is historically defined can be, well, a tar baby.
Here’s the meaning of the term:
Tar-Baby was a doll made of tar and turpentine, used to entrap Br’er Rabbit in the second of the Uncle Remus stories. The more that Br’er Rabbit fought the Tar-Baby, the more entangled he became. In contemporary usage, “tar baby” refers to any “sticky situation” that is only aggravated by additional contact. The only way to solve such a situation is by separation.
Mitt Romney used it like that when he was describing the Big Dig in Massachusetts:
In a speech Saturday, Romney, a Republican considering a run for president in 2008, acknowledged he took a big political risk in taking control of the project after a fatal tunnel ceiling collapse, but said inaction would have been even worse.
“The best thing politically would be to stay as far away from that tar baby as I can,” he told a crowd of about 100 supporters in Ames, Iowa.
The self-appointed black leaders threw a fit at the use of the term, and Romney had to apologize for using it appropriately.
John McCain used it when discussing divorce in America:
A questioner asked McCain whether as president he “would be bold enough to address the issue of equal access to children for fathers that have gone through divorce.”
The Republican presidential candidate responded, “I’m sorry to disappoint you, I am not going to overturn divorce court decisions. That’s why we have courts and that’s why people go to court and get a divorce. If I as President of the United States said this decision has to be overturned without the proper appeals process then I would be disturbing our entire system of government… But for me to stand here before all these people and say that I’m going declare divorces invalid because someone feels that they weren’t treated fairly in court, we are getting into a, uh, uh, tar baby of enormous proportions. For me to stand here before all these people and say that I’m going declare divorces invalid because someone feels that they weren’t treated fairly in court, we are getting into a, uh, uh, tar baby of enormous proportions.”
How you could interpret any racism in that is beyond me. Race isn’t even mentioned in the entire conversation, yet “CNN’s Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley asked McCain about his use of the phrase “tar baby,” viewed by some as having racist overtones.”
McCain apologized.
When he was the White House Press Secretary, the late Tony Snow used the term while talking to the press. Think Progress covered it, and labeled him an obvious racist. Here’s what Snow said:
SNOW: Having said that, I don’t want to hug the tar baby of trying to comment on the program, the alleged program, the existence of which I can neither confirm nor deny.
QUESTION: What are your personal goals? What do you hope to achieve here? Will you continue to televise these briefings? And would you put into English the phrase (OFF-MIKE) the tarbaby?
SNOW: Well, I believe hug the tarbaby, we could trace that back to American lore.
It’s obvious what he meant in the way he used it. But the readers of Think Progress wouldn’t let that stop them:
- “this is nuts…its 2006, not 1956, what the hell is going on…lets see tony walking around dc using the term as loosely as he is buried in the wh”
- “Just the kind of enlightening diatribe you’ve come to expect from the Reichwing of the neocon (bowel) movement. Set the bar a little lower than you normally would for this cult, and Snowjob will never disappoint you. I won’t feel sorry for this clown…he knew damn well what he was getting into. Tony Goebbel head dick of the propaganda ministry.”
- “Well that didnt take long…
and since Tony believes Racism is dead…..
I guess African Americans will not be upset by the incredibly non-sensical use of this term…..
to that I say “That cracker is crazeeeeeeeeeeeee”
“
Two of my favorites from Think Progress:
- “The only way I understand “tar baby” to mean is as a racial slur.
How can anyone else not?” - “Another ignorant racist employed at the White House. No shock there.”
Well, since this is how I understand it, there can be no other historical meaning or definition, and then a commenter obviously ignorant of the original use of the term saying Snow as an ignorant racist. It’s almost too much.
Another Republican used the term in a memo, and the Fark headline read: “If you thought the Republican party could make it through this election cycle without using the phrase “tar baby” to refer to Obama, you should have a word with Rep. Tom Davis”
Crooks and Liars covered it as racist also. with the headline “Rep Tom Davis Uses Term “Tar Baby” In GOP Memo.
Here’s what Davis wrote that was so racist:
“Remember,” Davis writes, “Hispanic voters are a swing group in this election and future elections. John McCain, being from a border state, may be out of sync with many Republicans but he has standing among Hispanics. Barrack Obama has not made the sale to Hispanic voters. Thus, this issue is a tar baby for anyone who touches it, with land mines everywhere.”
Politico’s readers were livid:
- have you ever been called a “tar baby”? you might as well say n****r. you know, like that fool tom davis, what “tar baby” means so stop making excuses for a racist. my god, some of you people are idiots!!!!
- As for “tar baby” we all know it is meant to remind everyone who may have forgotten, that Barack is Black and a Democrat. Doesn’t get much worse than that, does it! Guess that is the equivalent of Lucifer to a moron like Davis. And, please, don’t say “Tar Baby” was an innocent expression. It was absolutely calculated and typical of how low the GOP stoops. Ooh, how does THAT feel??
- The statement makes no sense the way it is said. There is no chance it was innocent.
- No matter how you spin it, tar baby has a racist connotation to it. Who, in these days and times, uses the term tar baby, unless that person wants to invoke a negative meaning.
And my favorite:
- Tar baby can be used in a non-racist manner now? Really? Huh? Imagine if he had said, “This situation is a n****r for anyone who touches it.” Is THAT being said in a non-racist context, or are you all just stupid? Because that’s basically what he said. Geesh, what I country we live in.
“Tar baby can be used in a non-racist manner now? Really?” This question really shows the commenter’s ignorance. It has been used in a non-racist manner for decades.
Well, after labeling all these Republicans as racist for using tar baby, what are they going to do with this:
Will Al Sharpton be calling for him to resign? Will Think Progress vilify him as a racist as they did Tony Snow? Probably not. And you know what? They shouldn’t, just as they shouldn’t have labeled the others. But we live in a time when using the scientific term black hole can get you branded a racist. Sad, isn’t it?
While tar baby can be used as a racist attack on black people, it isn’t used that way in any of these examples. John Kerry used it in the same manner as John McCain and Mitt Romney. I, for the first time, find myself coming to the defense of John Kerry. He isn’t racist because of what he said here (but he is still an elitist windbag.)
The fact is this: You are being played, and those playing you for a fool rely on your ignorance. Pick up a copy of “The Complete Tales of Uncle Remus” by Joel Chandler Harris. Learn what it means. It is ignorance (and a little politics), not racism, that is fueling these so-called controversies, and that is doing more harm than good when it comes to unifying the country and eliminating racial boundaries.
