Parody stirs racial debate - Limbaugh snipe aimed at Obama highlights rising tensions over black candidate

Parody stirs racial debate - Limbaugh snipe aimed at Obama highlights rising tensions over black candidate
By Christi Parsons, Washington Bureau; Tribune national correspondent Dahleen Glanton and Tribune political reporter Rick Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
Published May 6, 2007

WASHINGTON -- The Rush Limbaugh radio parody "Barack the Magic Negro" is picking up speed on the Internet with lyrics that mock Sen. Barack Obama's popularity with white voters and portray African-American activist Al Sharpton as sputtering with jealousy of the younger black politician.

Dissemination of the parody, which has been airing on the conservative radio host's show for a few weeks, renews in a new context the contentious American conversation about race in politics and society.

Obama's status as the first African-American with a realistic chance of winning the presidency highlights the ambivalent state of racial tolerance in the country: Even as he attracts massive and adulatory crowds, he also inspires hateful remarks and threats that carry distinct racial undertones.

In the past week, for example, the U.S. Secret Service determined that the Illinois senator merited a special security detail and assigned one not only to him but to his house in Chicago's Kenwood neighborhood. The decision followed recommendations from Obama's colleagues in Congress, including Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who had reviewed, among other things, racist Web postings and letters.

"Unfortunately, many of the things that concerned me had a lot to do with race," Durbin said last week. "I wish we lived in a country where that is not a problem, but it still is. And the fact that Barack Obama is such a highly visible African-American candidate, I think, increases his vulnerability."

While national surveys suggest the country is willing to elect a qualified black president, the rising tensions so early in the campaign suggest a disquieting side. And the parody by Limbaugh, who boasts a large and loyal following of listeners, reminds that much of the discussion will take place far from the staged debates and campaign events.


Taking comments seriously

Coming just weeks after host Don Imus lost his job for calling the members of the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy-headed ho's" on the air, Limbaugh's repeated playing of the "Magic Negro" clip suggests that at least one network isn't planning to soft-pedal the issue of race.

Obama's campaign called the song "dumb," and a spokesman said the campaign doesn't think anyone is taking the song seriously.

But Limbaugh's critics say the song goes too far and predict that it could influence the pop-culture understanding of Obama and of black politicians in general.

"We take these things seriously because there's a consistent pattern of them making their way into the mainstream media and then the mainstream consciousness," said Karl Frisch, a spokesman for Media Matters, a non-profit media watchdog group that has been monitoring the broadcasts. "It's important to shoot these things down."

The controversial parody got its start in March shortly after the Los Angeles Times published a provocative column by a black writer calling Obama the "Magic Negro." The article said Obama fits the prototype of the black cinematic figure who arises to "assuage white guilt over the role of slavery and racial segregation in American history."


What started it all

Columnist David Ehrenstein suggested Obama is running in the public imagination for the office of "Magic Negro" -- a kind of benign African-American figure who is there to help and for whom even mild criticisms are waved away "magically."

The term "Magic Negro" in cinematic circles dates to the 1950s.

Not long after Ehrenstein's column was published, Limbaugh began to air "Barack the Magic Negro," sung to the tune of "Puff, the Magic Dragon." The song was familiar to his listeners before critics began to pick up on it in recent days.

Callers to Sharpton's radio show expressed their concern over Limbaugh's parody and urged Sharpton to get involved.

They said that they found Limbaugh's words degrading and that they feared his superiors would do nothing to prevent Limbaugh from making further derogatory statements.

Sharpton said he would not make an issue out of the comments, without discussing it with Obama, just as he said he discussed the Imus issue with the Rutgers coach before going public with his objections. Efforts to reach Limbaugh and Sharpton were unsuccessful.

But aides to Obama said they were not bothered by the parody, a slide-show version of which is available at YouTube.com.

"It's not the first dumb thing said during the course of this campaign, and it likely won't be the last," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said. "But, frankly, I don't think anyone takes this too seriously."

So virulent have been some of the postings on Web sites that last week CBSNews.com told its staff not to enable comments on stories about Obama. The candidate was drawing an overwhelming number of racist remarks.

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cparsons@tribune.com