I am so convinced that some people wake up in the morning with stupid written across their foreheads. Chip Saltsman, a candidate for the Republican National Committee chairmanship, sent a CD to other committee members for Christmas with a song entitled “Barack the Magic Negro” on it. To me that isn’t even the outrageous thing. The outrageous thing happened when he was called out on his grossly inappropriate actions. Instead of stating that what he did was inappropriate, he said that what he did was intended as a joke! What is wrong with Republicans? Is “Concentration Camps For Fun” funny? Hell no! People died in concentration camps. Families were torn apart. Is “Slavery : The Way To Get Things Done” sound funny? Absolutely not! People were murdered, treated as less than human, split apart from their families and torn away from their culture. There is nothing funny about it.

The term “Barack The Magic Negro” comes from an article written last year by a reporter, David Ehrenstein, in California. Here is a link to the original article. It should have stopped there, but, one of Chip’s friends put together a song called “Barack The Magic Negro” and Chip took it from there. I couldn’t believe that someone would make this song, but I really couldn’t believe that a Republican seeking a leadership position, like Chip Saltsman, would send this CD out to people given the current state of affairs in this country. There are people who have lost their jobs. There are people who don’t know how they are going to feed their families. A guy just went crazy and killed 9 people after a bitter divorce. There are people stranded across the country in airports due to storms. There are three car companies trying to figure out how they are going to stay open. With everything going on in this country, isn’t there anything more important that good old Chip from Tennessee could be doing?

The fact that Chip Saltsman thinks that it is appropriate and “funny” to send this kind of song around suggests that there is something fundamentally wrong with his view of African American hardships in this country. The idea that he, a person seeking a leadership role in the Republican party, would make fun of someone’s race and then defend doing so almost leaves me speechless. Almost, but not quite. Instead of standing speechless, I will say this. Chip, there are still places in this country where Black Americans are not welcome. There are still people in this country who would rather die than speak to or live next to a Black person. There are still people in this country who ridicule and make fun of Blacks because of their skin color. Obama doesn’t represent the end of racism in this country. If you can’t see that what you did was grossly inappropriate and morally wrong, then shame on you. You might find some people who feel that what you did was funny, but does the God that you believe in think that what you did was right? If you honestly think that what you did was funny, then you don’t need a RNC chairmanship, you need a shrink. Maybe someday you will see that….then again, given your sense of humor, maybe you won’t. It’s not what a man says that defines him. It’s what he does. With that said, what you did was very stupid Chip…..very stupid indeed. I hope in time that you grow up enough to realize that. I won’t hold my breath.