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Alright. Lemme school you youngun's on something and maybe you'll understand.
The term "tar baby" comes from a series of books by the fictitious author "Uncle Remus." The stories are about southern blacks and are basically a retelling of African folk tales. The first was published in 1881, and among the tales told is a story about Bre'r Rabbit and Bre'r Fox (Bre'r being a shortened version of the southern term "Brother." It has church connotations.)
Bre'r Fox is always trying to catch Bre'r Rabbit, but Rabbit is too crafty and quick for him. So, Fox makes a "tar baby" to trick Rabbit. It's in the form of a baby and made of sticky tar. (I won't go into how it worked and how Rabbit got away), but the significant fact about the story in relation to today is that in that book, it was originally called a "N----r Tar Baby." It was still rendered that way even when I was a kid because I had the book and remember it well.
You see, the use of the "N word" used to be far more common than it is today. None of we whites really stopped to consider the offensiveness of it until the Civil Rights movement came along and directed our attention to our moral failings as a race. Consequently, at some point, the word n----r was removed from the Uncle Remus story and the sticky trap just called a "tar baby."
But, the term still retains it's offensive quality because of it's previous name.
Get it now? I don't know how old the politician is who used the term which is the subject of this thread, but if he's at least as old as I am (62), he knew very well what he was doing. If he's younger, like many of y'all, he may be excused because he didn't know any more about the history of the term than you do.
And Disney won't even show the dang movie anymore and has pulled copies of it from the shelves. I don't even think you can buy it anymore.
I have not heard the word "tar baby" used in decades. I grew up knowing that it was meant to be derogatory. Having seen it come up now, I have come to learn that it's original intent referred to a "sticky situation". Clearly, over time it evolved to mean something else - something derogatory, which I think the majority of people are aware of.
If you are referring to something being a "sticky situation", why not just call it a "sticky situation"?
But the term "tar baby" seems to have been resurrected by opponents of Obama - justifying it's usage to it's original intent. Now, could it just be a co-incidence to use a word that has been "dead" to describe a "sticky situtation" or is meant to be derogatory?
Last year Rep. Lamborn used it when he was discussing the nation's debt ceiling.
There is also another article where a spokesperson said:
The issues/problems regarding oil is nothing new and has been discussed for years. But I can't recall anyone using "tar baby" when discussing the issues/problems, until now.
I don't like racists in general, but I am really, really starting to hate these racists.
Why do you assume that they are referencing Obama? I use the term all the time when talking about situations that suck you in and you can't get out of. Maybe it is a generational thing...I remember Song of the South (Disney) very well as a child. That does not make me a racist or anyone else that watched that movie. It was a period of our history. Time to grow some thicker skin....no racist pun intended.
I read the comments and didn't even consider that they were talking about obama being black. Funny though...you did. Who is the racist again?
I agree with you, and he is not black to me. He is of mixed race and you racists who keep shoving him into the AA slot keep ignoring the evil white blood running through his veins, lol.
Alright. Lemme school you youngun's on something and maybe you'll understand.
The term "tar baby" comes from a series of books by the fictitious author "Uncle Remus." The stories are about southern blacks and are basically a retelling of African folk tales. The first was published in 1881, and among the tales told is a story about Bre'r Rabbit and Bre'r Fox (Bre'r being a shortened version of the southern term "Brother." It has church connotations.)
Bre'r Fox is always trying to catch Bre'r Rabbit, but Rabbit is too crafty and quick for him. So, Fox makes a "tar baby" to trick Rabbit. It's in the form of a baby and made of sticky tar. (I won't go into how it worked and how Rabbit got away), but the significant fact about the story in relation to today is that in that book, it was originally called a "N----r Tar Baby." It was still rendered that way even when I was a kid because I had the book and remember it well.
You see, the use of the "N word" used to be far more common than it is today. None of we whites really stopped to consider the offensiveness of it until the Civil Rights movement came along and directed our attention to our moral failings as a race. Consequently, at some point, the word n----r was removed from the Uncle Remus story and the sticky trap just called a "tar baby."
But, the term still retains it's offensive quality because of it's previous name.
Get it now? I don't know how old the politician is who used the term which is the subject of this thread, but if he's at least as old as I am (62), he knew very well what he was doing. If he's younger, like many of y'all, he may be excused because he didn't know any more about the history of the term than you do.
Alright. Lemme school you youngun's on something and maybe you'll understand.
The term "tar baby" comes from a series of books by the fictitious author "Uncle Remus." The stories are about southern blacks and are basically a retelling of African folk tales. The first was published in 1881, and among the tales told is a story about Bre'r Rabbit and Bre'r Fox (Bre'r being a shortened version of the southern term "Brother." It has church connotations.)
Bre'r Fox is always trying to catch Bre'r Rabbit, but Rabbit is too crafty and quick for him. So, Fox makes a "tar baby" to trick Rabbit. It's in the form of a baby and made of sticky tar. (I won't go into how it worked and how Rabbit got away), but the significant fact about the story in relation to today is that in that book, it was originally called a "N----r Tar Baby." It was still rendered that way even when I was a kid because I had the book and remember it well.
You see, the use of the "N word" used to be far more common than it is today. None of we whites really stopped to consider the offensiveness of it until the Civil Rights movement came along and directed our attention to our moral failings as a race. Consequently, at some point, the word n----r was removed from the Uncle Remus story and the sticky trap just called a "tar baby."
But, the term still retains it's offensive quality because of it's previous name.
Get it now? I don't know how old the politician is who used the term which is the subject of this thread, but if he's at least as old as I am (62), he knew very well what he was doing. If he's younger, like many of y'all, he may be excused because he didn't know any more about the history of the term than you do.
Good, informative post.
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What's up with using the term "tar baby" when critizing Obama??
