Remember Obama The Post-Racialist. Its one of the chief reasons The High Priest cites for his worship. Well apparently his followers haven’t gotten the message:
The Harvard-educated couple that the Democrats want to install in the White House are part of an elitist, “uppity” class, a Republican congressman said Thursday.
Lynn Westmoreland, a two-term Republican who represents some of Atlanta’s suburbs, commented about class when asked about the performances under pressure of his party’s vice presidential nominee, Alaska Gov., and the Democratic nominee’s wife, Michelle Obama, as they introduced themselves to the nation in their separate convention speeches.
“Honestly, I’ve never paid that much attention to Michelle Obama,” Westmoreland said. “Just what little I’ve seen of her and Senator [Barack] Obama, is that they’re a member of an elitist class . . . that thinks that they’re uppity.”
Westmoreland declined to elaborate further, though he did repeat one part of his comment when asked to clarify.
“Uppity, you said?” he was asked.
“Yeah, uppity,” Westmoreland replied.
Later, Westmoreland’s press secretary offered a clarification.
“This was an adjective for elitism, not a code word. It was obviously not a racially tinged remark,” said the press secretary, Brian Robinson.
Westmoreland is white. The Obamas are black.
Vanessa Beasley, who teaches political rhetoric at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, said “uppity” is a word that hits the ear of African-Americans in a negative way — evoking images of the pre-civil rights era, when powerful whites sometimes punished blacks who spoke up for themselves.
“It has very clear roots in the history of slavery in the South,” Beasley said. “The term ‘uppity’ has such a specific, contextual historic meaning. It is more evocative of a particular moment in history and particular set of fears that exist today within certain parts of the electorate.
“The racial politics that it reanimates are very worrisome.”
For all you clueless morons out there here is the definition of uppity:
–adjective Informal.
1. affecting an attitude of inflated self-esteem; haughty; snobbish.
2. rebelliously self-assertive; not inclined to be tractable or deferential.
Posted by Jamie in Audacity of Hype, Race