Rarely does the BBC let a day go by without a mention of Boris’ ‘racist’ comment about Obama, his Kenyan heritage and Britain’s ‘special relationship’…never mind that Boris was actually referencing this Guardian article as the BBC knows full well….Could Obama’s dual colonial heritage spell the end of the special relationship?
The constant drip drip drip of comments labelling Boris as racist by the BBC’s finest naturally have an effect as the legend become established as fact. Which no doubt suits the BBC fine. Boris is one of those politicians marked down for special treatment along with Farage and anyone else who raise their heads above the parapet and suggest we control immigration. Others, less brave, keep their heads down….which is the intended effect that the BBC et al seek to achieve as they silence their enemies.
Corbyn himself tried to use Boris’ comment about Obama as proof of racism on PMQs today without raising a comment from the BBC ‘analysts’. Someone else who hasn’t merited any comment is the Today programme’s very own Justin Webb who writes in the Mail about Obama, the US and racism….what he says is no surprise in its conclusions, people have said it for a long time, what is surprising is his language and that he hasn’t been hung, drawn and quartered for it….here are the relevant and eye-opening thoughts from Webb…
JUSTIN WEBB: The tragic irony is, that under Barack Obama’s policy of not being black, America has become MORE divided by race
As he prepares to leave office, there is so much anguish among some of his keenest supporters at the grim fact that race relations in the U.S are as bad today as they were when the world was marvelling at Obama’s rise.
In fact, incredibly, some think they are worse, as bad as they were during the Los Angeles riots of 1992.
The truth is that America did not actually elect a black man to the White House. You might just about be able to argue that this is true physically: Obama is of mixed race with a white mother, but psychologically, intellectually and politically, Obama is not a black politician.
And Obama never sought to hide that. This was not a black administration with black concerns at its heart, indeed in his first term he had one of the smallest number of black cabinet members in recent times — fewer than George W. Bush.
No, Obama never intended to be a black president. Remember the controversy over the Reverend Jeremiah Wright?
For some African Americans that is now a problem, because they feel let down. The Rev. Wright still preaches in North Carolina but now refers to his former friend as ‘our Halfrican-American president’.
It is difficult to avoid a sense that following the recent killings, Wright’s madcap anger rings more bells with black Americans than it did in 2008; in other words, Obama’s approach has lost ground in the nearly eight years he has been in power.
Barack Obama’s policy of not being black has served him well for most of his presidency.
The risk is that it is blowing up in his face in his final months in office.
So what Justin Webb is saying is that Obama isn’t black enough, both in thought and in actual skin tone….and that his policies should be shaped by his skin tone and that somehow black people have different needs to people of a different hue. Webb probably thinks Bill Clinton was the first black President.
A quite extraordinary set of comments by Webb based upon Obama’s race…and yet….nothing from the great washed…not a peep, not a cry of outrage, not a Twitter terror attack, not a Facebook furore. Nothing.
Guess the real bigots are those, including those in the BBC, who try to close down debate by labelling their enemies as racists and aim to frighten them into silence.
Elsewhere on planet President and the BBC’s explorations of it…..Trump’s wife may have been fed (sabotage by anti-Trump Republican’s?) Michelle Obama’s best lines to put in her speech but at least she didn’t call her husband’s campaign manager a ‘fucking Jew bastard’.
Who did? Hmmm…that’ll be Hilary Clinton….(she denies it of course)….
Hillary Clinton is fighting a rearguard action to avoid further damage to her standing with the crucial Jewish vote in her campaign for a Senate seat after a claim that she once used an ethnic insult against one of Bill Clinton’s aides.
A book out today claims that 26 years ago she called Paul Fray, her husband’s campaign manager at the time, a “fucking Jew bastard”.
Funny…never heard the BBC dragging that one out of the archives.
I’ve been living in Kenya for more than half my 60 years. People here are very proud that Obama is half-Kenyan, so what is racist about the statement that Boris made? Kenya is a country, not a race. Although Obama received a great welcome on his visit here last year, Kenyans are proud that President Kenyatta told him that his gay rights stuff was not on our agenda.
Maybe the BBC should instigate a “Black Presidents matter” campaign.
This means it will be ok to shoot any US president if they are not the “right” colour,
Thus improving diversity.
Meanwhile , no-one talks about Obama’s white mother. Black racism at its worst.
Kennedy,
I live in Gambia and it always amuses me when black Afro-Americans come to visit. The cultural clash with black Gambians is so funny. It is even worse when black West Indians visit. They all think that native black Africans are inferior to them. Why ? Who is to blame for that ? Must be whitey ! It would make a good BBC documentary ! LOL !
It is even worse when black West Indians visit. They all think that native black Africans are inferior to them.
The most racist person I ever worked with was a black Jamaican secretary I once (mid-70s) shared with a black Nigerian colleague. She was always telling him that he should return to the jungle, accompanying her comments with loud monkey noises.
After a period of this, I became the go-between in order to restrict her opportunities to talk to him in this manner.
Remember when Communism was supposed to be a good thing, but then along came Russia and China and it turned out to be the ‘wrong’ kind of Communism.
Then we have the ‘Religion of Peace’, that we should all respect, but its strongest advocates practice the ‘wrong’ kind of Islam.
Eight years ago we were gifted the first black leader of the free world. And guess what? He turns out to be the ‘wrong’ kind of black. (Actually I thought it was obvious from the start that Obama had nothing in common with black Americans with deep roots in that continent.)
JimS,
In Africa, it is quite funny. There is black racism where some want to have lighter skin colours, witness “skin-bleaching ” for example. In West Africa, the Fula tribe tend to have lighter coloured skins than the others and they often get abused by people from tribes with darker skin. It is jealousy and the ignorant association of skin colour with wealth. It would make a great topic for a BBC documentary. LOL !
Always a wide selection of skin whitening products on sale in Thailand as well. I think that it is more of a class thing – darker skin is associated with manual labour, although there is a long standing division between ethnic Thais (for lack of a better word) and the Chinese Thais.
Likewise here in the Philippines. The racism between the fair skinned and dark skinned Filipinos is astonishing. The same stigma attaches to dark skin as in the rest of SE Asia……..ie if your skin is dark, you work outside, ergo you’re a peasant. Which leads to a brisk market in skin-lightening products.
And don’t get them started on each other’s nose shape. “Long” nose, good. “Flat” nose, bad. A “long” nose indicates a bit of European blood, which is seen as desirable.
They all think Chinese people are retarded (remember the old “Polack” jokes in the US and the “Irish” jokes in UK about 40 years ago?) and that the Koreans are just plain weird (actually they are, it has to be said, but that’s another story……).
But I think it’s far healthier that these petty prejudices are out in the open, rather than the pretendy-inclusive liberal-lefty PC tripe, where we are all “not supposed” to say certain things, even though everyone thinks it, just as we did before PC became fashionable.
Human beings are essentially tribal. Always were, always will be, no matter how much the PC merchants try to brainwash everybody.
Alan,
“…never mind that Boris was actually referencing this Guardian article as the BBC knows full well…”
Boris Johnson’s article in The Sun (April 2016) states;
“Some said it was a symbol of the part-Kenyan President’s ancestral dislike of the British empire”
Owen Bowcott’s article in The Guardian (March 2009) does not say Obama has an ancestral dislike of the British empire. So if Boris was referencing anyone it wasn’t that article in The Guardian.
“The constant drip drip drip of comments labelling Boris as racist by the BBC’s finest naturally have an effect…”
Which comments are those Alan? So far you have failed to provide any examples.
“…here are the relevant and eye-opening thoughts from Webb…
Oh look, you’ve reduced a 1,372 word article into 282 words (changed a few here and there) with no indication that you’ve taken selective quotes, deleted all context, and stitched them back together to suit your argument.
Some people might consider that to be somewhat dishonest.
“So what Justin Webb is saying is that Obama isn’t black enough, both in thought and in actual skin tone….and that his policies should be shaped by his skin tone…”
Perhaps if that’s what Justin Webb is saying, he would have said it.
But he didn’t.
Alan, have you ever made a post that doesn’t involve lies, misquotes, fantasy-conspiracy-theory, or an overwhelming-permanent-sense-of-victimhood?
Zero…as usual a concoction of half-truths, straw-man arguments and desperation from you.
What part of ‘Could Obama’s dual colonial heritage spell the end of the special relationship? do you not understand…..you claim…
‘Owen Bowcott’s article in The Guardian (March 2009) does not say Obama has an ancestral dislike of the British empire. So if Boris was referencing anyone it wasn’t that article in The Guardian.’
How could you miss this from the Guardian’s article?…
‘It also sharpens the intriguing question of whether the president’s dual colonial inheritance – of Kenyan and Irish ancestry – is helping reshape America’s supposedly “special relationship” with Britain.
The darker days of the UK’s relationship with Kenya may resurface soon when lawyers lodge a class action in the British courts from survivors of the Mau Mau rebellion who claim they were tortured by British soldiers in the 1950s; Obama’s grandfather was among those mistreated during the independence struggle.’
Fairly clear the Guardian thinks Obama’s Kenyan heritage, and his Irish one, might effect relations with Britain….which is what Boris said ‘some have said’.
And what to make of the Guardian’s hope that Obama may rise above ‘any personal historical grudges he may have inherited.’ Personal grudges? Sounds a lot like the Guardian thinks Obama may not hold Britain dear doesn’t it Zero?
And what of this from you?
“The constant drip drip drip of comments labelling Boris as racist by the BBC’s finest naturally have an effect…”
Which comments are those Alan? So far you have failed to provide any examples.
Hmmm..perhaps if you actually read any of the posts here, actually read, not skimmed and cherry-picked selective bits that catch your eye whilst ignoring the bits that are inconvenient, you might have seen numerous posts laying out where the BBC has attacked Boris.
And this from you?
Oh look, you’ve reduced a 1,372 word article into 282 words (changed a few here and there) with no indication that you’ve taken selective quotes, deleted all context, and stitched them back together to suit your argument.
Some people might consider that to be somewhat dishonest.
I’m confused as to exactly where I misquote Webb, delete the context or change his words (just a little lie from you there Zero eh?)…..they are his exact words and make my point quite clearly and strongly…that Webb is saying Obama’s race is relevant to his politics….something Boris only said others said…and yet it is Boris who is called a racist…by Webb’s own colleagues.
It was clear to any passably intelligent reader that I was quoting representative parts of Webb’s article……that’s how critique works…you don’t bore people with totally irrelevant parts of the article….but as I actually state that these were the ‘relevant parts’ pretty obvious to someone not intent on being obtuse what was being quoted and as I link to the article everyone is free to read the whole thing for themselves…so who is being dishonest?…you.
And finally, your last great roll of the dice….
“So what Justin Webb is saying is that Obama isn’t black enough, both in thought and in actual skin tone….and that his policies should be shaped by his skin tone…”
Perhaps if that’s what Justin Webb is saying, he would have said it.
Trouble is Zero he did say that…you, as usual, didn’t read it or didn’t understand…or you’re just being dishonest..or all three.
Zero…never was a name so well chosen.
Alan,
“Fairly clear the Guardian thinks Obama’s Kenyan heritage, and his Irish one, might effect relations with Britain.”
Keyword: “might”. There is nothing in the Guardian article that says Obama has an ancestral dislike of the British empire.
Fail.
“Hmmm..perhaps if you actually read any of the posts here, actually read, not skimmed and cherry-picked selective bits that catch your eye whilst ignoring the bits that are inconvenient, you might have seen numerous posts laying out where the BBc has attacked Boris.”
So you still can’t provide any examples of “BBC’s finest” labelling Boris as racist.
Fail.
“It was clear to any passably intelligent reader that I was quoting representative parts of Webb’s article……that’s how critique works…you don’t bore people with totally irrelevant parts of the article….but as I actually state that these were the ‘relevant parts’…”
You didn’t state these were the “relevant parts”. You said “here are the relevant and eye-opening thoughts…”
It is customary to indicate missing sentences/paragraphs between quotes by use of ellipses.
It is customary to indicate the insertion of words not in the original quote by use of square brackets.
Ignoring such conventions is not “how critique works”; it’s how “lying about what was said” works.
Fail.
“Perhaps if that’s what Justin Webb is saying, he would have said it.”
“Trouble is Zero he did say that…”
Okay, show me the quote where Justin Webb says “Obama isn’t black enough…and that his policies should be shaped by his skin tone”?
I would suggest it is high time the two major partys looked at deselecting some of their mps.They have both been hijacked by the liberal left.Maybe this liberal left a la beeb / celebrity/most pc media could start their own party. The knobhead traitor party
Surely virtually all Afro Americans have some Caucasian DNA? Not to have any would mean that the person’s ancestors did not arrive as slaves and inherit some of the DNA of the slave owners.