Boy! You Best Get Off the Sidewalk and Let the White Man Pass:

[MrScorpio]

osted by Chauncey DeVega at 12:21 pm

September 1, 2011

Boy! You Best Get Off the Sidewalk and Let the White Man Pass: Race and the GOP’s Petty Opposition to the Timing of Obama’s Speech on the Economy
Where blacks had since slave days been expected to step off the sidewalk to allow white persons to pass unimpeded-failure to do so could result in being murdered-some communities with the new century began to require blacks to keep off the sidewalks altogether when any white children were occupying any part of them. Much the same held for the roadway, where blacks could expect to be stopped by police if they dared pass a white driver. So offensive to white sensibilities was a black driving an expensive car that even well-to-do African-Americans kept to older models so as not to give the dangerous impression of being above themselves…

One requirement was to sometimes illogically cede the right-of-way to a white driver-or even to a black driver who was chauffeuring white passengers. At many four-way-stop intersections in the South, the right-of-way was determined not by who reached the intersection first, but rather by the race of the drivers. When confronting a white driver who was female, a black male driver in the South could and sometimes did face a life-or-death decision. Compounding the difficulty facing African-Americans was the lack of universality of any of these conventions. In some places whites did maintain normal driving rules. But in others, Jim Crow was more important than highway safety.

Boehner just pulled a “boy you best get off the sidewalk and let a white man pass moment” in his demand that the President reschedule his jobs speech scheduled for next week before Congress. If President Obama is not careful the Right may get him for “reckless eyeballing.”


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=439

[msongs]

1. from republicans it is a given. the question is why obama went along with it. nt

[Romulox]

2. Obama and his team stink at politics. It's pointless to cry "racism" every time he is out-maneuvere

:shrug:

[DefenseLawyer]

4. You assume he actually wants something different than they do.

You can only be out-maneuvered when the other side prevails with an outcome that you didn't want. If on the other hand your goal is to give lip service to working people while ultimately pushing a Wall Street agenda, then those pesky Republicans become pretty damn convenient.

[Romulox]

10. Not really. We all know he's Wall Street's inside guy. His inability to hide this is a large part

of his team's poor management of his image.

Cf. Bill Clinton.

[tblue]

6. They certainly do stink.

Obama gives the Repubs every opportunity to manipulate him. And they do. He's not playing chess, they are.

[tblue]

3. They treat him like he's Stepin Fetchit.

I think it would do all of us good if he showed them how wrong they are. He is way to nice to them. He can be assertive without being out of line and we'd all have his back. He won't lose votes and he'll probably gain a lot. He has to stop caring what Fox News says. They will disparage any and everything he does anyway.

[tularetom]

5. I'll add a sad post script to that story

In the "progressive" state of California, in the year 2011, I still encounter that 4-way stop phenomenon. It happens often enough that I have commented on it to my wife.

When I pull up to a 4 way stop sign a split second later than another driver, if he or she is an older African American, they will sit and sit and sit until I finally just get pissed off and go.

Younger blacks don't seem to react the same way.

It never occurred to me why this was happening although I guess I look like a stereotype of a type that might appear threatening to them. I drive a pickup sometimes with a bale of hay or two in the bed, and usually wear a baseball cap.

Thanks, your post cleared that up for me.

[Enrique]

7. the consensus on DU was that Obama was jerking the GOP around

by his initial choice of date. "Brilliantly dickish" is how one big Obama supporter put it. I wasn't 100% convinced of this, by the way.

Given that attitude, though, the thought of him being an innocent victim should be resisted here now, right?

It could even be considered racially condescending, to bring his race into this, in this way, right?

[Generic Other]

8. Oh My!

I never realized that even traffic laws were subject to Jim Crow. What a stupid system!

[rurallib]

9. Thank you for this perspective.

While it is pretty obvious that repubs treat Obama in a racist manner. But this puts some real context around what that means.