Last night on CNN, Campbell Brown was filling in for Anderson Cooper on AC360, and had a panel discussing the Jim Johnson bit. What follows actually happened- I am not making it up:
BROWN: Let me get your take on this. And by running a campaign that’s promoting higher ethics, a new kind of politics, does Obama and McCain, who has done this himself to a certain degree, do they set themselves up to be measured to a higher standard?
FARAI CHIDEYA, HOST, NPR’S NEWS & NOTES: I think this is a Americans really are looking for new kinds of leadership, whether it’s Republican, Democrat, independent. And they are holding politicians to incredibly high standards.
I also think that Senator Obama has a very specific issue going on.
Christopher John Farley of “TIME” magazine once wrote an essay about the magical African-American friend, which is the idea in movies often, that there’s this nice black man who’s my black friend, and he’s not like other black people. He’s so nice.
And I think that some people, some supporters have put Senator Obama in the magical African-American friend box. And therefore, for them there’s a double high standard, which is not only that he has to be squeaky clean as it relates to other politicians, but he has to be sort of this super-nice person. Politics is not always nice. We know that.
David Gergen looked like he had been goosed when the camera cut to him after this.
This election is going to be so awesome.
Dug Jay
The quotes from Farley’s essay in Time appear to be a spot-on description of many commenters here, not to mention the three hosts.
asl
I could only think of the movie, ’40 Year-Old Virgin’, when the teen-aged girl says to him, “So you ride a bicycle and
do magic.” Obama is just a nerd….who happens to be black.
scarshapedstar
Barack Obama is Stephen Colbert’s black friend? Who knew?
Doug H. (Fausto no more)
Five months of Black People Love Us: The General Election. You’re right, this really will be awesome. Now where did I put the popcorn…
Ugh
Barack Osama Saddam Hussein Antichrist Madrassa Obama.
BOSHAMO!
scarshapedstar
By the way, “put him in the magical African-American friend box” sounds like a euphemism a plantation owner would use when he was locking a disobedient field slave in The Hole and his little kid was within earshot.
TheFountainHead
I kanz haz magikal unidy blak-man nau?!
Face
jaw, meet floor.
Send this to TPM. Have JM add it to his Fox clip on Shelly Obama.
maxbaer (not the original)
I thought Chris Farley had died. Who knew he was writing for Time?
SGEW
Is it a good thing or a bad thing that people on television are talking about “the magical African-American friend box”?
Like this? Or are we talking more like this?
You know . . . maybe this election really is more than our media can handle.
SGEW
Oh, and by the way . . .
Farai Chideya is actually kind of totally awesome. I got no beef with her.
El Cid
The guy completely missed the point of those making fun of the stock stereotypical “Magic Negro” character. Obama is the opposite, because he is an actual central actor — the stock character exists only to bring out the humanity of the white main characters.
Bobzim
Two examples that come to my mind is Carl Weathers in Happy Gilmore and Will Smith in The Legend Of Bagger Vance. Is Obama a golfer?
Zifnab
I… uh… what?
Who lets these people on the air? Mother of god we are a country of stupids.
cleek
this “magic negro” shit is old news (LA Times, 3/07).
even Limbaugh’s song about it is over a year old.
dr. bloor
Lionel Jefferson in ’08!
TheFountainHead
Gonna be a lot of this going around.
jake
[Shrugs] It’s true and not just on the screen. Not the magic part but the my black friend part.
Annoying as hell but no harm meant (usually. I’m pretty sure) and without that attitude we would not have the wonder that is Black People Love Us.
And that would be a shame.
Just Some Fuckhead
I’m not sure the “magical negro” part is what is appalling here. It’s the follow-on that suggests there is something wrong with people of color in general:
“..and he’s not like other black people. He’s so nice.”
I’m not sure you can summarize the Theory of the Magical Negro without falling into these sorts of traps. It’s an outrageous proposition in the first place but when it’s authoritatively referenced in two sentences or less, a lot of nuance is lost in regards to who is actually being skewered.
jake
OK. Some people think certain races have access to ancient wisdom or an over active spirituality gland (along with natural musical talent) but those people are whackaloons and should be avoided by everyone.
Trinity
Wow.
Xanthippas
What’s wrong with what she said? She’s right; some people are totally cool with Obama because he’s “not like other black people.” She’s not endorsing the phenomenon, she’s just describing it. And as other commentators have already pointed out, she’s not the first to use this term or describe the phenomenon. If Gergen looked “goosed” it was probably because nobody in the media knows how to have a blunt and honest discussion about race in our country.
Just Some Fuckhead
If I may continue..
The reason the Theory of the Magical Negro is so outrageous is because it is propositioned on the idea that all non-white people are automatically group-assigned and responsible for the behavior of everyone in their group. Not too bad a deal if we’re talking about, say, asians, and the group stereotype is something positive like “smart”.
But the underlying assumption with The Theory of the Magical Negro is that people of color are somehow unacceptable as a group. And just so we’re clear, this isn’t the assumption of white folks who are accused of engaging in “magical negro” behavior, this is the assumption behind the Theory of the Magical Negro.
cleek
is any data to back up the idea that there is any such phenomenon ? has anyone done a survey to see if voters really think Obama is magical ? or, is this just yet another instance of the media running with a catchy but completely vacuous meme (Gore invented the Internet! Earth tones! Kerry’s “who among us does not love NASCAR?” pseudo-quote, etc.) ?
until there’s some data showing that people actually think this, then any discussion of it is just pseudo-intellectual fappery.
stm177
In Hollywood, black women get stereotyped into the Black Best Friend. That is, the white protagonist will have a sassy black girlfriend that sets her straight. Black men often end up as a Magical Negro in Hollywood movies, which is a more problematic stereotype.
By the way, TV Tropes Will Ruin Your Life.
I hope I got the links working correctly before I post this!
John Cole
It was absurd. First, it was based on the false premise that people actually give a shit about the Jim Johnson bit, but then when you go from there and assert the reason people are upset about Jim Johnson is because of their belief in Obama as a “magical black friend,” it goes down hill from even the silly premise.
AkaDad
I heard that the magical African-American friend box is just Al Gore’s old lock-box.
TheFountainHead
Mmmm, my favorite kind of fappery.
The Other Steve
Dug Jay is my magical friend.
Tsulagi
LOL. Sometimes you just have to laugh at the stupid.
Vote Barack Obama…The Other Magical Black!
rachel
Is there any “pundit” out there who’s going to be able to restrict himself to matters of fact and policy when s/he’s talking about Sen. Obama? Anyone at all?
ThymeZone
What on earth is this thread about?
Magical negro friends? Sorry, I once married into an extended family that was half black (my inlaws were a racially mixed couple) and spent a good deal of my adult life in the middle of black and hispanic family situations, and I must say, I have no idea what these people are talking about. Total crock of shit as near as I can tell.
As for race in this campaign, sure, it’s a factor, as we have said before. Some people will vote for McCain because he is not the negro, and some will vote for Obama because he is the negro. Obama will win because he will get more votes among the people who are not making their choice on the basis of color. In this year, McCain is simply not a rational choice, and Obama simply is.
My take on this thread is that we are talking about a bunch of goddam fools who are marketed as “the best political team on television” but who in fact have no idea what the fuck they are talking about, ever. They might as well be dogs howling at the moon, they are without any clue.
Rome Again
I think Mr Farley has watched too many movies with Morgan Freeman in them.
I am voting for the half-black man because I think he has more style, grace, honesty and class than any other choice we have in this election.
jake
Yep. Just like the theory that the Earth is 6,000 years old, that some races are inherently inferior, members of some religions prone to violence (or greed) and that people of certain sexual orientations want nothing more than to diddle the kiddies (while grooving to “I will survive”).
However, calling these theories absurd doesn’t make the people who believe these things disappear in a puff of smoke (trust me) and we still have to deal with the effects of that belief. Now if you were to ask does the theory of My [Fill in the Blank] Friend cause less overall damage than the theory of String up the [Fill in the Blanks] Before They Rape the Wimmin/Children/Pets? I’d have to say I’m not prepared to answer that one.
b-psycho
Nobody cares about Jim Johnson. Hell, when I first heard his name I kept thinking they were saying TIM Johnson.
Has there ever been a movie where the roles were reversed? The blacks were actual people & the main character has a Magical White Friend?
Jeffrey
The closest I can think of is Biker Boyz (with Laurence Fishburne), but the only white guy in the movie was pretty useless, so that probably doesn’t count.
p.a.
Don’t you all know his real name is Barak NotAlSharpton Obama? That’s automatic qualification for Magic Negro Friend.
My Magical White Friend is GwynethBridget PaltrowFonda.
cleek
Bagger Vance ?
Kathy Hussein in MA
Hmm… Another part of the problem is that it’s not useful to compare Obama’s situation to the movies. Is anybody out there old enough to remember Jackie Robinson? His first season with the Dodgers might make a better analogy (but the MSM would find a way to utterly miss the point of that, too).
Xanthippas
Now the first part I agree with; nobody gives a shit about Jim Johnson. But that Chideya (who btw-and yes it matters-is black) even raised the specter of the “magical negro” isn’t. Her point, at least as I’m understanding it, is that Obama has to be even more well-behaved than the typical politician because he is perceived by some of his white supporters to be “different” from those “other” black people, who are of course ghetto, or criminals or confrontational or possess whatever other supposed “black” traits that make white people uncomfortable. Is that true in his case? Well, I don’t think so, as I think the overwhelming majority of Obama’s white supporters are okay with black people being black, and not “black” in a way that’s inoffensive to white people. I could be wrong, but whatever. But if you’re trying to say the whole phenomenon of the “magical negro” is silly, I think you’re wrong about that. I don’t know how widespread the phenomenon is, but it certainly has some cultural traction. Just look at the references in this Wikipedia article to see how many people have written about it. So maybe she’s wrong here, but is it so ridiculous to bring up? I don’t think so.
Genine
There is an element of “black but not too black.” I do not know how widespread it is but I definitely heard that many times as a child and on more than one occasion as an adult.
Growing up in the 80’s and 90’s and going to all white schools and college. I had many friends who say, “You know Genine, I like you! You’re not like other black people at all!” Or “Yeah, you’re black, but you’re not TOO black. So its OK.” (I heard that one more in the 80’s.)
Recently, I was contemplating getting braids in my hair. One of my closest friends was horrified. She’s like “But then you’ll be black!” I just looked at her over the top of my glasses and she blushed and said “Yeah, but you’re not BLACK black and braids would make you BLACK black.”
So, yes, such people exist. They’re not bad people, they just have no clue. But I would agree with Xanth that there are plenty of white people that have no problem with a black person being “black” whatever that means. :-)
G.D.
Are you people for real? Or you know, just white and reflexively liberal and oblivious?
The Magic Negro thing is a popular trope: the sage brown person comes through and makes the lives of white people better people through folksy, practical wisdom. He or she may also conveniently absolve them of their racism, because, well hey they’d vote for a black guy!
Wait, i’m sorry. White liberals can’t be racist. I mean, ThymeZone even married into a racially mixed family, so he/she is in a position to speak definitively on the issue. I’d laugh if this some-of-my-best-in-laws-are-black stuff weren’t so damn annoying and condescending.
Genine’s right. Me and every other black person I know have gotten the but-you’re-not-like-THEM ‘compliment’ at some point. Because we are/were ‘acceptable,’ and our acceptability had everything to do with the ridiculous stereotypes floating around in the heads of well-meaning white folks.
There are scores of white people discussing Obama’s campaign in the context of America’s racial progress —- scores of white people with nary a friend or acquaintance of color and to whom ‘racial progress’ is necessarily some cutesy little abstraction.
When you all are through patting yourself on the back and dismissing Farai’s comments out of hand, maybe you might take a break from your ‘progressive’ high-mindedness to actually consider the merits of what she’s saying.
Chris Andersen
I think that Chideya, in her own awkward way, was trying to make an analogy to the same problem that Jackie Robinson had when he broke the baseball color barrier. When Robinson became the first black drafted into the major leagues he had to be not just a good player but a GREAT player in order to not give ammunition to those who were just waiting for him to be a bad choice and thus prove the critics right.
Fortunately, he was a great player.
Obama has to be not just a good candidate/president. He has to be a GREAT candidate/president, otherwise critics will all say, “See, we told you so.”
In other words, anyone who breaks a barrier will be subject to a higher standard of judgment. It’s inevitable.
Chideya’s point is valid. Just very poorly stated.
John Cole
You are missing the point completely, and really do not know your target audience here. Of course we have heard the “magic negro” bit before- hell, Rush Limbaugh has been playing a spoof song for over a year now on it, so even if you had not heard of it before then, you are bound to by now.
The point was, and if you check a post I made earlier about Jim Johnson, is that NO ONE FUCKING CARES ABOUT JIM JOHNSON, so attributing some mythical great American despair in the electorate over Jim Johnson is merely piling silly racial trope on top of nonsense. There is no despair. People don’t care about Jim Johnson, and the particularly don’t care about Jim Johnson because Obama is black. Or a magic negro.
Hence, the title of this post- Great Moments in Bad Punditry.
Redleg
Many Americans do seem have two file folders for black people. The first folder is sometimes labeled “nigger” by racists and “poor disadvantaged black” by “well-meaning” white folks. This folder contains many of the negative attributes that are popularly ascribed to blacks- the difference being that racists see these negative attributes as coming from nature and the “well-meaning” white folks as seeing these attributes as coming mainly from environmental forces outside the control of the poor black.
The other folder is a special folder for blacks who prove themselves to be other than “niggers” or “poor disadvantaged blacks.” The burden is almost always on the shoulders of the black person to prove themselves good enough for this special folder- to prove themselves to be just like us.