Yelling "you lie!" at a president:
A group of black newspaper publishers on Friday charged Republican Rep. Joe Wilson with racism for yelling, "You lie," at President Obama during his nationally televised address to a joint session of Congress.
"As African-American newspaper publishers we stand in solidarity with the NAACP and fully support the economic boycott of South Carolina," NNPA Chairman Danny J. Bakewell Sr. said. "Rep. Wilson's remarks were racist, disrespectful, and a disingenuous violation -- not only of President Obama -- but to the institution of the presidency and only solidified our position and the importance in not spending black dollars where black people are not respected."
Mentioning a black artist in the same sentence as the president. Joan Walsh at Salon, take it away:
Every time I think I'm exaggerating the nature of the racial nuttiness that Obama faces, an ostensibly tolerant, smart guy like Welch does something boneheaded like this. What in God's name does Snoop Dogg have to do with Barack Obama (besides the obvious). Snoop's chorus is some variation on, "I run this town, act loud, get wild, we'll shut you down!" Oh, I get it: Obama runs Washington, and he threatened to call out people who lie about his proposals, and...that's the same thing?
I guess we've entered the Jim Crow era for cultural references? We must filter our literary allusions by race, and only whites are allowed. Got it? Good.
