RUSH: This is Uriah in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Greetings, sir. Nice to have you with us.
CALLER: Hey, Mr. Rush, how are you, sir? I just want to say, I really appreciate what you do as far as conservatives. It’s the right thing for our country. But there’s one thing that I have a question about. The other day you played a song with Al Sharpton, Sharpton portraying — actually singing in the studio against Barack Obama. My point is that the term ‘negro’ that was used in that song, I found to be very offensive. The reason why [is] because I feel like the term ‘negro’ is such an archaic term, and in a society as prosperous as America that is pressing and excelling forward, you know, throughout the world, I think that you use a term like that is a term that is actually turning us around.
RUSH: You must be talking about the very popular parody, ‘Barack the Magic Negro’ as sung by Al Sharpton through the bullhorn. Is that the one?
CALLER: Yes, sir.
RUSH: Well, let me tell you about the roots of this. There was a columnist in the Los Angeles Times named David Ehrenstein, and on Monday, he wrote a piece about Barack is the ‘magic negro.’ He claimed that there is, in the black culture, this term ‘magic negro.’ His point in this column was that Barack Obama is not authentic. He hasn’t been down for the struggle. Plus he’s not been around long enough for people to know what he actually stands for substance-wise, and so white people who are supporting Barack are simply doing so to assuage their white guilt over the transgressions in the past in this country, such as slavery and so forth. So his theory is that Barack coming along, he’s black and that’s all that matters. Nobody cares what he stands for. Nobody knows what he stands for.
It was a column, essentially, accusing white people supporting Obama of being racist because they don’t care what he stands for and don’t care what he’s going to do. The fact that he’s black is enough for them, to make them not feel guilty as long as they say they support him, and that was the definition of ‘magic negro.’ Now, on this program, we made it a big point to point out that it was — and this columnist is black, by the way, David Ehrenstein is black, and he used the term, which is why it says so in the lyric line of the song. So we’re just highlighting what the left says. I believe
CALLER: Yes, sir.
RUSH: So this song is to illustrate that point.
CALLER: Okay. That’s the first time I’ve actually ever heard the term ‘magic negro.’
RUSH: Well, me, too. I never heard of it, but this guy says it’s out there. It’s part of black folklore.
CALLER: Okay. Yeah, so that was my question there. You know, I feel like as a country that we should definitely be propelling forward, and this generation, and bringing light to the rest of this world.
RUSH: Well, I can tell you think the term negro is inappropriate, that it’s old hat and shouldn’t be used, that it’s divisive and this sort of thing, and you may have a point, but remember what we do on this program. We illustrate absurdity by being absurd, and the other element of this is that Sharpton has been quoted in the New York Post as being jealous that Obama is getting all this support as a black presidential candidate. Remember, Joe Biden said, ‘Hey, we got the first clean, articulate, intelligent black guy running for president.’ How do you think this makes Sharpton feel? He’s run for president twice. How do you think it’s going to make the Reverend Jackson feel? So the story was that there’s a little jealousy out there. So, these two things just fit together. It was like a harmonic convergence here on this, Uriah. Now that you know the context and the details, let’s listen together to Al Sharpton and ‘Barack the Magic Negro.’
(Playing of ‘Barack the Magic Negro’ parody song.)
‘Don’t vote for Barack. I won’t have anything after all these years of sacrifice. The justice, I need justice.’ Sharpton stops singing, and the chorus keeps singing. Al Sharpton is abandoning the lyric line. By the way, I understand there are many people probably who don’t know the historical facts about this term ‘magic negro.’ I didn’t either, but who am I to dispute the LA Times and one of their esteemed columnists, David Ehrenstein? But if you’re going to complain about that, isn’t it time to change the name of the United Negro College Fund? Some things are just out of proportion and have no consistency here, folks, and we’re happy and eager to point them out.