Paganistan: Notes from the Secret Commonwealth
In Which One Midwest Man-in-Black Confers, Converses & Otherwise Hob-Nobs with his Fellow Hob-Men (& -Women) Concerning the Sundry Ways of the Famed but Ill-Starred Tribe of Witches.
Dealing with Governor Blackface
Well, well. The mills of the gods may grind slowly, but they grind exceeding fine.
The political future of Governor Blackface of Virginia now lies in the hands (O happy irony) of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus.
Of course, I don't get a vote here. But if I did, here's what I would be tempted to say.
Dear Governor Blackface:
Your callous actions in the 1980s were despicable in their casual racism, and you are right to be ashamed of them.
We take you at your word that you regret your actions. For this reason we will continue to work with you as governor, to make the best decisions that we can for the people of Virginia.
Please be aware, however, that as we do so, we will be watching you closely.
Extremely closely.
Yours most sincerely, etc.
Then, of course, he'll owe them bigtime.
Me, I don't ever plan to run for political office. My stint in gay porn aside, who in their right mind would ever vote for a gay pagan warlock? For anything?
But that doesn't mean that I don't know how to think strategically.
Comments
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Friday, 08 February 2019I'm from Virginia; the story isn't over yet, it just keeps coming. Not only did the governor do blackface according to yesterday's paper so did the attorney general. Our Lieutenant Governor is being charged with sexual misconduct, and in today's paper the Senate Majority Leader admitted to editing a yearbook for VMI with pictures of people in blackface in it.
I am still waiting to read anything on why a 35 year old picture of the governor is turning up now instead of during the election campaign. I know the general consensus is toward outrage over these incidents but my contrarian self tilts toward suspicion. The Anita Hill scandal and Senator Packwood scandal of the 1990's made me suspect that headline grabbing political scandals are smokescreens for legislative malfeasance. Perhaps I'm missing the obvious but I don't think this shitstorm is over with yet. -
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This is turning out to be a more complicated issue than it looks.
I was listening to a Public Radio show discussing this blackface issue, and apparently a lot of white folks in various parts of the country -- seriously -- had never encountered or seen blackface before, didn't know about it, and were thanking the show's commentators for explaining it and what the problem was with it, since they were ignorant of it.
Really -- we need to stop raising white folks to be so bloody ignorant of this country's racial history just to spare their feelings. If there's one factor that keeps racism from budging in this country, it's that.
The host, who is a black American, simply said: "If you are willing to own the consequences of dressing as a racial stereotype for fun, then go ahead. Be willing to own the consequences." Yep. Right on.
What's also particularly galling about this Governor's behavior was that it was in medical school... this was not a stupid youthful junior-highish act... this guy was an ADULT who was TAKING PATIENTS.
Yeesh.