Monday night's "Verdict" with Dan Abrams featured its nightly takedown of "media hypocrisy, agendas and the perils of live tv" in "Beat the Press." First up was a clip of Cal Thomas on Fox News discussing the "angry" black women frequently portrayed on television in a segment on Michelle Obama. Later, a CNN anchor was befuddled about the link between flushing toilets, water and fire.
Watch:
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Well, Cal, now you have an angry white woman who is disgusted with you.
Cal Thomas is now an expert on 'angry black women'?! Do these people have no shame whatsoever? Stick with angry white men, Cal, you might know something on that subject.
FAUXNEWSTV is sick. I guess we have to have them, but WE don't have to watch them, unless you want to know what "your" ENEMIES are saying occasionally.
Let us not confuse what some falsely claim is angery black women... It is not anger but full awareness of white skin priviledge and the institutions that hold them in place...It is as Maya says "and still I rise" meaning no matter how they try to cloak their fear, their envy with ignorant racist rants WE will not allow it to interfer with what we know must be done....We must rise above it, beyond it and survive just as our ancestors have done before us and what we will continue after...Aw
Go ahead ChicagoBla
No they dont understand it for to do so would be to admit it exist. And if it exist they must consider the rewards that it affords them. Even the least educated, poorest white person in this country will reap benifits that an educated well to do Black person could only dream about. What matters most at this stage in the game is that WE know its being played and refuse to submit to the rules...Ig
I'm convinced the republican party will NOT go negative. I'm also convinced that Fox News will go extremely negative. Whether that negativity is co-ordinated behind the scenes by the GOP...well
That CNN clip is hillarious, O'Reilly and Kelly are crazy, but Cal Thomas gets the "Racist of the Week" Award. Way to go Mr. Thomas.
As much as Condi practices her non-diplomacy, why is she immune from being an "angry black woman?"
Maya Angelou said it best
Still I Rise
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise.
amen
I had never read that poem. I have heard of Maya for years. How powerful that poem is. thanks for posting.
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
Mama Calls It Intuition
I have begun to realize that I will never ever sit at the table of true brotherhood.
However, I now understand that it is not my purpose to sit at the table, but to set it.
To make sure that no delicacy goes untasted.
To make sure that fragrant wines flow from bottomless bottles as we raise them to toast this reunion.
To make sure that the fruits of our labor is just as ripe and sweet as the souls that planted them
To make sure that every dessert is cut into thick, wide slices and served by the hands of humility and compassion.
To make sure that each and every dish is within reach of each and every seat, and that each and every seat is filled with the sons and daughters of man.
My purpose is to make sure that no one walks away with an empty heart or a hungry spirit.
And when the sun shines down on this joyful occasion, I will be sure to take notice of its light wash over our people like liquid gold.
Now I call it setting the table, but Mama calls it intuition. This is my battle cry.
(c) 2003 Studly Dudly
The sentiment is nice, but christ, what a middle brow, artless writer she is.
thanks for this piece.
Still I rise. So True.
And everyone knows that Cal Thomas is a noted expert on Black women. I find it beyond astounding that anyone (even Faux News) would lend him any credibility in this area.
Why doesn't he talk about the angry white hardworking blue collar people of Appalacia that Hillary referred to - there are thousands of them - why is this racists picking on black women - just what was his point - not that he had one -
anyone else think he is frightnening looking? downright bizarre
As a black woman, I found this story a little crazy especially if they did not research the history of black women in america. After slavery ended, most black women had to be the primary breadwinners and it never changed since then due to the fact that black women had more opportunities than black males. Black women during slavery were more likely to work in the house, therefore they obtained skills to be nannies, maids, and cooks. Also since many slavemasters took them as concubines some learned how to read and write. Black males did not get that opportunity, so since most only knew how to work in the fields they didn't have another skill to fall back on that is how sharecropping came about because working the land was all they knew how to do. When black children were allowed to go to school, black boys were pulled out to work the land, leaving the girls to stay in school longer. Since the girls were more educated, they often found better jobs and made more money and became the head of household. I saw this with my own grandparents, neither one of my grandfathers made it past elementary, one of grandmothers did finish grammar school and the other college. They both were the dominant ones, not angry, at home. As girls, we are raised direct, smart, and not be dependent anyone else. Even now, if one looks at HBCU's black women in a college setting outnumber black men 9:1
As a Black man I am going to tell you this... You don't have to explain anything to these people. They know why we are not happy with the way things are in this country. Like I said before they (White folks) get us into mess (Iraq, e.g.) and we are standing right beside them getting us out of it!
I do want to say I agree with your assessment.
i take it that you consider condi & colin to be white, yes?
First off, USA should stand for United States of Anger. Everyone of all races over here seems angry, and dissatisfied. I lived in Australia for seven years, and they are nowhere near as angry on a day to day basis as Americans. Perhaps it's because they have universal healthcare, six weeks paid vacation, a monthly stipend to single parents, whether they work or not ( to keep women and children above the poverty line), good quality of life, and 26 public holidays. While we slave 50 weeks a year to get two weeks if we're not afraid to risk our job. They get time to decompress from the inevitable stresses of life, and we don't--so we're very angry. That's the first thing that struck me when I returned to the US.
The angry Black man and woman persona came up in the late sixties with the Muhammad Ali, and Black nationalist groups. Before then that persona wasn't associated with either Black men or women. Suddenly every Black man or woman in the movies, and all the Black activists were angry.
That media image has continued for over 40 years. And it's not a pleasant one--whether the anger is justified or not. Though Omarosa is cashing in with it. The GOP is counting on that familiar angry image in the media over the many years to frighten enough White voters to vote for McCain. Once the voters see how smart and reasonable Mrs. Obama is, it won't work.
Thanks Jazzcomedi
Obama 08
I kept posting about this Sunday when I saw it. I'm glad Abrams picked it up and put it out there.
Funny when they were naming "angry black women" They never said anything about Condi Rice.
The only exception they could think of was Oprah?
How about Claire Huxtable? Was she a depiction of an angry black woman? She reminds me of Michelle.
Strong, Intellectual, Opinionated, Professional and ran a beautiful family.
What makes these old white repubs think they can get away with this crap?
"What makes these old white repubs think they can get away with this crap?
Rhetorical - right?
Seems as if the only ones shouting about "angry black women" are" angry white men."
Go figure.
Ding! We have a winner.
Black women are portrayed as angry; Cal is portrayed as ignorant. "All good is of God; all evil is of man." As for the water thing, what can we say about an anchor who seems to be adrift in a sea of confusion?
Nothing like watching old, ugly white guys talking trash about women.
Ok - Cal - now put your mouth to rest, be a man and get into the ring with any of the women you mentioned - I bet they would pummel you in no time.
Yeah, especially black women. Don't let them get "bitter", goodness knows what they might do:)
I think many mistake black women's directness and passion for anger. As a group, black women tend to tell it like it is more than women of other cultures and that may seem angry to those who don't understand that. Also, because historically, the black family has been disrupted, many black women found themselves in the position of having to be the head of the family and didn't have the luxury of a man there to fight their battles. This will make you tougher and less likely to play coy compared to women who have had it differently. I have no evidence to suggest that black women are any more angry than anyone else, perhaps just more misunderstood.
That was well said.
You are right... When I was in college a sociology professor told us about a study they did amongst all the groups in the United States. They found only two groups on average that had the ability to consistently look people directly in the eyes (which they attribute to emotional and mental strength.) The first group was White males and the other was Black females. We must remember that anytime we question anything we (Black people in general) are called angry. I am a Black man who is in law school and I am always told that I am aggressive in my goals but my best friend who is White guy is assertive. Those are the labels we live with and all we can do is keep on moving on and as we go we will disprove those ignorant stereotypes.
Black women are angry but that doesn't mean we are ok with some egg head on faux news talking about it in the way that only they can talk about it. When Michelle Obama made the comment that for the first time in her adult life she is really proud of her country...
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First Posted: 06-17-08 09:52 AM | Updated: 06-25-08 05:12 AM