Tar Baby

Leave it to those who live in life in an ethical mire to attempt to bring great people down with them. Politics is a dirty buisness, and the mudslinging at Romney has begun. In Ames Romney commented concerning the Big Dig,"The best thing for me to do politically is stay away from the Big Dig -- just get as far away from that tar baby as I possibly can" then he continued by charging he would not stay away but instead tackle the problems the people of MA want fixed.

Having never heard the term before, my thoughts at the time were, "Whats a tar baby? Maybe it's construction word for sticky tar or something you get stuck in." I immediatly thought of the La Brea Tarpits I visited every year or so in Cub Scouts. I never had any idea that somewhere in time it was used negatively towards black people. Well if you don't know the term "Tar Baby" you must be sheltered according to the Boston NAACP:

“He (Romney) obviously has lived a sheltered life,” said Leonard Alkins, president of the Boston NAACP. “He’s completely disconnected with reality in terms of racial sensitivity. He just does not get it.”

OK, stop laughing.

Is this guy nuts? I would be curious how many of the African American's in the inner-city Chicago neighborhood I just lived in for four years even have heard this term. I have never heard it on TV, or even described as a racial epiteth.

I would even be more curious to find a quote where "Tar Baby" has been used in a racial way, not in it's original context of a sticky situation. I've looked high and low and can't find an instance of this term being used in a directly racial manner. But I did find several articles of people getting in trouble for using the term in a clearly non-racial manner.

What is so ridiculous is that the NAACP would want it illegal to use any adjective that has the connotation of the color black being used in a negative way.

Next thing we know it's wrong to say "Black Cat" or "Black Listed." Don't even think of using "Mudslinging?"

My personal opinion: I think that most of this stems from an anti-Romney crowd who are quick to knock a conservative. This quote from the above linked Boston Herald Article says it all:

Jimmy Myers, host of the WILD 1090 AM morning talk show “Talk to Me,” said, “I think someone who is close to Gov. Romney needs to explain to him a part of history that maybe his blue blood doesn’t let him see.

“Mitt Romney is an empty suit,” said Myers, who is black. “Well, now he’s an empty suit with a little tar on him. He’ll need miracle cleaner to get out of this one.”

Well in my mind it's easy to see why this is an issue, and it's nothing to do with rascism. I sincerely doubt this guy is a registered republican.