Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney refers to Big Dig mess as a “tar baby” – Black leaders outraged.
I’ve heard Iraq referred to as a tar baby, and was somewhat aware of the term’s use in Joel Chandler Harris’ Brer Rebbit. To me, the term meant a sticky situation, difficult to solve or escape from. Although I’ve never used the term myself, and have a dim recollection of reading a recent news story where someone objected to the use of the term, I’ve never heard anyone use it as a racial slur referring to black people.
And I have heard hundreds of such slurs. My memories go back to the '60’s, when racist terms were more commonly used. Never this one, though.
Is this really a well-recognized racial slur from the past, or is it something made up more recently to score political or social points? If it was a term used in the past in a racially derogatory way, is that derogatory use so common, and therefore so inextricably intertwined with the general definition of the phrase, that we shouldn’t ever use it?
In other words, is in the category of “nigger” (never use, in any sense), or “spade” (never use in reference to a person, but perfectly okay when referring to a digging implement, or playing card suit)?
I have wondered about this myself. I grew up in the rural South, and I have never in my life heard this term used in these parts as a racial slur. The first time I ever heard it used as a slur was in the old Saturday Night Live sketch featuring Chevy Chase and Richard Pryor in a job interview.
Has anyone ever heard it used in real life (not counting that comedy sketch) as a racial slur?
I would like to reclaim this phrase, as it is a very handy metaphor.
I don’t think “tar baby” was ever used as a racial slur in the past. I think that people today misinterpret it as such , equating “tar” with “black person”, possibly helped by the Br’er Rabbit connection. (Even people who hadn’t read Harris would know of it through the Disney cartoon Song of the South, which told this Br’er Rabbit story) The original story derives ultimately from an African folktale, as do many of the Harris stories, in which the “hero” gets stuck to a dumy made of stick sap. The version I’ve read has Anansi, the spider as the stuckee, rather than Rabbit/Hare. There’s nothing intrinsically racist about it.
But we live in an age when people saw the pictures on bottles of Snapple Iced Tea as representing, not the Boston Tea Party ships, but Slave Ships. And which saw racist intent in the private use of the word “niggardly”. People are ready to take offense in this hypersensitive age.
It’s the only place I have ever heard tar baby used as a racial slur. Did Chevy Chase ruin this phrase single-handedly? Or has anyone ever heard it used as a slur outside this sketch?
I think that “black leaders” have a huge stick up their collective asses and need to lighten up. If they actually knew their own history and literature, which they claim to so vigorously support, they would know that the old “tar baby” story from the African and Southern black folklore has nothing to do with an offensive term for a black person. Are these idiots really serious? All their huffing and puffing about black this and black that, and a 20-year-old white guy from Indiana instantly knows that “tar baby” refers to the bre’r rabbit folk stories (part of black history) and THEY DON’T?
Tar baby is a wonderfully evocative term that shouldn’t be lost to the English language. It not only refers to a sticky situation, but carries the other overtones of the story it comes from – a trap set to catch the arrogant and cocksure, which only works if they stupidly apply force to the situation. A metaphor useful for many modern situations, from the Big Dig to the Iraq war.
I don’t think it is offensive. I tend to think this is political hay being made at someone’s expense, if I may still use THAT phrase. And my sympathies are entirely abolitionist and mostly liberal.
As a matter of fact, I wish to expand upon the usefulness of this term to dialogue. It’s so useful, it should be preserved in altered format even if we can no longer use the offensive version.
Let me be the first to call for the widespread adoption of the term, Tar-American.
My question is who are all these “black leaders” that the article references?
The only person mentioned was Larry Jones, who was described as a black Republican and civil rights activist.
Is Larry Jones supposed to be one of these nebulous, undefined “black leaders”? If so, who is in the hell is he leading? Dude is in Iowa of all places. I bet I could count the number of black Iowans on both hands. The number of black Republican Iowans probably doesn’t amount to half of a knuckle. But I guess I shouldn’t trouble myself with such details.
“Tar baby” makes me think of the Uncle Remus stories, but if I heard it in a speech, I wouldn’t leap to the conclusion that the term is a slur. Especially if the context had nothing to do with race.
Perhaps it’s one of those regional things. I’m from the North and heard it used as a slur. The other day I heard someone use the term “picker” and had to think what the hell he mean; it had been so long since I heard it; but the way he used it, I knew it wasn’t as a compliment.
Can you give an example? I am trying hard to think how I might use this as a slur and the only thing I can come up with is calling somebody a tar baby to their face. But I wouldn’t use it on adults because they’re not babies, and I wouldn’t use it on a baby because how is a 6 month old supposed to be offended by a racial slur?
I agree that these guys are overreacting. However:
Just because something doesn’t originate as a slur doesn’t mean it can’t become one from subsequent usage. For example, the original character of Uncle Tom in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book is admirable, but that doesn’t mean that calling a black man an “Uncle Tom” is a compliment. Other words become less insulting over time- if you called me or one of my co-workers a “geek”, we’d generally take it as a compliment, even though the original meaning of that term was derogatory. The meanings of words do change over time.
The “black leaders” should be praising Romney, a rich, white Mormon from Michigan, for being familiar enough with black folkore to even know the term “tar baby.”
Joel Chandler Harris was not black. The “tar baby” story had nothing to do with race. tar is black-Harris did not imply anything with the story.
20 the so-called "Black leaders’-who chooses them? Or are they like Jesse Jackson, who decide that they speak for black america?
I find the whole thing rather silly-making Romney a racist because of his use of an obscure expression.
I wonder how many people today have read the stories of J.C. Harris? Probably not many-the PC crowd have probably expunged them from school textbooks by now.
