Disturbed that Duck Dynasty Phil's *racism* is getting overlooked

[kenobi_65]

@Bricker

Now, I grant you that there’s a definite tone-deafness in ever saying black people were “singing and happy,” as they worked in the fields hoeing cotton.

I think, beyond that, there’s a tone-deafness (at best) in the “pre-entitlement, pre-welfare” part of the statement. He seems to be suggesting that, somehow, in his personal experience, things were better for blacks back then.

[Bricker]

@RTFirefly

True in a limited way. Take it away, Ta-Nehisi Coates:

One should not be lulled into thinking that the murder of Freddie Moore was out of the ordinary in Louisiana. Between 1882 and 1936, only Georgia, Texas and Mississippi saw more black people lynched. For part of that period four of Louisiana’s parishes led the nation for counties with the most lynchings.

That is because governance in Phil Robertson’s Louisiana was premised on terrorism. As late as 1890, the majority of people in Louisiana were black. As late as 1902, they still lived under threat of slavery through debt peonage and the convict-lease system.

Robertson was born in 1946. How does the author write “Phil Robertson’s Louisana” when discussing 1890, and 1902, and the period from 1882 and 1936, and still keep a straight face?

Do we imagine that as an infant, Phil invented a time machine? Was he the inspiration for “Family Guy” genius baby Stewie?

From the Coates piece:

Even today the Colfax Massacre is honored in Louisiana as the rightful “end of carpetbag misrule.”

By whom? Robertson, or someone he endorses? Some official Louisiana resolution, passed with the funding from “Duck Dynasty?”

Or does the author throw in things that were bad in Louisiana, mentioned Robertson’s name, and hope that the readers sort of merge the issues?

[Karrius]

I, too, was also kind of disturbed by the fact that that went so unremarked on. I feel like part of our society has just sort of given up.

There was also these comments, which lead to an overall xenophobic tone:

“For the sake of the Gospel, it was worth it,” Phil tells me. “All you have to do is look at any society where there is no Jesus. I’ll give you four: Nazis, no Jesus. Look at their record. Uh, Shintos? They started this thing in Pearl Harbor. Any Jesus among them? None. Communists? None. Islamists? Zero. That’s eighty years of ideologies that have popped up where no Jesus was allowed among those four groups. Just look at the records as far as murder goes among those four groups.”

[orcenio]

@Bricker

By whom? Robertson, or someone he endorses? Some official Louisiana resolution, passed with the funding from “Duck Dynasty?”

Or does the author throw in things that were bad in Louisiana, mentioned Robertson’s name, and hope that the readers sort of merge the issues?

It seems to be a direct quote from an historical marker that was erected on site. Wikipedia link.

[Bricker]

@kenobi_65

I think, beyond that, there’s a tone-deafness (at best) in the “pre-entitlement, pre-welfare” part of the statement. He seems to be suggesting that, somehow, in his personal experience, things were better for blacks back then.

Sure. And here’s the reason racial issues are such a third rail:

I can’t agree with that statement in any way without risking being branded a racist myself.

I don’t think the entitlement, welfare system has made life better for any group. So focusing on the limited issue question of: was life better for black people when the welfare system wasn’t around, the strict answer is no – but the REASON this is true has to do with other aspects of life back then. I argue that if you ask, “Did welfare and the entitlement system make things better for blacks?” then the answer is arguably no.

But you cannot simply snap off any kind of an answer without fearing that your comments willbe used to accused you of racism.

[Bricker]

@orcenio

It seems to be a direct quote from an historical marker that was erected on site. Wikipedia link.

OK. That marker, reading the fine print at the bottom, was crafted when Phil Robertson was no more than four years old. I doubt he had much to do with its composition.

[JohnT]

He also admits to the crime of battery upon a man and his wife, beating them up so bad that Phil had to bribe them not to press charges, then fled the state anyway. He then refused to apologize to them, even during the interview, because, apparently, that Phil was a different Phil now that the New Phil has been born again.

Compared to the race comments, this is getting absolutely no traction but is, imho, the most disgusting thing in the article.

[orcenio]

@Bricker

OK. That marker, reading the fine print at the bottom, was crafted when Phil Robertson was no more than four years old. I doubt he had much to do with its composition.

Coates made no such claim. Your quote is clear that he’s attributing this revisionism to Louisianans, not Robertson directly.

Even today the Colfax Massacre is honored in Louisiana as the rightful “end of carpetbag misrule.”

Coates continues to explain the relevance of such revisionism.

The black people who Phil Robertson knew were warred upon. If they valued their lives, and the lives of their families, the last thing they would have done was voiced a complaint about “white people” to a man like Robertson.

[RTFirefly]

@Bricker

Robertson was born in 1946. How does the author write “Phil Robertson’s Louisana” when discussing 1890, and 1902, and the period from 1882 and 1936, and still keep a straight face?

You’re right. I’ll bet Louisiana’s racial attitudes during Robertson’s youth were totally healed from that earlier history.

[RTFirefly]

@Bricker

OK. That marker, reading the fine print at the bottom, was crafted when Phil Robertson was no more than four years old. I doubt he had much to do with its composition.

You’re right again. The notion that the attitudes expressed in that marker were still alive and well in Louisiana when Robertson was 14 or 24 instead of 4 are totally absurd, ridiculous, and preposterous.

[JohnT]

@aceplace57

He said it badly but I understand the point Phil was making. I read his brother Si’s book a couple months ago. The Robertsons (Si and Phil) grew up dirt poor just like my grandfather. Poor field hands worked side by side. It didn’t matter if you were white or black. Everyone’s hands were raw and bleeding at the end of the day. Picking cotton is brutal work.

My grandfather was a sharecropper for much of his life. He didn’t buy a small farm until he was almost 50. I heard a lot of stories from my dad and his sisters. We’re from the same general area of Louisiana as Phil. Thats why I watch Duck Dynasty.

I am baffled why Phil claims he doesn’t recall any racism. Poor whites were called white trash back then. :rolleyes: They were at the bottom just like the blacks.

Um, the poor white trash (PWT) were not on the bottom, the blacks were.

There seems to be an odd bit of revisionist history going on with this story, with a lot of people saying that there was some sort of nascent class consciousness and understanding between poor whites and subjugated black people. There weren’t. Your grandfather may have worked in the field with blacks, but if he was a typical man of his generation and location, there is no way he considered them his full equal, and if he did, he was a very rare person for that time and place.

[carnivorousplant]

@RTFirefly

True in a limited way. Take it away, Ta-Nehisi Coates:

As usual, I will point out that the guys whose hangings inspired the song Strange Fruit were hanged in Indiana.

[Count_Blucher]

@Cerealbox

I’m assuming that the kind of people who watch Duck Dynasty don’t really care about some mild casual racism. Also, didn’t you know? We have a black president now. That means racism is over.

Perhaps the show needs a new theme song for a few seasons.

Thank you, Lilly Allen, wherever you are…

[VinylTurnip]

@Raygun99

I’m offended as a heterosexual that he says being straight comes down to liking vagina. Really, there’s equal opportunity stupidity throughout that article.

Women have anuses too. I checked.

[RTFirefly]

@carnivorousplant

As usual, I will point out that the guys whose hangings inspired the song Strange Fruit were hanged in Indiana.

And your point is, what? That there was racism, up to and including lynchings, outside the South? No shit. But as oppressive as institutionalized racism was in the North during the South’s Jim Crow years, if you’re suggesting it was anything like the equal of Southern racism during that period, I would have to say that’s ridiculous. There was a reason why millions of blacks left the South for other parts of the country between WWI and the end of de jure segregation.

[ZPG_Zealot]

@Bricker

Now, I grant you that there’s a definite tone-deafness in ever saying black people were “singing and happy,” as they worked in the fields hoeing cotton. But I don’t agree it’s racist. And in my view, Robertson is describing a situation in which he viewed himself as no better or worse than the other farm laborers, no matter their color.

Is that not correct, in your estimation?

Regardless of whether or not Robertson viewed himself as no better or worse than the other farm laborers, no matter their color, the facts are he was treated better by both the law (no one was going to arrest him up for drinking from the whites only water fountain, for example) and the society of that time and given his current age and exposure to the wider world should have realized that by now.

[carnivorousplant]

@RTFirefly

if you’re suggesting it was anything like the equal of Southern racism during that period, I would have to say that’s ridiculous.

I’m saying it was bad all over.
In the 1920’s the KKKvirtually ran Maine government. Apparently they didn’t like Catholics or Jews either.

[RTFirefly]

@carnivorousplant

I’m saying it was bad all over.
In the 1920’s the KKKvirtually ran Maine government. Apparently they didn’t like Catholics or Jews either.

Sure. But once again, are you saying that (a) it was more or less the same level of bad for black persons all over, or (b) just that it was bad in the North too, but not on the same scale as in the South?

[thelurkinghorror]

@VinylTurnip

Women have anuses too. I checked.

Yeah, but you gotta beg them more, and it only works on your birthday.

@carnivorousplant

I’m saying it was bad all over.
In the 1920’s the KKKvirtually ran Maine government. Apparently they didn’t like Catholics or Jews either.

Or Sigma Nus (sorry, it was stuck in my head).

[carnivorousplant]

@RTFirefly

Sure. But once again, are you saying that (a) it was more or less the same level of bad for black persons all over, or (b) just that it was bad in the North too, but not on the same scale as in the South?

One would assume it was worse in the South, there being more Black guys here to serve as victims. Whether hanged in Louisiana or Indiana, you’re still dead because of the color of your skin.