In calling Stacey Dash bullshit as opposed to calling her views bullshit, people are engaging in misogyny (directly by berating her on twitter) and inward hatred of black autonomy. Not acknowledging that a black person can come to a different point of view, cultural orientation and political ethic than the majority of black folks is part and parcel of denying the existence of black humanity and in feeling free to berate her, engaging in ugly misogyny.Do those intent on calling Stacey Dash a “house nigger” think there aren’t any “niggers” being slung at Oprah Winfrey or Kerry Washington by snail mail, e-mail or twitter for outwardly supporting President Obama? Well, they are in the same boat as those folks. Props to folks like Russell Simmons for putting that in basic terms:
He [Russell Simmons] disagrees with her but as he continues, “Here’s my point: Being angry Progressives is equally as bad as being angry Conservatives. And I don’t support it. In fact, I admire her courage and I support her right to use her voice, even if I personally think her opinions are misguided and “bullshit.”
source: Russell Simmons Defends Stacey Dash’s Romney Endorsement…Sorta.
To me, being angry that Dash supports Romney is really the work of cowards. Being a performer, she probably lives in a state that Obama will win handily.
The political failure in outwardly assailing Dash’s views is that she has no constituency. There’s no value in it for the rest of us.
No one follows Dash or sees her as any kind of political thought leader. At least, no one of consequence to the black diaspora in America. Mega Church preachers with thousands in the pews and thousands more listening online who stomp around and say gay marriage destroys manhood, (because some gay dude getting married somewhere sets off some kind of chaotic butterfly effect of homosexuality across the universe) have constituency they can move to not support liberals like President Obama and Vice President Biden who support gay marriage and marriage equality. If they even shame some of their constituents from rounding up their family and making them go to the polls, than they may be impacting Obama in North Carolina or Virginia, two Obama 2008 states that the President may not win in 2012.
Remember, fear of marriage equality was a 2004 wedge issue that gave Bush a larger share of the black vote than his platform should have garnered. These black preachers used currency afforded them by strong ties to civil rights movement to make religious people of all colors feel more comfortable about excluding gays from the legacy of the ever expanding civil rights movement. (Like when Romney went to the NAACP or black charter schools in West Philly, it wasn’t for the black people it was to show suburban whites any dog whistle politics was just our imaginations because he is tots comfortable around the folks).
George W. Bush used that 2nd term to throw more of our black men and women in uniform into Iraq and under-staff the ones who were serving in Afghanistan, ratchet up the privatization of schools with NCLB, let the banks continue to run wild serving sub-prime mortgages to our black and brown neighbors and to appoint a FEMA director that knew nothing about disaster abatement or emergency measures so 5 years into this still new century, we had such advanced technology to be able to see and hear the super dome while our fellow black Americans starved and drowned in New Orleans. Bush also appointed some awesome Supreme court justices in that second term, namely a very conservative John Roberts and ultra conservative Sam Alito! (man 2005 sucked). But at least gays aren’t getting married!
If you really believe you are being sold out, who even has the voting constituency to sell out? Your anti-marriage equality preacher with sermons heard by full pews and online viewers? Or Stacey Dash? Who deserves the talking to, and how should you talk to them? I don’t think “house nigger” really does anything to protect our homes. Neither does assailing Dash. If we believe in the value of President Obama’s candidacy, then we’ve got to understand the most valuable ways to advocate for that candidacy. Stacey Dash’s politics are perplexing, but not poisonous to us. I can say directly opposite of black preachers saying that we straight christian blacks should be bigoted against LGBT Americans.