Morrison Revisits Her ‘First Black President’ Comment

Toni Morrison once famously referred to Bill Clinton as America’s ‘First Black President’ and it’s since been repeated many times. Well now that she’s endorsed Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), she’s been asked whether she regrets coining the phrase. Her answer: “People misunderstood that phrase. I was deploring the way in which President Clinton was being treated, vis-à-vis the sex scandal that was surrounding him. I said he was being treated like a black on the street, already guilty, already a perp. I have no idea what his real instincts are, in terms of race.” Which got me to thinking. What was the original context of the quote? I thought it had to do with his upbringing, coming from a single parent home and such. I don’t recall it having anything to do with the sex scandal and in fact thought it was said before his second term in office. So I went looking for the original quote and I found it. It was part of an essay she wrote for The New Yorker and the full text can be found here. It turns out that I was wrong. The essay was written in October 1998, after the Lewinsky story broke. The piece is all about the scandal itself and basically says that while adultery is wrong, it’s not an impeachable offense and that the situation was being blown out of proportion. She then (somewhat inexplicably) says that black men knew this was the case before anyone else because they’d been through the same thing Clinton had been through in terms of treatment and guilt versus innocence. And then the paragraph that gave birth to the phrase in question: “African-American men seemed to understand it right away. Years ago, in the middle of the Whitewater investigation, one heard the first murmurs: white skin notwithstanding, this is our first black President. Blacker than any actual black person who could ever be elected in our children's lifetime. After all, Clinton displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald's-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas. And when virtually all the African-American Clinton appointees began, one by one, to disappear, when the President's body, his privacy, his unpoliced sexuality became the focus of the persecution, when he was metaphorically seized and bodysearched, who could gainsay these black men who knew whereof they spoke? The message was clear "No matter how smart you are, how hard you work, how much coin you earn for us, we will put you in your place or put you out of the place you have somehow, albeit with our permission, achieved. You will be fired from your job, sent away in disgrace, and--who knows?--maybe sentenced and jailed to boot. In short, unless you do as we say (i.e., assimilate at once), your expletives belong to us." For a large segment of the population who are not African-Americans or members of other minorities, the elusive story left visible tracks: from target sighted to attack, to criminalization, to lynching, and now, in some quarters, to crucifixion. The always and already guilty "perp" is being hunted down not by a prosecutor's obsessive application of law but by a different kind of pursuer, one who makes new laws out of the shards of those he breaks.” So, I guess I see her point to some degree. On the other hand, she’s making an argument about blackness being a set of character traits and socioeconomic circumstances. In her Time interview, she dismisses too easily her original statement and while she apparently only used it once, I couldn’t find any article where she clarifies her position on the matter until she endorsed Obama over Bill Clinton’s wife. Off To Prison What do you get when you cross a liberal talk show host with a former Catholic priest? You get Bernie Ward pleading guilty to distribution of child pornography in a deal that will see him sent to prison for at least five years. He admitted to sending between 15 and 150 child porn pictures by email. Which begs the question, the difference between 15 and 150 pictures is pretty large. Can he (or the investigators) not narrow it down a little more than that? Guy Claims OJ Confessed Some jerk by the name of Mike Gilbert is coming out with a book called, “How I Helped O.J. Get Away With Murder: The Shocking Inside Story of Violence, Loyalty, Regret and Remorse.” He claims credit for helping OJ Simpson bloat his hands so the glove wouldn’t fit, leading to the unfortunate Johnny Cochran rhyme: “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.” If anyone thinks this book is a little sleazy sounding, raise your hands. Okay, hands down now. Seriously, I can understand if you helped someone get away with murder, you’d feel guilty but to have guilt so long delayed and come at a time where he’s fallen out with OJ and is currently in a tough time monetarily, including being pursued by the IRS for a tax issue, makes one doubt Gilbert’s sincerity. ‘Allow me to release my guilt by buying my book and giving me money.’ Cruise’s New Movie Stalls Tom Cruise’s newest movie has been put on the shelf until 2009. I’m betting that he broke all the couches and they’re waiting for a new shipment to come in. I Forgot The Header For This One This story freaks me out and I don’t know why exactly. This guy is one of three people who remember every detail of their life. He can recall every detail from age 11 on and most days between ages 7 and 11. He’s an ace at trivia and has won a bunch of restaurant gift certificates. You know, I think it’s people like him that are keeping me from winning at trivia, not that I’ll ever play again but… Something to Note Today, I don’t think I’ve pissed off any candidates for Governor in North Carolina or in any of the other 48 contiguous states in this country. I did have a Chick-fil-a sandwich though. Best 'Best Of' List This is a ‘best of’ list of the best ‘best of’ compilation albums. You know, greatest hits and stuff. A lot of my opinion of this list is colored by my individual preference of the band in question. I mean, if I don’t like, say, Prince, so I wouldn’t’ve put his compilation on my list. Anyway, it’s a fun list to look at. For REAL groups, like the Beatles (or solo artists like Bob Dylan), their greatest hits is a flyby that misses their best stuff because it only focuses on chart hits but for others, like, uh, Chuck Berry, his greatest hits album is the only thing you need. Which reminds me, I have Chubby Checker’s greatest hits, which didn’t make this list. Would you be surprised if I told you 'The Twist' is on there? Because it is, you know. What I Watched on Television Today I didn’t watch much today because I was busy finishing up packing. I did watch the start of a couple movies. I watched the beginning of ‘Evan Almighty’ before the urge to vomit overcame me. I watched another horrible movie that I couldn’t finish called ‘Next’ that starred Nicholas Cage and Julianne Moore. Cage could see two minutes into the future and blah, blah, blah. As for the packing, I probably should go to bed since the move starts before 8 in the morning. I’ll come back over the weekend to clean the apartment one last time in hopes of maybe getting the security deposit back (stop laughing). After that, I don’t think I’ll visit the Atlanta area ever again. Maybe to see a Braves game. I don’t know. What I’m Listening to on My Mp3 Player ‘See a Little Light’ by Bob Mould. Over at my sport’s site, every time I reference newly acquired Braves’ pinch hitter Greg Norton, I always mention Husker Du, because their bassist has the same name. Well, Husker Du broke up in 1988 and over the following year, Bob Mould, the group’s lead guitarist, hung out in a farmhouse, gave up drinking and drugs and put together the songs that comprised his first solo release, ‘Workbook,’ which featured ‘See a Little Light’ as the album’s fourth track. Mould had a couple other releases, formed another band called Sugar that had very limited success but did release the song ‘If I Can’t Change Your Mind.’ Sugar’s first live show was a secret event at the 40 Watt Club in Athens and they rehearsed for that show where REM practiced. Mould then joined the WCW (yes, as in wrestling) as a scriptwriter before going back in the studio again. I haven’t heard anything from him recently but his song ‘Dog on Fire’ (recorded by They Might Me Giants) is the theme song for ‘The Daily Show.’ Random Thoughts I didn’t turn the channel after Conan O’Brien went off and Carson Daly’s show came on and his guests sit to his left, which is the opposite of what most late night talk shows do. It’s making me feel sick. But it could be seeing Carson Daly. I don’t know. I’m tired of paragraph indentions. If I wanted indentions, I would’ve bought them with the binder clips. But I didn’t, so leave me alone about it. What would happen if Sir Mix-a-Lot joined Rage Against the Machine? To read my thoughts on sports, please visit http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/djwright