Tar baby’ quip lands Mitt in muddle: Black leaders rip Gov
By Laurel J. Sweet
Monday, July 31, 2006 - Updated: 07:04 AM EST
Prominent black Bay Staters are outraged by Gov. Mitt Romney’s use of the words “tar baby” to describe the Big Dig as he stumped for presidential points in Iowa.
“Tar baby is a totally inappropriate phrase in the 21st century. If Calvin Coolidge didn’t use it, why the hell should Mitt Romney?” railed Larry Jones, a black Republican and civil rights activist.
Tar baby can refer to a sticky mess, but it also has been recognized as an epithet to humiliate black people. President Bush’s spokesman Tony Snow learned that in May when his expression, “I don’t want to hug the tar baby of trying to comment on the program,” raised the hackles of political correctness.
“He thinks he’s presidential timber,” Jones said yesterday of Romney, “but all he’s shown us is arrogance.”
Romney, who made the remark while addressing a couple hundred Republicans at a picnic in Ames, Iowa, on Saturday, offered an apology yesterday through the Herald and his spokesman, Eric Fernstrom.
“The governor was describing a sticky situation,” Fernstrom explained. “He was unaware that some people find the term objectionable and he’s sorry if anyone’s offended.”
When asked about the potential political millstone that is the Big Dig, Romney told Iowans, “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.”
David Deyoe, Iowa’s Story County Republican chairman, said he heard some “chuckles” in the audience, but believes Romney “was basically just trying to make it clear to everyone it (the Big Dig) was something he wanted to get away from. Clearly, that’s what he meant.”
Tar Baby was also a character in the Uncle Remus Tales - a doll made of tar that traps Brer Rabbit when he beats it for not speaking to him.
“His reference to Uncle Remus at least shows he’s well-read,” Jones quipped of Romney.
But to some, this was no laughing matter.
“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.”
Maurice Lewis, a former Boston television reporter who is black, said of Romney’s choice of words, “I just think it’s reflective of how he sees people who don’t look like him. Words like tar baby and pickaninny are deeply rooted in the segregation of America. They don’t have an ever-changing, ever-expanding meaning.”
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.”
from:
http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=150679
