Never before have Louisiana politics and Eddie Murphy meshed so well.
According to The Associated Press, state Rep. Carla Blanchard Dartez, D-Morgan City, ended a telephone call with the mother of the NAACP’s local president by saying, “Talk to you later, Buckwheat.” The mother in question is Hazel Boykin, a prominent civil rights activist who helped desegregate restaurants and Terrebonne’s school system in the 1960s.
When I read this, I figured another Republican was promoting the use of ignorance and intolerance when it comes to race relations. I also predicted another arrival of the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to Southern Louisiana to call for someone to resign. Then I reread the passage more carefully and noticed her political affiliation.
Lo and behold, she’s a Democrat.
Ordinarily, this story would be little publicized at any other time. Unfortunately, this Saturday is the date of her run-off election against Republican challenger “Joe” Harrison.
Dartez’s incumbency should come to an end.
Buckwheat, for those of you who claim ignorance, is a black child character from the Our Gang (Little Rascals) series of short films in the 1930s and ’40s. Billie Thomas, the man who played Buckwheat, always defended his work in Little Rascals, saying the black kids were always treated equally with the white kids in the series. Over time, though, the character became synonymous with the “pickaninny” stereotype of black children, and its use is comparable to using the N-word.
Saturday Night Live altered the word’s meaning in 1981, when Eddie Murphy premiered his version of Buckwheat to the world. Producing an album called “Buh-weet Sings,” he crafted and fine tuned his impression so well it became stock research when it came to SNL history. From then on, no one thought about the term Buckwheat as offensive because Eddie Murphy said so.
The conservative blogosphere is having a field day. Republicans are ripping her to shreds, thankful for once it wasn’t one of them saying something incredibly stupid. Rep. Dartez released a statement saying, “I made an insensitive comment when speaking with Hazel Boykin, and I have apologized to the Boykin family and publicly for my choice of words. I have a strong record of fighting for issues important to the African American community; in fact, I have a 93 percent voting record with the Black Caucus.”
She has a point. According to Project Vote Smart, in 2006 Rep. Dartez joined 37 other House members in voting for a bill prohibiting discrimination and harassment in state employment. But this is Louisiana, and since it’s important to keep discrimination and harassment legal for state employees, the bill was defeated 38-58. I think she was only marginally confused when she voted against a smoking ban in cars with securely-fastened children in them. That bill has now become law. While my picture may have a cigarette in my mouth, I’m not dumb enough to smoke around kids. People should know better.
Apparently, Rep. Dartez isn’t one of them.
She has also been under legal fire for her husband, Lenny Dartez, who was arrested Sept. 25 and later indicted on charges of harboring illegal immigrants from Trinidad, according to KLFY.
This came after the representative was given a summons for improper lane change when she broke the arm of a pedestrian, securing her Best of New Orleans 2007 Jungle Primary Award for “Worst Timing to Foul Up a Sure Re-Election.” This dubious distinction came before her Buckwheat comment, effectively winning her the award a second time before tomorrow’s run-off.
Democrats have been swiftly repetitive in pointing out her conversation occurred with a supporter, but Jerome Boykin, son of Hazel and president of the Terrebonne Parish chapter of the NAACP, withdrew his support. “The NAACP is going to do all it can to see that she is not re-elected,” he said. “At this point, the NAACP is not concerned about the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. If a Republican is elected because of her racist remarks, that’s her responsibility.”
Jerome Boykin is exactly right. No preferential treatment should be given to Rep. Dartez for her insensitivity. I’m not saying she’s a racist; rather, I’m saying she was stupid. As the late Molly Ivins once observed, “if we took all the fools out of the Texas Legislature, it wouldn’t be a representative body anymore.” The same can be said for the whole country. People say stupid things all the time, but most often a gaffe as mind-numbing as this one comes with Jackson and Sharpton coming to preach about universal rights, perhaps even linking Rep. Dartez to someone like George Allen, who couldn’t realize his ignorance when pointing at a man with a camera and calling him “macaca.” My political views might change as I grow older, but I’ll always be black, and it will always sting to hear someone spew insensitivity, even on accident.
Eddie Murphy makes jokes about race. Carla Dartez screws up an election. Eric Freeman, Jr., eats turducken in six days. Happy Thanksgiving.
—-Contact Eric Freeman Jr at [email protected]