- Home
- Editorial and Opinion
- The More Things Change, the More They Remain ... Stupid
The More Things Change, the More They Remain ... Stupid
- By Roy Douglas Malonson
- Published 06/9/2009
- Editorial and Opinion
- Unrated
Roy Douglas Malonson
Roy D. Malonson is publisher of the African-American News&Issues.
View all articles by Roy Douglas Malonson
As we Texans celebrate the 29th year since Juneteenth became an official state holiday, and the nation observe the first one under the leadership of the history-making first African-American to sit in the oval office, I am reminded of Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, who stated, “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose,” usually translated in English as “the more things change, the more they remain the same.” Karr, a French journalist and editor of Le Figaro, a morning daily newspaper published in Paris, could have peeped into America’s future and despite President Barack Obama’s call for change, saw the hardness of the hearts of staunch racists who point-blank refuse to alter their stinky thinking. I’m not talking about giving the president a pass.
If like the rest of us, he makes a mistake, he should be called on it. No one is suggesting that everyone should blindly go along with or agree with every policy he lays out. But as I said before, to call for him to fail is to call for the country to fail.
Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh was quick to pounce on President Barack Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor. In his own words, Limbaugh stated, “Here you have a racist — you might want to soften that, and you might want to say a reverse racist. The libs, of course, say that minorities cannot be racists because they don’t have the power to implement their racism. Well, those days are gone, because reverse racists certainly do have the power. … Obama is the greatest living example of a reverse racist, and now he’s appointed one.”
This is one of the greatest examples of the pot calling the kettle black (no pun intended). It borders on being akin to our child-hood retort to name-calling, “It takes one to know one.” However, I believe you cannot find a more racist person in American than the one who is anointed as the voice of the Republican party.
In a soon to be released book, C.W. Kimble, former pastor of Good Hope MBC in Houston, explains how President Reagan’s endorsement of Limbaugh, positioned Talk Radio to be one of the most formidable instruments of evil in modern history. Kimble details in “Barack Hussein Obama: God at Work,” how Limbaugh’s spectacular growth prepared him for a battle against President Obama and how he sharpened his skills on victims like: Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Oprah Winfrey, Jeremiah Wright, Donovan McNabb, Rodney King, Colin Powell and even Republican Michael Steele.
Although it’s old news, Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele called Rush Limbaugh’s rhetoric “incendiary” and “ugly” and insisted that he is in charge of the GOP. A couple of days later, after being rebuked by the real power-brokers in the GOP, and an on-air response by Limbaugh, Steele, the Republican’s hand-picked answer to President Obama, said that he “was maybe a little bit inarticulate,” in what he was saying about Limbaugh.
Kimble said it best. Limbaugh is a radio evangelist whose lily-White audience, “reject any blame or guilt for the evils of the present or the past.” So as we rejoice on Juneteenth, although I suspect the significance of the day is lost on the majority of its participants, we will be wise to remember Karr’s words about change.
If like the rest of us, he makes a mistake, he should be called on it. No one is suggesting that everyone should blindly go along with or agree with every policy he lays out. But as I said before, to call for him to fail is to call for the country to fail.
Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh was quick to pounce on President Barack Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor. In his own words, Limbaugh stated, “Here you have a racist — you might want to soften that, and you might want to say a reverse racist. The libs, of course, say that minorities cannot be racists because they don’t have the power to implement their racism. Well, those days are gone, because reverse racists certainly do have the power. … Obama is the greatest living example of a reverse racist, and now he’s appointed one.”
This is one of the greatest examples of the pot calling the kettle black (no pun intended). It borders on being akin to our child-hood retort to name-calling, “It takes one to know one.” However, I believe you cannot find a more racist person in American than the one who is anointed as the voice of the Republican party.
In a soon to be released book, C.W. Kimble, former pastor of Good Hope MBC in Houston, explains how President Reagan’s endorsement of Limbaugh, positioned Talk Radio to be one of the most formidable instruments of evil in modern history. Kimble details in “Barack Hussein Obama: God at Work,” how Limbaugh’s spectacular growth prepared him for a battle against President Obama and how he sharpened his skills on victims like: Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Oprah Winfrey, Jeremiah Wright, Donovan McNabb, Rodney King, Colin Powell and even Republican Michael Steele.
Although it’s old news, Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele called Rush Limbaugh’s rhetoric “incendiary” and “ugly” and insisted that he is in charge of the GOP. A couple of days later, after being rebuked by the real power-brokers in the GOP, and an on-air response by Limbaugh, Steele, the Republican’s hand-picked answer to President Obama, said that he “was maybe a little bit inarticulate,” in what he was saying about Limbaugh.
Kimble said it best. Limbaugh is a radio evangelist whose lily-White audience, “reject any blame or guilt for the evils of the present or the past.” So as we rejoice on Juneteenth, although I suspect the significance of the day is lost on the majority of its participants, we will be wise to remember Karr’s words about change.