Georgia Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland calls Obama 'uppity'

Westmoreland should lose his seat.

He should be removed from the house immediately.  And, by that, I mean within days not weeks.

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by: Storm @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 16:05:59 PM CDT

Agreed

I agree, it's time for an expulsion.

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by: kathygnome @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 20:11:21 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

so glad

you saw and posted this.  It's stunning.  These incidents need to be cataloged somewhere for reference when someone the next Republican talks about how we're beyond racism.

Is Westmoreland seriously going to deny this was racist?  Really?

Electricity's for light bulbs!

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by: n8nyc @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 16:07:30 PM CDT

Related

Did you watch this on This Week recently. It is worth checking out for some perspective on the use of the word "uppity" by a Southern white:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will.

- Abraham Lincoln.

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by: Fritz @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 16:10:07 PM CDT

I honestly never thought of "uppity" in the sense implied here

...until I read this post.  I always took it as, I guess, something like "snooty" or "stuck up."  Maybe it is a regional thing?  Or maybe I'm just really naieve. ; )

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by: Wren @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 16:17:22 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

David Gergen filled in the blanks in The Hill article

Gergen:

Political consultant David Gergen, who has worked in both Republican and Democratic White Houses, said on ABC's "This Week" that "As a native of the south, I can tell you, when you see this Charlton Heston ad, 'The One,' that's code for, 'He's uppity, he ought to stay in his place.' Everybody gets that who is from a Southern background."

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by: Pam Spaulding @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 16:21:10 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

One more reason why only 36 African-Americans at the Republican Convention...

...has a tremendous amount of significance. Even if we could suspend our disbelief that Westmorland's use of the term "uppity" was a racist statement, that the term was used in a gathering of thousands with only 36 African-Americans gives the use of the term "uppity" more than some significance.

Context -- Westmorland being from the south, and that he said it at the Republican National Convention where only one in sixty-six attendees is black -- gives the "uppity" commnent a more damning quality than saying outside of this Republican convention setting.

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~~Autumn~~

As if there were safety in stupidity alone.
--Henry David Thoreau

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by: Autumn Sandeen @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 17:36:01 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

A regional thing

It is a regional thing. In the South, uppity is used almost exlusively to mean a person of color who is stepping above his station.

Westmoreland is from the deep South. He knows exactly what the term means.

If he were from Maine or California, he could get away with saying he didn't know the racist aspect of the term.


When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will.

- Abraham Lincoln.

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by: Fritz @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 16:23:34 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I'm from Upstate NY

and I've known what it means for many years.  But, I'm from a scary, racist little town too...

Electricity's for light bulbs!

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by: n8nyc @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 16:48:32 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

He just didn't use the complete phrase -

- usually "uppity" is followed by another word.  (Here's a clue: it starts with "N".)  And even though Westmoreland didn't actually say it out loud, a lot of folks who heard it completed the phrase in their heads.

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by: Jami @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 17:03:55 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

exactly

"uppity" simply doesn't stand alone.

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by: CathyG @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 17:34:05 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I live up north now, but...

I spent my first 30+ years in the south.

I'm not sure I ever heard the U word without the N word attached.  

Kat

>^..^<

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by: KatRose @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 19:42:50 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

That's the First Thing

I thought of when I heard he had said uppity. In the deep South, everyone knows those two words go together. Whether the second one is actually said aloud or not, it is definitely implied. Since Westmoreland is from the South, you might as well say he said it, even if only in his head.  

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by: Fiona @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 21:18:13 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Not necessarily

I've heard my 70 yr old Maine native father yap about "gawddamn uppity n*****s" a time or two.

Racism is migratory, just like Monty Python's coconuts (it get carried by sparrows!).  

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by: Louise @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 19:03:05 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I didn't know...

that "uppity" was a racist term either, but then, I grew up in a diverse neighborhood in St. Louis, I didn't even know racism existed until we moved to the Denver 'burbs. I've always tended to associate "uppity" with spoiled rich whites who regularly denigrate those of more modest means.

It's good to know the regional differences though.


Tax the Christian Taliban!

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by: Wolfgang @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 20:11:26 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

You have GOT to be kidding! St. Louis, one of the most segregated

cities in the USA - and you haven't heard the "uppity N" phrase?? Unless you are still college age and you spent your whole existence in the Loop and nearby Wash. U. housing hanging with politically correct whites and with blacks that don't talk about racism in front of whites, you can't be oblivious to the racism in St. Louis and in MO as a whole, now and in living memory of working-age adults.  

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by: NancyP @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 21:03:11 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

That's how I thought of it...

...spoiled rich people who thought they were better than others.  I swear I never heard it with the "N-" word attached to it.  But then, I grew up in Jersey not three blocks from an army base.  The adults in our neighborhood apparently had some racist tendencies (which I didn't directly witness but HEARD about, secondhand), but going to school there as a kid with a constantly changing influx of army brats from not just all over the US but other countries, too, we were about as mixed a group as you could get, and I don't recall anyone ever making any racist comments, ever - not among my generation, anyway.  Older than me, it occasionally happened - but the kids my age were generally like, "huh?"  We didn't care.  The kids who were overweight got teased to no end, but there was no teasing based on race.  It was one of those things growing up I thought USED to happen in the world - like women not being able to vote.  I didn't actually see it unless someone was drunk and then I wrote it off to them being drunk and stupid.  I live in Denver now, too, and boy, was it different here.  White kids hung out with white kids and black kids hung out with black kids and Latino kids with Latino kids and Asian kids with Asian kids.  I was the freak at my school that no one knew what to do with because I hung out and made friends with everybody.  And I was also used to what little division I saw being divided by NATIONALITY - not race.  As in, you were Irish or Italian or Puerto Rican or Jewish or Korean or... not black or white or Hispanic or Asian.  That was weird for me.

But I believe all you southerners who say he should have known better. : )

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by: Wren @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 22:55:34 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

the next thing you know

Obama will want to work inside the house

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by: ol cranky @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 16:10:22 PM CDT

and learn to read! (gasp)

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by: CathyG @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 18:39:52 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Racist and stupid

Nobody thinks of himself as uppity.

That's an insult aimed at a person from somebody else, in this case racist Westmoreland, so he's a moron as well as a bigot.

But it's part and parcel of the phony class war the GOP has been waging since Nixon.  The Democrats are elitists.  That's why McCain has 8 houses (or more) and his wife's outfit was worth $300,000.  Sadly, the hoi poloi buys this junk about the Democrats because the MSM is so good at backing it up.

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 16:14:08 PM CDT

OH. MY. GOD.

What an utter moron. That Stephen Colbert segment should be required viewing for Westmoreland's constituents.

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by: johnbinpt @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 16:15:24 PM CDT

cracker!

And that's coming from a man raised in the South whose European ancestors hit North Carolina and Georgia over 250 years ago.  The Republican leadership in the House needs to have the balls to disfellowship this racist fool ASAP, lest the party be dragged down further faster with him.

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by: greatwhitebear @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 17:16:41 PM CDT

Westmoreland should resign

Immediately. Period.

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by: Margaret @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 17:17:14 PM CDT

Good Grief

I was wondering when someone would use the word uppity. I knew it would happen eventually just for the fact that there is a potential black president. Frankly, I'm suprised it took so long.

I am the lizard queen!

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by: RainbowPhoenix @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 17:38:13 PM CDT

Haven't heard the word "bougie" yet

That's just something to keep in mind.

When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will.

- Abraham Lincoln.

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by: Fritz @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 17:52:29 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

we have not heard it yet

because not that many of those freaky white repukes have any black friends they could have learned it from  

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by: Miranda Writes @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 18:51:10 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

National Black Republican Association (NBRA)

They don't get much freakier than this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will.

- Abraham Lincoln.

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by: Fritz @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 19:05:20 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

More radio spots

These are playing on radio stations with black listeners:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will.

- Abraham Lincoln.

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by: Fritz @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 19:11:09 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Now, that one IS new to me

but I'm afraid to Google it...don't wanna waste valuable grey matter.

Click HERE and sign up: Campaign For Military Partners

Click here for DADT photobook

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by: Louise @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 19:04:50 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Isn't being a racist the same as being an elitist?

One group of people thinking that they are better than another for no real reason?  I usually see them using the word "elitist" almost to describe someone as having class.  That I find amusing.  Racist piggy-ness, not amusing.  

My America includes LGBT families.

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by: Mena @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 18:15:49 PM CDT

no racism is OK

as long as you're republican and say you're not racist

other bigotry is OK as well as long as you're among the forgiven

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by: ol cranky @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 19:10:06 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I am reminded of a button: Uppity Women, Unite!

It is necessary for people to be "uppity" once in a while; otherwise, we become a hidebound, classist society where people like Westmoreland start thinking they deserve priviledge by right of race or gender or religion or family name, without having to earn those priviledges.

When I hear the word "uppity," I immediately think of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, of Frederick Douglas, Martin Luther King Jr. and Bayard Rustin, Mother Jones and A. Philip Randolph. Despite the racist, derisive sentiment behind it, I tend to think of it as a good word: if you want to be a force of positive change, it certainly helps if you are uppity.

Although he would probably die before he admitted it, Westmoreland could not have given Obama a higher compliment.

Now, can we try and force Westmoreland to admit that he complimented Obama? Just to test my theory? Please?

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même merde.

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by: TechBear @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 18:32:32 PM CDT

But Obama isn't uppity

Obama isn't stepping above his station. He achieved the status he deserves through hard work and scholarship.

Obama isn't an elitist. He is ELITE.

Obama is not reaching for a higher position in the social order. He already has it.

So, calling Obama uppity is no compliment. It is a classic putdown.

Westmoreland is inferring that he is superior to Obama. Nothing could be further from the truth.

When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will.

- Abraham Lincoln.

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by: Fritz @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 18:59:44 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

association of "uppity" with the N word is not limited to the South or

to conservative areas elsewhere. The usage is universally known in the US, at least among adults, as is the other common association, the B word (bitch).

"Snooty" has an entirely different association, usually applying to wealthy or wanna-be-wealthy whites. That usage is not regional, so Rep. Lynn Asshat could have used that if he wanted to criticize Michelle but not be openly racist about it.

So yes, Rep. Asshat has bypassed the code words and is going for old-fashioned racism. Frankly, I'd rather deal with his type than the oh-so-condescendingly-polite racists.

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by: NancyP @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 19:02:11 PM CDT

???

I'm surprised a few people didn't perceive it as racist. I guarantee you, everybody from the South -- at least everybody of my generation and everybody of Westmoreland's -- knows exactly what "uppity" means. And I do mean everybody. He might as well have added the n-word; it's understood.

In this election, Westmoreland will be opposed by Stephen Camp (http://www.stephencampforcongress.com/). While I don't really know anything about him, I can't help thinking a campaign contribution to Camp would be money well spent.

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by: earthlingblues @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 22:54:36 PM CDT

We all know what 'uppity' means in Cleveland, Ohio too...

So, it's a very well known term in the North as well!

And, I first heard the term as a 7-year-old in Costa Mesa, California.  I'd venture to say it's know in the West as well.

Westmoreland got his point across.  He did what he planned to do.  The man is a stupid oaf, but he's not THAT stupid.

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by: Storm @ Fri Sep 05, 2008 at 11:10:22 AM CDT

I just can't take anyone seriously

Who believes THEY can be A member of AN individual. Seriously, what the hell? Anything you say using such atrocious, illiterate phrasing is automatically put into my mental circular file.

And yeah, here in Texas I've heard 'uppity' applied to African Americans frequently. The phrase was far more prominent in my early childhood, living in a seriously redneck area, than later on when I was living and working and going to school in more cosmopolitan neighborhoods. (Yes, those do exist in Texas.) I always think of it as something my parents' generation would say. And did. Sigh.

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by: Ailei @ Sat Sep 06, 2008 at 08:55:02 AM CDT