Westmoreland stands by 'uppity' remark about Obama

Southern Man...

Maybe someone can 'educate' this German-born CA resident about 'the South'?

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by: Burkhard @ Sat Sep 06, 2008 at 22:11:57 PM CDT

Honestly,

I didn't know that that word has racial overtones either.

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by: Naperville Mom @ Sat Sep 06, 2008 at 22:20:08 PM CDT

Really?

I grew up in the West (Pacific NW, actually) and I've known all my life that "uppity" has specific racial overtones.

Westmoreland is a liar.  He's from Georgia - fer christsakes.  His biography reads that he and his wife have been married 39 years, which would mean he is close to my age, so I seriously doubt he has no clue as to what 'uppity' infers.  While stationed in the military in Alabama in the early '70s, I traveled thruout Georgia & Alabama and I got a damn good idea of how some folk thought things should be.

As it is, my daughter, who is 30, also knows what 'uppity' infers when made in reference to Mr. Obama. Now, my granddaughter at 2-1/2 does not.  At this point, it would be more directional to her.

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by: Wordsmith @ Sun Sep 07, 2008 at 00:57:33 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

My whole life

I've only ever heard the word 'uppity' used in two situations. It's used to describe black men and women who are acting proud and self-confident and women of all colors who are trying to fill roles traditionally filled by men. I've never known it to be anything but a word used to demean and assert traditional white male heterosexual privilege.

In the last decade or so I've sometimes seen or heard it used by people to describe themselves (a bumper sticker that reads 'Uppity Women Unite!'), but that's just a nod to the traditional meaning of the word, and taking pride in breaking through stereotypes and disregarding prejudice.

Cause any fool knows, a dog needs a home; a shelter from pigs on the wing

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by: QueerInSoCal @ Sun Sep 07, 2008 at 12:16:59 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Names

Even if I wasn't completely aware of 'uppity' before this election, I've known about it for the past few months.  

That closet-case  knows exactly what he's saying.  Closet-case just means storage-box, right?

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by: AdmNaismith @ Sun Sep 07, 2008 at 18:22:00 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I think if I had my druthers

I'd rather the world thought I was a vicious callous racist, than to have them think I was so feeble-mindedly stupid that in the 60"s I wouldn't know uppity was a slur.
So which is it Westmorland,,,,you're one or the other.
Let me rephrase that, you are f*cking BOTH!
Oh not about not knowing the slur, but so stupid you thought this obvious lie would shield you...you are just SLOPPY as a liar, that's the really embarrassing part.

btw. Obama's lived all over the world, and Michelle is from the Soutth side of Chi...do you dimwits suppose going into Harvard and Princeton some where along the way, they haven't heard a helluva lot worse, FROM A HELLUVA LOT BETTER!

"race, taste. and History finally overcome....and you ain't there"
by Tony Kushner

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by: peteyPornpig @ Sat Sep 06, 2008 at 22:27:51 PM CDT

Yeah right

If this guy didn't know that the word uppity is racist then I'm a womanizer.

I am the lizard queen!

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by: RainbowPhoenix @ Sat Sep 06, 2008 at 22:35:11 PM CDT

Hey, maybe he really is that stupid.

Remember, this is the guy who as a state legislator pushed a bill to post the 10 commandments in government buildings, arguing that they are the foundation of our democracy. Then, when questioned by Stephen Colbert, he could only name three of the 10. (that segment should be required viewing for Westmoreland's constituents)

I think we just might need to give this moron the benefit of the doubt.

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by: johnbinpt @ Sat Sep 06, 2008 at 22:40:56 PM CDT

3 out of 10

Now that is a good one...ha ha ha...

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by: Burkhard @ Sat Sep 06, 2008 at 23:17:51 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

If Anyone Thinks

that this guy managed to grow up in the deep South of Georgis and not know that "uppity" has racial conotations, then I want to talk with you about buying a wonderful bridge in Alaska.

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by: Fiona @ Sat Sep 06, 2008 at 22:50:21 PM CDT

Even this native New Englander

born and raised in the Blue states of Massachusetts and Connecticut knows exactly what a white man means when he refers to a black person (or a woman of any color) as "uppity." I'll give you a hint: it's usually preceding words beginning with "N" or "B."

Water is wet, grass is green, Republicans are racist and sexist and liars and think the public is made up of idiots who actually believe them.

God save ornery old queens! - kevinchi

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by: Keori @ Sat Sep 06, 2008 at 23:24:16 PM CDT

Even this Canadian

...has known since at least when I was a teenager that "uppity" had racial overtones.

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by: Stephanie @ Sat Sep 06, 2008 at 23:37:00 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Grew up in New York State.....

seems odd that anyone wouldn't have known about the racial overtones of the word. But who knows? Maybe his parents raised him in a fallout shelter without TV, radio, newspapers or other people to talk to. Like Brendan Fraser in Blast from the Past.

Or maybe he's lying. Badly.

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by: Kathleen @ Sun Sep 07, 2008 at 11:56:17 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I have to say...

I've lived in GA my whole life and didn't know the word had racial overtones.  I've heard it used, and thinking back now I can see that in several of those instances, the use was racially motivated--although at the time I didn't make the connection.

But most of the time when I've heard the phrase used, it was used by a white person towards another white person on the same social/economic class but who has or is percieved to be acting (whether real or imaginary) somehow superior to that person.

But I'm going to chalk up my lack of knowledge of the word to generational stupidity.  You see, I wasn't around or old enough in the 50s, 60s, or 70s to hear that word used in its original context.  By the late 80s and early 90s, at a time when I could really understand the use of the word, many words that were used during segregation had taken on new meanings and uses.

Mr. Westmoreland does not have that luxury.  I bet he had heard that word used in its original context and reused it in this case.  There are still pockets of racism down here.  In some cases very large pockets.  And the more established areas, especially when that area is comprised of older people, the more prevalent the racism is.

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by: Will St. James @ Sun Sep 07, 2008 at 00:39:34 AM CDT

I knew I'd read it somewhere

From the LA Times

Heretofore little-known Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia was born in 1950 in Atlanta and was raised in one of its surrounding communities.

Which means the Republican grew up at a time when the racial divide in the South was stark, a time when Jim Crow laws helped enforce a segregationist credo that limited opportunities for blacks, a time when -- as an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article puts it today -- "uppity" was "a word applied to African-Americans who tried to rise above servile positions."

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by: Wordsmith @ Sun Sep 07, 2008 at 01:06:55 AM CDT

THE HATE PARTY by Doug Rushkoff

"Republican party representatives are proud today that their convention has finally produced the "same level of energy and enthusiasm" as the DNC's last week. And while it may have produced the same level of excitement, the excitement was of a very different character. It's much easier to get people riled up but inviting them to hate a man - particularly one who they haven't been allowed to hate for traditional reasons. Giuliani's job - much like his job as mayor of NYC - was to give the Republicans in attendance permission to hate Obama and the potentially intelligent society he represents. It's not about city vs. country or educated vs. military. It's about thought vs. violence.

In the black and white world of those committed to war as an international relations strategy, voting "present" makes no sense - especially when the Illinois legislative process is willfully misrepresented. (Voting present is a way to preserve the bill without passing it in its current state. Far from an easy out, it is the hard path - requiring further negotiation to remove earmarks and other problems.) They would prefer the simple relief of a "yes or no" world, where the evil are punished and the good rewarded. For in such a world, we get to know who the enemy is and just hate them.

I don't believe hate is the best way to motivate people to develop long-term solutions to problems. It is a tried and tested way to motivate them to short-term support of dangerous leaders. That much is certain. But if McCain and Palin are able to rouse the national hatred they will need to actually win this election, I fear they will have unleashed a force that they will be unable to control."  

  http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET...

"race, taste. and History finally overcome....and you ain't there"
by Tony Kushner

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by: peteyPornpig @ Sun Sep 07, 2008 at 01:12:06 AM CDT

uppity = elitist

What else do you call a black guy who eats arugula instead of collard greens?

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by: Damned at Random @ Sun Sep 07, 2008 at 09:48:17 AM CDT

what-ev-er!

Didn't know????!!!  Puh-leez!

I was raised across the river from Washington, DC, when the habits and voices of the Old South still had currency here; and I knew what 'uppity' meant when I was 5 or 6 years old.  The grandmother who raised me had been shunned at times for daring to treat non-white people as equals, most notably in Montgomery of 1955-56 and in Alexandria/DC in the summer and fall of 1963.  So, when I brought the word home from the mother of a friend c. 1970, my grandmother told me to never use the word again, unless I was talking about myself....and I didn't until Saffire came along in the early 90s.  

The next time I heard the word was early this year in reference to Barack Obama, used by a well-meaning friend to describe how some would see him based on legacies of racism and classism.  Not wanting to repeat the word, I simply wrote from a computer programmer's framework "IF NOT 'GANGSTA' THEN 'UPPITY'"

It is a national disgrace that a member of our Congress would utter this notion.

P.S.  Sending Westmoreland white robes would be a waste of good fabric.  Crackers are less expensive and cheaper to mail.

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by: greatwhitebear @ Sun Sep 07, 2008 at 09:49:56 AM CDT

I was born in Westmoreland's district

and lived there fairly often in the 50s and 60's.

What we are talking about here is an "uppity nigger" - the word "uppity" was not used alone.

It referred to a black male who had the attitude that he was as good as a white man, rather than being subservient, and there was nothing more feared.

There was informal "social policing" so that frequently a man who aquired the reputation of neing "uppity" was found hanging from a tree. This kept the black population subservient until the civil rights movement.

Westmoreland may or may not be a liar - I think he is lying, but he is also the dumbest member of congress so it is difficult to guess what he knows, if anything.

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by: tiponeill @ Sun Sep 07, 2008 at 10:53:36 AM CDT

he said he's never done it, he said he's never tried..

he's sitting there telling a mutherfucking lie.

I've lived in GA all of my life. He knows what he meant and he knows others will know.

It's like a dog whistle for the super hard of hearing.

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by: Mariella @ Sun Sep 07, 2008 at 11:51:20 AM CDT

Here's a phrase

you might know, Lynn- "bull" and "shit".

Pop 'em together and figure it out, you bold-faced liar.

Click HERE and sign up: Campaign For Military Partners

Click here for DADT photobook

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by: Louise @ Sun Sep 07, 2008 at 12:52:27 PM CDT

Never knew

I never knew the word had racist overtones.  BUT...I'm a Northern teenager, and I like to think I grew up in a more enlightened time and place than Senator Westmoreland (aka, I was "sheltered").  It is inconceivable to me that a Southern man who grew up in the 1950s and 60s was not aware of the connotations of what he was saying.  (Or really any person around at that time.)  Instead of making up some ridiculous lie, he should have just said it was a mistake made in the heat of the moment...or something. The problem is, will his constituents even CARE that he's bigoted enough to say something like that on a national platform? He's just one man, and as much as I'd like to, it's impossible to stop every individual from being racist. It's the numbers that count. If his populace re-elects him, THEN we will know we have a serious problem.  

"It's not about sexual orientation. It's about partnership." --my ninety-year-old grandfather

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by: Beej @ Sun Sep 07, 2008 at 14:38:43 PM CDT

uppity = elitist

What else do you call a black guy anyone who eats arugula instead of collard greens?

That's how I took it, except I apply it to anyone from Gwyneth Paltrow and Barbara Streisand to John Kerry and John Edwards, (the only candidate with a real baby-daddy issue this year :-)

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by: KevinQC @ Sun Sep 07, 2008 at 19:08:28 PM CDT