Progressive Minstrels

When I was a kid, the big deal in sports news was Joe Gilliam, the quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Gilliam was the first black quarterback to start a season opener after the AFL–NFL merger in 1970, which is when people date the start of the modern NFL. Gilliam was benched eventually and never got another chance to start in the NFL. There was grumbling that his demotion was because he was black, but his poor play and drinking problems were the real reason. Still, even then, the default was to blame whitey.

What this means is that for my lifetime, the sporting press has been hunting for the great black quarterback. There have been plenty of black quarterbacks, but none have been elite or counted as greats in their era. The closest was probably Warren Moon, but he never won anything. Recently, there’s been an effort to make Cam Newton and Russell Wilson the black Joe Montana, thus proving that white people are Hitler. The trouble is the former is not very good and the latter has no interest in being anyone’s Sambo.

Steve Sailer has a convincing argument as to why black quarterbacks in the NFL tend not to be elite passers, and therefore non-elite quarterbacks. Oddly, the proof of this is a white guys, Tim Tebow. In high school, he was used as a quarterback because he was big and could run. In college, he was used the same way in Urban Meyer’s single-wing system. He had no career in the pros, because he was a terrible passer. If he had been turned into a linebacker in college, he would probably be in the NFL now.

That does not change the Cult’s desire to find the black Tom Brady and now they think the have found their man.

For Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, the hyperbole has turned into reality. Those who gushed over him in the preseason, lavishing over-the-top praise, have found those compliments to be just and warranted.

As the fourth-round rookie has led Dallas to a 10-1 record and taken franchise quarterback Tony Romo’s job, he has earned it all. So while respected trainer Tom Shaw used to whisper the comparisons he saw between pupils Patriots QB Tom Brady and Prescott, he now no longer feels compelled to keep quiet.

“I had Tom Brady coming out of college as a rookie and then the first seven years of his career,” Shaw told NFL.com over the phone on Wednesday night. “And I had the opportunity to work with Dak before the draft. What I noticed about Dak was, this guy had the same desire, work ethic, the same traits as Brady. Nobody wants to be compared to anyone else. But he was the hardest worker, guys gravitate towards him, he was the first one there…”

This urge to make Dak Prescott into Tom Brady in black face is perfectly consistent with Progressive thoughts about black people. They don’t really like black people very much. They like the idea of black people. Progressives have an image of the idealized black guy, the Magic Negro, that they believe will fulfill the prophesies about race in America. Barak Obama is about as close as they have come to finding their Big Foot and he did not usher in the end times. Instead he was a mulatto Jimmy Carter.

That’s the thing with Progressives and race. They don’t care about blacks as people. They see black people as something they can sacrifice on the Progressive altar, in order to get grace. American sportswriters will now be competing with one another in piety displays, showing their wonderfulness by how much they swoon over Dak Prescott. Whether or not the kid has any interest in being their Magic Negro is immaterial. He does not get a say in this as he is just a prop anyway.

Dak Prescott appears to be a level headed young man with no interest in changing his name to Hamilton or dancing on a string for the Progressive media. But, the Left has a way of getting their man, which in these cases means turning the object of their affection into a white-hating public nuisance. Colin Kaepernick started out as a sensible young man enjoying early and unexpected success in the NFL. Now he is the symbol for what has gone wrong with the NFL. Fans cheer for him to get hurt.

John Derbyshire called Hamilton a minstrel show and it is a good label for it. In fact, Progressive race mongering over the last half century has been a long live action minstrel show. Instead of whites in black face, Progressive deploy blacks to play the roles chosen for them. Blacks are just props used by good whites to distinguish themselves from bad whites and, at times, spite those bad whites. If real black people actually benefit, it is an unintended consequence. It’s something Hispanics should bear in mind.

32 thoughts on “Progressive Minstrels

  1. Not that it matters any, but on the day after this essay is posted, the Tonight Show rerun from December 12, 1974 features Steve Landesberg mentioning the “first black quarterback.” No, not by name, but hey. It’s somethin’.

  2. Prescott is a good quarterback and he earned his job. So celebrate Dak. Prescott’s individual achievements mean nothing and accomplish nothing for blacks as concept in identity politics.

  3. ”Dak Prescott appears to be a level headed young man”
    Heard it before; Again and again, African QB celebrated as awesome:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randall_Cunningham
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kordell_Stewart
    TWICE: BEFORE prison and then AFTER his prison time,
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Vick
    And then https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Griffin_III
    And of course; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Kaepernick
    ”Beginning his professional career as a backup to Alex Smith, Kaepernick became the 49ers’ starter in the middle of the 2012 season when Smith suffered a concussion. He remained the team’s starting quarterback for the rest of the season and went on to lead the 49ers to their first Super Bowl appearance since 1994, although the game ended in defeat for the team.”
    The first Niners QB to LOSE the SB. BTW, have you noticed, he looks like MS-13?
    https://www.google.com/#safe=off&q=Colin+Kaepernick+tattoos
    The Niners have to get rid of him and draft a QB for the future.

  4. Yeah, yeah, yeah…progressives are the real racists.

    And let me just say, that’s about their only redeeming quality.

  5. Last night Penn State’s white quarterback demonstrated why white quarterbacks continue to dominate. The lad threw a series of accurate long passes to rally the team and claw their way back to a victory and a championship.His black receivers of course deserve acclaim but the ability to think and perform under duress in real time from mostly the pocket typified the white field general style of a Brady.

    Dan Kurt

  6. It may be anathema to say this, but I’ve been an admirer of Hamilton for quite some time. Have read almost all of his biographies. I have no interest in this Broadway play, though. Probably a lot of lies. He is one of the most interesting and talented men to ever cross the political stage. Lifetime overachiever who started with nothing. A bastard, but one so obviously smart that he was left in charge of an import export business as a young boy during prolonged absences of the owner. People keep trying to pidgeonhole him like they do to all extraordinary talents, but if you pick one thing that you think defines him, there comes something else to refute your claim. He’s sort of an American Burke, in a way, only his version of Warren Hastings shot him through the liver and spine. He’s probably laughing at the minstrel caricaturing him on stage now.

    • I believe the reason why Hamilton became a revisionist play is because he was one of the founders of federalism, leading to the administrative tyranny we are faced with today. Patrick Henry was correct in his assertion about smelling a rat when Hamilton and his friends violated the mandate of the 13 sovereign states to strengthen their bonds and protect the blessings of liberty they had fought so hard to obtain, and why Henry et all demanded the 2nd Amendment as a bulwark against the hidden potential of administrative tyranny they suspected lay hibernating within the frame work of the USC.
      The Fabian’s and the marxist have much to be thankful for in Hamilton and his federalists. Whether it was a conspiracy, or not, as Gary North’s contention is valid, or not, by violating the mandate of the 13 states, by reaching past their small provincial will and consent of the governed nation state autonomy from the leviathan state, Hamilton left the door open for the marxists to their crusade of their Long March.

      Al Benson wrote this excellent review of Gary North’s essay:
      https://revisedhistory.wordpress.com/2014/11/10/if-liberty-was-the-object-why-did-they-give-us-centralism/

      In 1994 Valparaiso University Law Review published this acme work on the historical origins of the 2nd Amendment, reaching back to the Magna Carta and how it is inextricably linked to Hamilton’s federalists and to todays statist quo and their cultural marxism:

      THE HISTORY OF THE SECOND AMENDMENT
      http://www.guncite.com/journals/vandhist.html

      Gary North’s CONSPIRACY IN PHILADELPHIA Origins of the United States Constitution is a serious outlier. It is prophetic in some truly fundamental ways. We are now witnessing, and part of, outliers contrary to everything the status quo impose upon us dirt people. The kind of outliers that successful revolutions that bring positive change are made of, grass roots and provincial outliers that revolt against statist power and influence. In ways very similar to the 1st American Revolution. At the very least these three pieces of work tie many things together, and tell a story of why the America of Patrick Henry and his Anti-Fedralists have been under attack since before ratification of The USC.
      http://www.garynorth.com/philadelphia.pdf

      As Mr. Benson succinctly put it, from his ‘If Liberty Was the Object, Why Did They Give Us Centralism?’ piece linked above:
      “…Gary North wrote a book almost twenty years ago now called Political Polytheism which dealt with much of this. For starters he noted that: “…The Constitution removed Christian religious tests as the judicial requirement of the judges and officers of the new national government. That, in and of itself, delivered the republic into the hands of the humanists. Nothing else was necessary after that. From that point on the secularization of America was a mopping-up operation.” That’s a much different assessment than most of us have been fed regarding the Constitution, even in Christian circles, or might I say, especially in Christian circles?…”

      Benson’s insights are a stunning leap of thinking outside the official narrative. It’s truly dangerous thought crime. All the reason needed to give it due heed and justice. His blog is named “Revised History”, a most worthy title.

      A sublime essay on how the statist quo functions, germane to the above in the relative modern era, defines the two America’s that exist today. If you read these in the sequence given you get a sense of the timeline people and realities today, and a glimpse into where it is all heading. Probably the finest expose of the class structure of the America not of dirt people nation written.

      About the Corporate Slave Class
      http://www.henrydampier.com/2015/04/about-the-corporate-slave-class/

    • Doug’s reply is spot on. I would add this. No one made a better argument than Hamilton and for this alone he is a giant like Pavarotti is a giant. But I have devoured the Federalist Papers, and after a time you come to realize that Hamilton was, in places, making the case for arguments that he did not believe in and doing it brilliantly. . Madison, never.

      The problem was that by 1789 it was too clear that democratic government was ruining the several “countries”, as John Adams once put it. The loss of a King, once and for a long time loved and then despised, left the former colonies in a new state of agitation with which they did not anticipate. But even the Federalist did not want a powerful centralized government. Hamilton, perhaps alone, did. Burr was not a man to be admired but the right guy won that duel.

  7. “There is another class of coloured people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.”

    Booker T. Washington 1911

    The race industry has been around for a longtime.

  8. ” Recently, there’s been an effort to make Cam Newton and Russell Wilson the black Joe Montana, . . . ”

    Shouldn’t that be old black Joe Montana? He is 60.

  9. They used to be called “House Ni66ers”.

    My suspicion is that moniker has gone out of style.

  10. Barak Obama is about as close as they have come to finding their Big Foot and he did not usher in the end times. Instead he was a mulatto Jimmy Carter.

    Actually, Barack Obama is a pretty close analogy politically to the black quarterbacks you mentioned in the previous paragraphs. He not only just isn’t any good, but many black big city mayors, such as Michael Coleman of Columbus, Ohio or Andrew Young, could have been much better presidents.

  11. Yeah, back in the 1990’s there was a standing joke about someone (like a GOP Senator) saying “I’m not racist, some of my best friends are black”.

    But of course this situation was actually true. White guys from the South – even ‘racist’ white guys – generally actually knew personally and were real life friends with real life no-doubt-about-it black guys. Whereas the northern liberal with ‘correct’ views on such things loved blacks in general but only knew of them!

  12. As a longtime Redskins fan when the topic turns to black quarterbacks my mind goes back to Doug Williams and that Super Bowl XXII win against Ellway and the Broncos. When asked before the game by reporters about how it felt to be the first black quarterback in a Super Bowl he replied,”I want to be the first black quarterback to WIN a Super Bowl.” 42-10…some would say that was YUGEEEE.

  13. I found this in under a minute (on the Univerity of Miami’s psychology department web site):

    “Modern racism has evolved from an aggressive prejudicial behavior to a more subtle prejudicial behavior. This type of subtle prejudicial behavior has advanced to a degree that is much more difficult to see, yet is regarded as more severe. This modern form of racism has entered the workplace. Although many companies promise an equal opportunity, there is little doubt that everyone is treated equally within their place of work. Subtle, modern racism is believed to create an image that seems more politically correct. The politically correct way to discriminate is through a “polite” form of racism. In the past racism was easily defined and institutional.
    One form of modern racism is the glass ceiling effect which describes the “invisible” differences in salary, position, and appraisals among men and women. According to the Federal Glass Ceiling Commission, only 7%-9% of senior managers at Fortune 1000 firms are women (Federal Glass Ceiling Commission, iii). Women make up over half of the workforce.
    Another form of modern racism, is the mindset that certain races are better or worse with specific abilities. For example, black athletes are regarded as naturally athletic and white athletes cannot jump. Asians are seen as intelligent, while Hispanics are regarded as
    unintelligent. All of these myths are innate manifestations that are imbedded in the mind of all who listen. There is often a lack of familiarity with members of other groups. Therefore, we are likely to unconsciously discriminate against people who are not similar to ourselves.
    Although some organizations are still blatantly and aggressively discriminating against certain races, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not allow for such
    discrimination.”

    This is the thinking of elite whites across the entire Big Media/Hollywood/academia spectrum. It is all about them signaling their virtue and has nothing to do with any so-called minority group. (My guess is that most members of such groups would laugh at this as they know better than any outsider what their people are good and not so good at.) The real issue is that this mindset and its implementation is actually destructive of the “minority” tribes in question. The Jews produced Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax, but if they were to refocus their ambitions to sports they would soon be out of business.

  14. It’s worth noting that both Obama and Dak Prescott are half white. Just saying.

    But Obama is an intellectual fraud, as may be easily confirmed by reading Jack Cashill’s work http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2011/08/early_obama_letter_confirms_inability_to_write.html

    Like all actors, he’s long past the point of intoxication by all the bullshit people say about him. Now he’s convinced he really is the smartest man ever to occupy the office,.

    Dak might be the real thing though. He’s obviously got the physical talent to be the great black hope of the NFL; but unlike Cam Newton, who also does, Dak has the self control and seriousness of purpose to maybe become as good as Brady. Only time will tell.

  15. One of the reasons I quit watching sportsball altogether. It’s really funny to see the looks on people’s faces when they start talking about a particular sports situation at my alma mater because I still live there and was employed by the school, and they suddenly realize that I don’t have a clue as to what they are talking about and even “worse” don’t give a flying fuck.

    • Imagine what this great country we live in could be if a fraction of the people, energy and resources devoted to these games could be devoted to making America a greater place than it is now? Think how much richer we can be for it in the long run, and in turn sports would be that much a finer thing. Imagine the tangible positives, the fruit of happiness and prosperity it could bear.
      It just seems like a screwed up conflict of priorities. And indicative of the deeper problems we face as a nation of free men.
      In that light, for me, it is difficult not to look at corporate sports as meaningless and a distraction in this time that comes to us, when the very things that made professional sports such a great pastime and entertainment is deliberately destroyed for the same reasons it is such a great American tradition and pastime to begin with.
      Why is it so so many fail or choose to look away from our legacy and duty as people to preserve such great things?
      Because like everything that makes America great, it is up to us dirt people to determine what is best for us and no one else.

  16. It would be delicious beyond imagination if a Quarterback, lets say like Brady, where to take to the field in Al Jolson blackface.
    Think of the ramifications, the reverse dichotomy’s here. The outrage of the cultural marxists would be beyond precedence. The SJW’s would have to come up with lies and spin unimaginable, the optics of such an act would be on a scale and scope beyond maybe even their capacity of cognitive dissonance.
    It would be the troll of the century.

  17. T”hat’s the thing with Progressives and race. They don’t care about blacks as people. They see black people as something they can sacrifice on the Progressive altar, in order to get grace.”
    Not only grace but also power.
    Keep your eye out for James Winston.

    • Jameis had a little problem with keeping his willie in his pants when he was down in Tallahassee. I don’t think he has the discipline.

    • The problem has been that every time blacks seem to be about to figure it out, the progs double down. The pump more money into the community, send the ward heelers in to threaten and bribe rebels in the community, and use formal and informal networks to spread hate, breaking down any bridges into the non-prog world that were built while the anointed were busy with their latest attempt to build utopia.

      The good and bad news is that the progs seem to be at the political equivalent of zero interest rate financing just about now. Through the BLM crowd and roll back of stiff sentencing rules, they are threatening mass civil unrest. If the progs don’t admit defefeat, they can only double down by going into “negative interest rate” territory, i.e. starting a race war, a race war which would hurt their precious urban white-topias the most.

      If I was Trump, I’d be calling the prog’s bluff. I don’t think they have the guts to start a civil war that would destroy Manhattan, San Fran, West LA, etc.

      • The left’s racial narrative worked when it was just talk. Nobody actually wants to deal with the ghetto in real life, not even the liberals. BLM is taking things beyond mere talk, and I don’t think the liberals are necessarily in control of what they unleashed. Also, the narrative was more effective when it was distant yet plausible. Now the narrative is clearly at odds with reality.

        • did I miss the part where BLM people disrupted Hillary’s campaign? because it sure looks like they never slipped their leash and attacked her, which makes me think they were her creatures all along.

          the blacks are going to be in for a big surprise when the day comes — not long now — that they are of no political value to the dems. and at that point……

Comments are closed.