Humphrey Weeps

Hubert Humphrey was one of the unsung heroes of the Civil Rights Movement because he worked within the system instead of manning the barricades. But he was the main Senate sponsor of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the man who gave an awesome speech at the 1948 Democratic convention that led to the Dixiecrats bolting and eventually to Truman's victory:

To those who say that this civil-rights program is an infringement on states’ rights, I say this: The time has arrived in America for the Democratic Party to get out of the shadow of states' rights and to walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights.

Here's an audio clip of the speech:

 

 Now that I've given you some much needed uplift, here's the story that would have made Hubert weep:

 Students at a high school in Red Wing, Minnesota brought school spirit to new lows with a "Wigger Wednesday" dress-up day tradition, according to a lawsuit filed against the school district.

Quera Pruitt, a Red Wing high school alumna, is suing the school district and administrators over creating a hostile and racist educational environment.

Here's what happened: Students during the 2008 and 2009 homecoming celebrations wore "oversized sports jerseys, low-slung pants, baseball bats cocked to the side and 'doo rags' on their heads," according to the suit. About 60 or 70 students took what was supposed to be "tropical day" and turned it into "wigger day," the suit claims. To the unfamiliar, and as the case points out, the term "wigger" is a derogatory term for a white person who emulates African-American culture.

"'Wigger Day' is the same thing as 'nigger day,' " Pruitt's lawyer, Joshua Williams, told TPM. "That's what my client feels, and that's what I feel."

At least they could have called it "wigra day." For the young'uns out there: nigra was the word that segregationists such as Mississippi Senator James Eastland used when they were trying to be polite.

This story provides an answer to a question Dr. A has asked me more than once: "How can the state of Humphrey, Mondale and Wellstone have produced Michelle Bachmann?"

Bigots don't respect Minnesota nice.

Comments

[CVS]

"This story provides an answer to a question Dr. A has asked me more than once: 'How can the state of Humphrey, Mondale and Wellstone have produced Michelle Bachmann?'"

In the same way that the country that produced Albert Einstein and Dietrich Bonhoeffer produced you know who...

[adrastos]

Yeah, you rite, CVS.

[MichaelF]

Just like Wisconsin's given us Russ Feingold...but also Scott Walker, not to mention Tailgunner Joe.

[Bruce Webb]

The whole thing is abhorrent and a lesson that even Minnesota Nice doesn't mean that racism has been excised from out society, some ugliness will take generations to extirpate. That said the following does not meet the smell test for non-opportunism.

"Pruitt sank into a depression following the "wigger day" incident, according to the suit, leading her to quit cheerleading, track and student council. Pruitt now lives in Little Rock, Ark., the City Pages reports, and her lawyer says enough time has passed that she now feels comfortable proceeding with legal action."

She is a couple of years out of school and living in another state and is not suing the kids who actually inflicted the emotional harm but the school district which shut down the activity immediately. Can anyone say deep pockets?

I am really having a hard time drawing a straight line between teenage white kid assholery and Rosa Parks and the Selma Bridge. It took two years on the fainting couch for this woman to stand up for her dignity? Come on, facing up to this pretty blatant racism in real time would have been an act of courage but as it is I am a little less sympathetic. I mean few of us got out of High School with a emotional trauma score of zero, I mean I was the only freshman in a typically sophomore biology class and got tied to a chair. Punishment for being the smartest (and most smart ass) student in the class. But hardly a case for me suing the school district.

Plus if white kids listening to hip hop and imitating the clothing and other styles and flashing would be Crip and Blood gang signs were a hate crime we would have to lock up just about every kid from the class of 1986 on. Why not put out an All Points Bulletin on Vanilla Ice for God's sake. Wearing your pants half way down to your ankles and donning a blue or red bandanna is not exactly the same as Bull Conner siccing attack dogs on protestors.

I am thinking activists for racial and social justice have some better cases and causes to hang their hats on.

[darrelplant]

Einstein wasn't Austrian.

[Cousin Pat from Georgia]

The time has arrived in America for the Democratic Party to get out of the shadow of states' rights and to walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights.

I think the time has arrived in America for the Democratic Party to start going through its own history, and dusting off belief systems like this one.

As for the nonsense school dress-up day, from the story, it looks like the students took over a differently themed day and made it like this; the lawsuit is because the administration apparently didn't do enough to ensure this kind of thing doesn't happen again.

Which I kind of find ridiculous, to be completely honest. As well as all the breathless claims of racism based on the text presented in the article and the misunderstanding of the role "wigger" plays in social commentary and popular youth culture.

I don't know how things are up North, but everywhere I go, young people of all types adopted baggy pants, oversized sports jerseys, askew baseball caps and dew rags about two decades ago. I remember the term "wigger" from back in the 90's, when pop culture began to turn to "thug culture" for the purposes of marketing to suburban white youth.

These days, such individuals are more appropriately described as "douchebags." (Please see also: MTV's Jersey Shore and HotChicksWithDoucheBags.com for examples of the popular cultural evolution of this style.)

Now, I am not privy to the motivations of high-school students in Minnesota, but the "Wigger" concept occupies a role in popular culture that does not necessarily equate to whispering n-----, as the lawsuit and critics of this event are claiming.

Now, maybe some students were intentionally attempting to create a hostile racial atmosphere at the school, and make fun of African-Americans by associating all black people with thug culture. I don't know, as I am not privy to the specific intentions of these students.

But I do know that, based on what I've read from these links, there isn't enough evidence to suggest that is the case.

[MapleStreet]

In support of the lawyer's contention: here in NE Missouri, the local TV station web page encourages the public to comment on news items. "Wigger" is very commonly used as a word to get by the censors.

[Cousin Pat from Georgia]

Is "wigger" used as a means to whisper n____ or as a means to whisper "cracker-in-thug-life-clothes?"

[adrastos]

If I were black, I can't imagine that I'd take it any other way that putting a w on the n-word.

[MapleStreet]

Cousin Pat, at least here, the usage is a code for replacing the w with an n.

[Cousin Pat from Georgia]

Thus the cultural confusion associated with the term. In the usage I have seen in my neck of the woods, the term "wigger" is not longer used often or openly, and has generally gone the way of "swell" and "radical" and other terms now defunct or socially obsolete.

When it was used, it was mainly employed as a derogatory epithet specifically against white people. Though at first, the term was used against "white people acting black" and was considered "demeaning of black people by proxy," I found that the larger pop cultural saturation of rap culture tended to depreciate the term's racial meaning over time - the "neutral, non-racial" version for several reasons:

1. Black culture is not rap culture
2. It is difficult to make fun of someone wearing baggy jeans and their hat backwards when you, your friends, your family, and icons of popular culture are ALSO wearing baggy jeans and their hat backwards.

At some point, the meaning moved to became less racial and more cultural as someone trying to hard to fit in with a specific subculture. Even as the word was abandoned, and I don't think it ever had innocuous usage, the meaning of the term and the object of criticism remained. Current adult terms with similar intent to meaning include "douchebag" and "hipster."

Again, cultural confusion. Because if the term is itself a racial epithet, how then does one describe pop references to the phenomenon itself? Pretty Fly Fly for a White Guy by the Offspring comes to mind, as do characters from several movies, including but not limited to the Kevin Smith character Jay. And then, of course, there are things like this.

One thing it really reminds me of is the confusion on the NOLA blogosphere over the term "carpetbagger" and its racial overtones. While quite a few individuals in NOLA use the term to describe "disaster capitalists" without a thought of racial connotation, growing up in Georgia gave me a completely different view of the term. There, "carpetbagger" has changed over time as well, from "Yankee outsiders coming South to help black people against Southern people" to "Yankee outsiders coming South to exploit black people and poor whites against Southern people."

[Cousin Pat from Georgia]

Crud. HTML Fail. Apologies.

[alli]

Someone put this song on a mixtape for me back in 1998? 1997? So yeah, the concept has been around for a while.

[UncommonSense]

The preferred term is Wafrican-American, if you please.

[Adrastos]

First I'd heard of wigger and I get the connotation but
the whole thing reminds me of John Georges' frat pranks stupid and not very funny.

[Tommy]

Sorry - never forgave Humphrey for his defense of Daley's thugs.
That was a deal-breaker for me.

Tommy

[dianne]

It was hurtful and hateful. That little girl probably thought a lot of those kids were her friends and after that "day" happened, wasn't so sure any more. It was enough to make her give up her life, so it was pretty serious. I hope she makes out like a bandit.

[Lenna]

Keep on writing and chugigng away!