Oprah's Struggle

The current cover of Newsweek bears the heartbreaking image of a crying African American child, with the chilling header "A Nation's Enduring Shame". Not "pride" in the national outpouring of generosity and compassion that came all too slowly in Katrina's wake, but SHAME for the thousands of blacks who were left to drown while even the poorest whites were chaffeured out of town in stretch limos stocked with beluga caviar and Dom Perignon.

Known and admired for its rich history of tolerance and inclusion, France is suddenly wallowing in the unshaven armpit of shame itself, for Oprah Winfrey was denied entrance to a posh Paris boutique purely on account of her race. Thousands visit the Hermes stores every year. One would think that if the store had a policy of excluding blacks, someone would have complained about it by now. But the deafening silence of African-Parisians over their exclusion from Mermes only underscores the pervasive climate of fear that white Europeans have used to intimidate minorities for generations. It's the same sort of fear that keeps blacks from the polls every election. It's the very same gut-wrenching terror that paralyzed New Orleans' Mayor Nagin when our white peeResident demanded he "EVACUATE THE CITY! EVACUATE THE CITY! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, EVACUATE THE CITY!"

Mayor Nagin must have heard the ancient rattle of chains and crack of the overseer’s whip in that thick Texas drawl. Certainly, Oprah heard them when she was brusquely turned away from Hermes like some average slob. But to Hermes' chagrin, Oprah would not go down without a fight. On the premiere of her syndicated TV talk show, she implored her loyal legion of angry, obese housewives to refrain from buying any $350 silk scarves or $750 purses from the racist boutique until justice was served. Hermes balked at first, claiming that the store was in the process of closing when Oprah arrived. But certainly Phil Donahue or Maury Povich would have been given preferential treatment in the exact same set of circumstances. After the enormous girth of Oprah’s celebrity power bore down on them, Hermes officials issued an apology, and assured Oprah that had they known who she was, they would have had a team of eunuchs carry her around the store like the Queen of Sheba.

*snap snap* You go grrrrrrrrrl!!!

After all, isn’t that what any of us want? Isn’t that what any of us deserve? Because of Oprah’s terrifying experience, she can now sympathize with the millions of lesser blacks who have suffered through generations of racial injustice in a system created by whites for that express purpose. And while her one small victory is a triumph for multi-millionaire TV divas everywhere, it is up to progressives such as ourselves to exploit the Katrina tragedy by demanding an immediate end to Bush’s tax cuts. Only after we’ve completely milked it dry for our own political benefit, can America finally be cleansed of its “enduring national shame".

Comments

[libmeister]

Oprah and her hundreds of millions of dollars is living proof racism is still alive in Amerikkka. She should be as rich as that white cracker Bill Gates.

[LC TripleNeckSteel]

Um, Professym,

You misspelled "progressyve".

[camojack]

I worked on that movie "Beloved" with Oprah...she's a racist, all right.

[Kaplah!]

She was a racist, camojack.

But now, after her experience at this Paris boutique, she has learned and she has grown!

And if a person like Oprah Winfrey can open her eyes and can truly empathize with what it must feel like to be a black person of color, then there is no reason why any of us, even Dick Cheney, cannot do the same.

[Moonchild]

In truth, I believe this demonstrates how far America has progressed. While snooty racists in Paris turn away a black woman who deserves to be allowed into a store after it has closed, just like everyone else, the doors of shops in New Orleans swung wide for after-hours hurricane shoppers. They even offered unlimited credit to anyone who brought their own cinderblock.

[Bush4Ever]

Why you buggin'? You can't judge her. You ain't walked a mile in her shoes. Girl got issues. Girl got the cheese, she should do what she please and buy that bling, nome sane, g?

On the other hand, has anyone else noticed how much Oprah looks like Gary Coleman blown up with helium?

[Che]

Sadly, Oprah is just the latest victim in this nation's long history of racial exclusion. Mike Tyson's repeated expulsion from professional sports, Ward Churchill's discreditation in quasi-professional academia, Bryant Gumbel's inability to pursue a journalism career, just to name a few. Even I have been the subject of racist red-state bigotry when I was asked to leave Victoria's Secret because I was "making some of the paying customers uncomfortable."

"Why are they uncomfortable?" I demanded. "Haven't they ever seen a Latino before? Are they afraid I'm going to steal their purse? Does the sight of one of us people outside a baseball rink make them reconsider their oppressive history and the false sense of superiority it has created, Mary cone?"

"No, it's not that. They just say you're creeping them out. You're Latino? And do you think you could quit sniffing the support hose?"

I'm half tempted to turn off the TV and go make a stand against whatever it is we're mad about... Ooh! Oprah's on, with special guest Meatloaf's drummer. I'll make my stand at the commercial break.

[waffen]

I thought it was very funny when oprah talked "black" to the people in the shelters and "white" to the racists watching her show. how racist is that?

[Friend of USA]

" [...] she implored her loyal legion of angry, obese housewives[...]"

LOLSLISTC! ( Laughing Out Loud So Loud I Scared The Cat! )

[Friend of USA]

Have you noticed that Oprah was not wearing make up, and was wearing her hair in a more natural african-curly way when she met with black Katrina's victims?

She almost looked like a black slave, almost....

And it almost makes you forget that she gives away expensive gifts daily and even gave away about three hundred brand new pontiac cars to already wealthy obese housewives - who are for the most part white - who did not need them at all...

[brainsample]

"when our white peeResident demanded he 'EVACUATE THE CITY! EVACUATE THE CITY! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, EVACUATE THE CITY!'"

Larry, was that before or after the Shrub took a leak?

[Friend of USA]

" [...] And nobody does an Oprah moment better than, well Oprah.

Hardly had Celine taken a breath than Oprah Winfrey, Sean Penn and their friends were posing for the cameras as they hugged people in New Orleans.

No mention of the fact that the assembled bodyguards and television crews actually disrupted the rescue operation."

Disrupting rescue operations?

How could the MSM find the time to report on that when they were so busy blaming Bush ?

[bluestateredneck]

Okrah should have dropped trow, I hear she has a pelt like a lactating wolverine. They would have flung the doors open widely after viewing her roadkill.

[brainsample]

"... I hear she has a pelt like a lactating wolverine..."

That's just wrong, brother. Now I don't have to worry about lunch. Dinner's probably ruined, too.

[Damian G.]

YEA!!!

Exploiting tragedy for personal political gain is fun!!!

[Talking Toaster]

"After the enormous girth of Oprah's celebrity power bore down on them, Hermes officials issued an apology, and assured Oprah that had they known who she was, they would have had a team of eunuchs carry her around the store like the Queen of Sheba." - Liberal Larry

You are right Larry. Girth is the key word.

The French have made a gross mistake. In the years gone by Euorpeans measured other people by their girth not the color of their skin.

Oprah's 62 inch girth would have certainly let most people into Hermes - even seeing the girth of Prince AbDuel with double roles of fat would have surely opened the door of Hermes!

Yet, Oprah was denied the entrance just because of "a private public relations event" and the fact that Oprah was asking for a refund for the $135 tea cup (plus, the fact that there was not enough white males to properly load her into an electric shopping cart and guide her around the store - as other male sheiks have experienced). What has France become. The new Third Reich of the Euro-Common wealth?

This action by Hermes not only smacks of racism - but of a new and dangerous form of Franco-Jingoistic witch hunt aimed at rich-oppressed-obese African American women.

Sure, Oprah may not look exactly like the Queen of Sheba, in fact she may be somewhat obese, with high blood pressure, cholesterol through the roof, and a wart the size of a 4 month fetus on her butt - yet that that no reason to racially exclude her from the of 1% rich African Americans who shop in France. Has not O.J. Simpson shopped there in the past? Of course he has (if not, that is beside the point).

For the love Gaia, when will Michael Moore break free from his Fascist Fat camp and document this gross injustice to a fellow heavy weight progressives who just wants to buy a few $350 silk scarves from a progressive up-scaled store in Franconia?

If this goes unchallenged, soon all other overweight black women will be excluded from expensive Euro-hyper-upscale shops across the globe.

What is next - the Gulag for fat black Euro-Women? Will Michael Moore be denied access to up-scaled French restaurants just because a door size less than his girth? This is just another mutation of a Bush level 4 Hurricane aimed at democrat voters. Our rights have windexed by Bush and his Fascist Franco Big Business Buddies. It's time for protest in the streets for Euroland. Let's eat cake!

[libmeister]

Damian, we progressyves have become very adept at this lately. IT'S ALL BUSH'S FAULT! Occam's Razor and all that.

Looks like Rita will make landfall somewhere between Port Arthur and Gilchrist, Texas. And that's when the Shrubya-backed slaughter of every gay/lesbian/transgendered person in the region will begin. And whoever the hurricane misses FEMA will be their to finish the job.

[Friend of USA]

The gays are attacked on more than one front;

" ...Pope Benedict XVI is said to have approved a document saying that homosexual men should not be ordained as Roman Catholic priests. "

[Proud Rethuglican]

Do you ever post these comments on Kos? True, it takes a day to get registered, but you should. Guage the response. I bet they agree with you.

[Ferd Magellan, a geographer at the University of Hard Knocks-Bumfuck]

"The presumption in America is that if you have the wealth, you'll get equality - but where's Oprah's equality?" asked Bruce D. Haynes, a sociologist at the University of California-Davis.

Actually, the presumption in America is that Paris is in fucking France, Bruce. Not to nitpick or anything.

[Jeff]

Freaking liberal nut.

You're not nearly as wacko as those crazy lefties at the Democratic Underground, but you're definitely headed in that direction.

[PlutosDad]

Bush has really controlled the media pretty well. If we were to believe what we see on CNN, we'd think that when white people are stricken by disaster, they band together, but when black people do, they turn on eachother like cannibalistic animals.

Of course that is false, but that is what the media is trying to tell us. Bush is to blame, not the media. If the media were free to report the truth, we'd have known about Katrina sooner, and known the levees might break, and something might have been done.

Selfish self-promotion begins now:
Personal Photographers unite for hurricane relief

[yvon]

Some of you on this board have issues. I mean seriously, you need to seek counseling. Oprah got snubbed at Hermes because she was black and she wasn't a white well known face to them. Did you read the apology? "had we known who she was?" What! I can now go back to sleep while those of you who need counseling can think about race and class issue a little more deeper.

[Bush4Ever]

Here is a photo history of one of New Orleans' Poor gettin' by just to get by:

http://phillylocal.com/images/photos/index.php?v=list&i=0&p=Heineken%20Looter%20Dude