We forget how bad things were in 2016 before Trump’s inaugural. Blacks were strongly behind Clinton but some, like Don King, were stumping for her opponent. The dialogue that follows will be part of my new book.
Ted Cruz, Don King and the Liberals
9/21/2016
“Man, is he ugly. That nose, the drooping eyes.”
“It don’t matter. Most of the people who will vote for Ted are ugly. Look at
the pictures of the crowds he talks to. Them folks look angry and carry guns. They got chips of bellicose bitterness on their shoulders. They wear flame-retardant clothing because you never know when end times are going to come.”
“Ted says we are all in a battle to overthrow godless communism. I thought we already did that. Says the Colorado shooter might have been a ‘transgendered leftist activist.’”
“He could be describing a jazz musician I know.”
“Yup, most of ’em lean that way, I guess. You know jazz has always been ‘negermusik’ to some people, licentious syncopation, indecent dances promoted by Jews—nigger music, as the Nazis had it. Wonder if Ted would go that far?”
“Well, man, he’s pro-Israel but against everything else: immigrants, Muslims, global warming, Obamacare. Can you imagine Ted Cruz listening to Mingus? Maybe old Tommy Dorsey records but not Mingus or Dizzy. Vijay Iyer would blow his mind.”
“What if the idiots at NPR, instead of trying to zing him in an interview, just played far-out jazz in the background while they talked to him? You know, Andrew Hill or something? Jazz would really unsettle this guy.”
“The liberals are too genteel even to think of that. Look what happened when Don King came to introduce Trump: ‘What? The Vile N-Word at a Trump Event?’ Man, you could smell the outrage all across the media. Liberals were livid that crazy Don King so casually broke the embargo on ‘nigger.’ Well, it was Don King, for crissakes! What did they expect? Like Trump, he’ll say anything.”
“Easy for you to say, Jack. I guess you condone the bon mot that would upset most every black person?”
“I don’t think the black people in the audience were very upset. They were laughing. And aren’t we getting tired of media sanctimony over saying the n-word? The speaker is a wacko and a criminal, but the word is in common usage and has many shades of meaning. He didn’t point the finger and shout NIGGER! at somebody, after all. Look at the white guys, Trump endorsers like Flynn on the left, they think it’s a hoot.”
“If the campaign ever released a list of Trump’s surrogates and endorsers it would blow your mind. Jesus, how does he choose these people? Right-wing generals, Bobby Knight and Don King.”
“As to the n-word: maybe you prefer ‘African-American,’ the ultimate PC formulation? Or should we go back to ‘Neegrow,’ which most black people would never use? We do refer to ‘whites’ so how about just ‘blacks’?”
“King actually said something pointed about the history of racism at the end of the tweet: ‘Dare not alienate because you cannot assimilate.’ That encapsulates the dilemma and the malice behind ‘nigger.’”
“Lyin’ Ted Cruz and Don King, seems like another lifetime. We had Trump in that lifetime and we have him in this one, too. Oh, wait, we also have Ted. At least I don’t hear as much about him lately — and at least this dialogue made me remember and laugh aloud a couple of times.