Don Palabraz

The watchdog group Media Matters for America called out the hypocrisy of Fox News yet again today. Highlighted above is a picture from “The Fox Nation” of President Barack Obama with his feet up on a desk with the subtitle reading “Is Pres. Obama Disrespecting the Oval Office?” Media Matters was quick to point out the biased politicization of this suggestion by posting a photo of President George W. Bush doing the same exact thing. Of course, The Fox Nation posed no similar question back then:

What’s missing from the analysis is the key racial dynamic in U.S. society. The suggestion that the first African-American president was disrespecting his office by putting his feet up on his desk signals racial stereotypes that were prevalent during the times of post-Civil War Reconstruction. During that historical period, pioneering black lawmakers from the south integrated political institutions such as in the case of U.S. Senator Hiram Revels and Governor P.B.S. Pinchback. The response to the rise of blacks to positions of authority was predictably racist more often than not. The gross racial stereotypes of the times are forever encapsulated in film thanks to “Birth of a Nation.”

In its distorted re-telling of history, black lawmakers were depicted as woefully incompetent and wholly undeserving of their legislative seats. White actors in black face were filmed sneaking in swigs of whiskey on the job, eating chicken, throwing the bones on the floor, snoozing and putting  their bare feet up on their desks! The Fox Nation’s jab at President Obama echoes the racism of Birth of a Nation as all the core distorted assumptions are present. The more things change, the more they stay the same…