Apparently "shuck and jive" isn’t racist. To some members of this community, the term just doesn’t have any sort of racial connotation. Even when used in a context that alludes to an African American.
Unfortunately, the Oxford English Dictionary begs to differ.
From the Oxford English Dictionary:
Full-sized image here.
The Oxford English dictionary is a really great resource for this kind of thing. As we can see, from the definition, the term "shuck and jive" refers specifically to U.S. Blacks. Its historical uses in literature clearly employ the term in a racial context. While the term predates the first use, its enshrined meaning in our shared cultural lexicon is one of clear racist intent.
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Let’s take a closer look at that last usage in the definition, from Ribbin’, Jivin’, and Playin’ the Dozens: The Unrecognized Dilemma of Inner City Schools, a seminal text first published in 1976 by Herbert L. Foster. (The book’s second edition has a slightly different title).
I’ve never read this book. However, its initial review in The Journal of Negro Education (Vol. 45, No. 4, Autumn, 1976, pp. 485-488) may help elaborate on the book. Carol Camp Yeakey writes,
Ribbin’, Jivin’, and Playin’ the Dozens is another in a long list of studies that examines the complex relationship between inner-city youth and their teachers. This book, however, emphasizes what too many of its predecessors have overlooked: that it is virtually impossible to achieve any positive psychological, social, or academic results with inner-city youth, without first understanding the significance of the task of educating the children who are products of our capitalistic society’s ills. (emphasis mine.)
In other words, until one learns about institutionalized racism and its impact on inner-city youth, it will be impossible for people (specifically, the white people who want to overcome and/or eradicate racism) to really help.
According to ERIC, the Educational Resources Information Center, the purpose of the book is as follows:
Lower-class black street corner behavior is present in the inner city and in nonschool settings. This language and behavior is misunderstood by middle-class whites, especially teachers, to the point that effective communications are seriously hampered in urban schools. Efforts to educate minority students will fail significantly until teachers and other school personnel begin to understand the confrontational style and game-playing rules of street corner lifestyle. This book discusses street corner language and behavior in detail and suggests ways of dealing with such behavior in educational settings.
In short: middle-class white people need to overcome their institutional racism and learn how to communicate effectively with black people. Now, I would argue that communication is a two-way street, and that in all situations both parties need to make an effort to speak to each other and understand each other’s perspectives. But it must be a two-way street, and as long as white people fail to listen to black people and what they have to say simply because they are black, we’re not going to get anywhere.
Of course, the irony here is that--as Karl Rove tells us--Barack Obama is articulate, which means that middle-class white people don’t even need to learn a special dialect to communicate with him. The Ivy-League educated lawyer can speak just fine, thanks.
The fact that many people seem so resistant to listening to him, however, suggests a larger problem. I have seen many people on this very blog refuse to even do a cursory amount of research into Barack Obama's positions. Folks, try Google. The information's out there. Any righteous indignation that you haven't heard what the candidate has to say on a particular issue suggests that either you can't use a search engine, you want your politics spoon-fed to you, or you have a problem listening to what Obama has to say.
Please think about this. A substantiative debate about issues can only work when all participants are fully aware of the candidates' positions on those very issues.
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So. Let’s recap.
- The Oxford English Dictionary states clearly that "shuck and jive" is racist. You, blogger, are not a more legitimate source on English word use and meaning than the OED. The term is racist by definition, regardless of how it is used.
- Unless middle-class white people really take the time and effort to learn about institutionalized racism, we as a society will be unable to do our best to overcome it.
- There are books available that can help you learn to recognize this institutionalized racism, and learn how to play a part in helping to overcome it.
We’re all racist, it’s part of the fiber of our society. But as long as you recognize it and make a genuine effort to work on it, that’s all we can ask.
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In closing, reading this website in the past few days have made me start to lose some of the hope I hold dear -- not in Obama, but in society. Maybe Obama can’t win. Not because of racists on the Right, but because of racists on the Left. I am deeply upset to feel this way, because it violates a part of my basic faith in humanity, especially in so-called progressives. In fact, it kind of makes me want to cry.
Folks, remember this: as long as people persist in being racist, or willfully ignore blatant racism, we all lose.
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Update 1:39 p.m. Central Time: In the comments, lirtydies provides us with a link to Roland Martin and another relevant quote:
"Shucking and jiving" have long been words used as a negative assessment of African Americans, along the lines of a "foot shufflin’ Negro." In fact, I don’t recall ever hearing the phrase used in reference to anyone white.
According to a story in Newsday, "The 1994 book ‘Juba to Jive, a Dictionary of African-American Slang,’ says ‘shuck and jive’ dates back to the 1870s and was an ‘originally southern 'Negro' expression for clowning, lying, pretense.’"
There is a such thing as political correctness gone mad, with folks being too sensitive. But it’s also about respect. And America’s long racial and sordid history still has ramifications today.
When African Americans hear former President Bill Clinton call Obama a kid, that is seen as an insult. He’s a 46-year-old man who is a United States senator. It is remindful of grown black men being called "boy" during the Jim Crow era. You might say no harm done, but trust me, the context has meaning.
The same goes for shuck and jive. I just don’t think for a second that if the battle was between John Edwards and Clinton, shuck and jive would have been used.
Something worth thinking about.