Since President Obama’s speech at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Dinner on Saturday, some Black folks have complained about this particular line in his speech:
Take off your bedroom slippers, put on your marching shoes.
Some Black folks claimed the President’s use of the word “slippers” contained “coded language” and racial connotations. Here’s what Imani Perry, Professor at thePrinceton Center for African American Studies tweeted on the subject:
Rep. Maxine Waters, who was trying to save face after PBO snatched her wig in front of errbody, told MSNBC:
” (Obama) got off script and got a little bit beside himself, but I certainly don’t believe that he thinks the Congressional Black Caucus is sitting around in house slippers and bed slippers and whatever those things are — I don’t own them and I don’t understand the image that was described there.”
Anthea Butler, associate professor of religion at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote the following in her article, “Obama’s Preaching Doesn’t Reach”:
While my Twitter feed was filled with happiness about the president finally “speaking the truth,” I was perturbed by his rhetorical delivery and statements like “taking off your slippers.” Seriously. Has the president ever asked a white Democratic audience to “take off your slippers?”
Why yes, Prof. Butler. Yes, he has.
On Sept. 14th, in Raleigh, NC, President Obama said the following:
Now is the time to act. We are not people who just watch things happening. We make things happen. (Applause.) We’re Americans. We are tougher than the hand that we’ve been dealt. We’re bigger than the politics we’ve been putting up with. We’re patriots and pioneers and innovators and entrepreneurs. Through individual effort, but also through a commitment to one another, we have built an economy that is the engine and the envy of the world. We’re not going to stop now. The time for hand-wringing is over. The time for moping around — we’ve got to kick off our bedroom slippers and put on our marching shoes. We’ve got to get to work. (Applause.)
But wait! There’s video of the speech! AND *whispers* I see white people! Scroll to the 23:00 mark:
So, do ya’ll complainers want hot sauce or A-1 steak sauce with your crow?
*A big, fat shout out and fist bump to POU commenter Edp4bho for bringing this to our attention!*
