Radio Canada: Easier to Shoot a Black President in the White House

In a rehash of a tasteless and ignorant sentiment shared by few Americans, a Canadian comedy program, shown on the French-language Radio-Canada network, recently came under fire for joking about the possible assassination of President Barack Obama. Oddly enough, the show ("Bye-Bye 2008") took place on New Year's Eve, nearly six months ago. But due to hundreds of complaints, something is finally being done about it.

The radio segment featured a slew of offensive statements in which the hosts seemed to revel in their own banter. At one point, one of the hosts stated, "We're not racists. It will be good to have a Negro in the White House. It will be practical. Black on white, it will be easier to shoot him."

To its credit, the Canadian Broadcasting Standards Council said it found, "nothing redeeming in the allegedly comedic notion that an American president should be shot, still less that this would be easier to achieve because of the color of the president's skin. It was a disturbing, wounding, abusive racial comment."

On another segment of the show, an Obama impersonator was featured in a faux interview in which the host said, "The blacks, you all look alike," and then warned viewers to hide their purses.

Talk About It: Is It Ever Funny To Joke About Killing the President?

The council added that the comments and sketches breached regulations, saying they "went too far in terms of Canadian broadcast standards." Which is kind of a given, provided that they probably went too far as far as global broadcasting standards are concerned, save for, of course, those ever-resilient neo-Nazis and maybe the Klan on close-frequency ham radios.

Not surprisingly, the producers of the show actually denied the skits had been racist, saying they had meant to mock the characters making the offensive remarks, which is akin to saying Rush Limbaugh isn't a racist... total BS.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is supposedly conducting a probe of the show. And although it doesn't have the power to fine Radio-Canada, it can issue a public reprimand.

According to a spokeswoman for the commission, such reprimands could cause problems for the network when it comes time to renew its broadcasting license. Radio-Canada is due to apply for a license renewal in 2011.

And amid all this is the fact that Canadians, like much of the world, overwhelmingly love President Obama. Polls regularly show that Canadians like Obama far more than they do their own leaders. Tens of thousands turned up to cheer him when he made a brief visit to Ottawa in February. That makes it even more mind-boggling that a radio station would think it was appropriate to air something so belligerent.

Vintage Racist Advertising

Top left LOS ANGELES - DECEMBER 1: Brigitte Nielsen and Flavor Flav present onstage at the VH1 - Big in '04 on December 1, 2004 at the Shrine Auditorium, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) Top right: 1899 -- Uncle Tom's Cabin: Topsy Illustration --- Image by © CORBIS; Bottom right: 1930s AC spark plugs ad in The Saturday Evening Post -- Photo by The Authentic History Center; Bottom left: This cartoon image provided by the New York Post appeared in the Post's Page Six Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009. The cartoon, which refers to Travis the chimp, who was shot to death by police in Stamford, Conn. on Monday after it mauled a friend of its owner, drew criticism Wednesday on media Web sites and from civil rights activist the Rev. Al Sharpton. (AP Photo/New York Post) ** NO SALES ** Credit: Getty Images / Corbi / Authentic History Center / AP

Getty Images / Corbi / Authentic History Center / AP

Advertisement for an African-American slave sale.

Although the enslavement of mankind in general has been recorded as early as 1200 BC; the first African slaves were reportedly transported to the 'New World' in 1517. This is 76 years after the first black slaves were captured and taken to Portugal.

Bettmann / Corbis

African American Stereotypes: Products and Advertising c.1880s Tin of Nigger Hair Tobacco

For decades this product was sold in stores as chewing tobacco or for smoking. It was advertised as 'pure, unadulterated, fine old burley leaf.'

Photo Source: The Authentic History Center

The Authentic History Center

1888 -- Seal of North Carolina Tobacco - The Darktown Bowling Club Poster -- Image by © Swim Ink 2, LLC/CORBIS Seal of North Carolina Tobacco - The Darktown Bowling Club Poster

Swim Ink 2, LLC / Corbis

ca. 1890 -- Zoulou Powder Poster (French advertisement)

Because offensive advertising was permeated throughout the world for many years, (and still is, as you will see in a few upcoming slides) it should come as no surprise that in more modern times 'racism has become the scourge of European soccer stadiums.'

Swim Ink 2, LLC / Corbis

ca. 1899 --- Uncle Tom's Cabin: Topsy Illustration --- Image by © CORBIS Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Topsy was a stereotypical pickaninny character in the book, 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.' Uncle Tom was a slave in the book. The term 'Uncle Tom' is recognized to be offensive and a derogatory name for a black man who is abjectly servile and deferential to whites.

Corbis

ca. 1899 --- George Thatcher's Greatest Minstrels Poster --- Image by © CORBIS George Thatcher's Greatest Minstrels Poster

Early definition of minstrel: a medieval poet and musician who sang or recited while accompanying himself on a stringed instrument, either as a member of a noble household or as an itinerant troubadour.

The black-face minstrel act was a very popular form of entertainment in 19th-century America. White audiences were receptive to the portrayals of Blacks as singing, dancing, grinning fools. T.D. 'Daddy' Rice, the original Jim Crow, became rich and famous because of his skills as a minstrel. Interestingly though, when he died in New York on September 19, 1860, he was broke.

Corbis

African American Stereotypes: Products and Advertising 1899 Durkee's Salad Dressing advertisement, Harpers Magazine

Notice the broken English purportedly spoken by black Americans, 'We're gwine ter live high ter-night ...'

Photo Source: The Authentic History Centerr

The Authentic History Center

Advertisement for Clarence Brooks and Co.'s Fine Coach Varnishes uses racist stereotypes to depict a group of African-American adults and children as they cheer and watch two shirtless boxers, one of whom appears unconscious, accompanied by the text "the Championship Fight, Sullivan Wins," late 1800s. The Sullivan in the text is a reference to boxer John L. Sullivan, who fought bare-knuckled in several famous bouts.

Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images

Advertisement for the St. Louis Beef Canning Company features an illustration of a stereotyped African-American character sitting on a can of beef, accompanied by phonetically rendered, stereotypical dialect-style text that reads: 'No Sah! dont jine no Exodus so as dis Beef lasts,' late 1800s.

Showing blacks to massacre the English language, further perpetuated the false idea that African Americans were somehow unable to be educated.

Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images