Don't Worry--It's Gonna be All Whitey!

Yawn.

Chances are that you've heard about the alleged tape of Michelle Obama criticizing "whitey." I say "alleged" because no such tape has surfaced despite the fevered efforts of pro-Hillary and Conservative bloggers and msm journalists. Does it exist? I don't think so. But even if it did, what's up with the term "whitey"? Is it really racially insensitive? How disempowering, how demeaning is the word "whitey"?

Moreover, didn't we have this discussion about "whitey" a few years ago when the University of Northern Colorado's basketball team chose their official name--The Fighting Whites (or The Fighting Whities, which is more appealing to my shell-pink ear)? In spite of some vociferous (mock?) outrage, people loved it. Of course, the team chose its name in a deliberate attempt to focus on the use of ethnicity, and racist stereotypes, in sports. It's popularity, however, underscores the anodyne quality of the term. If people--white people--embraced rather than rejected "The Fighting Whites," how offensive could it be?

The only term I can think of that's more ridiculous is "honky." That one just makes me laugh. Like, what the hell does "honky" mean? What does it refer to? But both "whitey" and "honky" are terms from ages past, words you might hear in blaxploitation films (and "whitey" is used in Ossie Davis's fine Cotton Comes to Harlem), or in episodes of The Jeffersons. I'm thinking "whitey" is pretty much obsolete regarding common usage. In other words, it's not a word that Michelle Obama would throw out in public (or, I'm guessing, in private. As a highly educated woman, she's well equipped to find more articulate ways of expressing frustrations with people of a paler hue).

I am curious though; if people have encountered "whitey" in common parlance, do drop me a line and let me know.

*The Fighting Whites team members include Native Americans and Hispanics as well as Caucasians.

UPDATE:
Thanks to Factions, Fashions, and Fists, we know a bit more about the alleged "whitey" incident.
The accusers claim that the event took place at the Rainbow/Push Coalition Citizenship Education Conference in 2004. Here is the program.

1) It's been claimed that Obama appeared along with Louis Farrakhan's wife at a panel. The schedule includes no Farrakhan.

2) Michelle Obama is listed as a "special guest"at the Women's Luncheon. The other special guest is Ms. Shoshana Johnson, retired US Military. No Farrakhan appears on the schedule. Of course this doesn't mean that Mrs. Farrakhan wasn't in the audience, but her presence in the crowd, rather than as a guest alongside Mrs. Obama, does refocus the argument, don't you think?

3) The keynote speaker at the luncheon was Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr.

4) The event was chaired by Chicago's ABC7.

Expect the story to readjust now: ABC7 (or The Powers That Be) will be accused of sitting on the tape to protect the Obamas. After all, it's a big conspiracy, isn't it?