2713

Yeah I don’t see the goomba as racially codeshare.

The line immediately preceding it is pretty bluntly so though.

2714

Which makes the puppet also racially motivated. I think Scott’s right, color plus a kind of easy and disposable enemy. I’m sure the racists are already prepping their new logo.

2715

The original Hill article states that the context of this comment was made when “Justice Democrats” backed primary challengers to Incumbent Congressional Black Caucus rep Lacy Clay (D-Mo) and the apparent fear they were going to back challengers in other races.

Congressional Black Caucus members are furious at Justice Democrats, accusing the outside progressive group aligned with firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) of trying to oust lawmakers of color, specifically African American lawmakers.

Justice Democrats is backing primary challengers to eight-term Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), a Hispanic Caucus member, and 10-term Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.), a member of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). The insurgent group also made noise this year about challenging Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), a CBC member seen as the heir apparent to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

And CBC leaders are fretting that Justice Democrats may target other black lawmakers in the coming weeks and months, including Reps. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) and Anthony Brown (D-Md.). Brown said the group has been making calls in his district, actively trying to recruit a challenger to run against him - something that Justice Democrats denies.

“It just seems strange that the social Democrats seem to be targeting members of the Congressional Black Caucus, individuals who have stood and fought to make sure that African Americans are included and part of this process,” Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), a senior CBC member, told The Hill.

“I don’t know what that agenda is, but if they want to come after members of the Black Caucus, it’s two ways,” warned Meeks, the Queens Democratic Party boss who clashed with Justice Democrats in a local district attorney race last month.

Conventional Democrats seem to fear AOC et al are “puppets” and questioning who/why are pulling their strings.

“They are going after the wrong target. Instead of fighting Republicans and defeating Trump and holding on to our majority, they find it convenient to go after their own, which is to me a bunch of B.S.,” Clay told The Hill.

He likened Justice Democrats to “Russian trolls of 2016” trying to sow divisions in the Democratic Party.

“It does make you wonder what’s going on,” added another CBC member, Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.). “Some names that have been mentioned all seem to be people of color, and more so CBC members.”

2716

Well, that’s the problem with racism (and calling out racism). You don’t know whether the person actually intended it, or just grabbed some photo of a puppet.

I’ll admit, I assumed there was a racist component to the puppet being brown. But I have no idea what the person who did it was actually thinking.

2717

Now it’s also about the goomba’s difficulty as an enemy in the games? I think you’re really stretching there.

2718

You’re talking about a group that took a cartoon frog and made it into a common racist past time, so much so that the creator is probably going to spend the rest of his life fighting to get his work back. Do not under estimate the reasoning circles of a racist individual.

2719

Well, not to be blunt, but so what? Either Clay or his father have held that seat for 50 years, right? It’s a safe Democratic seat, and putting up a primary challenge from the left gives Democratic voters an actual choice. Clay can fight the primary without launching racist attacks on AOC, and having a primary challenge to face isn’t a license to engage in racially-motivated attacks.

2720

The point is that the entire context of the snippet of conversation is that the Justice Democrats, the target of their ire, are being subtly or not racist or racially-adjacent motivated against CBC members. So I’d find it weird that this unnamed source would willingly lean on a racist stereotype - unless they themselves didn’t see it as racist, but this social media facing reporter did. Of course they could mean it as racist, but still, the complaint is that Justice Democrats are attacking Black Democrats. I’d say the puppet + goomba was the main idea, sort of by default.

OTOH, supposedly, “goomba” is sometimes used as a slur against Italian Americans. But it’s also used as a term of endearment in Sicilian (as per Urban Dictionary, so who knows), but also just for a stupid enemy in Mario Brothers.

People can be racist without knowing but in this case I suspect that the goomba as a racist attack was probably not the intended point.

2721

Except they’re showing a mushroom puppet.

2722

I’m pretty sure that’s what a goomba is in Mario Brothers? Is there something about it being a mushroom?

2723

Well it’s a little hard to say back in the olden days, back when my great great grandma called us a goomba while holding up a Super Mario mushroom puppet, she meant it as a term of endearment. We can debate the origin of a word, sure, but when you throw in a modern puppet… you can’t fall back on that.

2724

But the point of the conversation being had above was that they were accusing the Justice Democrats of being puppets.

2725

You think this is a statement about the Justice Democrats?

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2726

I’m still not seeing how the goomba is racist… I think it might actually be a racist term used against Italians at one point?

But it seems like the people who were making this statement were actually from the CBC, so it seems weird that they’d be racists.

2727

You write this as if it is a fact, rather than Clay’s idea of what’s going on. Justice Democrats are supporting a black woman against Clay. They aren’t doing that because they are racists.

2728

It’s sounds like they’re accusing her of not being minority enough. Which is a BS take from their end but would be inconsistent with them defaming her with a racist puppet.

2729

It isn’t like there’s a long history of accusing people of not really being black, or not being black enough.

2730

Ya, this seems to be what their claim is, that she just dons the mantle of a woman of color, when convenient. Don’t really think the goomba is racist, as much as it’s a puppet.

2731

Well to be fair we’re wallowing in the mire Clay has happily made, so it might all be storm and thunder, yes.

It’s not a hill I want or need to die on. My point was that it seemed like Clay was stirring the pot.

2732

It’s not just bullshit. It’s racist and targeting a specific person, not a group of people. People of color do not get to turn themselves on and off at convenience. It’s something you are. Now whether or not certain groups appreciate what you’re doing or not is one thing but that entire statement with the puppet makes the entire presentation racist. Whether Goomba puppets become the next big thing, well… the Internet.