Geoff Davis

This is a boy (in front of a bunch of women). Pic by Todd Cooper

I think we all know now that Geoff Davis, a 49-year-old white man, a member of the House of Representatives and a Republican, called the 46-year-old biracial Barack Obama, Senator and candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, a "boy."

Actually, he called him "That boy."

As in: "I'm going to tell you something: That boy's finger does not need to be on the button."

Want to hear the whole thing? It's online here.

This is not a boy. Pic by Todd Cooper.

OK. White people, we've got a problem here. It's not ONLY a Southern problem, that's for sure — though hearing a Southerner call Obama "that boy" does make the skin crawl (as does the applause that follows from the GOP audience).

Apparently, some white people are having a hard time understanding that the centuries of slavery and Jim Crow, in which white men (and women) called black men "boy" not only to reinforce dominance but to remove individuality, means that's there's no good way for a white person, especially a white guy from Kentucky or other parts of the South, to call a black man "boy." And that this usage, like calling elderly African American men "Uncle" or black women "Mammy" or black girls "pickaninny," is not only not acceptable, but it's racist. Er, duh.

As one commenter said, if you don't see the problem, "You need to watch Roots again." (Um, or for the first time. It's pretty damn powerful.)

However, if you'd like to read some of the more ridiculous comments, check out Marc Ambinder's blog post for The Atlantic and Yahoo's totally asking for bullshit "answers" feature post on this topic. And there are many more out in the blogosphere, including some comments on the originating (reported) post that I linked to above.

Makes me reconsider the headline of that Salon article I wrote about on Sunday ("Hey, Obama boys: Back off, already!") I'm pretty sure the headline referred to young white men, but ... yeah.