Last week, new White House Spokesman Tony Snow drew heat from the African American community for his use of a questionable term. In response to a question, Snow offered the following:

“Having said that, I don’t want to hug the tar baby of trying to comment on the program, the alleged program, the existence of which I can neither confirm nor deny”

In response to a follow-up question, he offered:

“Well, I believe hug the tarbaby, we could trace that back to American lore.”

Unfortunately, an investigation into American lore exposes a history of using the term “tar baby” to abuse, discredit, and disparage Black bodies. For many Black people, particularly those of a darker hue, the term triggers memories of childhood teasing (from white and black people) and years of unmerited self-hate.
Of course, Snow and many other Whites have argued that they had no knowledge of the term’s racist past. Conversely, many Blacks are likely unaware of the term’s meaning within the Western literary tradition as “a very troublesome situation, especially one that is difficult or impossible to get out of.”

This situation reminds me of another incident where David Howard, a staff member of Washington, DC Mayor Anthony Williams, was forced to resign for using the term “niggardly” in a private staff meeting. While groups like the NAACP demanded his firing, others (correctly) pointed out that the term niggardly has no etymological link to “nigger.” Although he was quickly rehired, the controversy around the bounds of “political correctness” (I hate that term!) persisted.

I agree that Howard’s use of niggardly, as well as Tony Snow’s use of “tar baby”, reflect ignorance rather than ill will. Nevertheless, they also demonstrate the wages of white privilege, as neither had to consider the ways that non-Whites may be offended by their quasi-malapropisms.