Kiss my Butt….really?

“Kiss my Butt” How many times have you been in a meeting with someone and just wanted to say that to someone who was working your last nerve? Truth be told at least once a week I want to tell someone to kiss my ass and walk out. But alas I try to keep it classy so generally when those moments come up, I make that pinched face smile and deal with the situation at hand like an adult. After all I am almost 40 years old and one would like to think by a certain stage in life you learn a little tact.

Apparently though my state’s new governor, Paul LePage missed that piece in his developmental growth and when asked why he was not honoring a 30 year tradition set by his predecessors of attending the annual NAACP MLK day events here in Maine. He decided to go off on a one minute tantrum that was caught on tape where he referred to the NAACP as a “special interest group”, told us he had a Black son and eventually said that folks meaning the NAACP could kiss his butt. Now maybe LePage is not clear how things work in 2011 but in a fast moving world where one week a man can be begging on the side of the road and 7 days later being showered in offers for jobs and houses. Telling anyone much less the nation’s oldest civil rights group to kiss your butt when you are the leader of state even a small state like Maine gets everyone’s attention.

Needless to say us colored folks in Maine are scratching our heads but considering this man during the campaign season was caught on tape saying he would tell Obama to go to hell and frankly has a manner more becoming for a bar owner rather than a governor…are we really surprised?

Truthfully I am not involved with the NAACP in Maine but the minority community in Maine is small and in many ways all roads lead to the NAACP. Though the fair governor who thus far, despite letting us know he has a Black son could care less. By the way we didn’t see too much of this adopted son during the campaign season. Hell during the actual inauguration he had the brotha man so far back on the stage I thought he was a security guard. Hell the good governor whipped up a feeding frenzy by giving his daughter a well paying job before he was even sworn in…hey! What about the Black kid? I suspect having Paul as a Dad when you are the Black son might be like having been one of Joan Crawford kids. You get brought out for the photo ops and then taken back to the big house where hopefully you aren’t beaten with a wire hanger.

However as a Black chick living in Maine and nope I am not a native, I am a Chicago girl through and through but this is my adopted home. I have to just say publicly that the vast majority of Mainers are good folks and Lepage who only won by one percentage point because the Dumbocrats and the Independents split the vote does not represent the average Mainer. Due to my work I meet all kinds of folks and most of em have good hearts. So don’t let the ranting of a crazy man think that we are being set back and hell if you don’t live here…come visit and shit bring the catfish!

15 thoughts on “Kiss my Butt….really?”

  1. OK, here I am in my “proper” name/mode for commenting on this blog, instead of as Deacon Blue. 😉

    @ deb

    Yes, yes he is.

    @ Andromeda

    Andromeda, don’t let comments you see be your guide. It seems like the conservative folks are waaaaaaay more vocal when it comes to responding to ANY story at places like the Portland Press Herald site or WCSH-6 TV or elsewhere. My wife might be able to confirm better, b/c she reads those sites more.

    Although Maine is a “blue” state, it tends to be more liberal in the south and more solidly conservative up north. The northern reaches are larger, but more sparsely populated, so most of the population, I would say, is Democratic or Independent (whether liberal Independents or centrist ones who go either way). That’s my take on the state so far, anyway…I’ve never hunted down actual figures.

    And I wouldn’t say that the North is a bunch of ignorant boobs who dislike non-whites. In fact, we’ve had some very nice encounters up there. Still, it’s more dicey. On the other hand, as my wife notes, it’s sometimes better to get the so-called rednecks who are honest but are willing to be civil and get to know you are something other than a stereotype, as opposed to liberals who talk good game but don’t interact with non-whites at all really.

    There have been some bad moments at times, but overall, I would say that we have been treated decently. Mainers are an odd bunch at times…nice but sometimes in a distant or aloof way…tough and willing to endure hardships like cutting off a finger, yet unable to deal with extremes of weather without bitching and moaning…etc.

    Not sure how much of that answers your question, but I hope it answered some of it.

  2. Your governor is an ignorant idiot.

    @ Claudia,
    The tea party needs to go out and bring the jobs back to America.

  3. To Deacon Blue and blackgirlinmaine

    I definately understand the looks you all may get in resturants and other places, my husband and I are from Arkansas, and even though our state has plenty of African Americans living here and most were born here ( mainly becasue I cannot see being born some where else and then moving here, especially if you are black) there are places, in this state that do not have any black people there at all. Most of the North Central part of the state is mostly white. You cannot just up and move to any place in Arkansas and expect to find black people. Then you go other places and it is hard to find a white person.

    What I am really wanting to know if what are the majority of whites in Maine saying about his comments? I was on one TV station website yesterday and over 75% of the comments were in favor of him.

    • Most of folks who post on the local media sites are not reflective of most Mainers. As a Black woman who spent 30 years in Chicago before moving here and if folks were blantant racists I would have left a while ago. In fact my Dad who is from Arkansas is actually moving here, he grew up under Jim Crow and left Arkansas at 18, but thinks Maine is ok. I would encourage you to visit, it’s a beautiful place.

  4. Not sure if your question was for me or Blackgirlinmaine, Andromeda, but since it’s posted as a reply to my comment, I’ll guess it’s to me (BTW, for anyone wondering, I normally post here as Blackgirlinmaine’s Spousal Unit. But I was logged in already as Deacon Blue and anyone who follows her on Twitter already knows we’re husband and wife, so nothing to hide there).

    Anyway, I like it OK. Not my first choice of places to live, but I’ve grown accustomed to it. Of course, my adjustments are more from having been raised in Silicon Valley and doing college and most of my career in Chicago…so coming here was a shock in terms of lifestyle, population, lack of “amentities” that I expect in a city or town, etc. But I’m white, so racially, it’s never impacted me directly; only through what I sometimes see my wife and my stepson having to deal with.

    You and your husband won’t stand out overly much in Southern Maine (esp. not in Portland, Westbrook, South Portland). There are enough people of color these days that you wouldn’t be the proverbial “sore thumb.” In summer you might get looks, but that’s because tourists descend upon us and I think sometimes they are taken aback when they see brown skin as a nearby table in a restaurant, since I think in their subconscious sometimes, one reason they vacation here is to get away from “those folks.”

    • “since I think in their subconscious sometimes, one reason they vacation here is to get away from “those folks.””

      Couldn’t agree more…I say it to folks all the time too.

      That’s why I like living here…..mere presence is enough to agitate.

  5. I worry about such people, too, Denene, but really, it was something like 28% or 29% of the total vote that he got, if I recall. Even though the Dem and the front-running Independent split the vote, LePage still won by a mere single percentage point. So, close to 3/4 of us in this state didn’t want him in office. But there he is anyway. Oh, well…hopefully the next four years will go quickly.

    • To be honest I did not really know there were many blacks in Maine. I have often wondered about this, since I was watching an episode of “Murder She Wrote” about 20 years ago, and saw a black kid in a school yard scene.
      Being an African American women, in 2011, I was just in shcck this morning as I was driving, and listening to the “Tom Joyner” morning show, and heard the governor’s comments. If he didn’t want to go to the event all he had to do was just he wasn’t going. There would have been something said about him not attending but it wouldn’t have gotten this much attention. Then again that is what he probably wanted. To tell a “race of people” to kiss your butt, and to threatened to tell the President of the United States “To go to Hell” is just a little too much for me.

      Besides that how do you like living in Maine? I have wanted to visit, but thought my husband and I would stand out too much.

  6. Girl? Thank you for pointing out that your people up in Maine aren’t all like your fool of a governor. But um, er, uh, he did get elected, which tells me a whole lot about the people who DID vote him into office. I’mma pray for y’all.

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