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Palin accuses Obama of ‘shuck and jive shtick’
(The Ticket) – For those who aren’t familiar with the phrase, “shuck and jive” is a racially-tinged expression. According to the user-submitted Urban Dictionary, the term “originally referred to the intentionally misleading words and actions that African-Americans would employ in order to deceive racist Euro-Americans in power, both during the period of slavery and afterwards.”
As Politico points out, this isn’t the first time the phrase has come up and inspired controversy. Several years ago, Andrew Cuomo, then New York’s Attorney General, used the expression while campaigning for Hillary Rodham Clinton. “You can’t shuck and jive at a press conference. All those moves you can make with the press don’t work when you’re in someone’s living room.”
Cuomo was promptly blasted by CNN’s Roland Martin, who wrote, “‘Shucking and jiving’ have long been words used as a negative assessment of African Americans, along the lines of a ‘foot shufflin’ Negro.’ In fact, I don’t recall ever hearing the phrase used in reference to anyone white.”
