So Jesse Jackson used the N-word in his private off-air conversation with another black man. Oh, I'm shocked, shocked, to learn that black people use the N-word in conversations with each other.
It's a ridiculous controversy, this latest emanation from the Revvum Jackson's hot-mike scandal, and I'm on record saying that Fox's publicizing the off-the-air comments makes me queasy. But really, it couldn't happen to a more deserving person. Jackson has gotten rich and famous making the lives of people miserable by blowing up petty racial controversies into showdowns at the Selma bridge. This is the world he's made for himself. I call poetic justice.
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But to let Chris Rock use the term in such a derogatory way about blacks and have the audience laughing is actually disgusting. I'm all for people laughing at themselves but that video goes beyond that.
Posted by: Spunky | July 18, 2008 4:58 PM
Well, it looked to me like Chris Rock was using the term about a specific subset of blacks.
As to the question of whether or not that term is appropriate to describe that subset, I will not venture an opinion, but the mostly black audience seemed to understand, appreciate, and agree with the nuanced distinction.
So do I, so suck it up.
I am sure, Poles, Russians, Israelis, Italians, and every other ethnic group has some kind of slur they use among themselves no outsider dare use. I am not overly excited about the exclusion.
As I said earlier, outside of having to explain it to an eight year old we don't much care anymore. If fact, Imus' recent Nappy Headed Ho comment was much more offensive because it denigrated young women trying to lift themselves up. Something Rod goes on and on about in his "Scary Negro" posts.
I know I am coming to this discussion a little late and I know what I am about to say will make me sound like a "red-neck mama" probably, but here goes...
We live in an area where there is a largish black population so as soon as our kids heard the "n" word, we had a big discussion on "NO Name Calling, Ever". Now my kids have been in realitivly few fights for city kids but the one or two times it has been against an African-American child, the first excuse is invariably "He called me the "N" word."
Here comes the real red-neck part. I cannot answer to every fight but one I happened to hear this one. I was "indisposed" (as Martin Short put it in his Katherine Hepburn's nephew bit) and could not get outside to head off disaster but my son was defending a smaller boy whom the other boy had pushed down, at no point in time did I hear any ethnic slurs by anyone. Pretty good, considering African-American, Irish and Mexican-American were all involved.
Well, anyways...after the white boy got his clock cleaned, the other boy's came down to talk with us. It was a resonable discussion = boys do that sort of thing, blah,blah,blah = but, of course, the accusation was made. Luckily this time I could defend my son, next time he'll be on his own. But, but ...
I did tell my husband knowing our son as I do I don't think he would use that term or any other. We've been careful to expose our kids to as little of that nonsense as possible. But the next time the accusations start, my response to Dad is going to have to be "He learned it from you guys. If you don't want to hear it Don't Say It!"
Not an unreasonable request, but the world has not stood still and what people say and mean when they say it has changed since 1967.
I have more heartburn with the racialist southern partisans who swarm all over Rod "Scary Negro" posts who never use the word, but show every indication of thinking blacks are less than human. And the word hurt the most when I was called n****r as an adult while in my class-A greens as a newly minted soldier than it ever did as a child.
Mr. Obama is doing a lot to take the air out of the insult and in fact he may change forever then punchline to a very old joke.
You may have heard this one: "What do you call a black man with a college degree? N****r."
The new punch line: Mr. President.
Obviously that's a word that Jesse uses all the time, but he's just like many blacks who believe it's ok for them to use it...but, not ok for whites. That is absolutely ridiculous. To weigh-in on "the View"'s N-Word battle, check out www.trishwilliford.com/?p=188
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