Much of the rancor concerning Paula
Deen using the word Nigger is misplaced.
Yes I used the word Nigger in a sentence and it looks as ugly as it is. It’s
a filthy, nasty word used to channel the emotional subjugation of 400 plus
years of slavery as an institution. Slavery,
the one institution that Americans just can’t seem to process as a reality of
this our sacred union. When I was growing up I used to hear a song with lyrics
that said “and I’m proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free”. Free, the idea that we all have equal rights
and opportunities. Let’s just stop, the
vast majorities of Americans are not free and will never be free. And if you think the constitution makes you
free than ask the state legislature of Texas why were congressional districts
redrawn over the last ten years? Answer, to disenfranchise the Latino vote. And
the Supreme Court thinks that times are so different than they were 50 years
ago that we no longer need law that protect us against voting violations. Slavery was never abolished it was
institutionalized, so you don’t have to use the word Nigger to put people of
color and poor people in their place. Yes
I said it poor people are victims as well; of a classism so brutal that the losses
from this current recession may not be overcome for at least 50 years. Former
middle class Americans are in the same unemployment offices as the people they
would have openly called niggers 50 years ago.
People
are mad that Paula Deen used the word Nigger. I’m not mad she said it; I’m mad because
we want her to apologize for something she meant to say. You’re mad that Paula Deen used the word
Nigger twenty years ago. I’m mad that she treats her workers like Niggers twenty
years later. It’s easier to address a
single act of incivility than to address the systemic incivility of American culture. Let me make sure I got this right you have a
problem with people saying the word Nigger but you’re totally fine with being
treated like a nigger? To have the
audacity to be offended by an open expression of an ignorant person is a fool’s
error. She is telling you exactly how she feels about people from other races
she thinks that people from different races are not human she believes that
they are animals. And Ms. Deen you have
the right to feel that way but you do not have the right to treat people in an
inhumane manner. Your business practices need to reflect your market reality
rather than your racial delusion.
You don’t
have to like that she said it, but the reality is she said it. Now being from Tuscaloosa
where the KKK has a parade every year to this day, I can say I like my racism
straight up; all killer no filler. If you’re going to be a racist serve it up
like whiskey, straight up. What I have a problem with is this smoke and mirrors
game that we play with ourselves making the issue the word rather than the institutionalization
of the word. It’s bigger than just having
your feelings hurt because somebody used the sacred cow of racism. When your
vote is disenfranchised by the redistricting of maps that is the
institutionalization of the word Nigger. When you cannot live in certain neighborhoods
that is the institutionalization of the word. When there is no fresh produce in
a three mile radius that is the institutionalization of the word. When you make
up 12 percent of the population at whole but a majority of the prison census; that’s
the institutionalization of the word.
When
schools are closed in minority communities first that’s the institutionalization
of the word. When men and women are in jail for possession for something that
is legal in two states that’s the institutionalization of the word. When charter schools play shell games with
educational funds that’s the institutionalization of the word. Access to PLUS funds where cut and the black
community didn't say a word. The rules for the administration of subsidized
loans where changed black folks didn't say a word. Subsidized loans were stripped for graduate
students black folks didn't say a word. The interest rate doubled for student loans,
black folks didn't say a word. But when
it is discovered that Paula Deen used the word Nigger you are up in arms? 500 Homicides in Chicago last year where was
the outrage? 184 Homicides this year
where is the outrage? Again its smoke and mirrors! It’s a distraction as long
as you are fine with being treated like you are ignorant than you give systemic
approval to be treated as such. The soft
underbelly of African American society is that we still feel as if there are
two kinds of black people. Black people and Niggers and as long as the Black
people are upwardly mobile and can move away from the Niggers the world is
right as rain. That is a level of
hypocrisy that is unpalatable.
Every
time the disdainful word Nigger is uttered by a person of non-African Descent
we have to call Rev. Jackson, Al Sharpton, and have a two hour program on CNN. Let me be clear I want God to Change the
hearts of every racist and prejudice person. Do you hear me???? Change their hearts,
change their actions change their ways!
What good is it if Paula Deen never uses the word Nigger again but persists
upon treating people of color as Niggers? What Good is it if you removed the word
colored from the water fountain but create schools systems separately for black
and white children? What good is it to
remove George Wallace from the Entrance of the University of Alabama, but
replace him with legislation that restricts higher education opportunities for
people of color?
I hope
Paula Deen offended you. Offended you so much you sell all that good cookware
to me for cheap. I hope Paula Deen Offended you so much she distracts you from
Lawsuit that female managers brought against Wal-Mart because they were not
being treated fairly. I hope Paula offended you so much that you forget all
about the conditions of the workers in the overseas factories that supply your Target.
I hope you are offended! I want you offended.
And after you get all of that offense out, ask yourself “what did that offense
do?”
And
when we come down off of our “I got offended” high, take the offense and make
change. If you’re so offended create a
scholarship to send one of those black boys that works in Paula’s kitchen to culinary
school. If your so offended join the NAACP and tell them to stop marching and
burying the word Nigger, and tell them every day a little boy or girl dies in Chicago
and a march can’t fix that. Tell the SCLC to take the chains off the doors and
be a force for systemic good and not a relic for religiosity. If you’re so
offended move back to your communities of color and improve the property value
with your presence and your work.
And for Ms. Deen who would rather I dress like a servant at
a pre lynching party …. This might hurt a little
1)
Stop wasting my time on the today show playing
fake hurt; you are sorry you got caught not sorry you said it! (I would rather
watch Kathy and Hoda get drunk than watch you waste my time apologizing )
2)
Your crab cakes are nasty (if I wanted to eat
flour I would have ordered a sandwich )
3)
If you are really sorry insure every person who
works for you has access to affordable health insurance
4)
You will still be rich after your apology tour
is over
5)
Stop saying the word Nigger in the privacy of
your home (I know what you do)
6)
If you are really sorry go feed all those
homeless people in downtown Savannah
7)
Don’t you dare make mention to hip hop as an
excuse to why you say and do what you do
You are old enough to be their grandmother
and great grandmother and you were 20 years ago as well
8)
Any good lawyer would have told you to settle
the lawsuit my suggestion is pay her whatever she wants
9)
Be a better person
10)
Just like that black man who secures you, I am
also to dark to be seen against that board so this is me coming into the light.
Would you care to join me?
The following opinions are my own
and are by no way a reflection of the views of all mocha flavored people. I
thank God for halogen lights so you can see my mahogany skin at night.
so true
ReplyDelete