Sat, Nov 21, 2009
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Name:
dbshawn
Comment: I saw a clip of Richards' outburst and along with using the n word it included him saying that 50 years ago we (white people) would have strung you up. These sentiments are what differentiate his use of the n word versus black comedians. Blacks have endured the hatred that the n word has caused and transformed it into something harmless for black people. This is NO WAY gives non blacks the right to use it as if they deserve permission. If they want to use the word, then they should be willing to endure, say, 400 years of oppression, beatings, rape, psychological torture, oppression due to their appearance and economic disenfranchisement. Then they can use the word whenever they like. Otherwise they need to shut it up!
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Name:
Platinum
Comment: I agree Mr. Hutchison, we have battle the use of the n-words some many times right here on EUR although it’s like spinning our wheels on the subject, but for those of us who still find the word offensive stood our grounds. dbshawn am I missing something here? All the things you mention that has kept us oppressed is what the n-word conjures up whenever it’s used. Since when does anyone EARN the right to use the n-word, educate me please?
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Name:
PEACHES4U
Comment: 'dbshawn,'You're on the money!!!per the video tape Michael Richards stated the following:
'Fifty years ago we'd have you upside down with a f***ing fork up your %*$. . . You can talk, you can talk, you're brave now motherf**ker. Throw his %*$.out. He's a %*$!(@! He's a %*$!(@! He's a %*$!(@! A %*$!(@, look, there's a %*$!(@. . .'
I don't condone the use of the word '%*$!(@.' However, there is no comparison when it comes down to 'black versu white usage of the word. I'm an Africana woman who is very much aware of her culture, ethnicity, HISTORY, LEGACY, and the BASTARDIZATION of both and the rationale of descendants of the Cacaucus Mountain Region who believe they have the right to continue primitive savagery verbally, then top it all off with 'but I'm not racist.' Paraphrasing the true Native Americans of this country, you must walk a mile in the shoes of those you wish to understand before you think you have an understanding their situation. Michael Richards' use of the word was meant to offend. He was frustrated that he could not control the words, WORDS that were directed toward him. He is not a standup comedian, rather, he is a situation comedy actor, . . . who's out of work!!!!! AND, to add further insult, he appears on Letterman. Not Tavis Smiley, Not Tom Joyner Morning Show, Not WBLS, but Letterman. How much more psychologically defunct can he be!!!!
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Name:
bigfriend
Comment: Maybe someone can enlighten me, seriously. Why is it that white people cannot say anything about blacks whether blatant or just perceived as racist, but the basis of many black comedians shows and on alot of Black movies and tv shows many of the jokes and story lines are talking about white people (mainly) or latinos? Isn't that racist too? or is it only racist when directed towards blacks? It always gets me when Chris Rock can base his whole comedy routine making jokes about white people and films can be made like White Chicks but if the same happened in the reverse there would be an outcry of "Racism!" I am being serious here and maybe someone has a serious (see: not ignorant and mad) answer to that. Because I figure if one race cannot make fun and call other races names why can another?
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Name:
Train
Comment: It's not him saying the "N" word that bothered me because these rappers use it like it's going out of style. It's the part about us hanging from trees fifty years ago that bother me and %*$!es me off to the highest of pistivity.
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Name:
Maverick
Comment: While I totally agree with all of your concerns with us using that word towards each other, the intent behind the word should be also taken in consideration. While I am hopeful that in the future that word will be totally eradicated from our labeling of each other, I strongly doubt that it will occur in my lifetime. Only thru education, self empowerment of self will that truly begin to occur. The problem is as a people, our focus and desires are in the wrong place. Material things and wealth seems to be our main focus - at all cost, while doing so, we don't seem too concerned about the man/woman within and what we are investing on the being within. How can we truly reap what we have not sown? Self Respect.
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Name:
Train
Comment: It's the ugliest word in the english language and shouldn't be said by anybody period for any purpose or intent...end of story.
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Name:
queenubya
Comment: Wonderfully stated!!!!
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Name:
telthepe
Comment: what other word from 400 years ago has caused so much controversy- unwarranted controversy. i love me some black folks, but sometimes i still don't understand how we can take a word that has so many negative connotations attached to it, and spout it out of our mouths with what we think is impunity. but see i understand that someone else controls the images we see and hear, and it is to their advantage that we call each other %*$!(@, or niggers, %*$!(es, hoes, and other derogatory terms-and they promote it. what would have happened to today's society if public enemy, eric b and rakim, boogie down productions, (you must learn!!), sista solja, x-clan, early ice cube(with the assistance of public enemy), paris, and many others, were the majority rappers and hip hop artists, and there was never such a thing as gangsta rap(whatever that is). some of these brothas and sistas warned us we were headed for self-destruction in the mid-80s. see how others control what we hear and see? if the majority of black folk had a revolutionary spirit this nonsense wouldn't even be an issue. people treat you the way you allow them to treat you. words do hurt, and sometimes kill. les us free!
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Name:
Rahwaykid1
Comment: <bigfriend> I don't have an answer for you. Mainly because I agree.
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Name:
Reds
Comment: It's really disappointing that someone as Earl Ofari Hutchinson can't see the huge distinction between this incident and a black person's use of the n word. It's really simple, in one case, it is used to convey hate and bigotry, and in the other, it is not. As for the posters who share Hutchinson's view, I can only wonder if you are really black, or maybe you didn't see and hear the remarks.
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Name:
telthepe
Comment: i am black, as a matter of fact maybe blacker than most. i did see and hear the remarks. they were very racial. the point is, i don't want ANYONE, ANYONE, to use that word referring to me. why would we take a word that conjures up images of lynchings, cross burnings, whippings, jim crow, everything negative that has been leveled at us as a people for centuries, why would we then take that same word, whether you use 'gga or 'gger and call each other that word? the way it's being used now with such prevalence says a great deal about the people who promote the use the word, and control the messages that go along with it? why not promote the use of a word that brings about peace and unity to us as black people. i'm tired of us being associated with negativity, and us perpetuating the myths and images that go along with that. you must learn!! les us free!!
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Name:
Exmun
Comment: Great article Earl. The message should be preached every. Michael Richards is an idiot and a racist. But, his use of the N word (to me) is no different than when we use it, be it in music, literature, or whatever. I'm totally through with all the B.S. excuses for us trying to justify nonsense. And in the words of William Cosby, "What the hell good is Brown [vs. Board of Education] if nobody wants it?" I've got better things to do that try to defend the indefensible. No one should be using that word in any context!
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Name:
Train
Comment: >Red, if we're really black. WTF!! It's stupid for anyone to use that ugly, degrading word. If anyone black or whoever came up to me and said, "What's up my ni88a" I'll slap them upside their head because my parent's didn't raise a ni88a. I'm an educated, hard working, God fearing, family oriented black man. There's no positive use for that word in any, way, shape or form and to try to imply otherwise is pretty ignorant.
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Name:
Platinum
Comment: LOL! I’m black and lovin’ every bit of my black skin and that’s why I speak out against the word every chance I get, it doesn’t matter to me who’s using it. Now set me straight on this, for those of us (black people) who do not draw a line between how the n-word is used between blacks and non blacks, does that diminish our blackness? My question is are YOU really black?
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Name:
Winn30344
Comment: As someone pointed out before..this wasn't part of his act..this was a tirade against hecklers who happened to be Black so to compare his outburst to rappers using it in a song or comedians using it in their act is misleading and wrong. What happened to him is no different than what happens to drunks..the truth comes out rather you want it to or not..
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Name:
Calidee
Comment: The English language is complex. If you add to that the act of communicating then things can be even more complicated. Words can have different meanings and connotation. It depends on context and who is doing the talking and listening. I think most people know and understand this. It bothers me when people pretend that they don't. We all can probably think of a situation where we have said something negative about a friend or family member i.e. "He is crazy" or she's a B*t*h and thought nothing of it. However, let someone else say the same thing about our friend or family and we are ready to fight. The "N" word is indeed an ugly word. But we all know that when Blacks use it, it has a different meaning than when Whites use it. However, in the past it has been understood that the word should not be used in mixed company. Now with everyone using the word openly we have created a situation where it is hard to tell what people mean when they are using the word. As a result, someone like Kramer who is old enough to know the history of the word can use the word and if he wanted to, he could have played dumb and said “Oh I thought it was okay to use because the meaning has changed because rappers use it" or “I was using the word affectionately". What about someone who is younger or someone who does not know the history of the word? If these individuals use the word, how can we be mad at them?
Black people have a right to be upset when Whites use the word, because the history of the words ugly usage is in still known. However, we need to let Black people know that if we keep freely using the word, there will come a time, when the lines between so-called "acceptable" and "unacceptable" will be blurred and we will not have the right to get upset. After all we can't get mad at people for using the word if their only knowledge of the word comes from the way it is used in the Hip Hop world.
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Name:
CAHawk
Comment: Well IMO - Black Comedina and Rappers do use it - BUT THERE IS A VAST DIFFERNCE in Saying N***** and Calling someone that word.
and you notice - at one point he tells the whyte audience MEMBERS - "You're shovked to hear what is BURIED in You"
Richards is NOT apologizing for being a racits - he is apologizing because eveyone NOW KNOWS he's a racist!
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Name:
Reds
Comment: You guys miss my point by a mile. We are talking about two different topics. One in which in which a person is expressing hate and anger, and the other, when a person is just communicating. An example that you guys should be using for making your point, is the use of the 'n' word, say by a white comedian in a comedic sense. Then it's kind of OK (not quite) to say that blacks are being hypocritical to lash out in that case when they themselves use the same word in the same context. This is totally different. This guy was just spewing hate and resentment towards blacks. If you want to make a comparison, then find a case where a black person is denigrating another black person, not just with the 'n' word, but also reminding them what they (a black person), would do to another black person with a fork, based on race, fifty years ago. Of course, an impossible argument to make. So you see, there is really no comparison to a black person with what this white guy did.
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Name:
NYCsoul
Comment: Reds & Win30044: That is the issue that everyone keeps missing. What he said wasn't part of the routine. I don't agree for us or anyone else to use the 'n' word. Sticks and stones can't break our bones, but words do surely hurt us!
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Name:
TRIPLETHREAT
Comment: This %*$! shouldn't have been on my computer and truthfully I never watched that boring %*$ Seinfeld %*$! and as a fellow stand up comedian who's black you Starsky and Hucth pinned striped LITTLE DICK REDNECKS we are still slaves to the racist bullshit your F UP GOVERMENT puts out you just don't own us any more well not some of us because we make more money than you do look at OPRAH she might act WHITE but she grew up in DETROIT WITH THE PISTONS YOU REDNECK REDWINGS AN NOW THE DETROIT TIGERS she might live in Chi Town but back then she was BLACK PANTHERING COLEMAN YOUNGING all over your pale white AZZ so if their ain't no more slaves get your geeky %*$ off the computer and come to WOODWARD OF DETROIT heres my address Mack and Bewick bicth and 4 sho I will meet you AND %*$! RICHARD GAY LOOKING CRACK HEAD LOOKING AZZ and when I'm doing stand up COMEDY I WISH A NIGG WOULD CALL ME A NIGG while %*$!(@! with me and if I didn't think it was funny they would get %*$!ed up just like you and Richard you pieces of %*$! and thats my word BIIIICTHES NOW STEP UP AND BEHIND YOUR LITTLE KEY BOARDS THATS BIGGER THAN YOUR LIL'L DICKS
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Name:
dbshawn
Comment: I know that many many people in the black community have differing opinions about the use of the "n" word. Being black, there are times that I've used it and times that I wondered if it was better to not use it all. However, I liken black people's use of this word with the zen/Bhuddist (?) principle that influences one to use their opponent's momentum against them. The power of the word is not made up of it's letters (it's actually a bastardization of a Spanish word - negro). The historical power has been the actions of white supremacists who wielded the word - lynchings, bombings, rape, murder, subjugation of voting rights, denial of correct history, annhililation. There is something powerful to be said for the black person/people who take this word and render all of that hatred null and void. They aren't denying or erasing history. They are destroying the destroyers weapon. OK?
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Name:
TRIPLETHREAT
Comment: Well after reading my comments and starting to write a book like O.J. hopefully my book won't be discarded as quick anger is a mugg whether intinctional or mis guided but Richard spoke what was in his heart at the time im not a racist but after 400 hundred years of oppression im still opressed whether from whites or blacks and to big GIRL freind it's called a li'l pay back when your ancestors may be not you but them 1920's on up was painting their face black and we was betrayed as yes sir boss dumb servants and maids then pimps dope pushers and junkies then HOOKERS who later had white and black mixed baby's
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Name:
TRIPLETHREAT
Comment: So what im saying I knew the HISTORY OF THE WORD and to Calidee I grew up with whites and called them hunkies redneck crackers and a very few mexicans or latino's wetbacks but if we where that cool I knew what was in thie're heart as they knew mine now if we was mad at each other then I knew they meant that %*$! so one awaits on an opology if we're true freinds if not so be it we didnt kick it any more and way to put your nuts up CAHAWK and RED thats real I have no enemies said the LORD I JUST FORGIVE AND FORGET but since I'm not saved yet I blast and ask Questions later then I'll ask the LORD TO FORGIVE ME GMONEY OUT AND ALWAYS A THRIPLETHREAT
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Name:
mizzym
Comment: Hey! What does chris rock have to say?
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Name:
PRDC
Comment: This is a word that have been in circulation for hundreds of years...back in the day when said by a white people was very insulting ...then as time goes on blacks begin to use it for affection if you will, only in the OJ case did it comes out about all of this and that and don't say %*$!(@ say the N word like we don't know what its meant. I use it and probably will continue to use it. This is one word that white people created and can't use it...so now that they can't use it its all wrong...get a life...we know what we are and a word isn't it. And it should be known to white people that if they called a black person the N word as it is called today you will get beat down like they did back in the day and that will never change. We always have a change for them to feel better and they could really give a hill of beans what we think. SO I think it should be said that if you are in the wrong skin and call the wrong person a N then its your butt.
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Name:
bigfriend
Comment: Triplethreat> you have some issues. See someone about it. Too much not making sense there.
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Name:
moe00
Comment: YEah no Black person today has been a slave and Yeah no white person today has been a slave owner but we are products of it..to not realize that shows lack of education and a deeper view on the world around you..stay n your ignorance. White's are dominants in this society so when they say the N word to the subordinates(Blacks)it has a different affect than a Black person calling a white person a Cracker.
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Name:
moe00
Comment: Black people can use the word becuase:
It was once negative and it has been turned into something else that is used amongst BLACK people..it is apart of our culture...we are not continuing the opression when using it we are just showing the capability to PErsevere...just like during slavery when we were given left over pig intestines and turned it into a traditional meal...chitterlings....%*$!(...same concept.
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Name:
akosuaa
Comment: Dear Mr. Hutchinson: I enjoy reading your work and your contributing commentary. However, I must comment on this writing. While I agree with you that there is NO EXCUSE for the use of the N word by our people and definitely not by whites, I recognize a substantial difference between using the word "%*$!(@" by a white person with references to lynching included, and the use by a black person. It has a little something to do with 400 yrs of white enslavement, murder, etc., of Africans and a Big Organized System of domination known as White Supremacy. The use of language is only one way in which whites keep that system ingrained. Phoney apologies and gratuitios social programs do not disguise what is in the hearts and minds of many whites in this world. We need to recognize and not fuel their fires to continually denigrate and control blacks! And, one way of doing so is by us not using the N word among ourselves. There is a quiet movement to irradicate the word...I'm certain you've heard of the ABOLISH THE N WORD website, moving to educate all on the origin and usage of this social blight. Yes, we could do more, but I feel our consciousness is rising on this issue, among many. Peace and Blessings...
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Name:
reality
Comment: It would seem reasonable to eliminate the usage.Think seriously about the history of this word and how it eventually become used among the very people who were victims of it.There was a reason why this was accepted and still is among some.However those reasons had to have been derived from a position of weakness and therefore should be discontinued even today 2006.Inconsistencies and double standards should warrant a stoppage also. Presently some people are so called "Allowed" to use it and some cannot.In this manner,with this tone,in this setting,with this intent etc....It is possible that if a name can't be used 24/7 in any environment and addressed to anyone that name should be carefully examined to determine its usage altogether.
Whenever an issue threatens the obtaining of objectives within a people,the opportunity to utilize self-discipline against any obstacle is available to all. Freedom allows for the usage but responsibility should govern its application.
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