Monday, February 16, 2009

It Isn't Right Black or White.




I am watching Henry Louis Gates' "African American Lives" right now on PBS. It is a show that traces Black peoples' genealogy throughout their history. He is a preeminent Black historian who just found out he is essentially half white. He is so disappointed at this news. "I have the blues", he laments, "And can I still have the blues?". Because, you see, he is half white and feels he has lost something of himself. He even wonders if he will get only half reparations. Damn fool. Not so much for this show, but for an article I read in Time a few weeks ago. That lame "10 Questions from readers" thing they do. One of the questions was, "Is it right for African-Americans to use the N-Word?" He replies that he has heard Black people saying it since he was young and doesn't have a problem with Black people saying that word. Not offensive at all. But not when a non-Black person uses it. Then it is offensive. Stupid ass. I have heard the arguments, it is like gay people calling themselves faggots and the like, takes away the stigma and all that. Fuck that, I cringe when I hear Black people saying it just as much as when a White person says it. We should be beyond that and it makes people sound really fucking ignorant whenever it is said. Not that I give two shits, but it is also a common lament among the casual racists I have been around for them to complain that, "They can use that word, why can't we?" That should be enough right there. And this guy is the "preeminent" African American historian of our times.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like that term, "casual racism". It reminds me of "casual cruelty".

Jack Burton said...

Thanks Opiejeanne,
I think that both terms can go hand in hand. I also like pie and brushfire sunsets in L.A.(but not the damage).