Chatterton Williams, of The Washington Post, chimes in on the subject of the black culture; his frustration is summarized in The Week’s June 8, 2007 issue:
Most Americans now think “black culture” and “hip-hop culture” are the same thing. But that’s not true…Hip-hop culture is a denial of that history (black history); it evolved in the streets, as a “cool pose” by young, uneducated black men filled with anger, violent impulses, and misogyny. Over the last two decades, that pose has come to define blackness; for middle black teens, “keeping it real” means imitating thuggish hip-hop stars, while doing well in school and treating people respectfully are “acting white.” It’s crazy, really: Of all America’s ethnic and racial cultures, only blacks have adopted the values of the lowest rung on their hierarchy. A middle-class Chinese kid growing up in the suburbs, for example, would never even consider dressing and acting like a thuggish Chinese heroin dealer on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Black culture is deeply troubled, and until it is “effectively disentangled from the python grip of hip-hop, and by extension the street, we are not going to see any real progress.” 7
I suppose it would be nothing more than a cheap cliché to say that the evening of November 17, 2006 began like so many before for Comedian Michael Richards, as he grabbed the microphone and then the stage at The Laugh Factory out in West Hollywood. Unlike his days on the set of Seinfeld, Richards would have no prepared script, nor would the audience be the compliant, amiable studio crowd in front of which he’d grown accustomed to performing all those years. But that was okay; Richards was prepared for anything. His impromptu, Freudian, free-associating monologues were a perfect antidote for the unpredictability of the rowdy, talkative, less-than-sober L.A. crowds that floated in from Sunset Boulevard.
The performance was clearly not his best. As he vacillated, and his aimless pacing intensified, Richards glared at the audience through the bright lights. Something was clearly bugging him. Comedians, after all, can be touchy and sensitive, their fragile egos forever on the defensive. He pointed to a group of minorities in the upper seats, making a snide remark about how loud they had become.8 The comment touched off a firestorm that caught the comedian by surprise. They started to be more than just loud; the celebrity-jaded crowd began to heckle—suggesting Richards was washed-up, a has-been, a guy unable to achieve much of anything since his days on Seinfeld. Richards roared, “Shut up! Fifty years ago we’d have had you dangling upside down with an [expletive] fork shoved up your _ss!”9 He hurled the N-word a total of six times. One black man took offense and called the comedian a “cracker” and an “[expletive] white boy.” People were stunned. They started leaving. Management wasn’t sure just what to do. Richards continued to pace until he finally left the stage altogether.
A few days later, at Jerry Seinfeld’s urging, Richards agreed to appear, via satellite, on The DavidLetterman Show. The subdued comedian apologized for his behavior at the Laugh Factory. He later sought forgiveness from Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton, even appearing on the former’s radio talk show. It was there that Richards issued additional mea culpas.
But what gave Richards the inkling that he could use the N-word to begin with? What made him think that people, even the hardened crowd at The Factory, would find the word funny—especially coming from the mouth of a white comedian? Could it have been the fact that Richards had seen many black comedians fling the word around like it was a Frisbee—Chris Rock (Niggas vs. Black People, 1997) being one of them? Had he seen the movie, Trespass, where inner-city blacks go on a treasure hunt and repeatedly use N— to refer to one another? Or had he kicked back on the Santa Monica Pier and listened to the filth pouring out of black artists’ mouths: Nigga What, Nigga Who (Jay Z., 1999), Nigga, Please (Old Dirty Bastard, 1999), For All My Niggas and Bitches (Snoop Dogg, 2001) or maybe even Real Nigga Roll Call (Lil’ Jon & The East Side Boys, 2004). Was he imitating them? Did Richards think this was now a legitimate way of entertaining the masses, particularly whites who, back in the day, purchased more of these CDs and download more Rap than anyone? Did Richards just want in on the action, in on this particular comedic trend? So why did Richards ask for forgiveness on Letterman and then seek divine pardon with Jackson and Sharpton? Had Jay Z, Snoop, Bastard or Lil’ Jon ever sought such forgiveness for their use of N—? And had The Factory incident sobered America to the reality of the N-word, thus slowing down the rate at which explicit/hate rap was being churned out of New York and Los Angeles? Questions, questions and more questions. Certainly more questions than answers, to be sure, although I would say that 100 Years (Plies, 2007), Hood Nigga (Gorilla Zoe, 2007), as well as a host of other albums—Deeper than Rap, Who Wanna Rap, Slaughterhouse, Attention Deficit and Skinny Jeanz and a Mic would suggest otherwise. The rate had not slowed. It had maintained its torrid pace, even accelerated.
In March of 2012, and then, again, in April of that year, two white CNN reporters used the N-word on the air as they read quotes during a newscast. The backlash was swift. Millions of viewers cringed at the sound of the word. Their blunders were replayed again and again on YouTube. The network was mortified and had to issue two, separate public apologies.
A school district in Texas joined the national hysteria by removing Huck Finn from its curriculum. “We are here today,” said Superintendent Stephen Waddell, “to say we will not tolerate the N-word being used by any educator anywhere in any school district throughout our region or the state of Texas.”10
I have no problem with that, but is it wise to eliminate a classic like Huck Finn from the curriculum? Was Twain a racist? Was his intent behind the genius of Huck Finn motivated by bigotry? What Waddell should have said is this: We will not tolerate use of the N-word by any educator, nor will we tolerate the use of this disgusting word by students. Regardless of ethnic origin. Regardless of their familiarity with one another. Regardless of whether or not they are joking around with each other or using the word to express camaraderie. And we will not tolerate the word spewing from the innards of students’ IPODS, MP3 players or mobile devices.
In swooped Whoopi Goldberg to weigh in on the issue. From the days of the Michael Richards flap, and then, again, after the CNN debacle, the black comedienne has always asserted there are other derogatory terms that concern her more than the N-word, one of them being the S-word— Stupid. Furthermore, Goldberg has consistently called for the unmitigated and undiluted use of the N-word—even by reporters and newscasters, claiming that each time we replace nigger with the N-word, we sanitize it, deny the role it has played in our culture and in our history as a nation. “They’ve tried to fix Roots. They’ve taken it out of books. This idea that taking it out makes it somehow better is ridiculous. It’s part of the culture. Let us speak on it and say this is what it is,” said Goldberg. I’m not crystal clear on whether the comedienne advocates N—’s unlimited use by everyone, including black entertainers, but I do feel her frustration with narrow-minded groups that want to excise the term from literature. And, believe me, Whoopi and I don’t agree on very much.
Actor Samuel L. Jackson recommitted himself to using the offensive word a few years back. “I use the word ‘n-gger’ every day, especially when I’m with my friends,” he boasts. “We refer to each other that way; it’s part of our culture. I grew up with that word, so I understand when people are using it the wrong way, and I understand when they’re just using it.”11 Jackson goes on to say that white people may think they can say the word, but they can’t. When whitie says the word, “it’s like fingernails on a blackboard to black people.” Agreeing wholeheartedly with Jackson is Snoop Dogg. “I’m a n-gga,” says the rapper, “so I’m not gonna ever be treated fair. There will always be some new n-ggas coming out, gang-banging, not giving a damn, just living their life, because that’s what America breeds. We’re bred to do that sh-t, so you can’t get mad at us. You gotta get mad at the system.”12
Believe it
