I wasn’t going to say anything about this but, I am growing very tired of it being the now 2nd top story on the news. So, wonder of wonders, a white person has admitted to using the word nigger at some point in their life. OMG, and will the world now come to an end?!
In case you have not heard, Paula Deen admitted to an attorney during questioning that she’d uttered the word 30 years earlier. I am not saying that it is okay that she said it, let’s get that out of the way up front. However, I have so many problems with all the backlash that has followed.
First, I am just glad to see that she was honest about it. Anyone who thinks that a (white) person, born and bred in the South, over a certain age (and I am not saying what that age is – could be 2, could be 52) has NEVER said the word is either lying to themselves or is just plain naive. She could have lied and said “no, I ain’t never said ‘nigger’, OOPS I mean, I ain’t never said that word!” Then the world would have been all over her because we all would have KNOWN that to be a lie.
Second, rappers say it ALL the time – right or wrong – on albums and in everyday life. And they earn endorsements. I don’t care what Jay says about turning a positive into a negative, it’s not always used in a positive light. How could it be?
Third, most other folks in the free world have said it, and many use it regularly – Blacks, Whites, and most if not all other races in the US. It’s just not front page news….. for days and weeks at a time. If it were, the “powers that be” would not be powers at all – that we can all bet.
In the end, I do feel bad for Ms. Paula. Not because she said ‘nigger’ and told on herself, but because the world we live in is what it is and because hypocrisy and irony are b****es.
