walrusjk,
I'm black
today, so I think I can speak on this.
man, this political correctness over the N word is screwing up my programming. shows are being edited to remove the word, like it has some crushing, defeating, "I'm gonna get up and go out and hang whitey" tone to it. there's irony in that (see below).
** RANT ALERT ** RANT ALERT ** STEP AWAY FROM THE PC **
and I know what you meant, because you're as confused as I am about name, but "of African descent" is fucking hilarious to me. my family (Burgess) has been in this country since the 1600s - before British rule slavery, which along with our great congress (TWO fugitive slave acts), made even free blacks slaves for life.
and my mother's side has been in this country since 1700s (from British slave trade). so the "of African descent" is long gone, even for post-civil rights blacks. I don't know nothing about Africa except that it's fucking far, hot, and has the most deadliest snakes -- so not a good tourist attraction.
so try "of fucked over while the rest want to feel comfortably blameless" descent.
anyway...slavery and denial of opportunities is more offensive than the word nigger. have you looked at the top of the food chain lately?? they all look like Dick Cheney or the men of oil rich countries Cheney is trying to snuggle into bed with. also, what's more offensive is the "tone" of this country created by descendants of British ruled slave owners and Jim Crow migrators. folks like Capone, Lanskey, Gambino and Gotti were treated fairer than Malcolm X's father, Dr. King or Medgar Evers.
so derogatory names and words from anyone is just part of the same stew. it makes no difference if you remove peas from the stew, it's still stew. what surprises me is how long it takes before NOT using the word.
so all you can do today: sue individually when the tone is used while denying someone property, employment or any public opportunity. people won't learn or change, but can listen when you take their money away.
yet another reason I don't support Al Sharpton. he's worried about the wrong persons using the word nigger, nappy, hoe, etc. instead of those in the board rooms and investment offices throwing federal banking dollars only to those who look just like them, which keeps folks like Cheney at the top of the food chain.
other than that, the word should go in one ear and out the other. because not using the word isn't going to make the box seats overlooking the playing field equal.
how I treat the word nigger.
1. I'm at, say a Hardy's. white/asian/spanish/black person behind counter says "hey nigger, what do you want". I look at them as if I'm seeing a mirage, then realize I'm in a low class joint and take my money elsewhere! I prefer to know where I'm not liked before handing my $$ over. and pointless to tell other "of fucked over" descendants about experience because blacks in the south frequent restaurants owned by known klansmen (Maurice's BBQ in So. Carolina for example)
2. I know of an investment company (Venrock.com) which raised $600 million to give away. the $$ includes "federal" banking dollars which means $$ can't be denied to others based upon race, gender. I know personally that blacks, poor, disabled, vets are not solicited, hired, etc. which would equally distribute the wealth. yet, their organization is a Laurence Rockefeller based company, of the same billionaire Rockefeller family including Sen. Jay Rockefeller. Laurence helped fund Spelman University. but the new Venrock.com is so anti-black, it's a throwback to the 1700s. Venrock.com using the word nigger or denying opportunities to blacks, now that's
offensive, and a lawsuit and a federal probe since $$ was so easily given to a white convicted securities fraud.
3. Michael Richards' "comedy stylings" - was he funny without the word? NO. was he using the word correctly and funny? NO. if so, I wouldn't have noticed because right outside of Sharpton's Action Network in Harlem, the word is used so much I'm waiting for someone to say "hey you didn't say nigger first".
does that put that use of the word nigger issue to rest? please... so we can go back to calling each other nigger, honky, bitch, motherfucker, etc. let's keep it real, saves time! no point holding it in, then getting behind a closed door and letting it rip, only to let a reporter pick it up and fuck up your whole program.
