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Originally posted by: corgimom
I guess I don't understand why one rich old white woman can be clubbed over the head for it but hundreds of rappers, comedians and actors can say it everyday and be handsomely rewarded for it with CD and ticket sales.
Rules should be the same for everyone - NO ONE should use it, and anyone who does should receive the same backlash for it.
You'll understand when you understand the dynamics of human slavery and segregation as practiced in the American South. It's those institutions, and the nation's reaction to them, that are largely responsible the racial powderkeg we're all still sitting on.
It's not just that Paula Deen said that one magic word. Its who she is, where she's from, and the context in which she said it (and the many other hateful things she apparently also said).
A couple thoughts that might help you understand this dynamic:
1. Slavery and segregation weren't run by the social class that makes up today's rappers, comedians, and actors. They were run by wealthy white people of privilege. And so when we see yet another wealthy white person of privilege echo the thoughts of the wealthy white people of privilege who ran slavery and segregation, it raises old sensitivities that aren't triggered when some powerless poor ghetto kid utters it.
2. No one is rewarded solely for saying that one word. I can't defend most rap use of the term, that's usually cheap and degrading. But when Chris Rock and Richard Pryor and Samuel L. Jackson and Spike Lee use it, it's almost always in service of a greater artistic point.
3. Paula Deen will be fine. She'll have lots of money and fancy things and still have lots of clueless defenders. Hopefully she'll enjoy her new free time and reflect on the racist rot that others put in her.
4. No one buys CDs anymore.
