This an article I found that shows how a light hearted morning show can get very tense with the use of one offensive word. While reporting a story, Barbara Walters says "the N word", in the exact same context that Whoopi Goldberg said it just seconds before. A fellow host, Sherri Shepherd, gets very uncomfortable when she hears a white person say it, as opposed to a black person. Shepherd goes on to say that she uses "the N word" with her friends and does not mind when black people use it but "When white people say it, it brings up feelings in me." I find it interesting that two people can say the exact same word in the exact same context, but if one is white, the word becomes offensive. Whoopi points out that it is only the older people that have a problem with the word, that teenagers now just do not care. I like how Whoopi says "Let's not pretend that this isn't part of the fabric of America." Racism is very much a part of the American past and present, but we should try to not let it affect our future.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/03/barbara-walters-n-word-view_n_992656.html
This same occurrence happened a lot throughout my middle school and high school years. I went to a school where there were about 45% African-American students, which is an interesting place to grow up because oftentimes the African-Americans were more racist than the white students. All of their friends would be African-American, and those who tried to make friends with whites were considered outcasts. They were allowed to call themselves whatever they wanted whenever they wanted, but as soon as someone who wasn't African-American tried to use the same words, then the group would gang up on that person and tell them to get back "in their place" and said that they were being racist, and that those words or their group was "blacks only". In this clip, Sherri Sheppard has the same attitude of "blacks only" because as she pointed out, she could say the N-word, and she uses it with her family and friends, but as soon as she heard a "white" lady say it, it was not ok, and it made her upset. Oftentimes we think of racism as whites being racist against minorities, but just as often are minorities racist against whites. Racism will always be an issue in America unless everyone agrees to meet in the middle on this issue. Nothing productive will happen if only one group tries to reach out and do everything themselves.
ReplyDelete-Monica Tillman
I feel that Sherri's feelings are valid. Even she can't explain exactly why she feels the way she does but that doesn't make how she feels invalid. She has had personal social experiences that have associated certain feelings with that word. Obviously Whoopi feels differently about that word because she did not react in a negative way when Barbra said the N-word. I think everyone should be understanding about how people feel. Some people might take offense and other people might not care.
ReplyDelete-Philip Lundrigan