The News and the N-Word

Caught some early morning local news today and they were talking about the Michael Richards thang.

Apparently, a bunch of black "leaders" like Jesse Jackson and Maxine Walters (ie old farts) were making a call for the elimination of the n-word. They are asking all comedians, rappers, actors, writers, etc, to stop using the word because of it's hurtful, hateful history. (Note: I just gagged)

And thankfully, the local newspeople took this with skepticism, all pointing to the hilariousness of Chris Rock, Chappelle, and how rappers using, or rather - re-using - the word strips it of the original meaning, strips the hateful history and reappropriates it as an innocuous, impotent, everyday throwaway (a throwaway I can't manage to write on my blog).

Maybe it's a generation thing, they said. Because for some reason Maxine Walters and Jesse Jackson honestly think white people, behind closed doors, secretly are using the n word, and are plotting secret ways to keep the black man down. Gimme a freaking break. No one thinks that way. No one is sitting in their rooms plotting and thinking about how inferior black people are. No one is subtly trying to keep the black man down. Michael Richards himself, I'm positive, if given the power, would not enact racist legislation or otherwise do something to harm a black person because they are black.

But anyway. These "leaders," Jesse Jackson and Maxine Walters, have nothing interesting to say. Nothing new to add. It's a wonder we listen to them at all. Their mindset is stuck in a time that no longer exists. We might as well listen to Mike Ditka talk about the World Cup. Retire already.