Posted by
Adam Cassandra on Wednesday, July 23, 2008 1:01:38 PM
One issue that I can’t help coming back to is the problem of
race relations in our country, especially between black and white
Americans. Discussion over the ‘N’ word
arose again recently after Jesse Jackson used the term in a derogatory way
toward Barack Obama. The word was also
debated on an episode of “The View” with Elisabeth Hasselbeck arguing against
Whoopi Goldberg and Sherri Shepherd. While
racism of any kind is a huge problem for any society, the double standard that
seems to exist in America
dealing with black racism presents a huge problem.
In listening to part of Hasselbeck’s comments on YouTube, she seemed to make perfect logical sense. If the ‘N’ word is so offensive, then its use
should not be accepted by anyone.
Goldberg and Shepherd contended that Blacks could use the ‘N’ word as
much as they wanted, even as a term of endearment, while Whites should not be
allowed to use the word under any circumstances. I’ve heard this argument before, and it makes
no sense whatsoever. There are
derogatory words for every race and people in the world, yet black Americans
seem to be the only ones so freely using these words.
What if all the white people in America decided that only they
could use the word ‘cracker.’ We could
force Nabisco and all the other food companies to change the name of the food
product known as the cracker because it offends white people. All white people would then start referring
to each other as ‘crackers.’ “Yo, what’s
up cracker?” “You’re one funny
cracker.” And any time black people said
the word, all white people could attack them as being racists. Now does this sound completely absurd?
Whoopi’s argument that black people have taken the ‘N’ word
back after it was used against them is absolutely ridiculous. The Jewish people were enslaved and
mistreated for a much greater span of history than black people in America, but I
don’t hear them using derogatory words amongst each other as terms of
endearment. I’ve never heard of them
asking for reparations for their slavery either.
There are members of the Black Community who realize that
there is a double standard concerning race.
The most well known to me is Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, who I have seen
numerous times on Fox News talking about the subject.
I have personally seen the double standard at my workplace,
as well as hearing how frequently the ‘N’ word can be tossed around. I’ve had a couple of customers think it was
appropriate to accuse me of letting one area of my lobby get really dirty
because I have mostly black customers.
Another customer told me that white people are afraid of black people. One man recently made a racist comment
towards one of my co-workers, and explained to the General Manager that there
shouldn’t be a problem because he and my co-worker are both black. My co-worker is bi-racial (her father is from
Panama),
and didn’t really appreciate the comment.
Had I made any of these comments to my black customers, or if white
customers had made them to a black manager or employee, there would certainly
have been a problem.
My employees, the majority of whom are black, throw the ‘N’
word around constantly. I have told them
several times in the past not to use the word around customers because I
consider it profanity. I still hear it
quite frequently, but sometimes I will get an, “Oh, sorry.”
The most prominent example of the double standard can be
seen in the rise in popularity of Barack Obama.
Two of my columns (Part I, Part II) exposed the Black Liberation Theology that Sen. Obama has supported for
the past twenty years.
The views of James Cone and Jeremiah Wright, and the mission
of Trinity United Church of Christ, are no secret. I did not have to look hard to reveal the
racist nature of their belief system. Barack
Obama has publicly stated his support of this “church” and its leader for the
past twenty years. He defended Trinity
and Wright several times during the Democratic primaries, and broke with both
only when people just started learning what Black Liberation Theology was all
about, and then the media dropped the issue.
I never saw James Cone interviewed on CNN or Fox News. I never heard reporters asking Sen. Obama
about Black Liberation Theology and how it preaches an ideology of hate against
white people. The media, and many
Americans, have chosen to ignore that Sen. Obama has supported racism against
white people his entire adult life. If it
was revealed that John McCain had even went to one KKK meeting in his life, his
political career would be over, yet Obama could be ushered in as President with
a twenty year history of supporting racism against Whites.
Racism, by any race, is not acceptable. The use of derogatory words, by any race, is
not acceptable. Electing a President
with a history of supporting racism is definitely not acceptable.