Well, file this one under "maybe I shouldn't be writing about this because I am white," but I wanted to say something about Reverend Jesse Jackson's new campaign to pressure the entire entertainment industry to never use "the N word" again.
I understand the impulse, but I think it's a stupid move. Removing a word from the common vocabulary does nothing to eradicate racism. A large part of the power of words is their context. If anything, censorship adds power to the word in question, and does nothing to keep people from expressing their bigotry.
The word "boy", for example, is generally neutral and harmless. But when spoken in a certain tone of voice and addressed to an adult black man, it becomes a racist and derogatory word. And on the other hand, Chris Rock made that word which I cannot say into high comedy.
Or to take an example that's a little closer to my own experience, the word "jew". Spat out of the mouth of a skinhead in a voice twisted by anger, it sounds and means something completely different than it does if said by someone whose heart is not full of hate. And removing the word won't make him hate me any less.
All of which is not to say that I think it's a good word or that it should be used more, of course. This is all about context, and it seems pretty obvious that the context in which that word is acceptable is extremely limited and narrow, as it should be.
Like I said, it is possible that I'm wrong about all this. Maybe the word really is so bad that nobody of any color should ever say it again anywhere or in any context. But even so, for Jesse "Hymietown" Jackson of all people to be telling others what they should and should not say seems a little hypocritical.
Comments (1)
I used to have a lot of respect for Jesse Jackson. But it seems he will jump on just about any cause to garner publicity. For example: students at an IL college were getting threatening letters and the threats were racial. Before it could be investigated, Jesse came to the campus, got his face on the news and made a lot of statements. After investigation, the letter writer turned out to be a young black girl whose parents had insisted she attend that college. She didn't want to be there and thought her parents would pull her out if they felt she wasn't safe there. Now this is sad on many counts, but the saddest thing by far is that there was never an apology from Mr. Jackson.
Posted by artistry | November 30, 2006 2:47 PM