20061122

that "n" word?

Michael Richards, känd från tv-serien "Seinfeld" som kultfiguren "Cosmo Kramer", fick utstå en del skämtsamma kommentarer från personer i publiken på kända komediklubben Laugh Factory i Los Angeles i fredags.
Det var mer än vad Richards, 57, pallade med.
En tv-kamera fångade in "Kramer" när han vrålade rasistiska utspel mot en afroamerikansk man i publiken.
- För 50 år sen hade vi hängt dig upp och ned med en jävla gaffel upptryckt i häcken på dig, skrek Richards enligt TMZ.
Och han fortsatte:
- Du kan snacka, du kan snacka, du är tuff nu "motherfucker". Släng ut honom. Han är en nigger! Han är en nigger! Han är en nigger! En nigger, titta där är en nigger.

















På flera amerikanska hiphop-sidor diskuteras nu Richards påhopp. De mer intressanta diskussionerna rör afro-amerikanernas eget bruk av ordet. Nedan är ett intressant inlägg från The Smoking Section.



Can we say that Michael Richards pulled some spastic shit like his beloved character Cosmo Kramer the other night? (”Kramer’s Racist Tirade Caught On Tape“)

I wasn’t a big fan of Seinfield’s dry humor but I understood it. And even if I didn’t like the rest of the show, I, like everyone else, thought Kramer was a funny motherfucker. So now should I be a little tenative while watchin the syndicated reruns? How should I feel? Do I now hate Kramer?

Nope. I hate the ways of Black folk.

Not Black folk, but their ways mind you.

We continously try to take the negative stereotypes and connotations put upon us & spin them into something positive. Look @ hip-hop, and me as well in some cases. We glorify drug selling. Hell BET is doing a series an American Gangsters series featuring Nicky Barnes and “Freeway Ricky” Ross (you thought the rapper was original, eh?). We took the once sexualized image of Black women &….enhanced it into a more sexualized image. We took the idea that Blacks were shiftless & lazy…and created songs like “Chicken Noodle Soup“.

And we’ve always done that with the n-word. Always. And we haven’t stopped. As well we haven’t stopped feigned total outrage when a non-aggin uses it. Richards knew he’d catch hell for using…but shouldn’t Black folks catch some flack as well for embracing it and implying the double standard that “when we say, it’s okay”?

Notice I always type “aggin” instead of the other word? It’s my own little personal battle with a word I so naturally use but desire to stop using.

Kramer is a character, Michael Richards is a person & a comedian. Comedians have always pushed the limits. But personally, as much as we used to sit around and listen to Richard Pryor, something he said when he was out of the limelight stuck with me more & caused my own battle to begin.

During the barrage of invus that were replayed after his death, one showed him discussing his ceasing to use the n-word in his standup routine, after it had been a part of schtick for so long. In brief, he said he went to Africa & he didn’t see any “niggas”. All he saw was beautiful Black folk.

Now I may never make it to Africa’s shores. Hell I find it hard enough leaving the 615 (hood aggin baby). But I see beautiful Black folks daily. And if I don’t see their beauty, I see the pain & furor & frenzy the word itself causes in folks, both Black & White alike. My daughter is eight, and I can see the pause she takes when I use the word, without considering it based on our convos. And if I went to one of my white co-workers and said, “Damn, these niggas in their trippin,” they’d prolly give me a look similar to if I would have said shit damn or motherfucker. That’s part of the irony of it. I can see when it’s not right to use it - work, on here, etc. because I know how the listeners can percieve it. Now I’m fighting the battle to quit using it totally, even amongst my inner circle who I feel so comfortable with and know I’m not being judged by.
So, based on the strength of what my man Rich said and my own personal beliefs and experiences, I’m trying my best not to use the word anymore. Hey, I stopped eating swine and drinking liquor and Lord knows I had a thing for bacon, country ham and Miller High Life.
I advise you aggins…good people to take up the same battle.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Du har då en underhållande blogg :)

Daniel said...

vadå, jag tyckte den var bra!