Stephen's Own Domain 2008

Ok, I'm going to go easy on this subject. No it's not in reference to The Dark Knight, which I am planning to see anyway. And no, I didn't go to any of the theaters and simply wait just get in. What I'm referring to is the ongoing issue of a word that is just revamping itself over and over. I'm referring to the N-word. Yeah that word. Like some in America, I tuned into "The View" last week, where Whoopi and Elisabeth were sparring over the N-word and the use of it, after Rev. Jesse Jackson mentioned it towards Sen. Barack Obama. Some say blacks can say it, others say whites can't. And majority are just in the middle of trying to understand it. As I was watching the "hot topic", which I'm assuming it is, yes, I got to admit that it was a heated to a point. I know that Elisabeth Hasselbeck had her say on it, but I have to side with Whoopi on this one. Not because she's black, and has an oscar! In my view, Whoopi put up some valid points on the word as in relates to not only discrimination, but also fear, dark history, and pain behind the word. The dark history i'm referring to is Slavery and the Jim Crow era. She commented for example that her mother couldn't go in her hometown to vote when she was alive. Coming to think, I probably had family members who went through the same thing. This was in relation to the "two different worlds" comment. Speaking of that subject, there was sample of that on the east side when I watching a news footage about a patron who was denied access into a club. The patron was a African-American male. According to the footage, at first the man was stopped because his pants wasn't the right size, nor his footwear wasn't correct. Plus his outfit wasn't "approvable". So in an experiment, he asked his friend, a caucasian man, to dress in the same clothes he was wearing in prior going to the club. Guess what? The caucasian man got in with the exact clothes his black friend was wearing! Do you see a pattern here? The footage I watched was from Channel 12's Investigations Segment in which Colleen Henry did the story. And I often read stories coming from black publications, such as the Milwaukee Truth, about clubs like Decibal Deepbar don't cater to African-Americans. I read in an article about club goers (about 22 year old black college students) who commented, had the "not accepting us" relations in going to establishments like Decibal Deepbar.

Back to the subject at hand: Some of you are saying this, why are you agreeing with Whoopi? Why her? Why not get on the side of Elisabeth? Let me tell you: I may not agree of what she said in context, but I have to admit the fact, in my view, Whoopi made a valid point in this matter. It may be somewhat understandable, but then again it may not be. I know that I'm probably the same age as Elisabeth Hasselbeck (31), and I don't at times fully understand "the gist" behind the use of the N-Word. I haven't been in the world long enough like my older family members to fully get it. That's almost I'll agree with some pointers of Rev. Jerimiah Wright made about America's problems. I'll go forward and say that I have some of my older family members upon occassion say the N-word. I'm being real here! Especially my Great Uncle, who is Old School! Even my parents, especially my father, had mentioned the N-Word so many times in our family conversations. And they broke it down to myself and my sister of what it ment towards the using of it in a negative manner. There was a time that my current pastor said during a childrens moment in my church, last year, about the N-Word in full context, and telling the children not to be afraid growing up of what the true meaning of the word really is. Plus, he was being real about it! About four years ago, one of my living uncles, who works for P&H Mining on the South Side, mentioned to me when he started working, the employees at the time were given the green light for calling the black employees the N-Word. Keep in mind, this was way back when, before I came into the world. And like my pastor, he was very real to me about saying this, although I wasn't comfortable in hearing the N-Word. 

For famous people: This is nothing new. I know the first people when it comes to mind about it are rappers. Not all, but some. Recently, Nas, the rapper who claimed that Hip Hop is Dead, has an album out now called "Untitled" which is based on the N-word. And I know there are some or most of the consumers who flocked to Kmart, Target, Walmart, Best-Buy, Amazon.com, Itunes, or Circuit City bought the CD or singles to listen to Nas about the N-Word. I didn't get my copy. There were other famous individuals like Tina Turner, Vanessa Williams, Malcolm X, even Martin Luther King, Jr. and countless others, all mentioned the N-Word in a similiar form of experience of what they went through growing up. Vaneesa Williams for example, was interviewed by Barbara Walters, experienced the N-Word when growing up in a all white neighborhood. For Tina Turner, she experienced that while growing up in the south. Even websites like Wikipedia, has the N-word posted with a definition behind it. Remember Michael Richards? Kramer from Seinfeld mentioned the N-word so many times in his comic routine on TMZ, that got some blacks upset. Like it or not, I was watching some of George Carlin's dialogues about the subject and he said the word also. Even Chris Rock said it in one of his comic routines from his "Bring The Pain" HBO Special back in 1996. Not to mention mostly, Richard Pryor.

Now this is the would be the million dollar question: what can be done to erase the N-word? What can be done to really eliminate the word? I mean hey, Sen. Barack Obama is in the Presidental Candidate circle with Sen. John McCain, and this word is in the way. The burial didn't work, but most folks kept bringing it back from the dead. This word has always been in the way no matter what era, generation, or presidential election year it is. It's just like Whoopi said, and I agree about "finding a new way". Finding a new way to not only just mentioning it, but a way to understand to progress past it. The old ways are probably falling off the mark, and not seem to be workable. Let me also go forward by saying this - have a real conversation about it! It's just like the pastors several months ago, who spoke about having a sacred conversation about race. We need to have a sacred converation about the n-word, and any other slur word that plagues our country's ethnic communities. I mean if you know what certain words are, you should know the definition. If you say the word and have no knowledge of the definiton, you might not understand the meaning. That would probably mean that we would have to step out of the computer realms and get into an open space like Pere Marquette Park or Cathedral Square, and just have an old-fashioned, face-to-face, man-to-man, woman-to-woman, black-to-white, ethnic-to-ethnic, northside-to-southside, eastside-to-westside, county-to-county, suburb-to-city, district-to-district, neighborhood-to-neighborhood, state-to-state, city-to-city, clubgoer-to-clubgoer, church member-to-church member, pastor-to-pastor, webteam worker-to-webteam worker, news colleague-to-news colleague, a Greta Van Sustren to Juan Williams style-chat about the legatity of the N-Word. Don't be scarred! I mean, if we can have a coversation about Brett Favre trying to play again, or having Ted Thompson fired, Myspace, MyFox, The Dark Knight(hey, I like Batman myself), Wisconsin Badgers Football, HDTV, Converter Boxes, NFL Ticket on DirecTV, the best DVDs, the worst Video Games, Nintendo Wii, PS3, Xbox, Madden '09, Gas Prices, or any other best/worst subject, why not a sacred or real conversation about the N-Word? If we don't have this real conversation about the N-word, we'll be stuck in the same boat for the next many years and having to the next generation to ask us, what is a N-word and why some did used in many ways such as hurting people? Don't be suprised about those questions.

On the real, I don't use the N-Word. I don't have the intentions of displaying it in public. It's not my interest nor desire to speak it. Nor it's my intention of looking at on a book cover at Borders or Barnes and Nobles. Nor as me being of African decent (or African-American call it what you want) of embracing it in a negative fashion like those who constantly use it and get away with it. I know my upbringing of standards and morals.

This is my take. Right or wrong. Just my thought.