Celebs React To Elisabeth Hasselbeck's N-Word Comments
The discussion on The View got heated when Elisabeth Hasselbeck tried to say that neither an African American person nor a Caucasian person should use the n-word in any context. Whoopi Goldberg and Sherri Shepherd said it was different for them. Now a few more celebrities are weighing in on this heavy topic.
Taye Diggs:
“(Hasselbeck) doesn’t
understand, and, no offense — I don’t think any white person has the
right to tell a black person or to even weigh in on subject matter such
as that,” Diggs told “Access Hollywood” on Thursday. “They don’t know
what it’s like to be called that word; they don’t know what it’s like
to be black.“They
can have an opinion, but… don’t take a word that you created and called
me for many, many years, and then me being in my position, have the
strength to change what it means in my own culture,” he explained.
“Don’t try to take it back now. Now it’s ours. Leave it alone.”
Scrubs star, Donald Faison:
“I don’t think Elisabeth Hasselbeck would ever have to worry being
called the ‘N-word’ … For her to be offended by it, it’s kind of weird.
African-Americans have used it now as a term of endearment, or how to
describe a situation. So for her to say something like that, she has no
idea what power it has over anyone.”
ONTD
300 points
Why does this woman start so many controversies?
300 points
Because she's a total attention whore. HOW did this thing START, anyway?!
She stated an opinion! God forbid!! JEez look at fat a$$ whoopi she is a BIT&C on that show to Elizabeth and no one calls her out
300 points
Oh, let's attack fat people, now. That's cool, too. And Elizabeth is known for saying some VERY DUMB THINGS, and Whoopi is known for being very sharp-tongued. Are you shocked?
oh so "shes known" for that! she has balls and im glad she said what sha did bc its the damn truth! get all that wax out of your ears so you can listen and be more open minded
Why is Whoopie considered a B****? just because she does not kiss that anorexia looking IGNORANT/INSENSITIVE wish I had a real talent scanks flat a$$.
300 points
Oh, yes. Never mind. I just remembered: Jesse freaking Jackson. THANKS, JESSE. Go hop on McCain's bandwagon and shut your piehole.
"This woman" is on a television program called The View, i.e. her views on the subject of the day. She is not trying to start any controversy, she is merely voicing her opinion.
I don't care how many ways they try to explain it... bottom line is no society should have 'words' only a select group is allowed to use. That is discrimination too you know.
If a yellow person can use one word but an orange person can't, or a purple person or a green one... get it? Why is one color allowed to use a word but no other? I don't see any other color or people trying to have a word that is all theirs.
Get over it.
At one point in all our history every color of people has been abused, discriminated against forced into indentured servitude. Yes even WHITES. The Irish were indentured servants as well as several other white skin nationalities.
Allowing blacks to have a word that no one else can use is not right or fair.
I completely agree!!!!
If a word should not be used it then it should not be used AT ALL! No loopholes, no exceptions.
No race or gender or whatever should be above that rule.
Exactly!
I agree... If we keep setting "rules" about what one race can do and the the other can't than how can we all be considered the "same"?
I agree with second comment. This is why we still have division between races. So I have to teach my son that it is OK that his African American friend uses n word and that it is not OK for him to use it because he is white.
I think I am so tired of black people saying to the media or anybody that will listen that it is just so tough for them.......and it's hard being black. Many many years ago I would probably agree w/ that statement but today we as americans have a black presidental canidate leading in the polls. Slavery is no more! People don't have the right bring up slavery happening to them! It didn't happen to them or their parents or their grandparents. in 08 w/ Obama being where he is people just need to understand the whoa is me attitude iis not or should not get you far. Black and white people weren't from the same world but look at the progress over the years!!
You have to remember ending slavery didn't put an end to discrimination. Many people who grew up during the Civil Rights Movement are still alive. However, I do believe buying into this mess only slows down the healing process.
Where do you think Obama is I think he is a scapegoat. The one who will take over after the biggest mistake in america leaves. He will not be abe to fix anything, and he will be a one term president. America is good on giving republicans eight years to f*** up and only four years to fix their mistakes.
So again it will be the black mans fault
300 points
I actually see where Elizabeth is coming from, and I also see where Whoopi's coming from. But I've heard too many (white) people my own age use the word very flagrantly, so I think its proliferation may be hard to ignore. I automatically bristle when I hear it, just as I loathe hearing people say the F-word -- the one that ends with A-G, that is. There are also a LOT of white kids who listen to N-word happy hardcore rap and hiphop, and they may not understand the power of racial slurs. To them, it's just Nas' album title or something. They don't really get our country's history of lynchings, beatings, riots, etc. It's a dangerous thing, and I honestly don't really feel comfortable discussing it, since I can't relate to a racial struggle. I'm as white as they come, but I've got a few black friends -- ALL of whom have been victims of racism or other general bigoted human stupidity. It's 2008. It just makes me really sad.
I have to agree with number 2 and 3. I don't hear of any other races using impolitically correct words as "terms of endearment."
How does it even make sense to use a word that was once used against them as a term of endearment? I can't see homosexuals calling each other the F word or the G word as a term of endearment in the future. Can someone explain this to me?
Then you obviously don't know any of us. :)
785 points
There comes a point in time when you have to say "Enough is enough." I have one white/black child and 2 white/middle eastern children. What am I supposed to tell them?
"Ok, now, for you older 2, you're technically white, but not really, because people are still going to discriminate against you because you're "darker" than them, but not really white....so while you're younger brother, who is half black can use the "N" word, you can't...and neither can I, but hey, maybe someday you 2 can turn the racial slurs for your ethnic group into terms of endearment and you'll have those words all for your very own."
WTF? Seriously. How MORONIC does that sound?
I'm with Elisabeth all the way!!! Whoopi and Sherri don't know everything like they think they do.
I always thought hell would freeze over the day I agreed with EH. But, ummm, i guess that day is today. Being an AA woman it's really sad that my ppl actually considers a word that was used to tear us down and disgrad us for hundreds of years as a "term of endearment." Endearment for whom. And I agree with the person above. I really don't see gay ppl using the F word as a "term of endearment" in the near future. I really don't know the credentials they use to select the women on the view but they need to re-think it. I'm a little ashamed that it takes a white person (no offense, really) to stand up and speak out about a word that should not be used and then to have two black women turn around and say you are wrong we use this word as a "term of endearment." Are you f****** kidding me. God. Our AA heros died for us to have so much and it's a damn shame we take it all for granted.
Are you all kidding me? First of, black people do not say Nigger to each other, they say niggah. It's the black people noun. Get over it. It reminds me of "if one person jump off the bridge" scenario. This is the crux of the matter my fellow whites...just like you can't call a jew a kike or an italian guido or any other racist terms, you can't call blacks the N word. Call each other crackers or honky and if you hear someone outside your race use it, GET OFFENDED. All this incessant "why can't we say it" or "if we can't say it, you can't say it" deserves the upmost ridicule. My goodness. Also, gay people call each other the F word all the time or even homo. But if you are not gay, YOU CAN'T SAY IT!!!! So WHITE people....GET OVER YOURSELVES.
By the way, I am white and and I can tell you to get over yourselves and stop whining. Jeez.
I have to agree with most of the posters. It is a complete "double standard", oh, I can say this word-but don't you dare let me hear you say it. That is ridiculous and is not going help race relations one bit. Then you know what, I don't want any ethnic group to call me any name other than white---that is all you have permission as how to refer to me. Yes, that is as stupid as it sounds and so are these people. Whopi and Sherri and others are part of the problem not the solution. If it is not alright for one group to say a word then it is not alright for any one to say it, period!!
Honestly I'm tired of different races trying to play the victim against another race. I don't know how it is to be black, but black people don't know how it is to be white and so on and so forth when it comes to different races. So stop trying to play the victim because your black. White people are offended by things black people say, and black people get offended by things white people say, it's a never ending process until people GET OVER THEMSELVES, and stop trying to be so damn self righteous!
Wow, I can't believe how ignorant some of the people on here are!!
--"People don't have the right bring up slavery happening to them! It didn't happen to them or their parents or their grandparents."
Are you JOKING?! Slavery was the most disgusting thing this country has ever done. While you're at it, why don't you tell Jewish people that they have no right to bring up the Holocaust. And there still is extreme discrimination against black people. Why don't you crawl out from the rock you live under and try living in the real world? It's a pretty narrow-minded, sad, view you hold....
The person was simply saying that salvery did not happen to anyone born in the United Stats now and has not happened for hundresds of years!!!!!! So dont play that card! We are well beyond slavery and now lots of things has changed. You cant blame white people who are living here now in the country for slavery. How can you sit there and try to blame me or Jane Doe for somehting that happened hundreds of years ago???????? Yes it is ashame and digusting that slavery happened, and were not saying to forget about it, but you have to stop blaming the "white" people of today for it! That is NOT FAIR AND THAT IS DISGUSTING TO DO!
Passerby (not verified) said:
The person was simply saying that salvery did not happen to anyone born in the United Stats now and has not happened for hundresds of years!!!!!! So dont play that card! We are well beyond slavery and now lots of things has changed. You cant blame white people who are living here now in the country for slavery. How can you sit there and try to blame me or Jane Doe for somehting that happened hundreds of years ago???????? Yes it is ashame and digusting that slavery happened, and were not saying to forget about it, but you have to stop blaming the "white" people of today for it! That is NOT FAIR AND THAT IS DISGUSTING TO DO!
YOU ARE AWESOME!!!!!
Actually, people DON'T bring up the holocaust in the way that you're talking about unless them or their families were victims. There aren't any Jews that tell Germans 'I can call myself a ****, but you can't". Even in Armenia, where the Turks did a MASS GENOCIDE, they don't call themselves hateful names and then forbid anyone else from calling them that. No one's saying that blacks or any other race don't face discrimination, because ALL RACES HAVE AT ONE POINT IN TIME. That doesn't give you a pass to act like a victim for the next 100 years. Do something positive with the freedom that you now have instead of complaining all the time about what you face now. Lots of people face discrimination and hate..you either get over it and rise above or you end up in the slums blaming other people for your poverty.
No I am not JOKING at all....and I don't take slavery lightly (and I think it was ONE of the worst things that happened in this country) but In reference to the comment I think that black people have every right to "bring up slavery" but did it happen to them per se NO!!!! and I don't hear a bunch of Jewish people running around saying to ET, The Insider or whatever media outlet will listen we can say anything we want BUT YOU CAN"T because we went through the Holocaust!!! Almost every nationality has gone through some pretty horrible things MANY YEARS ago........
Slavery didn't just happen to African Americans. If you go back far enough in bloodline you will find a slave because slavery has existed in practically every part of the world. There was actually a country in North Africa (may have been an island) that brought more European slaves to Africa than the amount of Africans originally brought to North America and you don't hear anyone complaining...
As for the "extreme discrimination against black people" there is also much discrimination against whites because the are deprived of so many thing such as minority scholarship just because of their heritage.
This is total BS! So if black people are so offended by the word then why do they call eachother that and its OK??? This is a double standard!
Taye Diggs saying this is BS!
"“They can have an opinion, but… don’t take a word that you created and called me for many, many years, and then me being in my position.."
~um first of all the people who made up that word are long dead, NO ONE HERE HAS HAD SLAVES IN AMERICA. I am sick of the black people who claim this! The slave owners are long dead and the racist people who had segragation are long dead. No one is being racist. I think the people who are racists are the ones who have "African American scholoarships" and "Latino scholarships." Are there any "Cacasion scholarships?" NO, that would be "racist." I am so sick of this double standard! and NO i am NOT racist, if everyone wants to be equal then act like it, dont segragate others by having "Black this, and Latino this." there is no "white or cacasion only this and that! Why is that ok for their to be Black and Latino only things but not to include cacasions???????????????????????????????????????
Yeah, I think it's funny that he said "don't take a word that YOU created" also using the words "they".
Last time I checked white people of this generation aren't responsible for making that word, and neither are black people.
Words are just that, words. The context of a word is what poeple should be concerned about. And this concept of "word" ownership? Please.
Taye Diggs doesn't know what it's like to be white in this day and age and the tremedous guilt STILL being passed down on our generation for people who don't even exist.
As a women anyway, I find it offensive that anyone, a black man included, has the nerve to get all worked up over discriminatin. Black men had the right to vote before women - and a black man is likely to get into the whitehouse before a woman of any color. Men still hold all the chips in this world, black, white, asian, hispanic...
Again, please.
I'm sick of the "us vs. them" mentality and I'm sick of that "N" word period.
If anything stop using it because people aren't grown up enough to use it without acting like sniveling babies about it.
Wrong.....wrong....DEAD WRONG........POINT OF FACT!!
1949 - White women in America got the right to VOTE
1965 - Black men AND women got the right to VOTE.....
LOOK IT UP and get your DAMN FACTS RIGHT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
C'mon people, if you're gonna quote some one, make sure you get your facts right....
Why is that ok for their to be Black and Latino only things but not to include cacasions???????????????????????????????????????
____________________________________________________________
Well, how about because you own everything else. As far as there being some very few to none simple little things for Blacks and Latinos, white people are in control of that as well. There is nothing, absolutely nothing that blacks have, that white people don't have a hand in. This country was built on the backs, blood, sweat, tears of blacks, and for who and what? For you all to reap the benefits, and still call all the shots. Come on, you must go systemically in order to get to the surface. You are so far from right when you say slavery no longer exists, well it exists all over the world, including right here in the U.S.A. You may not be or may not have been a slave owner, but whites are carrying on that mentality. You are born privileged just by the very color of your skin, and guess what you all act just that way. So how do you think we are supposed to feel?
Your full of crap!!!!!!!!!!!!! Who says that the ones who started segregation aren't still alive??????????? There are people who are in their 100s still alive and kicking!!! Go down south and see that there are still separate proms and it is 2008!!! Have your ancesters told you that they had to sit in the back of the bus?? Separate bathrooms and drinking fountains? Or couldn't eat in a restaurant?? Or couldn't even check into a hotel?? Do you face discrimination on a daily basis of people staring at you just because your white?? And don't think that white people don't use the N word as a racial slur in these days because they still do because that is what they've been taught to do all their lives and how their family thinks. You will never understand how it is to be black because you will never live it out and if you had the opportunity you would want to change back to your race in a matter of seconds!!!! It's amazing how some white people think that black people are complaining or we're giving a double standard...we have to fight everyday to prove ourselves in so called "America - Land of the Free". And the Native Indians here...look at what have they and still go through...living on reservations and facing too many hardships and look at what they're ancesters went through. They had tribes that were completely wiped out when the white settlers came to take the land that belonged to them. Remember the black ancesters were not brought over here by choice, but forced over here with no option to say, NO! Here it will always be about black and white..nothing is going to change that as much as would like to change because we still have racists who refuse to change. And the whole thing with the African American and Latino scholarships...remember this we have to do this because there IS STILL DISCRIMINATION AGAINST OTHERS WHO ARE NON-WHITE...and may not take a person's application because of the color of their skin or ethinicity. So don't try to sugar coat the real situation at hand and blame on us like we're "complaining" because you don't have a clue. Why don't you be black for a week and you'll just get a taste of what we go through...some days are okay and some days are horrible. Not saying all races don't go through the daily motions of just life, but some have it harder than others that to this day is still not understood and never will be. And one more thing "cacasion" is spelled: Caucasion.
I live in the Heart of Georgia near Atlanta (doesn't get more "Southern" than that) and I have never heard of a segregated prom on my life but moving on...
By the way Indians lived here for thousands of years and all the built were dirt mounds.... Then came the Europeans and the created the most powerful country in the world...
If Blacks were brought over here by force and don't want to live here then they can go back to Africa where everyone is in poverty.
As for the scholarship I don't think that race should even be on the application. Why does it matter anyways?
As a hispanic person, I feel like blacks(not all, of course) keep on holding on to that word because it allows them to be outraged. I feel like they've had their opportunity to rise above and get a great education and be successful, but all some people want to do is call people racist(sharpton) and hold rallys and put whites vs blacks. we need to stop telling people 'you don't know what it's like to be this' and separate ourselves, because its only hurting us.
Get over it! Blacks look for any reason to complain. They use the "N" word so by God anyone else can too. Not a one of them were ever slaves and if they'd read a book they'd know it was their own selling each other!!!!!
I find it interesting that people fail to realize that the n-word was not only used towards slaves, but towards people up until the mid-1950s - on signs in restaurants, bathrooms, stores and on buses - when segregation started to become unlawful - a result of the Supreme Court in Brown v. the Board of Education (1953). So to say that none of the black people alive today were slaves is a understatement. They may have not been slaves in the traditional sense, but to require someone to sit at the back of the bus, not be able to attend a school they wanted to, or to not get married to someone due to a difference in skin color (or be killed for it) does make them a slave. Up until the 1950s many people in the south didn't have the "freedom of choice" we all do today. And in today's society, some still don't (i.e. Mississippi).
As far as continuing the use of the word today, I believe that a lot of AA are still hurt by what happened so recently in our history. It doesn't make it right that they use the word, but it is the one thing that our society gave to them during that time which they took a spin on (positive or negative) and made their own. Why should anyone take it from them now?
Well said , above poster!!! Taye Diggs also said white people cannot tell them not to use that word, but blacks can demand white people not use it. How racist is that????
WE are all HUMAN, we all bleed the same color blood!
"How does it even make sense to use a word that was once used against them as a term of endearment? I can't see homosexuals calling each other the F word or the G word as a term of endearment in the future. Can someone explain this to me?"
You mean like how homosexuals have taken back the word queer and use amongst themselves or women call each other bitches as a term for bonding and endearment?
Can't say I totally agree that the N word is something anyone should use, but blacks have taken it back to take the power from it and so be it.
How can they claim they're taking back the power when they still get so offended if anyone else uses it?
Okay, first of all it's "CAUCASIAN" not cacasion.
Second, I can see why people would be annoyed by this discussion if it's not something that they take personally.
Finally, I think the issue is based on the context in which the word is used. Taye Diggs isn't saying she or anyone else isn't allowed to say the word, even though it might sound like he is. I see him saying that this is a word that for many years was used in solely a hurtful way against people in his community. They were able to change the meaning, take control of it, so that it isn't a hurting word to them now. What right does Elisabeth Hasselbeck, poster child for white yuppies, btw, have to be offended by this word now? It's not her place to take up the cause after-the-fact.
"After the fact?" what after 200 years?? i dont think Elizabeth Hasselback was alive back then! Why should one racial group be allowed to use a word and it be sooo wrong for another group to say it? why want to use that word in your own language if it is SOOOOO offesnsive??? does that make sense??? NO!
the meaning of that word means "ignorance"
300 points
Alaska Island Life, I am sure she did not want to offend anyone, like the word DUDE the word Nigger, has many many ways of use, I am Alaska Native, and have dealt with every type of race, and there discriminations, and for real if I do not like what or how someone has said something to me I correct them, so for there sake and mine they do no do it again, and that is the great part of America freedom of speech and the right to your own opinion, are country rocks, everyone of us, and we could not be this awesome with out all of you:-)
Look, it's like Eve Ensler's taking back the word c**t in The Vagina Monologues. It's a way of accepting that you can't always erase what's been said in the past, but we can empower ourselves to use as women. Men can't use it cuz we took it back (or so the play inferred). Let the African Americans take back the word and OWN it for themselves, to diminish where caucasians took that word for YEARS. I think that we all owe it to ourselves to empower ourselves by reclaiming words, not pretending that they never existed!!! HOORAY for Whoopie, Sherrie, Taye...Boo Elizabeth for being closed-minded.
Um, Elizabeth isn't being closed-minded. I think the others are. She's saying that we should be more open and accepting: making no distinction between race about what we can or can't say.
Elizabeth is right on this. If the word is so offensive, then blacks should stop using it too. Period. And for Taye Diggs to say, 'its ours now'? That has to be the dumbest thing I've heard.
I feel terrible for Elizabeth- everytime she opens her mouth to express any thought she has she is attacked by everyone else on the show- its sad that being a conservative woman in such a great position on TV has to deal with people who think she is ignorant and not worth listening to just because she has a differing opinion.. Just like when Rosie O would tell her to be quiet and that she was too young to know what she was saying. Let her speak her mind and give conservative women a voice in the midst of the liberal hysteria in the media. She's allowed to speak on the show, too. Maybe we should all be a little more open-minded about what she has to say and listen to both sides of an argument. Go Elizabeth!
Why would people who find the word "sooo offesnsive" want to call eachother it???? this makes no fing sense!
Why would people who find the word "sooo offesnsive" want to call eachother it???? this makes no fing sense!
If you think racism doesn't exist in the country then you're in denial. No, I am not just talking about racism only against African-Americans but racism in general. It exists, as does discrimination for a variety of reasons, race, sex, sexual preference, etc. And we are all affected by it, whether you'd like to admit it or not. Black people do use the N word as a term of endearment. And you know what, it makes sense in some ways. It's about taking the hurt and pain out of a word, about giving it less power over you by changing its substance. It's harder for someone to hurl a word at you in hate and to hurt you with it, when it's a word you use with affection. It's not like the N word is the only word that is used that way. People use hateful and/or derogatory terms in affectionate ways to remove the power those words have, not just racist terms. Banning or barring a term entirely only makes it more taboo and gives it more power as being something feared. Changing its meaning takes the power away.
Frankly it's no one's place to tell someone it's time to get over their history or to move past the things done to their ancestors or to them personally. It's easy to discredit the hurt that people feel over the things visited upon them, but it's harder to admit that this world is a complicated and complex place where people have divergent experiences and viewpoints and where different rules do apply to different people. Equality doesn't mean sameness. There are things I would never say, words I would never use, but if someone else uses them to refer to themselves, who am I to judge or to say, "oh no, you can't use that word because i can't and we all have to be able to use the same words." That's just silly and oversimplifies the world we live in.
who am I to judge or to say, "oh no, you can't use that word because i can't and we all have to be able to use the same words." .....what you just said it racist honey! if you can say the word bc you are black and i cant bc i am white the is RACIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!! such FING DOUBLE STANDARDS! IL USE ANY WORD I WANT!
We have freedom of speech in this country, honey. So use the word, or any word, if you want to, honey. Just be ready to accept the consequences when you do.
300 points
I really don't think you read or comprehended what this person was trying to say.
300 points
Wow. That was excellently articulated-- thanks! I think that Jesse Jackson is abhorrent, personally. His comments about Obama revealed him to be a complete idiot, and I just really, really hope that it doesn't hurt Obama's campaign. "He doesn't understand black people." GOD. SHUT UP, JESSE JACKSON. We have a candidate who DOES want what's best for blacks, and here's an elder self-designated spokesman totally trying to bring him down. Great.
Why does it have to be whats best for blacks?? Why cant it be whats best for all people of AMERICA???? if someone said i want to do what is best for whites, it would be "racist." this needs to stop, we are all humans, we all have the same bodily functions, we all bleed the same color! its comments like yours that keep this world segragated, and make it look like white people are so racist! i am sick of this double standard!
300 points
Obama is completely justified in his concern for black culture, and I appreciate the fact that he was stern in his declarations that black men need to be held accountable for the well-being of their families. He wasn't pandering to anyone -- which is what a lot of politicians DO during the four or so months preceding a national election. It was a speech he delivered on Father's Day to a mostly (if not all) black congregation in a church, and he recieved some mixed responses to it -- which garnered that response from Jesse Jackson in which JESSE used the N-word. Like it or not, our feelings about race are something that we need to examine right now. It doesn't make anyone a racist to question these things. It makes you a thinking, logical, reasonable human being.
This is AMERICA, we are all equal! So he should be concerned with everyone! Not just black people!
300 points
Ugh. You really, honestly, truly don't get it, and I know that I'm wasting my energy by even typing a response. So I'll stop.
He is concerned with everyone. Why are you making a big deal about him making a speech directly towards black people? Since when is that wrong? Im sure Obama will be making many more speeches towards everyone in the coming months. Its people that make a huge stink about one instance or two that continue this segregation. Bush has been talking to rich old white men for the past 8 years. Has he been concerned with everyones well being?
The point is he made a speech directly to balcks.. if a whote person made a specch just for whites hed be "racist." Thats why!
it was at a church to a black congregation!! period! should he not go and speak to black people at a black church and make a speech that relates to them?
well why do you refer to it as a "black church?" there are NO "white churches." do you see what I am saying YET????????????
300 points
LMFAO at this: "there are NO white churches." Sweetie, you need to visit Virginia sometime. Or any American town, for that matter.
"There are NO white churches" WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? Come to my church... It's about 1,000 people and at the most 10 people aren't white...
They're using it because it takes away the pain? What if a white person wants to help take away the pain and use it in a loving way?
300 points
"Don’t take a word that you created and called me for many, many years...Don’t try to take it back now." That is the most heinous generalization. He's saying "you people" called "my people" this name. To me, that is so ignorant. Most white people refrain from using "N*g*r" at all. I've never called someone that. I think what Elizabeth is saying is that she's offended that he used the word, when she (representing white people) have put so much effort into reforming old ways, repairing the damage, and refraining from using the word at all. It's offensive because no matter how much effort we've put into ridding the world of that word, black people still throw it around like it's nothing and then pin it on white people for having said it. It's not the white people who have kept this word lingering for "many, many years", its the black people.
300 points
I'd just like to raise the point that black people, in this thread, have been accused of getting into college unfairly, ending up in the slums based on their inability to work hard, being totally lazy, and blaming other people for their problems. I'd ALSO like to point out that there are TONS of rednecks -- i.e., happily-ignorant WHITE people -- who constantly do these SAME EXACT THINGS. Again, I see both sides of the argument, and I totally anticipated this becoming a really heated topic on INO -- good job, Vera :-) -- but there's also a lot of closeted racism running through these comments. Not all black people are lazy freeloaders who hate white people and play the race card. There are a lot of hardworking black folks who simply want the best for their families and want to earn a living in a respectable way. Just sayin'...
I think it's best to remember that you shouldn't overgeneralize everything. Yes, we know not EVERYONE did this or EVERYONE did that. When I mention that someone was lazy or whatever, I'm not talking about their whole race. That's why stereotypes pop up..
I agree that there are many hard working black people but something doesn't become a stereo type for no reason. There is some truth in almost everything...
I don't understand why people are making this so complicated...
It's IGNORANT people who invented the "N" word because they didn't understand how beautiful and culturally rich African-Americans are. Like most ignorant people who don't understand something, they humiliated, degregated, and segregated in order to hide their ignorance and stupidity.
It was IGNORANT people who brought the term to life and it is IGNORANT people today who are keeping the "N" word alive.
“They can have an opinion, but… don’t take a word that you created and called me for many, many years, and then me being in my position,......WE DIDNT CREATE THIS WORD, PEOPLE FROM HUNDREDS OF YEARS AGO DID!
"the word" is like the word Negro (Spanish for black) so if it is offensive than the word black should also be considered offensive and in that case white is an inaccurate term as well. lastly, if they are referred to as African Americans is it okay for me to be offended when I am called white instead of European American?
Whoopis needs to shut her fat a$$ mouth up! she is racist!
One of the big problems with the N word is when people in Europe use it and do not understand the context. Where I live most of the kids here say "yeah, he's a n*****". When they really mean black. I have to continually drive into their heads that if they said that to an African American or any other Black person they could get the crap beaten out of them. They don't understand the issue or the word. And why should they? This is not just an issue in the U.S. but abroad where the movies, music and television a lot of people watch is from the U.S. I mean, fine, use that word if you want to. Just don't expect people from other countries or people who who do not know English as a first language or it's history not to and understand why they should't. A lot of people mimic their idols. These stars have to realize that their fan base and responsibility does not only like in the U.S.
After-the-fact meaning after his community has found a way to turn the meaning around for themselves. Some of you aren't understanding what he said.
As a black woman, I HATE the "n" word. I feel like no one, even black people should use it. Unfortunately, other people feel differently
Passerby at 2:26, I agree with you 100%. When there is a stigma attached to a word or anything else, the way you get rid of it is by taking control and turning it into a positive thing. It's sort of like beating them to the punch. I know this is a stretch as an example, but it's like someone going through chemotherapy who shaves their head before the radiation makes it fall out. Being proactive rather than being a victim has an amazingly positive effect. This word has evolved and is now a term of endearment, sort of, in the black community when it is used the right way. Yes, there are people who will still choose to use it as a derogatory term - THAT is offensive.
BTW, I'm sorry, did I miss the part where either Taye Diggs or Donald Faison said that no one besides black people are allowed to use this word? The discussion is about Elisabeth Hasselbeck being OFFENDED by people who have used the word, as far as I can see.
I understand what you are saying but that's still really stupid. (That's like anyone who has ever been called a bitch trying to change the meaning of the world to mean beautiful lady but you can only use in that sense if you have been called that.) Hopefully you see what I am saying...
I'm sorry but some of the comments are really ridiculous. Its not right to blame a certain group for keeping the word alive today. I'm a black woman who doesnt use the "n" word but I hear it from both blacks AND whites! We cant sit here and pretend that racism is completely gone from this country. Whites and blacks don't always have the same opportunites and experiences. Even here in this blog, we have people saying that blacks always play the race card or that all whites are for equal opportunity. I attended a predominantly white institution and have seen several instances of racism, one in particular where white students smeared dog feces on the door of the NAACP and wrote "Hang All The N****rs". Yes, we all bleed the same color but the reality of the situation is that until we all take the time to understand one another and realize that we don't all face the same issues in the country, we are going to be arguing about the same mundane topics. This one included.
300 points
I work with a girl of African, Cherokee and West Indian descent, and I was HORRIFIED to learn that another one of our coworkers had recently been dropping the N-bomb around her; I was mostly aghast because I honestly didn't view this other coworker as a racist person. I wanted SO BADLY to run straight to my boss, but the girl just sort of shrugged and said she just pitied the dude who said it, and claimed that tattling on him would be more trouble than it was worth. RACISM STILL EXISTS, PEOPLE. Just because you'd like to think of yourselves as evolved, it doesn't mean everyone ELSE is! Inequalities still exist, and like the above poster indicated, the ONLY way we'll get beyond all this crap is to address it head on and realize that there are certain ethnic groups that are still targeted and held back because of their heritage. Oh, and I'm really sorry to hear about the dipsh!ts who attended your college. I hope they were punished for it, and I can only hope that they learned some sort of lesson.
It's really great you want to comment but I think everyone is getting tired of you saying the same thing over and over agian.
I agree with you.
It's clearly obvious by now all over the media and the internet that those who claim exclusive rights to the n-word are the overwelmed minority ! This is a Democracy, and majority rules, so we don't wamt to hear that word come out of your mouth !!!
I'm so excited, if that can be ok during this topic, because other people UNDERSTAND how wrong it is to use the N word in any form. I've tried to explain to friends that it doesn't matter how you use it or in what context you feel is "ok" to use it and none of them really understand. I don't know how many times I've heard it being said that if you say N-er it's wrong/bad, but if used as N-a, everything is "cool". Ok, so why then isn't there an uproar when every other word in rap music is the N word, in BOTH contexts? I agree with so many other posters saying that it is STILL because of this effing word that there is cultural divide within our country. And another thing, Taye Diggs says that Elisabeth (or white people for that matter) don't know what it's like to be black...well, from all the publicity this topic brings out, white people are getting an idea. I mean, look at CNN-- they're running a special on what it's like to be black in America. Yeah, I'd like to see a special called "White in America" and hear the backlash from that. We are, afterall, the MINORITY now. Check it out in the census.
300 points
"We are, afterall, the MINORITY now. Check it out in the census." Alright. So who serves you burgers, collects your tolls on major highways, busses your table, and cleans your hotel rooms? Minorities are usually the ones to hold those super-enviable positions, and they're definitely not making enough to live comfortably. That argument is just absolutely invalid. Sorry.
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