By Cheri, The Non-PC News Girl
America’s darling chef, the queen of southern cooking, Paula Deen, admitted to uttering the one word that any white person dare not say in the 21st Century--nigger. And with that, she lost her cooking show on The Food Network; she lost millions of dollars in licensing, merchandising and endorsement deals from the likes of Target, Walmart and Home Deport; she lost her sponsorship with the diabetes drug company Novo Nordisk; and everywhere her products and shows are being phased out along with her good name.
Crying live on-air that she indeed made a mistake when she called a member of her staff a nigger during a heated argument, Deen called on that one person who has never made a mistake to pick up a stone and throw it so hard at her head that it kills her. She made repeated apologies and denied that she is a racist, claiming it was a solitary mistake and not a common occurrence that led a former employee to start a civil lawsuit against her for alleged racism. Yet despite this, and a website created to save Paula Deen that has thousands of signers and even the backing of members in the African-American community who all agree that she made a mistake but should not have to lose everything because of it, she has gone from the 4th highest paid celebrity chef with $17-million in endorsement earnings in 2012 to a wing and a prayer.
At the same time Paula Deen’s disgrace is shot along the ticker-tape of every major news channel and is in the headlines of every major paper, George Zimmerman is on trial for the second-degree murder of Trayvon Martin. In this trial where racism is its backbone, Zimmerman is accused of targeting Martin for being a young, black hoodlum with a hoodie, stalking him along a dark, quiet street, confronting him and ultimately shooting him to death. While the trial is underway, on stand was Martin’s girlfriend, Rachel Jeantel, who had been talking to Martin as he was being pursued by Zimmerman. According to Jeantel, Martin told her that a creepy-ass cracker was following him. When confronted by the defense attorney as to whether or not Trayvon was being racist by using the word cracker, Jeantel said no. She said cracker is not a racist word and using the word cracker to describe a white person is not a racist comment.
Hmm? On one hand, a white woman is being grilled, looked upon as a pariah and is losing millions of dollars for using the n-word. On the other, a black woman matter-of-factly uses the word cracker to describe a white person and she is not looked upon with shock or disgust. Hell, she doesn’t even consider it to be a racist slur and no one really cares if it is or not.
Both the word nigger and the word cracker are derogatory words used to describe a race, black and white respectively, by members of the opposite race as a way to hurt the other. And yet one woman has had to hire a crisis-management team to try and help her get redemption for using one of those words, and with the other, well, no one really cares.
As I was not the only person to see this quandary playing out in the news, CNN did a short segment where they sent a black reporter out into the streets holding three cards that read honky, cracker and nigger. To everyone that saw these cards, all agreed the latter was the most offensive, black and whites alike. There really is no word for whites that has the same connotation that the n-word has for blacks.
However, perpetuating the use of the n-word these days are blacks themselves, mainly young black males--such as Trayvon Martin who I’d be willing to bet has used the word hundreds of times. They use the word for the power it gives them, knowing only they and no one else can use it. As it was explained to me by one such young, black male, "We can use the word, but you can’t, and it's not fair we know--ha ha." They use it with no consequence, but are sure to give plenty of consequence to any other race that dares to do the same.
Now we see that if a white person uses this word and admits she did, the consequences are severe. Paula Deen has literally lost about 2/3rds of her business virtually overnight with one word. She’s perhaps the only person I’ve ever heard of who has lost so much for saying so little. From now on, you can bet no one is going to admit they have said the n-word or anything else that has the potential of costing them so much!
Sadly, if this is supposed to bring the races closer together by pointing out how bad it is to use such a word, it’s not working. And that's because it goes beyond political correctness and ventures into good-old reverse racism. Certain slurs said by certain people can cost them millions--that’s millions of dollars, MILLIONS--while those same slurs said by others are just rolled off their sleeve and are forgotten about.
Had “+”Paula Deen been a black woman and said the n-word, there would be no problem made of it. Had she been a black woman and said cracker to an employee, there’d perhaps be a small snicker, but not much more. But be white, and a southerner at that, and say it, well, that’s just unacceptable and by $17 million reasons worth.
Ironically, Paula Deen’s civil trial is still ongoing and she hasn’t been found guilty by the courts. But she has been found guilty by the corporations who are trying very hard to distance themselves from her and that word that costs millions to say.
Write true, write ethical and write fair!
America’s darling chef, the queen of southern cooking, Paula Deen, admitted to uttering the one word that any white person dare not say in the 21st Century--nigger. And with that, she lost her cooking show on The Food Network; she lost millions of dollars in licensing, merchandising and endorsement deals from the likes of Target, Walmart and Home Deport; she lost her sponsorship with the diabetes drug company Novo Nordisk; and everywhere her products and shows are being phased out along with her good name.
Crying live on-air that she indeed made a mistake when she called a member of her staff a nigger during a heated argument, Deen called on that one person who has never made a mistake to pick up a stone and throw it so hard at her head that it kills her. She made repeated apologies and denied that she is a racist, claiming it was a solitary mistake and not a common occurrence that led a former employee to start a civil lawsuit against her for alleged racism. Yet despite this, and a website created to save Paula Deen that has thousands of signers and even the backing of members in the African-American community who all agree that she made a mistake but should not have to lose everything because of it, she has gone from the 4th highest paid celebrity chef with $17-million in endorsement earnings in 2012 to a wing and a prayer.
At the same time Paula Deen’s disgrace is shot along the ticker-tape of every major news channel and is in the headlines of every major paper, George Zimmerman is on trial for the second-degree murder of Trayvon Martin. In this trial where racism is its backbone, Zimmerman is accused of targeting Martin for being a young, black hoodlum with a hoodie, stalking him along a dark, quiet street, confronting him and ultimately shooting him to death. While the trial is underway, on stand was Martin’s girlfriend, Rachel Jeantel, who had been talking to Martin as he was being pursued by Zimmerman. According to Jeantel, Martin told her that a creepy-ass cracker was following him. When confronted by the defense attorney as to whether or not Trayvon was being racist by using the word cracker, Jeantel said no. She said cracker is not a racist word and using the word cracker to describe a white person is not a racist comment.
Hmm? On one hand, a white woman is being grilled, looked upon as a pariah and is losing millions of dollars for using the n-word. On the other, a black woman matter-of-factly uses the word cracker to describe a white person and she is not looked upon with shock or disgust. Hell, she doesn’t even consider it to be a racist slur and no one really cares if it is or not.
Both the word nigger and the word cracker are derogatory words used to describe a race, black and white respectively, by members of the opposite race as a way to hurt the other. And yet one woman has had to hire a crisis-management team to try and help her get redemption for using one of those words, and with the other, well, no one really cares.
As I was not the only person to see this quandary playing out in the news, CNN did a short segment where they sent a black reporter out into the streets holding three cards that read honky, cracker and nigger. To everyone that saw these cards, all agreed the latter was the most offensive, black and whites alike. There really is no word for whites that has the same connotation that the n-word has for blacks.
However, perpetuating the use of the n-word these days are blacks themselves, mainly young black males--such as Trayvon Martin who I’d be willing to bet has used the word hundreds of times. They use the word for the power it gives them, knowing only they and no one else can use it. As it was explained to me by one such young, black male, "We can use the word, but you can’t, and it's not fair we know--ha ha." They use it with no consequence, but are sure to give plenty of consequence to any other race that dares to do the same.
Now we see that if a white person uses this word and admits she did, the consequences are severe. Paula Deen has literally lost about 2/3rds of her business virtually overnight with one word. She’s perhaps the only person I’ve ever heard of who has lost so much for saying so little. From now on, you can bet no one is going to admit they have said the n-word or anything else that has the potential of costing them so much!
Sadly, if this is supposed to bring the races closer together by pointing out how bad it is to use such a word, it’s not working. And that's because it goes beyond political correctness and ventures into good-old reverse racism. Certain slurs said by certain people can cost them millions--that’s millions of dollars, MILLIONS--while those same slurs said by others are just rolled off their sleeve and are forgotten about.
Had “+”Paula Deen been a black woman and said the n-word, there would be no problem made of it. Had she been a black woman and said cracker to an employee, there’d perhaps be a small snicker, but not much more. But be white, and a southerner at that, and say it, well, that’s just unacceptable and by $17 million reasons worth.
Ironically, Paula Deen’s civil trial is still ongoing and she hasn’t been found guilty by the courts. But she has been found guilty by the corporations who are trying very hard to distance themselves from her and that word that costs millions to say.
Write true, write ethical and write fair!
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