For those of you who have not seen it, this is a clip of Michael Richards, aka Kramer from the popular Seinfeld show, doing a comedy stand up and inexplicably getting into a spat with an audience member whom he accused of interrupting his act. Richards made use of racial slurs by repeatedly called the audience member “nigger” and when the audience member fired back and told Richards that his commentary was “uncalled for”, Richards went on to say, “thats what happens when you interrupt a white man”.
The sad thing here is that other members of the audience continued to laugh while Richards barked away like a young Strom Thurmond. Some members of the audience began to leave, and Richards eventually got off stage thankfully. I received numerous emails about the subject and decided that something needed to be said by the intellectual black voice and brilliantbrown is the place where we can be heard.
Now, I want to preface my stance by saying that I don’t find this simple-minded behavior by “Kramer” the least bit surprising. As of matter of fact, I believe that all white people secretly think this way. They tend to believe that they always have an upper hand on minorities from an intellectual standpoint. This sense of superiority is only strengthened in the mass media with shows like “Flava of Love”, “The Parkers”, and 98.9% of rap music videos.
Most black images in the media are caricatures of real black folk and sadly we as a people enjoy this nonsense. I can’t even count the number of black folks that I know that were religous watchers of “Flava of Love”, the show which included black women ass-shaking, fighting, and just overall degrading themselves on national television. Do you think white folks would allow this type of nonsense without some type of protest by at least one sector of the white community? I didn’t think so either.
Now I know many of you have white friends and live under the guise that “my white pal isn’t like that”, if that’s you, then you are an idiot, plain and simple, because best believe when shit hits the fan, your little white friend will toss you under the bus quicker than a death scene on Final Destination. I work in an corporate enviroment and I see the attitudes and behaviors everyday, so I know what the real deal is.
I’m not saying some white folks aren’t cool, I have some white folks that I could hang out with, but I don’t lull myself into a false sense of security.
Back to the issue of the video clip though, I want to come at the issue from the reactionary angle rather than trying to understand “why”, I’ll get into that in another column. Basically in this situation, from the perspective of a black person, there are two types of reactions. The first reaction is the “Well we say it too, so its kind of our fault” mentality and the second is the “Fuck that cracker-ass cracker” mentality. I will be addressing both viewpoints and will leave the topic open for discussion from my readers.
As for the first reaction, the “we say it too” excuse is played. You have these new age self-hating black folk that love to absolve white people of any blame and reflect back onto the black community. These are the black folks that criticize everything about the black community, but under the guise of uplifting black people. In the meanwhile, they are out banging everthing white and tight, going out partying with all these white folks, and basically doing everything they can to “fit in”. They are so concerned with the not blaming the white man for problems in the black community that they adopt an outsider’s perspective when looking at their own community.
Now I do not believe that anything is wrong with being critical of your own, but don’t act all high and mighty as if you have always been the cultured and intellectual black person everyone should strive to be.
Anyways, in this particular situation, Richards is flat out wrong and I could sit here all day and call him all types of four-letter words but his mentality is what it is, he’s not going to change, nor do I care if he does, at the end of the day he’s a has-been that can’t be taken seriously and he is only a reflection of a strong held superiority complex that all white people have engrained in them.
In the first mentality, its funny how people only apply that logic to the use of “nigga”. I have never heard anyone say, “Why can’t I call mom a bitch?, I heard dad say it!” The fact of the matter is this, black people took a word “n-i-g-g-e-r” that was used to describe our wretchedness according to white people and derived the term of endearment amongst blacks, “n-i-g-g-a” as a way to say to white society that we flipped the script. We took a lemons (”nigger”) and made lemonade (”nigga”) in a sense. Whether you do or do not agree with that is irrelevant, what matters is that both terms still carry cultural significance amongst black folks and there is a sense of comfort when coming from the mouth of another black person. Whenever a white person uses the term, it is usually meant in a deragatory manner and we identify differently with the terminology. Think of it as bedtalk, saying to a person that you’re giving the business to, “you’re such a freak” means something totally different than saying to a random girl you don’t know, “you’re a freak”.
I think that whites know the rules of engagement when it comes to the n-word and its derivative, they know that it is culturally unique to black folks and they should respect it as such. Making excuses for them is just a means of trying to be accepted by the white community. Me personally, I don’t go around calling white folks “trailer-trash” just because Larry The Cable Guy says it too.
As for the second mentality, the angry “cracker-ass cracker” approach is just a waste of energy. Like I said before, be aware of the mentality that white people have when it comes to minorities and charge it to the game, don’t stress out over what a nobody like “Kramer” or any other white person may say, because even if they stop saying it, they’re thinking it, and you can’t control thoughts unless you’re Charles Xavier. Instead, put that effort into educating yourself and your people and putting the community in a position to be successful long term. When people like Kramer are cleaning my house/picking up my garbage, then that’s statement enough. Anger only clouds your thoughts and judgement while steering you away from your intended objectives, which is what is expected of black folks anyways. Let’s get away from that and step up our collective game.
If you care to read Richards’ “heartfelt apology”, click below, then laugh at it.
One unfamiliar definition of nigger is as follows: a person of any race or origin regarded as contemptible, inferior, ignorant, etc…..so clearly KRAMER was acting like a nigger…regardless of the level of intoxication, he said what he felt…and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks….
We can’t control anyone’s behavior but our own- and you’re right…there’s no point in us getting upset. He was exercising his constitutional right of Freedom of Speech. None of the black people are complaining when Yin Yang said “aye bitch- wait till you see my dick…” so why should be be in such an uproar now?
Racism, hatred, bigotry, etc. will never go away- so it is up to us to begin to reunite as black people and put an end to our own self destruction because the white people don’t have to lift a finger anymore.
They want us to act a fool, and they know the buttons to push to send us over the edge. We are eating right out of their hands and they’re sitting back laughing at us…
He shouldn’t have to apologize to anyone for saying those things…we have the right to say whatever the heck we want- regardless of its moral implications. Perhaps it was politically incorrect, but what we can do is begin to take notice of things that we do that are detrimental to our people and begin to cut off our support for those degrading media images, etc.
Education is the key factor
I am not sure if anyone caught the apology that was issued by Michael Richards on the David Letterman show, but can I just say that it was very neurotic. He goes on this schpiel that he is not a racist that what makes the whole incident so ironic. While I believe that he has some suppressed racial issues, I too do not believe that he is a racist.
We all know how it gets when get “vex”. We say things that we intend to penetrate the deepest emotions and cause the greatest pain. Not that these words actually reflect our true character, we are hurt and we are trying to reciprocate the same hurt that has been inflicted on us. How many of us have never used the word cracker or honkey? And still believe that at the end of the day we are not racists?
What amazes me even more is that Trent Lott has some of the biggest political backing, even from ya’lls president and yet no one has even tried to censor this man in the last 20 years. Or just not vote for him. Yet when a comedian, who, in a single isolated moment of anger, verbally attacks with this word, all of Black America is in a rage. Where are the radio shows making Senator Lott explain himself? Where are the radio shows to make someone explain the fact that a 92 year old African American grandmother’s violent death here in Atlanta? Where are these politically correct African Americans when there were riots in Cincinnati over the wrongful death of a teen by police gunfire? Michael Richards is the scapegoat that everyone is looking for in a moment when the arguments and debates on the war seem to be going to the Republicans. At a time when the more serious issues that we face such as AIDS in Africa, genocide in Darfur, or the issues that we an American Africans, don’t want to deal with. Our children can’t read and are not graduating from middle school, let alone high school. But oooohhh, do they have an opinion on Michael Richards.
Let’s consider for a moment that the ignorant behavior preceding the comments made by Mr. Richards weren’t made. Would this discussion even be going on? If the tapes are reviewed, and the scene played back, was the behavior from the gentleman and his friend that incited this whole debauchery necessary? Who is going to reprimand them for their apparent exhibition of poor etiquette? Or will we go along and treat thwm like they are acting, as the victims?
I agree and disagree with Mz Q-T Pye.
Hate is hate. Whether you choose to act on it or not. I do think that Michael Richards is a racist. Repressed racial issues are the same as racism, it’s just a nicer, more politically correct way of saying it. Like saying mentally challenged instead of retard, or little person instead of midget. The man is a racist, let’s not sugar coat it. The important question is, does it matter?
Ultimately, I don’t think it’s an issue of black people making a big deal about anything. Sadly, most of the people I meet are pretty apathetic to anything that doesn’t directly concern their lives. Hell, most black people I know don’t even know who Michael Richards is. They certainly can’t point to Darfur on a map. That however is the subject of another discussion…
What we’re seeing in this case is the media making a big deal about it. Television media picks and chooses what they want to sensationalize. I agree with Mz Q-T Pye here: often times it’s small things like this that get blown way out of proportion. But the media is after ratings and cash, not social change.
This is a case where they have a man on tape saying racist things. They know that one more racist white person is not a big enough deal to get African Americans to take to the streets to change things, because let’s be honest… who really cares what Richards thinks? This doesn’t absolve him of all guilt. I’m all for abolishing racism and all, but what power does Michael Richards hold over any of our lives?
What the media does know is that you’ll watch. There is the tape… the sensational tape. It’s enough to keep eyes glued to the screen and ratings up, lining the news networks’ pockets with advertising money. It’s enough for us to talk about around the water cooler at work, but not enough to stir anyone to change. It’s also enough to keep our attention while the real issues go unresolved, because unresolved issues practically guarantee more good press down the road. Don’t be fooled by the press, they don’t have your best interests in mind.
The way I see it, the story isn’t all over the news because black people want to see it. It’s there for the benefit of white people. In the aftermath of Katrina, the government and news networks have been cast in a pretty racially insensitive light. They needed a racial interest story to show that they care about fighting injustice, but they didn’t want to get their hands dirty with a real issue. This Richards fiasco is perfect for that purpose. They get to persecute a racist, put some black faces on screen to share their opinions, and come out smelling like roses. White people across America can sleep easier knowing that justice has been served.
That’s just my 2cents. Ending on a lighter note, check out the link below of Comedian Paul Mooney interviewed about the Incident (kinda funny):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cuX2uYOi4g
OK…WHAT!!! Now this is some serious jackassery!!!
HALLELUJAH!!! There is world peace. Palestine is no longer launching missels at Israel. And the war in Iraq is over. And Darfur, well Darfur is a much safer place with bunnies and rainbows. Because not only are we banning the “N-word”, boycotting Seinfeld DVDs(which hardly any of not no, black people are buying anyhow), but we are taking restitution from the paychecks of any comedian who performs at the Laugh Factory and uses the word. Thanks you Jesse Jackson and Rep. Maxine Waters. I now sleep easier!!
This right here should be a serious insult to the integrity and intelligence of all black people. Not only has Michael Richards gone on TV and made a neurotic apology attempt. But now we have our own so-called black leaders saying the most moronic statements. And expect us as a people to be appeased. Anyone who gets this please look up the speech by Sen. Robert Bird(byrd?). He used the word numerous times in a speech. And yet some of his biggest supporters are Jesse, Al, and Maxine. He apologized in secret and the democrats accepted on behalf on all black people. But nobody’s saying anything about that. Cause he lined the PUSH Coalitions and Black Caucus pockets.
Here’s a concept… STOP PLAYIN THE VIDEO CLIP!!… But then again it’s much easier to boycott a television show DVD than to just stop playing the ranting rage filled clip. I listened to Shawn Hannity(this man is a political banter beast) on 750AM here in Atlanta. And on his show was Attn. Gloria Allred(of the O.J Simpson, Amber Frey cases) and the gentleman who was the supposed victim in the incident. Not once did he say he was traumatized from the constant reminder of that dreadful night by the constant media playback, or that he even wanted the tape to stop being played. He did however feel threatened by Michael Richards from the stage while he was in the balcony. How about we boycott the news and media until they stop playing this ridiculous video?
So here’s the deal…. You only have to stop using the word Nigga in your lyrics. But you can still be a “Promiscuous, salt shaking, candyshop ownin, laffy taffy eatin, chicken noodle soup dancin, limit pushin, strugglin pimped out culture that can whisper songs, but can’t read, write, or pass standardized tests at any sort of competitive level as your Caucasian sisters and brothers. Holla back at me when Al Sharpton risks he perm and heads to Darfur to feed the hungry and help the orphans over there.
Seriously… Let’s be done with the issue all together. There are more vital matters that we as African-Americans and our leaders need to deal with.
While we’re on the subject, who elected Sharpton and Jackson as the “leaders” of the Black Community? Was there some kind of Negro League election that I missed? It was certainly not televised.
This is clearly a press/media based issue. As long as people will watch the video, they will continue to show it. They’ve gotta keep those ratings up somehow and reporting real news is hard.
The victim is enjoying the media circuit and his 15 minutes of fame. From the Today Show to CNN, this dude’s just happy to be on TV.
The only reason Jesse and Al are even on TV at this point is because the press wants some black faces on screen to comment on the issue and those are the go-to guys when the press wants a black opinion about anything.
At the end of the day, it’s just Kramer. He holds about as much sway over my life as your standard issue chat room racist… as in, NONE. I don’t even like his comedy, so who cares?
If Michael Richards were running for President of the United States, I’d care. But, he ain’t. So I don’t. I didn’t care about Richards 2 weeks ago… why should I care what he thinks now?