As most of you have noticed there is a new section on my page that features a Blogger of the Week or B.O.W. Last week's featured blogger was my friend
Goddess who has been a Loyal Subject for quite some time now. She and I have some very interesting conversations about race and race relations. I told her a few weeks back that I would love to conduct an interview with her for my readers because I find the difference in how a white person sees certain things pretty interesting and I'm sure you will too. So this is 100% real.
The rule is she has to be brutally honest. I want to know what she would say in a room of her friends and nothing politically correct. Then on Tuesday I saw that she had ruffled some feathers over at
GP's spot and so I knew it was time to get the ball rolling on this. Race is a touchy subject in America and I'm sure this will cause some emotional outbursts but let's try to keep everything in perspective and have a good discussion.
King: Have you ever in a fit of anger or when you thought no one was looking called a black person the "n" word?
Goddess: I have never called a black person the "N" word. My brother did once, in the presence of my mother. I felt his beating. She made him dissolve a bar of soap in his mouth, and took a belt to him. She asked him if he liked being beat. Because if that was the type of thinking he was going to have, maybe he should be sent to a slave camp to see how it feels. After that, I think I understood that it was not a word that we use to label someone. My brother has a habit of saying off color remarks. But he has no shame, he will say anything to anyone which he would say to anyone else. He got beat up a lot in high school because of this. My grandmother is not comfortable around black men that she does not know. She is 87 years old. Her whole life she was taught to not trust black men. She has admitted that she knows it is irrational, however, it is her instint at this point. She has, however, welcomed my black friends into her house and gotten to know them. But, if she sees a black man on the street, she gets stiff. My father used the "N" word around my daughter once. I told him if I ever heard him say it again, he would no longer be allowed to see his granddaughter, because I was not teaching her that word, and neither was he. King: Does it bother you when some Black people use the word nigger?
Goddess: Yes, it bothers me that some black people use the "n" word. I find it offensive. If you don't want other people to use the word, you can't use it yourself. I don't want to be called a cracker, therefore, I would not call any other white person a cracker.
King: Ok. And what do you think when black people say that it's a difference in a white person saying it and a black person using it as a term of endearment? Or even that there's a difference in the word "nigga" and "nigger".
Goddess: Once, I was in a class, Consideration for Others, where we talked about this very thing. I asked how it was different, and a black female said that there was a difference in -a and -er. I told her there was no difference to me. I could say Fuck or fudge, but the meaning is the same. Then the concept of women calling each other "Ho" and "Whore" as endearing terms came up, and I said I don't agree with that either. Either the word is derogatory, or it isnt. You can not have it both ways.
King: What about the word stupid? You ever call someone stupid because they are stupid but then while laughing at something a friend said call them stupid and it means two different things?
Goddess: Have I ever used the word stupid? Yes. I have told someone to stop acting stupid. Or that they are acting stupid. Does it mean something different if you are laughing about it? Not really. It still means that you think they are stupid, or acting stupid.
King: So you've never used stupid to mean funny? I would say 100% of my black friends could use the word stupid to mean a person's mental state or that they are funny. So could this and the nigga/nigger thing be a case of "ebonics" and be something that everybody doesn't understand?
Goddess: It could be that I do not understand the use of the word. And I do not use "stupid" to mean funny. I use the word "silly". What is ebonics again? Oh yeah, didn't that come out of Oakland? Didn't someone say that it was genetic language? Didn't someone want Ebonics to be taught in lieu of English? Am I the only one who finds that absurd?
King: I don't think they wanted it taught in lieu of English but sometimes things get lost in translation so to speak. So do you feel there should be a Black History Month?
Goddess: I do feel that their should be a black history month to highlight the importance of contributions of Black Americans to our country. A time to regard the strength and the obstacles overcome by a group of people, to promote pride and instill the fact that you CAN overcome ANY obstacle thrown in your path.
King: So you support a Black History Month. Do you think their should be a White History Month? How do you feel about their being a channel called Black Entertainment. Do you think people would be upset if someone created a White Entertainment Channel?
Goddess: Well, the book answer to that is that EVERY day is White History Month. However, I think taking a moment to reflect on strong men and women of the Caucasion persuasion who have done things in order to help other races overcome the obstacles would not be a bad thing. It may actually open up some eyes on every spectrum of the color wheel. Black Entertainment does not bother me, we have Lifetime and Womans Entertainment and Mens Entertainment, however, I do think if there was a WHITE ENTERTAINMENT channel, that there would be an uproar from Black Leadership.
King: A lot of white people feel as if though Malcolm X was a racist. What are your thoughts on him being considered a "black leader"?
Goddess: Malcolm "X" believed in living seperatly, away from whites, correct? Well, if you go along with that viewpoint, why was Segregation, when instituted from White folks so horrible? Is it ok to have segregation if it is imposed by black leadership? I am not sure how I feel about him being considered a black leader if he believed that "Any means necessary" was his viewpoint.
King: Do you think a lot of black people blame whites or racism for their own downfalls?
Goddess: That is a loaded question. Some downfalls are because of racism. It would be ignorant to ignore that it does still exsist. But it would also be wrong to say that some black people do not fault white people for ghettos, poor education, poverty, and other issues. Just like it would be wrong to say that some white people do not blame blacks for the same issues.
I have to cut it short because I have a meeting to be go to in about 5 minutes. I will try to post the rest of the interview later or depending on how the discussion goes maybe tomorrow. Wait until you hear what she has to say about what happened during Hurricane Katrina! It's going to be good. Now go find some white people outside of Grant and Leesa so we can have a good discussion up in here!