What Would You Do?

30 Mar

1992: My boyfriend (at the time) and I were driving 200 miles from Washington, DC, to our hometown Chesapeake, Virginia, in the dead of winter.  He didn’t have heat in his car so we stopped in Lightfoot, Virginia, for coffee to warm up.  While we’re in a 7-Eleven, a white man came in and asked the cashier “Where’d them niggers come from?”  The boyfriend and I looked at each other, not sure of what he had just heard.  Being that we were in Lightfoot, Virginia, we finished adding our cream and sugar, paid for the coffee and got the heck out of there as fast as we could.  In the car, we confirmed that we had heard the same thing.

Fast forward to 2010: Four black women (including myself) are in the historic U Street neighborhood in Washington, DC.  We’re at Cafe Saint Ex‘s downstairs nightclub for a drink after a Tweetup.  The DJ was all over the place with his music selections.  He played Ray Charles’ “I Got A Woman”; that led into Kanye West and Jamie Foxx’s Gold Digger, the explicit version.  The group of us looked at each other cringing at what was about to happen.  We were sitting there in a club full of mostly white Gen X’ers yelling “But she ain’t messin’ wit’ no broke niggas.”  Um, okay.

Shannon went to talk to the DJ (who had already seen us there and he started bleeping out that N-word.  By that time, however, Danielle was already being kicked out of the club for her method of protest.  The rest of us finished our drinks and left.

Here’s what I want to know:

  • What would you do in both situations mentioned above?
  • Are these situations different?
  • Does the fact that Kanye West is black make it okay for people to play/sing along?

Related Posts:

  • http://blog.wardelldesign.com/ Wardell

    They are different but still offensive all the same. It’s hard to say how you would react to any given situation untill you’re actually in that situation, lots of variables play into a persons reaction to events at any given moment as well.

    Musicians and other artist/entertainers seriously need to start being socially responsible and think about that they are putting into their work and not just do things because they think its cool or will make them a few bucks.

    You can teach a person to not be ignorant but there is no cure for stupidity.
    .-= Wardell´s last blog ..Testing Twitter @Anywhere =-.

  • http://jasonrashaad.org Jason Rashaad

    Re: the latter situation: I stopped dropping the n-bomb when I started hanging out in “mixed” company a few years back. In my opinion in 2010 it’s time for us to realize how ridiculous “I can say it but you can’t” sounds when you’re trying to explain it to other cultures. Similarly I would like us to be more responsible in the community image we put forth in music (Mr. West) and film (Mr. Perry) but unfortunately I don’t see that happening anytime soon. We’re Americans and ridiculousness sells.

    As far as the former situation in VA, all I can say is that I’m a city boy, born and raised in an 85% Black city. Until I moved out here I didn’t realize how comforting it is to be surrounded by faces and stories with which one can connect, and not have to deal with the racism and xenophobia unless absolutely necessary. I said all THAT to say, what COULD you do in that situation? Make a fuss? Demand restitution? I just hope one day we get to a place where those types of attitudes don’t affect us the way they do now. You can call other ethnicities all the slurs in the book and at the end of the day they keep doing what they’re doing. With us, sometimes we still feel that lash.

    I really didn’t mean to say this much, my bad. I haven’t slept.
    .-= Jason Rashaad´s last blog ..Law School Personal Statement =-.

  • http://jasonrashaad.org Jason Rashaad

    Re: the latter situation: I stopped dropping the n-bomb when I started hanging out in “mixed” company a few years back. In my opinion in 2010 it’s time for us to realize how ridiculous “I can say it but you can’t” sounds when you’re trying to explain it to other cultures. Similarly I would like us to be more responsible in the community image we put forth in music (Mr. West) and film (Mr. Perry) but unfortunately I don’t see that happening anytime soon. We’re Americans and ridiculousness sells.

    As far as the former situation in VA, all I can say is that I’m a city boy, born and raised in an 85% Black city. Until I moved out here I didn’t realize how comforting it is to be surrounded by faces and stories with which one can connect, and not have to deal with the racism and xenophobia unless absolutely necessary. I said all THAT to say, what COULD you do in that situation? Make a fuss? Demand restitution? I just hope one day we get to a place where those types of attitudes don’t affect us the way they do now. You can call other ethnicities all the slurs in the book and at the end of the day they keep doing what they’re doing. With us, sometimes we still feel that lash.

    I really didn’t mean to say this much, my bad. I haven’t slept.
    .-= Jason Rashaad´s last blog ..Law School Personal Statement =-.

  • guy

    i come from the perspective of being white.
    to me the situations are very different, but both suck.

    one is, in my opinion, imminently threatening and i would have gotten the hell out of that place in virginia too. i refuse to accept that any white person can use that term without a strong capacity for violence in their heart. decent white people do not ever talk this way.

    the saint ex incident is a far too often occurrence, but not threatening. again, from my way of seeing things.

    i can’t handle hearing the word “nigger” or “nigga” and instantly lose any capacity to respect those that use them. places that play music with “nigga” are not places i can go again. it makes me too uncomfortable, regardless of the clientele. its usage is incomprehensible to me.

    i’m from the north and by far i’ve heard more black people say it than white people. but to me, there is too much evil associated with it and anyone that uses it is drawing evil toward them.

    to me, no, it is not okay for kanye to say it. or rather, sure he can say what he wants. but he will never have my respect or my money, nor do i want to even hear his music.

    if the room was not full of white people, would your disgust have been different? was the dj white?

  • guy

    i come from the perspective of being white.
    to me the situations are very different, but both suck.

    one is, in my opinion, imminently threatening and i would have gotten the hell out of that place in virginia too. i refuse to accept that any white person can use that term without a strong capacity for violence in their heart. decent white people do not ever talk this way.

    the saint ex incident is a far too often occurrence, but not threatening. again, from my way of seeing things.

    i can’t handle hearing the word “nigger” or “nigga” and instantly lose any capacity to respect those that use them. places that play music with “nigga” are not places i can go again. it makes me too uncomfortable, regardless of the clientele. its usage is incomprehensible to me.

    i’m from the north and by far i’ve heard more black people say it than white people. but to me, there is too much evil associated with it and anyone that uses it is drawing evil toward them.

    to me, no, it is not okay for kanye to say it. or rather, sure he can say what he wants. but he will never have my respect or my money, nor do i want to even hear his music.

    if the room was not full of white people, would your disgust have been different? was the dj white?

  • kenya

    I don’t think anyone should be using the word and I am offended no matter who says it. But I was taken aback that many white people think it’s okay to say it because Kanye was saying it. The DJ was black which shows that there is no consensus of opinion of black folks on this topic.

  • kenya

    I don’t think anyone should be using the word and I am offended no matter who says it. But I was taken aback that many white people think it’s okay to say it because Kanye was saying it. The DJ was black which shows that there is no consensus of opinion of black folks on this topic.