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Talk show host Dr. Laura (Schlessinger) quickly and predictably bowed to public pressure and apologized for her on air N word laced diatribe. The apology is not good enough for the National Urban League. It demands that Talk Radio Network pull the plug on her show.
Dr. Laura is a soft target because she’s a white woman that seemingly sprinted way over the line of racial etiquette. It was a no brainer that the League would rage against her. She got the same treatment that the pack of white celebrities, politicians and public figures that have used the N word.
But Dr. Laura is not of that ilk. In fact, she got it right about the word, or more particularly who uses it, condones it, and even glories in it. And that’s the legion of black comedians and rappers that have virtually canonized the word.
They sprinkle the word throughout their rap lyrics and comedy lines; and black writers,and filmmakers go through lengthy gyrations to justify using the word. During a panel discussion at the Summer Television Critics Association tour in 2005, Aaron McGruder, creator of the popular comic strip, Boondocks, defiantly told the audience that he’d use the N’ word as much as he pleased in his comic strip and in his series on the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. If folks didn’t like it, well tough, said McGruder.
Dr. Laura
N word users and apologists serve up the lame rationale that the more a black person uses the word, the less offensive it becomes, which is precisely the point Dr. Laura picked apart. They claim that they are cleansing the word of its negative connotations so that racists can no longer use it to hurt blacks. Comedian-turned-activist Dick Gregory had the same idea some years ago when he titled his autobiography, Nigger. Black writer, Robert DeCoy also tried to apply the same racial shock therapy to whites when he titled his novel, The Nigger Bible.
The black N word apologists tick off an endless storehouse of defenses to justify use of the word. They claim that that it is a term of endearingly or affectionately. They say to each other, “You’re my nigger if you don’t get no bigger.” Or, “that nigger sure is something.” Others use it in anger or disdain, “Nigger you sure got an attitude.” Or, “A nigger ain’t s….” Still, others are defiant. They say they don’t care what a white person calls them since words can’t harm them.
The black N word apologists tick off an endless storehouse of defenses to justify use of the word. They claim that that it is a term of endearingly or affectionately. They say to each other, “You’re my nigger if you don’t get no bigger.” Or, “that nigger sure is something.” Others use it in anger or disdain, “Nigger you sure got an attitude.” Or, “A nigger ain’t s….” Still, others are defiant. They say they don’t care what a white person calls them since words can’t harm them.
They forget, ignore or distort one thing. Words are not value neutral. They express concepts and ideas. Often, words reflect society’s standards. If color-phobia is a deep-rooted standard in American life, then a word, as emotionally charged as nigger, will always reinforce and perpetuate stereotypes. It can’t be sanitized, cleansed, inverted, or redeemed as a culturally liberating word. Nigger can’t and shouldn’t be made acceptable, no matter whose mouth it comes out of or what excuse is tossed out for using it.
There are still dozens of daily examples where whites (and other non-blacks) taunt, and harass blacks by calling them nigger, spray paint the word on their homes, businesses, churches, physically assault and even murder blacks. In the FBI’s annual count of hate crimes in America, blacks still make up the overwhelming majority of victims.
The N word reigns supreme at the top of the stack as the favorite racial epithet hurled at blacks during these crimes. Even when the word isn’t used, the sentiment is that blacks are still fair game to be abused and dehumanized, and the N word reinforces that belief. The word nigger is and will always have grotesque and deadly meaning to them. And, even if some blacks do occasionally go off the deep end and wrongly harangue whites for using the word, maybe that’s because nigger, pricks agonizing historical and social sores.
A handful of black activists have waged war against the N word. Their target is those rappers and writers that have turned the N word into a lucrative growth industry. They have been the exception. Blacks have been more than willing to give other blacks that use the word a pass. The indulgence sends the subtle signal that the word is hardly the earth-shattering, illegitimate word that black and white N word opponents brand it.
Dr. Laura gave no public hint before her spew of the word that she is a closet bigot who routinely uses the word in reference to blacks. But she didn’t have too. The obsessive use of and the tortured defense of the word by so many blacks gave her the license to use the word without any thought that there’d be any blow back for doing it. She was wrong and got publicly called out for it. But that doesn’t make her rationale or her explanation for using it any less valid. Dr. Laura got it right about the N word.
Washington, D.C. — Continuing their mutual commitment to the lives of Black women, on September 21, 2011, the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), the National Action Network (NAN), I Choose Life Health and Wellness Center (ICL), and members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) will present The Women’s Health Summit:
“Harnessing Our Power: “Mind, Body, and Soul” with a special focus on “HIV/AIDS and African American Women: The Forgotten Population” during the Annual Legislative Caucus (ALC) in Washington, DC. WHUR 96.3 FM-Washington is the official media sponsor.
The Women’s Health Summit will assemble a cohort of experts to discuss the myriad of health concerns and disparities that impact Black women, while also providing insight, valuable information and actions for healthy living.
“There are a plethora of diseases and health issues that continue to disproportionately affect Black women when compared to our counterparts,” says Avis Jones-DeWeever, PhD, author, policy analyst, and Executive Director, NCNW. “As organizations that are invested in the lives of Black women, we wanted to band together to encourage a holistic dialogue that’s solution-based and helps Black women to lead mentally, physically, and emotionally healthy lives.”
Not only are African American women more at risk for heart disease, cancer, stroke, high blood pressure, and diabetes, Black women also have the highest rates of obesity, are mostly likely to die during childbirth and mostly likely to suffer the tragedy of infant mortality. Regarding other areas of concern, African American women are less likely to receive accurate mental health diagnoses than their Caucasian counterparts. Additionally, African-American women experience domestic violence at a rate that’s 35% higher than Caucasian women and thus account for a disproportionate number of intimate partner homicides.
AIDS still remains a devastating killer of Black women, yet they continue to be relegated to footnotes in national dialogues. The rates of new HIV infections for Black women is nearly 15 times as high as that of Caucasian women and AIDS diagnosis for African American women is at a rate of 20 times higher. HIV/AIDS-related conditions are now the leading cause of death for African American women aged 25-34 years.
The Women’s Health Summit will “host a panel focused on overall health to tackle domestic violence/sexual assault, sexual health and reproduction, mental health, infant mortality, and obesity.” And in efforts to reduce the continued impact of HIV/AIDS on Black women, the summit will also convene “HIV/AIDS and African American Women: The Forgotten Population,” a special focus panel, that will look back on the thirty years of the pandemic. The range of experts who will serve as summit panelists include: Gail Wyatt, PhD, University of Southern California; Tony Wafford, President & CEO, I Choose Life; Laura Meyers, PhD, President & CEO, Planned Parenthood-Metropolitan; Willie J. Parker, MD, MPH, Former Medical Director, Planned Parenthood-Metropolitan; Jamila Perritt, MD, Present Medical Director, Planned Parenthood-Metropolitan; Debra Fraser-Howze, Senior Vice President of Government and External Affairs, OraSure Technologies, Inc.; Dazon Dixon-Dialo, MPH, SisterLove; Monica Sweeney, MD, New York City Health Department; Cynthia Davis, MPH, Board Member, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Assistant Professor, Medical Sciences Institute, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science.
Panel moderators will be: WHUR 96.3 FM news reporter Molette Green; Jeff Johnson, award-winning journalist, social activist and political commentator; Dr. Avis Jones-DeWeever, Executive Director, NCNW, and Dr.Tricia Bent-Goodley, Chair of the CAPS Sequence, Howard University, School of Social Work.
“We’re coming together to show Black women that despite these devastating facts, they are not alone,” says Tony Wafford, President & CEO, I Choose Life. “As a unified force, we can develop solutions to enhance, preserve and protect the lives of Black women.”
The Women’s Health Summit will take place on Wednesday, September 21 from 5:30 pm – 9:00 pm at the National Headquarters of NCNW, 633 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20004. Spacing is limited; please RSVP at
ncnwprograms@gmail.com.
This summit will be sponsored by the following; Act Against AIDS Leadership Initiative (AAALI), AIDS Healthcare Foundation, (AHF), Office of Minority Health, (OMH), Office on Women’s Health (OWH), and Vitas.