Posted on 03/12/2008 3:46:07 PM PDT by ShadowDancer
The Story Of 'N': The Word That Won't Die
POSTED: 6:05 pm EDT March 12, 2008
UPDATED: 6:24 pm EDT March 12, 2008
DETROIT -- Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick stood before hundreds of people last summer and triumphantly proclaimed: "Die N-word, and we don't want to see you 'round here no more."
But the epithet that he and other black leaders symbolically buried in downtown Detroit during a national NAACP convention was resurrected by the embattled mayor Tuesday night during his annual State of the City address, carried live on local television and radio stations.
Facing possible perjury charges from testimony during a whistle-blowers' trial and criticism over sexually explicit text messages he sent to his former top aide, a defiant Kilpatrick lashed out at the media and opponents. The black mayor says he and his family have been subjected to racial slurs, as well as threats over the past month.
"In the past three days, I've received more death threats than I have in my entire administration," Kilpatrick said near the end of his 65-minute address. "I've heard these words before, but I've never heard them said about my wife and children."
Some local civil rights leaders criticized Kilpatrick and say he chose the wrong forum and wrong language for his outburst.
"It most especially was not a place to use the same word that, supposedly, we buried last summer," said the Rev. Edgar Vann, pastor of Second Ebenezer Baptist Church in Detroit. "You can make references to it without using it."
The N-word has been used as a slur against blacks for more than a century. It remains a symbol of racism, but also is used by blacks when referring to other blacks, especially in comedy routines and rap and hip-hop music.
Public discussion on the word and other racially insensitive remarks intensified after last year's remarks by white talk show host Don Imus, who described black members of the Rutgers University women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos."
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton and other national black leaders all have called for the use of the word to end. The Baltimore-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People held the public burial last July during the civil rights organization's annual convention in Detroit.
The ceremony included a slow processional with a pine box through downtown Detroit. The casket was buried at a local cemetery.
"Today we're not just burying the N-word, we're taking it out of our spirit," Kilpatrick said at the time.
But the final few minutes of Kilpatrick's address Tuesday only adds to the racial polarization that has divided a mostly black Detroit and its primarily white suburbs over the past 40 years.
"I think people are tired of race being used as a tactic, especially when it becomes public like this," Vann said.
Eleanor Josaitis, co-founder of Focus:HOPE, worries Kilpatrick's use of the word will hurt race relations -- something her organization has been working to improve since the 1967 Detroit riot.
"We've all worked very hard to bury the N-word," she said. "People are disappointed -- just disappointed in everything right now. Everybody is just praying we bring it to an end."
On Wednesday, Kilpatrick spokesman James Canning explained that the mayor used the N-word in his speech as an example of how hurtful the epithet can be for any community.
"He was explaining to the citizens of Detroit the situation he and his family have been put in by some very vile individuals who have decided they will thrust upon he and his family some very threatening forms of communications," Canning said.
Kilpatrick has been under fire since excerpts of the sexually explicit text messages from 2002 and 2003 were reported in January by the Detroit Free Press.
The Detroit City Council will consider a resolution next week that calls for the mayor to resign. Recently released documents show there was a confidential agreement linking the text messages to the $8.4 million settlement of the whistle-blowers' lawsuit brought by two former police officers. The council approved the payout, but did not know about the secret deal.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said Wednesday she expects to make a decision the week of March 24 on whether she will charge Kilpatrick and former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty with perjury after the two testified during that trial that they didn't have a romantic relationship. Excerpts of the text messages released by the Free Press contradict their testimony. Beatty has resigned.
Which assures that every Rap CD and VIdeo for the next 20 years will have the word at least once in it.
There is an old saw about telling young people not to do something being the surest way they will go out of their way to do it.
It never ceases to amaze me that these Black charlatans always get reelected. Detroit is a cesspool and no amount of lipstick can change that fact.
Did you see Carmen Harlen’s response to him? While polite as usual, she made her position clear.
Wow, he was brutal.
Naggers? (South Park reference)
No, I stopped listening to him about five years and three spatulas, two plates and countless wooden spoons ago.
West Virginia mountain man walks into office of lawyer, says:
“Ah want one of them dee-vorces!”
The lawyer says “Do you have grounds sir?”
“Yep, sho do! Ah got 150 acres in the Greenbrier Valley!”
Lawyer says “uhhh, that’s not exactly what I mean, let me put it this way, your wife - does she beat you up?”
“naaahhhh, I’m up at 5:00 am every morning and she’s never up before 6!”
The lawyer (becoming frustrated) says “No, no, that’s not it, your wife, is she a nagger?”
“Nooo, she’s a little white gal about 5 foot 1!”
LOL, yea me too, but yesterday my husband said “come here, Mitch is talking like a grown up for once!”. So I went into his office, and low and behold Mitch was creaming the thug.
So I actually turned him on today.
I believe it, his ‘profession’ was being assaulted. I doubt he took that hard of a line prior to the speech last night.
This is nothing more than a smoke screen. He's trying to shift the attention onto someone or something else in hopes that people will forget that he's a...
N- ----
No good son of a biscuit eater.
I've been back in Mich for 9 years and have been in Detroit proper exactly three times, two of which were to attend the Auto Show. Who needs the crap that that City is?
But this is what the problem is, has been and will be for years because of Mayor's (and voter's) like Detroit has now and has had since Young. There are pockets that are a blast to go to (Greek Town, Comerica Park/Ford Field/Cheli's area, even Campus Martius now) but none of it is or will be sustainable because of what surrounds it and none of that will ever be taken care of with thugs like Kilpatrick in charge. I would use the absolutely appropriate moniker here but apparently it's been buried.
As far as the ‘Dead Word’ goes - He is one and he resurrected it both last night and by his conduct.
The sheriff is near!!!!!
Damn right you do. If you go to a Tigers/Lions game, the cheapest way to go parking wise is to go to Nemo’s and shuttle but you are taking your chances if it’s a night game. Nemo’s is a great bar but it’s in a bad area. Otherwise you are going to pay huge money to park in relative safety.
ROTFL. Love that movie. I love just about all his stuff, Young Frankenstein and History of the World being at the top.
I seem to remember a debate between two old coots in the legislature of a southern state about 15 years ago. One of them said, “I aint near (pronounced Nee-yer) rich like you,” to which the other guy responded “I ain’t N-gger rich either.”
"No one that speaks German can be a bad man"
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