I heard the dude Kramer, from the show Seinfeld, was acting a fool over the weekend spewing racial slurs as if it was second nature. I checked out the video, and dude seemed like he was serious about it. If you don’t believe me, you can check out the video of Kramer using the N word here. He even says:
“50 years ago we would have you upside down with a f*!%$@& fork up your @$$”.
So, something leads me to believe that this wasn’t an act. He may have been under the influence of something, but those kinda remarks come from the soul, from the heart. It’s not something that you just say, comedy or not. I was a Kramer fan when he was on Seinfeld, and I feel kinda different now, but is that fair? What makes use of the N word so very abominable when it comes from another race, but seemingly socially acceptable when it comes from another black person? I know this topic has been explored so many times before, but this one is for me. I love hip hop, and I can’t say that I’ve ever stopped listening to it because an artist used that word. I know I’m not the only one, so I ask why is that?
Even more so, why is the weight of oppression and mistreatment so much heavier when it comes from any other person than someone that is of our same heritage? I don’t know if I’ll ever find the answer, but it’s definitely something that I must scrutinize myself. Any help from you all would be appreciated.
It’s totally fair for you to feel different about Kramer because his comments were mean spirited and malicious! That wanna be apology was something he could have kept b/c he only did it out of force by his PR person who told him “Do it or your career will suffer”. I don’t think it is right for anyone to use the “N” word but I think what has happened is that we as African Americans thought if we changed the word up and put a spin on it that we would be gaining power over the word. That theory fell by the wayside along time ago b/c only Afrian Americans can use the word! If we really wanted to overpower the word we should have let it die out like the many other derogatory words that are no longer used. It got to a point where we as a race realized we actually didn’t gain power over the word but it was too late b/c it had become so widely accepted. We are at what they call “the point of no return” when it comes to that word and we will be having discussions and debates about this subject until the end of time. Basically it was a theory “gone wild” and now it will take decades to make a change.