You can be right even if you say things the wrong way.
Ashleigh Banfield is a CNN anchor who set a record this week. Banfield became the person with the whitest name to ever scold a black man on the use of racial slurs.
During an interview with Erin Burnett on Tuesday, Baltimore City Councilor Carl Stokes disagreed with media, President Barack Obama and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s portrayal of the rioters in Baltimore as thugs.
Stokes told Burnett he didn’t want to call the people who took to the streets “thugs” just because they didn’t behave the way he wanted them to.
“In terms of healing, which we have not begun in many ways in this town, you don’t start by calling them names. Calling them thugs,” Stokes said. “Just call them (expletive).”
The next day, Stokes returned to CNN this time for his interview with Banfield, who felt compelled to scold the city leader for using the “n-word” during his previous interview.
“I was watching Erin’s show last night, and I was livid,” she said. “I have to say, you’re a leader. And so many people have said, don’t say it in rap, don’t say it so loosely, don’t assume you can say it because you’re one color and another color can’t. It’s just so painful to hear it no matter what color we are and I’m glad you decided not to use it on this show.”
Stokes wasn’t using the term to demean the rioters, he was accusing those who were using the term “thugs” as substituting one offensive word for another.
However, I agree with Banfield even though her choice of words and appropriation of “pain” caused by the mere utterance of the racial slur might be a touch overstated and dramatic.
I agree with her point that using it ironically, humorously, artistically or loosely is still harmful.
Some say the use of that word is governed by context and culture.
I have a white son and a black son. I don’t want either of them to deal with the fact that one of them can rap certain lyrics or quote certain comedians and the other can’t.
I understand that black people own their culture. I don’t want to lecture or scold anyone of color for how they speak about themselves or others of their race.
But if you want to avoid drunken old white ladies at Oklahoma University frat parties from rapping the word over and over again on a recording, then you have to get one of the most offensive words in the language out of those lyrics.
A company in Denver is being boycotted because a manager with the company told a job applicant not to call on “colored people” in “Mount Ghetto” because it is an example of blatant racism.
That is true and a racist company policy is a suitable reason to boycott that company until changes are made and they become good corporate citizens again.
If a word is offensive, whether it flows from the lips of Chris Rock or Kid Rock shouldn’t matter.
Equality is the goal of the civil rights movement. Equality demands equal standards as well as equal rights.
If that word and the horrible connotations that go along with it are going to be removed from the social lexicon, everyone has to let it go.
Kent Bush is publisher of Shawnee (Oklahoma) News-Star and can be reached at kent.bush@news-star.com.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Chris Rock and Kid Rock should share the same standards