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Claudia Wallace is a 2004-2007 alumni of The Second City Mainstage.
By Claudia Wallace
Most of us remember what we were doing, the day we heard Don Imus call The Rutgters women’s basketball team a bunch of “Nappy Headed Hos” on his radio show. Okay, maybe not remember exactly what we were doing, but we remember the “black lash” and his subsequent firing. It was all over the news, and callers debated on radio stations across the country. It was a hot topic for months. That’s why I’m curious why I haven’t heard any “black lash” from Dr. Laura’s N-word rant to a woman who called into her radio show for advice. For those of you who don’t know about it, and I’m assuming it’s a lot of you, because no one is talking about it, here’s a quick synopsis.
An African American woman, who’s married to a white man, called in to Dr. Laura for advice on how to handle her husband’s white friends and family, who say racist things, as if she’s not in the room, and constantly ask her the “Hows” about black people. You know, like… “How do black people know when they get a tan?” Someone asked me that once. To which I replied, “How do white people know when they get a tan?” To which he replied, “We get darker.” BINGO!
Instead of Dr. Laura giving advice, she lit into the caller, illustrating her point by using the N-word a total of 11 times. Listen here. The caller was offended and calmly tried to get Dr. Laura to understand how the use of that word affected her, to which Dr. Laura hurled the N-word several more times.
Now I knew Dr. Laura was an idiot, but now I know she’s a racist. True sign of a racist is when they say, “One of my best friends is black,” and then hurl a bunch of N-words at you. She apologized the next day, but I think she should be fired. Fired for her use of the N-word, for her abuse of the caller, most importantly for not doing what she’s paid to do, which is give out advice, whether it be good or bad. She was too busy lambasting black folk about being overly sensitive to give out any advice for that caller.
For all you white people out there, it is never okay to say nigga, nigger or any form of the word. I know, rappers use the N-word all the time. I know, black people use the N-word amongst themselves to diffuse the power from that word. I know, that your black best friend calls YOU, “my nigga,” so why can’t YOU call him “my nigga” back. I know, we have a black president, but you just can’t use the N-word. There is just too much history of hate behind that word.
I’ve been called nigga to my face a few times in my life, and I’m sure more times behind my back. But the first time, was in 5th grade. For one of our Church teen club outings, our Priest took us to a roller rink just outside of Chicago. We walked in excited, rented our skates and got on the floor. That’s when all the white kids got off the floor and we started to hear the N-word. “Look at those niggas. What the hell are those niggas doing here?” We were a bunch of little kids, and they were calling us niggas. Initially, I was stunned and scared, but then I grew angry and defiant. Nobody was going to stop me from skating, accept myself, because I couldn’t skate, so I just kinda held onto the railing. Until a little white girl around my age came up to me and said. “Would you like me to teach you how to skate?” I looked at her, not knowing if I should trust her, but looking into her eyes, I saw sincerity and compassion. I put my hand in hers and we started to skate together. After that, more white kids approach our black kids, partnering up, until the rink floor became an interracial couples skate. Oh, there were still those on the side line mumbling the N-word, but it didn’t have the power to hurt or scare us anymore.
My black friends don’t use the N-word when talking to me, and I don’t use the N-word when talking to them. It’s just not a part of our vocabulary. And white folks, it shouldn’t be a part of yours either. And besides, as a comeback, “Whitey, Cracker, Honkey” just makes ya want to giggle, but the word, “Nigga” makes ya want to fight. Anybody know where Dr. Laura lives?