By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
I never much liked Paula Deen’s cooking. Filled with butter and gravies and things like Krispy Creme Donuts for hamburger buns, Paula seemed too culinarily eccentric … to foodie excessive … too health oblivious even for a southern cook in 1813 much less 2013. Her story though, like her southern twang, had a certain charm to it: single mother of two left penniless makes ends meet by selling food-to-go out of her home kitchen and works her butt off until she reached the top of the sundae’s cherry with three shows on the Food Network and some spin off shows for her two sons.
That all ended Friday as a deposition of Ms. Deen was released. In that dep (in a case Lisa T. Jackson v. Paula Deen et al. involving a claim of racial and sexual discrimination by an employee of her restaurant, Uncle Bubba’s), Ms. Deen admitted to using the no-no of racial epithets in the past — the distant past, like 50 years ago. Here’s an excerpt from the transcript of Paula’s deposition to see just what I mean:
Q
Okay. Have you ever used the N word yourself?
A
Yes, of course.
Q
Okay. In what context?
A
Well, it was probably when a black man burst into the bank that I was working at and put a gun to my head.
Q
Okay. And what did you say?
A
Well, I don’t remember, but the gun was dancing all around my temple.
Q
Okay.
A
I didn’t — I didn’t feel real favorable towards him.
Q
Okay. Well, did you use the N word to him as he pointed a gun in your head at your face?
A
Absolutely not.
Q
Well, then, when did you use it?
A
Probably in telling my husband.
Q
Okay. Have you used it since then?
A
I’m sure I have, but it’s been a very long time.
Q
Can you remember the context in which you have used the N word?
A
No.
Q
Has it occurred with sufficient frequency that you cannot recall all of the various context in which you’ve used it?
A
No, no.
Q
Well, then tell me the other context in which you’ve used the N word?
A
I don’t know, maybe in repeating something that was said to me.
Q
Like a joke?
A
No, probably a conversation between blacks. I don’t — I don’t know.
Q
Okay.
A
But that’s just not a word that we use as time has gone on. Things have changed since the ’60s in the south. And my children and my brother object to that word being used in any cruel or mean behavior.
Q
Okay
Realizing perhaps too late, the Deen Food Empire (books, utensils, cutlery, you name it) sprung into action. First a very public apology for sins past, then a new revised one on YouTube, the town square of our age, where Paula looking quite shaken literally begs for forgiveness. PC gods served? You tell me:
On cable TV shows up and down the msnbc roster, Deen was decried as racist, uncaring, and calls for her banishment from polite society became overwhelming. So much so that the Food Network pulled the shows and consigned Deen to places we reserve for the likes of George Wallace and Sheriff Bull Connor. But is that fair?
Deen grew up in place far away –temporally and culturally — from most of her critics and, as one who grew up in the same locales, I can tell you that her sin was a popular one in the South in the 60’s . Everybody who wasn’t white and rich had a name: wops, pollaks, heebs, rednecks, pope lovers, crackers, and yes those christened with the “N” word. And each group used the words liberally to each other and even among each other. I never saw a fight over the name calling but there were some close calls.
Surely it wasn’t a very hospitable place for African-Americans who bore the brunt of discrimination, but neither was it a hospitable place if you were poor, or Catholic, or ethnic, or anything other than wealthy, white and Protestant. That didn’t mean people weren’t civil to one another. By and large they were, but there was a palpable feeling of place and hierarchy that was enforced with a rigid caste system administered by state and local governments. That sat pretty well with the white elite who ran things back then.
But you should know those in power considered folks like Paula Deen no better that the “n*iggers” they brought in to do their cooking and cleaning and to raise their kids. Those “people” were there and free only by fiat of the government in Wershington and, by god, if that was the case they were going to be useful, or so it was thought.
The South changed and evolved in the ’60s and ’70s with the Civil Rights Movement as Dr. King’s words touched hearts both white and black and brightened them all. For those who wouldn’t listen, scenes of pregnant women blasted with water cannons and vicious police dogs attacking kids was surely enough. White people who drove pickups and worked in plants and farms started to realize that the folks who lived across the railroad tracks and who drove older pickup trucks and worked in plants and farms weren’t really much different from themselves and they had the same lack of control over their lives. The wedges of words that the ruling élite had no interest in curtailing melted away and it is clearly true that the advent of political correctness shown a glaring light on those southern dinosaurs who couldn’t or wouldn’t change.
Which brings us back to Paula Deen. Paula likely grew up in one of those same southern small towns like I did. She also likely made a distinction between “black people” (as they were called then ), who worked hard and raised their families as best they could under grinding poverty, and “n*ggers” who were seen as lazy, irresponsible, thuggish and no account. She likely came to learn that names reflect stereotypes and they can be and are often wrong; that people don’t fit nicely into boxes; and that, as Edmund Burke so wisely reminds us, you can’t draw up an indictment against a whole people.
Paula evolved and the South evolved. But the question remains for Paula and those like her: When is the sentence for violating political correctness over? When can you freely admit a mistake made decades ago without fear of reprisal? Not the criminal kind administered by the state, but the reprisal from the overlords of decorum who sit in ivory towers or corporate boardrooms and wax philosophic on all manner of society’s ills and largely for their own benefit ? When will a society committed to free expression allow itself to deal honestly with its past and say publicly a two-syllable word that most find offensive?
In my view, you don’t need a word that no one can utter. You don’t need to continually explain and apologize for sins made years ago in a culture far, far away if you’ve done it once and sincerely. And perhaps most importantly, you don’t need to feel society’s wrath for simply telling the truth about that society.
Paula Deen is no hero, but she is certainly no villain for growing up as she did and living as she did. When we master that fact perhaps we can overcome the racism that divides us even as we accept that our differences spring largely from things over which we have little control, and that we can come together in spite of ourselves if we forgive as freely and as often as we decry.
Source: Huffington Post
~Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Nick: I have no white guilt. My bloodline does not trace far, but my grandparents were all immigrants circa World War I, and were not involved in slavery. I was raised with black and Hispanic relatives, I have the same well represented among nieces and nephews; Christmas at my mother’s house is a melting pot.
I have no guilt, I have outrage at the racism experienced by people I love, and I have outrage at the racists I meet that “test me” with jokes and innuendo to see if I share their repellent sickness.
Now you will say, Oh, Tony is in denial. But if you think that is a valid criticism, I say Nick is a racist, a hateful stupid loser, and if he denies it or tries to prove differently: Hey, Nick is just in denial. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander, Nick.
Gene: Or maybe it’s just more convenient to gloss over the salient point of the story.
Perhaps you can elaborate; I truly do not see how that changes what I said. Blacks cannot demean you by calling you black because they cannot be implying you are any less than they are.
It occurs to me you might think they were demeaning white musicians, but that has nothing to do with the use of the word in question; as you relate the story I think the person that used it did so as a term of brotherhood to soften his complaint about your playing.
Bron: I think you are expecting too much of people. Now what if it had been a white man? Could she have called him a c*ck sucker without being labled homophobic?
As I said, she admitted in the deposition (quoted in this post) that she had used the word AFTER that, but could not remember the context in which she did. The fact that she could not remember that LATER context suggests it was not used in a high-stress situation at all, it was used in a forgettable situation, in fact so forgettable that even under oath when remembering was important, she could only guess at it.
I suppose c*cksucker was originally a “you are gay” slur for a man; but I do not think most people today use the word with that intent. Just like b*stard and motherf*cker aren’t typically used with the intent of conveying their actual meaning; being born out of wedlock no longer suggests a promiscuous and sinful mother, I don’t think most people have incest in mind when they say motherf*ucker.
The N-word, however, retains its full, original, racist meaning.
AY:
Exactly!
Nal:
that too.
Bron,
Incompetent.
Or Judges…l take you pick..l
Born,
I call them congressmen/women and senators……
nal:
what do you call non-professional white people doing a lousy job?
Bron,
That’s what her answer is saying to me.
Most people are apathetic toward the study of quantum mechanics and yet they wouldn’t be enjoying their cell phones without it. Most people are apathetic about the study of chemistry and yet people would die every day without it. Most people are apathetic about the law (until it directly impacts them) but it provides the framework for civilization. Most people are apathetic about politics but every day it shapes the law.
Commonly held apathy does not negate either the relevance or importance of a subject.
nal:
She only uses the word to describe non-professional black people doing a lousy job?
I have no proof or studies. So, this is just an opinion from an average Joe who has been around. From reading newspapers, watching tv, reading blogs like this, you would think the country is obsessed w/ politics. Actually, it seems to me the vast majority of folks don’t care. Our paltry voting record over the decades tends to bear that out. Folks have only 2 choices, like neither, and say why bother.
This “racist, “sexist” “homophobe” seems quite similar in that regard. It’s mostly people invested in the duopoly and this is a great place to score political points. When Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are the “go to” experts you know it’s bullshit. Few black folk look upon those 2 as anything but fools and only white guilters pay attention. As stated previously, I used to like the Food Network. They had real chefs. When this shrill bimbo, w/ here horseshit recipes, and a voice that makes me want to vomit, became the star, the Network lost me. Is she a racist. Who gives a flying f@ck. That’s the attitude of average Joe. Of course, many here have expressed their derision for average Joe also. C’est la vie.
“When Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are the “go to” experts you know it’s bullshit”
Finally, you said something I agree with. What you may be missing though is that it’s the establishment media that is obsessed with these two, rather than Black leaders who are not so self serving.
bfm,
The most appalling thing about Bloomberg is the massive evidence that he’s a fascist. I’m thinking that if he had his way, every New Yorker would likely be stopped and frisked unless they wore Armani and had someone drive a Bentley for them. Got to make sure they aren’t drinking any 64oz. sodas.
“The most appalling thing about Bloomberg is the massive evidence that he’s a fascist.”
Gene,
Agreed, but I must admit that I was a little surprised by BFM’s quote since it showed Bloomberg in bigoted terms. He’s a little weasel and thank God he’s not running again. He and Giuliani helped turn NYC into an Eden for the rich and screw everyone else. 800 square foot apartments in Manhattan, not in particularly desired neighborhood, go for about $1.5 million.
From Paula Deen’s depostition, page 133, regarding a 2007 discussion of “Bubba’s” wedding:
Q Is there any possibility, in your mind, that you slipped and used the word “nigger”?
A No, because that’s not what these men were. They were professional black men doing a fabulous job.
What an odd answer. Deen wouldn’t have called them “niggers” because it’s wrong, or demeaning, or that she doesn’t refer to black people by that term. She didn’t refer to them as “niggers” because they’re doing a professional job.
In a case of she-said v. she-said we have to compare the two accounts of this incident. I find Deen’s account less compelling.
Tony,
Then you missed the part where the trumpet player said, “I know he’s not that white.” Or maybe it’s just more convenient to gloss over the salient point of the story.
This is a bit of a tangent but it may interest some reading this thread.
Apparently Mayor Bloomberg claims that minorities are stopped too few times in the NYC ‘stop and frisk’ program. You can read about it here:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/06/28/us/ap-us-nypd-oversight-bloomberg.html?ref=news
Apparently he believes that the fact that 90% of murder suspects are minorities justifies stopping minorities in greater proportion than whites.
Groups opposed the mayors ‘stop and frisk’ policy point out that these stops are not made on the basis of a description.
It seems to me that the kind of reasoning reported in this article is an example of one kind of racism or bigotry.
The logic seems to be that a true statement about one person or one small group can be used to make reasonable inferences about an entire group.
Similar logical inferences include:
some individuals in a group have trouble in school so no one in the larger group can excel.
some individuals in a group have substance abuse problem so they are all likely to be addicts.
some individuals in a group are not good workers so all members of the larger group are incompetent.
I could go on. But perhaps the reader sees the pattern and the fallacy.
There are many different types of racists. They may all be equally culpable. But they differ greatly in the damage they do.
I will admit that I may be wrong. And I will admit that I may not have all the facts. But I am comfortable reaching a tentative conclusion that Mayor Bloomberg is a bigot and a dangerous one at that.
I will point out that I consider my conclusion tentative because I am prepared to revise my opinion if and when I hear of data the refutes or mitigates earlier information.
If you believe that I am wrong about Mayor Bloomberg or if you believe that I have formed an opinion without enough information then make the argument. I will be glad to read it.
BTW: when it comes to a comparison between Mayor Bloomberg and Paula Deen, I have reached tentative conclusions about each. There is no question in my mind regarding which one is more dangerous. To borrow a phrase, Mayor Bloomberg is a clear and present danger to the community. In comparison, Paula Deen is merely an irritation or amusing depending on your point of view.
tony c:
per the hold-up, I think you are expecting too much of people. Now what if it had been a white man? Could she have called him a c*ck sucker without being labled homophobic?
And you know something else I actually had a gun pointed at me by a Black teenager, during a mugging I tried to stop in the mid 80’s and when I related that story to friends I’m not even sure I referred to the teenagers as being black. They were thugs and it was irrelevant. That same summer I was attacked by five White teenagers, they were thugs also.
Bob: Fake apology fake accepted.
I will also point out that Gene’s story falls under the third paragraph of that post (June 23, 10:13). A black using the N-word to refer to a white man cannot be implying the white man is inferior to himself; it is simply like “brother,” in Gene’s case a way of softening an expression of irritation with an endearment.
Bob, Esq: It is ex post facto to penalize a person for using a word in the past at a time when it was socially acceptable relatively speaking per geography.
Except, as I have already detailed, Paula Deen’s bank robbery was in 1986; and she admits to using the word after that, and frequently enough (or in situations innocuous enough) that she cannot recall the details of that usage.
I was an adult working businessman in 1986 with three working businesses behind me; I recall 1986 and the subsequent years pretty clearly, it was the year I met my wife-to-be, and it was not a time when use of the N-word was “socially acceptable.”