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
Yep. And I guess the part where calling your statement “gibberish” isn’t an ad hominiem attack but rather to your statement flew right past you. That changes your timeline, sport.
Really, AY, if you can’t distinguish what an actual ad hominem attack is, you should stop accusing others of it.
Well now that Buckwheat is established….. Your logic is faulty in this regards….your personal attack preceded anything I said to you in response…
Just in case you need to brush up on your illogical and faulty rhetoric…. I grabbed the definition for your aging mind….
se·quence
/ˈsēkwəns/
Noun
A particular order in which related events, movements, or things follow each other.
Verb
Arrange in a particular order.
Synonyms
succession – order – series – sequel – run
AY,
Buckwhatever. Also, the word “sequence” is one you should brush up on.
_____________
nick,
Elaine did not say I was not benevolent. You did. Pretty easy to grasp. Unless you’re so angry that you can’t tell your own ad hominem attacks from a statement from someone else that wasn’t. Get well soon.
______________
Blouise,
No age dig at all. I meant the time period of my lifetime. And several more generations more than likely unless we as a species experience some form of punctured equilibrium in our evolution.
Blouise, For an old fart I have come to see the value of Facetime. The 2 girls our daughter nannies for Facetime us virtually every day. Their anxious nanny also gets comfort from it. I don’t buy into a lot of shit from that generation, but that is a big winner in my book. The older we get the more our children, grandchildren worry about us dying. I’m 60 and James Gandolfini kicking it @ 51 caused some serious Facetime and logical plus emotional comfort. The logical being we both saw him recently in Zero Dark Thirty and he was a solid 300lbs. The emotional being that tomorrow is promised to no one, live in the moment and trust in God. We are logical and emotional beings, w/ balance being the key..to everything really. “Take the roads less travelled.”
oops! your back back
Have a good trip, Blouise 🙂 Hope you back gets better soon. We are stuck here with 102 degrees….. cleaning out stuff and getting repairs done.
As will I. Tex and I are leaving on one of our adventurous road trips.
The car is packed which I was not required to do because of the back pain. 🙂
I will have my iPad but only because the children and grandchildren no longer trust our ability to travel by ourselves and, not content with hotel computers or texting, bought us an iPad so they can employ “facetime” as a reassurance that we are well.
“Maybe, but I don’t see that issue changing course in that short a time period.” (Gene) Hey! Was that an “you’re old” dig??!!
Elaine did not say what? I was referring to what she did say. The fairly simple sentence that ended w/ “those of us who aren’t playing by your “logical” rules. Now, Elaine has excused herself for family and food, two incredibly important values. Let’s not give her agita, and let her enjoy her day. Hopefully the weather is good back east. June is my favorite month in the northeast, followed by September. The beginning and end of the best season.
Ok Buckwheat ….. Remember you started it with me….you made the first personal attack….
Elaine,
Have good time. Don’t let that Socrates fellow near the punch though.
I’m about to be absent for a bit as well.
Tony,
Actually I think you’re discounting expertise.
Blouise,
Maybe, but I don’t see that issue changing course in that short a time period. We as a species don’t evolve that quickly and an evolution is what is going to be required to address the problem in a manner that we’d both find acceptable.
Sorry I have to leave the discussion for a time. My niece is having her annual cookout/family gathering today. Will try to brush up on my Aristotle while my husband drives. Actually, Aristotle and I have had a wonderful Platonic relationship over the years.
Elaine did not say that, nick.
That bit of ad hominem is all yours. But don’t be angry about it. You’ll either figure out the rules apply to you or they don’t. We’re pullin’ for ya, champ!
Blouise, In a Blouise perfect world, what would gun laws and restrictions look like. I lean toward the second amendment folks, but I’m not close to being a zealot.
Elaine, You finally noticed the “rules” guy is not benevolent. This is a big day.
Gene,
You know I just stuck that in there as a gentle tease but I do believe that on the gun issue it will be your world that changes, not mine.
Elaine,
“you’re getting impatient and frustrated with those of us who aren’t playing by your ‘logical’ rules.”
That I’m remaining both emotionally detached and engaged in the conversation despite some people’s refusal to address logic by offering a logical and evidence based refutation belies that assertion. However, if the Law of Identity and the consequences of applying it to the concept of prejudice bothers you, I suggest you take it up with the remainder of Aristotle. They aren’t “my rules” just as other rules aren’t “my rules” but that doesn’t make them any less rules or any less valid.
Blouise, I don’t believe white guilt drives anti racism. I believe it’s an impediment, one of the biggest problems it presents is it makes an open dialogue impossible. You’ve heard that term bandied about over the last several decades, “open dialogue.” How’s that working out so far? It’s not only whites who get their heads bitten off when they say tough, hard truths, it’s black folk too. The black folk I know have derision for the white guilters. And I think that’s pretty much across the board w/ most regular regular folk. It’s really condescension, which nobody likes.
AY,
If your personal condemnations mean nothing to me, your personal praise – even when mocking – means even less. Of course, you can still keep making the matter personal if you like. It compensates for your demonstrated lack of skill in argumentation and logic. Thus proving that not all training takes and depends as much on the student as the teacher for success.
Get back to me when you reconcile your whining about the rules being applied equally doesn’t render your own previous benefit of the rules applying in an equivalent situation completely hypocritical.
Oh. That’s right. You can’t.