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
I’m asking was Sterling then, or is he now, a racist? And, as stated, he was THE FIRST to hire a black GM. These “rules” are REALLY complicated, I’m just trying to understand them. Catholics are really good @ quantifying sins; cardinal, mortal, venial. And also good @ how to be absolved[cash often involved!]. Maybe we need the Pope to set the rules. I believe this Pope would be much more forgiving and tolerant than some of the folks here.
Sterling was, based on his remark but, unlike Deen, he apparently has made a transformation. No such thing is visible with Deen,
Nick,
Thanks for the kind words, but Mark and Gene have been making pretty much the same case as me.
I share your Dennis Leary view of this oh so f’n sensitive new world we find ourselves in.
” Is Sterling a racist?”
Are you asking is Sterling a racist now or are you asking was Sterling a racist 30 years ago?
What counts as evidence? Even a racist business owner might hire an African American for a job where the owner believed the African American was capable and could be effective.
Elaine,
She does more for black people than you or I do. If there’s a moral bank account for racism against black people, I’d say our accounts are even and she’s still in the black; so to speak.
Her charitable work negates the accusation; just like Carter implied.
Elaine, the Frank Bruni piece was right on.
As for the Today show interview she would have had more believability if when she was ‘crying’ there were tears, which there was not. I think she did manage a few right at the end but the “crying” face and sounds went on for some minutes prior to the end or the production of tears. Crocodile for sure.
I have not been keeping up on this whole discussion but Deen’s use of the word, her behavior and words with Hollis, and her fake apology on Today show are enough for me to believe she has not changed her spots and the spots were shown when she first used the word, southerner or not, and then continued with other actions/words since then.
As for Baldwin, he sure does seem to be the Teflon actor. Not a clue why.
Nal: ” I see racism as more of a continuum of views.”
I agree; to an extent. Since there are those people who use words for affect simply because they grew up in or live in an area where such speak is normal.
Nal: “A more mild level of racist, with an image to protect, may well give to such charities.”
This makes very little sense without proof of motive for doing so. Why would a “mild level racist” waste their money on a group of people they think so little of without having a motive to protect their image; e.g. doing it as a remedial measure for things said ‘mild racist’ was chastised for saying in the past?
Measure twice, cut once. Never point the barrel of a gun at anything you’re not prepared to destroy.
Sorry Nal, but I’m not swinging my barrel to Paula Deen since there’s not just enough evidence she’s a “racist” worthy of being destroyed.
In breaking, related news, it was learned today the owner of the LA Clippers, Donald Sterling, when recruiting Villanova coach, Rollie Massimino, asked him, “Are you ready to coach these niggers?” This was I believe ~30 years ago.Now, Sterling is considered one of the most racially advanced owners of any sport. He was the first to higher a black General Manager[Elgin Baylor]. The Celtics hired the first black coach[Bill Russell], but hiring a black person for a front office position is a much bigger deal than coach. Is Sterling a racist?
“But she keeps getting tripped up by the fact that the N-word does mean something to her, and when she has used it she intends for it to be a grave insult. Crisply dressed black waiters who served her in another Southern restaurant? ”
I mention this because if it were ever stated explicitly then I missed it. It seems to me that the racism of Deen is demonstrated not just, or even primarily, from her use of a particular pejorative word. Deen’s racism is apparent from the situations and kind of personal relations she seems to enjoy and admire.
What seems racist in the restaurant and dinner referenced in this statement has nothing to do with the use of a racist pejorative. The situation described and Deens admiration for it are racist because the servers, the costumes the entire situation is designed to call to mind the relations and practices of the antebellum south.
Deen is telling us that she admires the practices of a time when African American truly were slaves and servants. And I think we can reasonable infer that she wishes that, at least some of the time, she could experience the prerequisites, the personal service, the interpersonal relations, in present time, much like that of the old south.
I claim it is reasonable to believe Deen is racist not just because she used a word widely recognized as a pejorative at some time in the past. Deen is a racist because she seems to value, the practices and relations of a time when African Americans really were personal servants.
I consider Deen an unconscious racist because her remarks seem to indicate she is oblivious to the implications of her words. She doesn’t seem aware of what it means to tell us that she finds it pleasurable to be served by African Americans dressed in a certain costume that suggest a certain time, a tragic time, in our nation’s history. (Note: unconscious racism is a term used in the past and may have implications, uses and meaning that I do not include.)
And finally I will readily admit that I do not have proof beyond doubt that the Deen of today is a racist. But in life it is usual to form our opinions incrementally. We gather some information and reach a tentative conclusion, gather some more information and revise our opinion depending on what facts have been refuted or mitigated.
As I stated, I believe Deen is an unconscious racist. But I am perfectly willing to revise my opinion. If Deen is not a racist all she has to do is tell me a story. Give me some facts. Tell me the day she had an epiphany. Tell me when it came to her that it has to stop. Tell me when she said to herself ‘it stops her, it stops now, it stops with me’. Tell me Paula. I am listening.
Bob, Esq. 1, July 2, 2013 at 4:07 pm
Elaine: “The Koch brothers have donated lots of money to the arts, to education, and to medical research. In my opinion, that doesn’t absolve them of the bad things that they have done/do.”
That’s a faulty analogy Elaine. I’m not talking about charitable donations washing away sin like the Vatican once asking specific amounts of money for different types of sin after confession.
I’m talking about evidence of racism; evidence of hatred of a particular race.
*****
I was talking about charitable giving–and its not being proof of anything.
My point was that many people of wealth donate money to charitable organizations…to medical research…to colleges and universities. That doesn’t really prove that there is goodness in their hearts. Do said individuals get tax deductions for donating their money? Do they often get public acknowledgement for doing so?
*****
“And can we not say that a person who sets aside part of her estate to establish charities for the purpose of helping oppressed and poverty stricken black people exhibits less evidence of hatred or disdain for said race than a person who has no such charitable inclinations?”
*****
Simple answer: No.
Just because one doesn’t set aside part of his/her estate to establish such charities doesn’t prove that one has any kind of hatred or disdain for poor people/people of color…or more of it than those who do. I am not a person of great means. I plan to leave what I have to my daughter–a social worker–and to my granddaughter in the hope that it will help them to have a better life. Does that make me more of a racist than those who do set aside money in their wills for such charities?
Bob, Esq. You’re a barrister I would hire. And I don’t say that to many. You’re dealing w/ a toxic stew of pc, white guilt, northern prejudice, etc. And, as stated previously, I hate this woman’s voice, show, food, etc. People here throw around racist, sexist, homophobe, etc. like it’s free popcorn. You’ve made the case for this juror. I think some of the folks here would have never gotten past voire dire.
Bob: While her intent with her use of the [n-word] is just so obviously racist to you?
It is also obvious, from her deposition, both stated by her and inferred by her “bob and weave” testimony, that she knows it is offensive and should not be used; and she tries to tone down the offensiveness of her own usage by suggesting maybe she used it to relate to her husband a conversation between blacks.
A white woman using the N-word in casual conversation when she knows full well it is offensive or would be taken as offensive by a black person is a racist; it is a decision to insult or demean the value of a person. As to her later (and contradictory) testimony that she doesn’t know what will be offensive to somebody, I call B.S, she has already proven she knows damn well it is offensive.
Bob, Esq.:
Some are. I see racism as more of a continuum of views. I don’t see Deen as a KKK level of racist. A KKK level of racist is certainly not going to give to charities that support the race they despise. A more mild level of racist, with an image to protect, may well give to such charities.
Nal: “I’m saying that her intent is unknown.”
So, her intent per establishing charities for the purpose of helping oppressed and poverty stricken black people is unknown …
While her intent with her use of the word “nigger” is just so obviously racist to you?
Confirmation bias?
“Discrimination against whom? A finding of no actual harm against Jackson doesn’t mean that actual harm against other employees didn’t happen just the way Jackson testified to.”
Against anyone. As noted, Jackson’s claim may not even have proper standing, but the issue isn’t whom did or did not benefit from the alleged discrimination, but that it did or didn’t happen and presented some particularized harm (or not).
If there was no in fact discriminatory work environment created, Jackson’s claims not only become less than credible, they may be considered defamatory and malicious.
Jackson should be very concerned about the outcome of this case should she lose on the merits and not simply be dismissed for lack of standing.
Bob says: Can we agree that a racist is a person who believes a particular race is superior to others; and while doing so, harbors some sort of hatred or disdain for said race?
The first part is sufficient; except in my mind a racist believes their race is inherently superior to others in general, even if they believe other races are naturally “better” at some pursuits. Hatred or Disdain are common but not a necessary ingredient; “racism” is about “race” in its original etymology, where it meant a “bloodline” that carries recognizable heritable characteristics.
That said, my wife is quite sympathetic to private humane animal shelters and reserves, and has contributed a day’s pay on more than one occasion to help with food and construction projects. That does not imply she thinks the animals deserve human rights, or that putting an animal to work for nothing but food and shelter is morally wrong, or that depriving an animal of life is always morally wrong, or that depriving an animal of reproductive ability is wrong.
My wife’s belief in the inequality of cats and people does not imply any disdain or hatred of cats.
Paula Deen can be a racist, and treat non-whites much differently than whites, without disdain or hatred. She can still feel sorry for non-whites, while perpetuating the racism that is causing their hardships with the lower pay and lowly positions and lack of advancement which she believes, because of their race, is all they are suited to perform, or all that whites like her should allow them to perform.
Contributing to charity is analogous to giving employees bonuses instead of raises. A raise is more money forever, a bonus is temporary: more money this year that can be withheld next year; and even if given, the net income remains the same when bonuses are given in lieu of raises. (and loses value to inflation.)
Racists say things like “I’d never use the bathroom after a nigger” or “I’ll never eat a sandwich made by some wetback.”
Racists are full of hatred through and through.
Sorry Nal, but charitable inclinations toward the race you’re accused of hating, existing prior to any accusation of racism, is clear and convincing evidence that the accusation is false.
Bob, Esq.:
No. I’m saying that her intent is unknown. Her intent could be the way you portrayed it, or it could be the way I portrayed it, or something else.
“First, let’s review the transgressions.
Lisa Jackson, a former employee of Deen’s who was fired, filed a lawsuit against Deen and her younger brother, Earl “Bubba” Hiers, alleging racial and sexual discrimination. Jackson—who is white—alleged that Deen had made racist remarks toward African-Americans when discussing the plans for Bubba’s wedding, and that she in turn was offended because she has half-black nieces. According to Deen’s deposition, Jackson alleged that Deen said, “Well what I would really like is a bunch of little n–gers to wear long-sleeve white shirts, black shorts and black bow ties, you know in the Shirley Temple days, they used to tap dance around.”
After being grilled on the stand about the accusation, Deen copped to using the N word before, after “a black man” robbed her at gunpoint back when she was working as a bank teller, saying she used it because she “didn’t feel real favorable towards him.” After some prying, she also said she’d probably used the word when quoting “a conversation between blacks.”
Later on in the deposition, Deen’s defense team reveals that this is the Second Amended Complaint by Jackson, and that she had added the “little n–gers” and “tap dance” details to her first complaint.
On page 21 of the deposition, it reads:
“Paula Deen specifically testified that she did not use the N-word when describing her experience and that she did not describe the wait staff as alleged by Jackson in her Second Amended Complaint. Jackson’s deposition testimony further indicates the falsity of her incendiary allegations of Deen’s use of the N-word during the conversation about Hier’s wedding:
Q. Up until May 27th, 2010, you had no complaints or problems with Mrs. Deen, did you?
A. No.
Q. She had never indicated any discriminatory bias or prejudice, did she?
A. Yes. One remark she made at Bubba’s wedding planning.”
What was the remark, you might ask? Per Jackson’s initial testimony, it was that she wanted to have servers at Bubba’s wedding dressed, “Like they used to dress in the Shirley Temple days with the long white shirts and shorts.” When asked if that was “the sum total of the conversation about that,” Jackson replied, “Uh-huh, correct.”
Whether or not Jackson’s memory had improved in the time since her first testimony, remembering these damning, highly racist details, is anyone’s guess.
As for that other time Deen admitted to using the N word in a derogatory fashion, the year was 1987. Deen was working as a bank teller at the time, as it was years before she’d build her cooking empire from scratch (after divorcing her second husband, Jimmy Deen, she was left with only $200 and struggled to raise her two children, as well as her younger brother, Bubba). Deen, who was plagued by panic attacks and agoraphobia at the time, described being robbed at gunpoint in a police report obtained by Inside Edition:
“The man was wearing a home made mask (green) … very nervous but was also very abrupt and demanding, he never took the gun out of my face,” said Deen. “The robber held a small worn paper sack, he said fill it up, fill it up and quick, fill it with $100
bills … Never taking the gun off of me.”
So, if Jackson’s memory didn’t improve since her initial testimony, the only “transgression” Deen—a 66-year-old lady from Georgia—committed was admitting to using the N word about a man who robbed her at gunpoint.
Why Has Paula Deen Been Vilified, While Alec Baldwin’s Been Given a Pass?
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/07/01/why-has-paula-deen-been-vilified-while-alec-baldwin-s-been-given-a-pass.html