SNL Dave Chappelle Is it Okay to Use the N-Word again?

Saturday Night Live is back, giving us some much needed comedy relief, a chance for introspection, to cry, and to laugh at ourselves, together.

Hitting all the right notes. Dave Chappelle delivered a post-election monologue on Saturday Night Live on Saturday, November 12, dropping the N-word in a monologue that was at times funny and emotional.
www.usmagazine.com...

That wasn't the only segment that featured the N-Word. It was peppered throughout the show.

OBSERVATION: "Blackish" a sitcom about an American upper middle class black family, had an episode last season that featured the N-Word, but NEVER USE IT, in which one of the children was suspended from school for using the N-Word, in a rap song at a school talent show. The school had a no tolerance policy.



My take away from SNL's wide and cavalier use of the N-Word was an indictment on political correctness, and how this election threw PC under the bus, so maybe it's time to evaluate WORDS, and examine what it is about them we're afraid of.

It is okay to use it, if you're black.

a reply to: BlueShaman

Well, I would certainly hope so. But, should it, is it being normalized beyond that?

This could be a good thread.
I hope that it is.

I wonder what is better, having a world where certain words are not allowed, or a world where the words are allowed?

If everyone can say them, how do you know who the real racists are?

I read an editorial on HuffPost that covers the 'safety pin' trend that is popular right now. I thought it was interesting (note the part that I highlighted in red):

Seriously? This is a thing now? Wear a safety pin to show “you’re an ally?” So immigrants, people of color, LGBTQ people, and others who were targeted and persecuted and (further) marginalized by the Trump Campaign will know they’re “safe” with you?

No. Just no. Please, take it off. Let me explain something, white people: We just #ed up. Bad. We elected a racist demagogue who has promised to do serious harm to almost every person who isn’t a straight white male, and whose rhetoric has already stirred up hate crimes nationwide. White people were 70% of the voters in the 2016 election, and we’re the only demographic Trump won. It doesn’t matter why. What matters is there’s a white nationalist moving into the Oval Office, and white people — only white people — put him there. We don’t get to make ourselves feel better by putting on safety pins and self-designating ourselves as allies.

Marginalized people know full well the long history of white people calling themselves allies while doing nothing to help. And make no mistake, that’s what the safety pins are for. Making White people feel better. They’ll do little or nothing to reassure the marginalized populations they are allegedly there to reassure; marginalized people know full well the long history of white people calling themselves allies while doing nothing to help, or even inflicting harm on, non-white Americans. Remember the white guys in the 1770s who wrote all about freedom and equality and inalienable rights? Remember how they owned and sold slaves? Yeah, if that’s the spirit you want to evoke, go ahead and wear your safety pin. I’m sure lots of white people will smile when they see it. They might even congratulate you. But immigrants and people of color will recognize it as a symbol of your privilege.

Also, you know who is going to be out wearing safety pins like crazy? Trump voters.

If you really want to be an ally, and make a difference for the people harmed by Trump, there are plenty of ways to do that. In fact, here’s a link to a whole list of ways you can be a better ally to marginalized communities. Unfortunately, few of them will provide the kind of visibility or reassurance that you think your safety pin will.

I know, I know, you’re uncomfortable. You feel guilty. You think people are going to suspect you of being a racist, and you want some way to assuage that guilt and reassure your neighbors that you’re one of the good ones. But you know what? You don’t get to do that. You need to sit in your guilt right now. You need to feel bad. So do I, so do all of us. We #ed up. We didn’t do enough to change the minds of our fellow White people. We unfriended them instead of confronting them. We looked the other way or laughed uncomfortably when our aunts and cousins made racist comments. We were content then to be one of the good ones and now we want congratulations — but we #ed up, and now other people are going to pay the price.

Because guess what: Even if you aren’t a racist, you still benefit from racism. I’m a white guy with money. This isn’t going to hurt me much. Yes, I’m bisexual, and therefore subject to some of the threats against marginalized groups. But it’s highly unlikely I’m going to be told I’m not American, or picked up by ICE and held in detention until I’m deported, or beaten or executed by police who decide my mere existence presents a threat to their safety, or denied the right to make my own decisions about my own medical care. For the most part, I’ll go about my daily life the way I always have — and if I want to, I can put a safety pin on my shirt and congratulate myself for being so woke, for being one of the good ones. Meanwhile I’ll be benefitting, every minute of every day, from a system that is designed to favor me over people whose skin looks darker than mine.

Don’t do it. If you really need some way to show your support, if you just can’t bear to sit in your discomfort for even a little bit longer, here’s my suggestion: Instead of doing the thing white people invented to make ourselves feel better, follow the example of the people from the marginalized communities you want to support. I recommend carrying a big sign. You can make your own, it’s easy. On the sign you should write, in big bold letters, “BLACK LIVES MATTER.” And hey, if you want you can use your safety pin to fix it to your shirt. This post originally appeared on Christopher Keelty’s blog t

allsides

a reply to: windword

I always picture Randy Marsh on Wheel of Fortune.

Pat: "The clue is: people who annoy you."

Word: N-GGERS

Randy: "I know it but I don't think I should say it."

(It was 'naggers' if you never caught the episode.)

originally posted by: windword
is it being normalized beyond that?

It depends. Was the n-word used by non-blacks throughout the show? I didn't watch it.

Censoring words does not work...SNL airs at 10:30 pm in Texas....kids should be asleep

Let the tipper and al gores of the world worry about that garbage...

Be a parent and prepare ur children for life....don't let schools or television shape ur kids sensibilities...

Here's an example and my favorite ironic display of the uselessness of censorship:

Funny, SNL has never been my go to place for crying and introspection... much less the place Id go to for being given the go ahead by the spokesman for the blacks to get the A-OK to use the n word.

Absurd..

Love ya Dave, but Ill stick to my previously held beliefs concerning the N word regardless of SNL being the new authority on social issues. Ill say it or not say it at my own discretion.

I've always liked Chapelle. He is able to make fun of all groups equally. I'm not sure how I feel about him or other blacks liberally using terms that they find offensive for other people to say.

originally posted by: BlueShaman

originally posted by: windword
is it being normalized beyond that?

It depends. Was the n-word used by non-blacks throughout the show? I didn't watch it.

No. It's definitely used as an adjective for a black person, sometimes affectionately, but Chappelle quoted white men who used it in his monologue.

The Chapelle I saw years ago hated white people; I mean really angry at white people. I hesitate to take anything he says very seriously. I certain would not expect him to be influential to all races nor take seriously his permission to use that word-it is pretty universally hated by our now indoctrinated "white" society as a huge no-no.

a reply to: Justso

I certainly sensed a subtle hint of defiance and covert hostility in his continuous use of the word. Although I personally was never offended, I felt he was trying to drive a point home.

I don't care what Dave says! I will never say it, NEVER. And he can't make me.

the irony of a derogatory word of yesteryear where brave men and women fought for its abolishment and equality and to have the freedom of any other race; and today morons are fighting to call each other the same word on public panels and its also a word only on race can use...

the chimes of freedom...

a reply to: windword

It is always difficult for me to understand this topic of "taboo words".

Here's why. It is purely chance that we have the ability to speak any given word.

How so?

Chemical composition of the Earth's atmosphere
The evolution (yes, evolution) of a body that can make sounds due to the following:
Vocal Chords
A mouth capable of forming the words thanks to teeth, lips, and tongue with articulate muscle control
The brain (which of course is capable of creating, remembering, and proper usage of language)
The very fact that we can communicate via speech as vividly as we do

It is my firm belief that all words are valid. If someone says to me "you're an asshole!", It is merely an adjective that more appropriately reflects their true feelings over saying something like "you're a jerk!". There is simply no way to convey the intent and delivery without using certain words.

So, "Nigger"? Well, if someone says that...it is meant for communication. Quite frankly, it is also an excellent word for the recipient of the statement, as it shows an otherwise unaffordable insight into the mind of the person that said it.

In short...don't allow a word to offend you. Don't allow it to define you. Instead, if it is upsetting, consider the source. Consider who said it, and chew over the thought of why that person felt the need to use such words. Then if you don't like what you find, simply turn your back on that person. It's as simple as that.

originally posted by: Justso
The Chapelle I saw years ago hated white people; I mean really angry at white people. I hesitate to take anything he says very seriously. I certain would not expect him to be influential to all races nor take seriously his permission to use that word-it is pretty universally hated by our now indoctrinated "white" society as a huge no-no.

Actually the main writer of Chappelle's show was Neal Brennan, a white guy.

originally posted by: BlueShaman
It is okay to use it, if you're black.

That's racist.

OH God how I wish this would end.

dave chapelle has never been afraid of the word and has made a lot of money using it.

here is a link to one of my favorite skits he does. the other is the one where his limo driver takes to the hood and the baby is slinging weed, couldn't find the full video on youtube that was decent so this is a link to ebaum's

it's real funny
Warning For viewers sensitive to issues of race, be advised that the following piece contains gratuitous use of the n word

Clayton Bigsby; The Black, White Supremist

a reply to: hounddoghowlie

Watching it now. But, was it ever on national network TV? I think this the word's use so many times on network TV (SNL) is as much as a first as the word "Sh#T" being used on SouthPark!