Is "I'm Sorry" Good Enough?

Watching Paula Dean's interview this morning and hearing all the chatter on social media from all the varying perspectives has made me aware again of how quickly we can lose focus of that which is critical to any discussion and so easily be distracted by the non essentials; the white noise so to speak. (no pun intended :-))

Whether or not you believe her claim that she has only used the word nigger once in her life, the fact is that it doesn't really matter how many times she's used it. Every person I know has said some things in private, when the cameras aren't rolling, that they would not want aired in public. Jokes, crude comments, racially charged language, sexist commentary, homophobic slurs, insults directed at the handicapped; everybody in the world has said something that would offend a huge portion of the population at some point or another. Should we all be fired? Should social media outrage campaigns be launched against us? Maybe. But they won't be unless we're foolish enough to say in public what we too easily allow ourselves to say in private. Which brings me to my first observation about this whole Paula Dean situation. Unlike Don Imus, Rush Limbaugh, Jimmy the Greek and a laundry list of other fools, Paula Dean did not say nigger on the air. She did truthfully admit to saying it 30 years ago at gun point. And maybe she's said it countless times prior and since but if that's grounds for being terminated from a job then God help us all if, like Dean, we have the integrity to admit the offensive stuff we've said if we're ever questioned about it. I'm reminded here of the profound wisdom and liberating redemption of Jesus' response to a blood thirsty, hypocritical group of men who wanted Him to affirm their blood lust but instead said: "let he is without sin cast the first stone."

Something else that strikes me is all of the outrage regarding Dean's use of the word nigger. I find it interesting that people are so easily outraged by words of racism but can't seem to muster any anger or even frustration with actions and policies that perpetuate racism. Here's an inconvenient truth. Paula Dean calling someone a nigger 30 years ago in no way, shape or form, has anything to do with racial inequality in 2013. She could have greeted every black person she met from then to now by saying "good morning nigger!" and it would not have contributed one iota to the very real, tangible problems of race we are experiencing in America right now.

Dean's, or anybody else's use of the word nigger has nothing to do with attempts to disenfranchise African American and Latino voters of the Supreme Court's failure to curb those efforts. It has nothing to do with educational disparities. Calling someone a nigger has no impact on the fact that the prison industrial complex has been built largely on the backs of Black and Brown young men. If we're going to have a real conversation about race in America, these are the issues that are central to that discussion. I don't care how many times Dean has used the word niggr. I care about African American children having access to quality healthcare and education. I care about the genocide that's occurring in inner cities like Chicago and Philadelphia and Detroit where violent, gun related deaths seem to disproportionately claim Black and Brown lives and I care about what people are doing about it.

As an African American male I've always appreciated the frankness of overt racial bias. It's not cool, but at least I know where I stand. And as jacked up as this whole situation is, at least Paula Dean was honest. She said it. She went there and then  had the guts and integrity to own it when questioned. What her business partners do with that information is on them but I'd much rather see them cut ties with people and/or organizations that actually perpetuate racism. I won't hold my breath on that though.