(Name-mce) ListServ N-word response to Bill's response

[Bill Howe]

Teja - your last sentence is a key point:

:What I would like to see is a conscious effort for us to teach the next
generation that this language is NOT necessary in order to be funny or
profound. Bad language is too easy. Good stories are difficult. "

The Anti-Defamation League puts out some of  THE BEST teaching and training
materials and conduct great workshops on the issue of name-calling and other
forms of bias. Here in Connecticut the local ADL branch has an outstanding
cadre of full and part-time trainers. They have had great success with their
program - Names Can Really Hurt Us
http://www.adl.org/education/edu_awod/awod_pilot.asp. In fact, we (CT State
Dept of Education) have just awarded them a fairly large grant to do their
workshops for teachers and students in the state.

In my job - handling civil rights complaints, conducting prof Dev workshops
and visiting schools - the issue of racist language is constantly evident.
As a proud teacher for over 30 years, I find it obscene that a small number
of educators (at all levels) use racist and derogatory language. It gives
the rest of us a really bad reputation and adds fuel to the teacher-bashing
that goes on. It galls me too that so few people stand up to these bigots.

How bad is it in higher education?




On 12/5/06, Teja Arboleda <Teja at entertainingdiversity.com> wrote:
>
> SAVE THE DATE for the 17th Annual International NAME Conference
> -Baltimore, Maryland- Oct.31- Nov.4,2007
> >>>>>>>>>>
> I don't know about Michael Richards, nor Mel Gibson or any body else. Many
> people use language that is derogatory in their own comfort zones. The
> question I have is where is that comfort zone? Where is the line? Richards
> and Gibson, and Stern, and Limbough, even Al Franken (the impetuous behind
> why I do what I do) have said terrible things, and maybe that is because
> they let their guard down. It is no excuse, but it is incredibly difficult
> to maintain rational in many American comedy club settings. It is brutal,
> difficult, and much of comedy is about making fun of one's self. What I
> would like to see is a conscious effort for us to teach the next
> generation
> that this language is NOT necessary in order to be funny or profound. Bad
> language is too easy. Good stories are difficult.
>
> >
> > Teja - great insights. Are you saying Michael Richards, let his guard
> down
> > and revealed his true feelings? Is that what Mel Gibson did in his
> diatribe
> > against Jewish people? Despite their denials to the contrary, are they
> > revealing their true bigotry (maybe unconscious?)
> >
> > On 12/3/06, Teja Arboleda <Teja at entertainingdiversity.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> SAVE THE DATE for the 17th Annual International NAME Conference
> >> -Baltimore, Maryland- Oct.31- Nov.4,2007
> >>>>>>>>>>>>
> >> I'm currently producing a documentary called, "Crossing the Line"
> >> Multiracial Comedy", with my co-producer, Professor Darby LiPo Price,
> Ph.D
> >> .
> >> His dissertation was on multiracial comedians. One of the big questions
> he
> >> asked for his thesis, and one that we asked during our interviews was,
> >> "Where is the line". In other words, who (comedian by ethnicity) can
> use
> >> what word with what audience (ethnic/racial make-up).
> >>
> >> I arrived in LA on November 16th, just in time to hear about Michael
> >> Richards contribution to our story. The interviews with the 16
> multiracial
> >> comedians, and the three comedy shows we produced at major comedy clubs
> in
> >> LA, SF and Berkeley were partially fueled by Mr. Richards' blow-up.
> From a
> >> comedian's standpoint, the idea of not being prepared for hecklers, is
> >> unprofessional. To respond with such vigor and with comments of his
> >> choice,
> >> make it clear that in fact he had most likely constructed responses
> well
> >> ahead of time. In other words, although much of comedy is ad-lib,
> >> comedians
> >> must be quick to respond to hecklers (particularly in racially divided
> >> America) in a mixed-race setting, and therefore must have loaded
> responses
> >> ready for launch. Failure to launch constructively, and with humor,
> spells
> >> failure. I know this, as a comedian (multiracial/multiethnic) myself.
> >>
> >> During the same week, an innocent Black man was shot down by police in
> NY,
> >> and the Pope mentioned some very unfair comments about Islam. The
> >> question,
> >> posed by many of the comedians we interviewed, may not be necessarily
> >> relevant to just race. There is a larger question, and that is, what
> are
> >> we
> >> protecting, and how? If, as humans, we have an inherent need to protect
> >> 'what' we are in the context of culture, race, religion, class, sex,
> >> gender,
> >> etc., who can say what to whom?
> >>
> >> Comedy and laughter can be used as an informational healing tool. And
> has
> >> been since the beginning of human culture and communication. Crossing
> the
> >> line, however, is subjective and objective, and hard to evaluate when
> the
> >> 'N' word is still acceptable by ANY group. The late comedian Richard
> Pryor
> >> himself vowed to never use the word again upon his return from Africa.
> >>
> >> If you are interested in how comedians are dealing with the 'N' word,
> and
> >> other words that demean people or groups (race, culture, etc.) I
> welcome
> >> you
> >> to support our effort to tell this story, in Crossing the Line.
> >>
> >> Producer/Director
> >> Crossing the Line: Multiracial Comedy
> >> Teja Arboleda, M.Ed.
> >> Entertaining Diversity, Inc.
> >> PO Box 126, Dedham, MA 02027
> >> (781) 329-7040
> >>
> >>
> >> on 12/3/06 9:26 AM, name-mce-request at nameorg.org at
> >> name-mce-request at nameorg.org wrote:
> >>
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> >>>
> >>>
> >>> SAVE THE DATE for the 17th Annual International NAME Conference
> >> -Baltimore,
> >>> Maryland- Oct.31- Nov.4,2007
> >>>>>>>>>>>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Today's Topics:
> >>>
> >>>    1.  Black entertainers struggle with the N-word (bill at billhowe.org)
> >>>    2. Re:  10 Most Important Books: Poll (Dennis Swender)
> >>>    3.  Webinar - Helping Undocumented Students Navigate the College
> >>>       Pipeline (Anselmo Villanueva)
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>
> >>> Message: 1
> >>> Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2006 09:22:24 -0500
> >>> From: <bill at billhowe.org>
> >>> Subject: (Name-mce) ListServ Black entertainers struggle with the
> >>> N-word
> >>> To: <Name-mce at nameorg.org>
> >>> Message-ID: <003101c7161d$4baf49b0$6601a8c0 at howe0kjj38f3m1>
> >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> >>>
> >>> Commentary:  The use of the "N" word comes up in my classes all the
> >> time,
> >>> usually raised by white teachers in a rather defensive tone, asking
> why
> >> the
> >>> kids can use it but if they did, they would be called racist. I
> actually
> >>> look forward to when this occurs since it is a great time to start
> being
> >>> more open and honest about personal biases. It is a signal to me that
> >> the
> >>> class is comfortable enough to get more uncomfortable....Bill
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Black entertainers struggle with the N-word
> >>>
> >>> After Richards flap, some comedians say they'll quit using epithet for
> >>> laughs
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> By Darryl Fears
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Updated: 12:28 a.m. ET Dec. 2, 2006 (Washington Post)
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Paul Mooney is a popular black comedian with a foul mouth who's used a
> >> nasty
> >>> racial epithet as part of his shtick for decades. But when his friend
> >>> Michael Richards, who's white, spewed that same epithet during a gig
> at
> >> a
> >>> Los Angeles comedy club, Mooney said it "freaked me out" and "filled
> me
> >> with
> >>> disgust."
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Mooney joined the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.)
> >> this
> >>> week in calling for a moratorium by entertainers who use the n-word,
> the
> >>> nation's ugliest black pejorative. The proposal, spurred by Richards's
> >>> racist rant last month, initiated the latest round of a long-standing
> >> debate
> >>> about the term. Black people have fought over the word for years. And
> >>> nonblack hip-hop and rap music lovers now ask, "If black people can
> use
> >> it,
> >>> why can't I?"
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Mooney said he believes Richards "was trying to channel Lenny Bruce,"
> >> the
> >>> edgy comedian who first turned invective into laughs. He was also
> >> imitating
> >>> "Paul Mooney and a bunch of other people," Mooney added in his mea
> >> culpa.
> >>> "He had heard it in rap and all that. I'm part of the problem. I
> >> contributed
> >>> to it, yes."
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Randall Kennedy, a black Harvard University professor who authored a
> >>> controversial book about the word, says he understands its complexity:
> >> "It
> >>> does have a terrible history. It is a word that quite frankly is
> steeped
> >> in
> >>> blood."
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> But over centuries, it underwent a sort of Jekyll and Hyde mutation,
> >>> particularly in black communities. "Like so many words, it does mean
> >>> different things in different contexts," Kennedy said. "It can be used
> >> right
> >>> now to terrorize and demean people. It can also be used to say you're
> my
> >>> man, to show solidarity, to satirize racists and put them down."
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> 'A romance with the word'
> >>>
> >>> 'Which is how Mooney used it in his comedy -- far too much, he said:
> "I
> >> was
> >>> having a romance with the word, and I was married to it." But now,
> >> Mooney
> >>> said, "I'm free of it. I won't be using that word onstage, and I won't
> >> be
> >>> using the b-word. We're asking the rappers and all the people on Earth
> >> to
> >>> stop using the word."
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Reaction has been mixed. Some black people said Mooney's stand is
> >> principled
> >>> and noble. But others, including comedian Dick Gregory, who said he
> was
> >> once
> >>> Mooney's mentor and will perform with him today at the District's
> >> Lincoln
> >>> Theatre, reacted as if the comic had made another joke. Gregory said
> he
> >>> might pledge to continue using the word to poke fun and force
> Americans
> >> to
> >>> confront the ugly side of race.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> That happened in earnest on Nov. 17 when Richards singled out a black
> >> patron
> >>> as a heckler -- wrongly, it turned out -- and launched into a
> >> hate-filled
> >>> tirade, rattling off the word like a machine gun and saying that 50
> >> years
> >>> ago the man would have been hanging "from a tree." The rant was
> captured
> >> by
> >>> a cellphone video camera and distributed on the Web.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Gregory said he was one of the first to use the word onstage, without
> >>> crossing a line as Richards did at the Laugh Factory. In the 1960s,
> >> during
> >>> the civil rights movement, Gregory joked that when a white restaurant
> >> owner
> >>> shouted to him and other black protesters that "I don't serve
> [blacks],"
> >> he
> >>> dryly replied: "That's okay, because I don't eat 'em."
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> The late Richard Pryor, once the most famous black comedian, rode the
> >> word
> >>> to fame in the 1970s with chart-topping albums that crossed over into
> >> white
> >>> culture. Another black comedian, Dave Chappelle, duplicated Pryor's
> feat
> >> by
> >>> using the word as slapstick and social commentary on his Comedy
> Central
> >>> cable show.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Both Pryor and Chappelle backed away from the word. Pryor vowed to
> stop
> >>> using it after traveling to Africa and saying he saw no one there who
> >> fit
> >>> the description. Chappelle said his skin crawled when a white
> youngster
> >>> casually used the word while praising one of his TV sketches.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> The word is so reviled that newspapers, including The Washington Post,
> >> often
> >>> refuse to print it. Television and radio stations censor it with a
> >> bleep.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Jackson said the word should be permanently muted. He called on
> >> Americans to
> >>> not buy the DVD boxed set of the seventh season of "Seinfeld," the hit
> >> TV
> >>> show on which Richards portrayed the character Kramer.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Mooney, who wrote for a number of shows and foulmouthed black
> humorists,
> >>> including Redd Foxx, said he will wean himself from the word like an
> >>> alcoholic. "One person can make a difference," he said. The Laugh
> >> Factory,
> >>> he said, has banned the word.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> The word is widely used in black entertainment. Comedian Damon Wayans,
> >> star
> >>> of the syndicated black sitcom "My Wife and Kids," even tried to
> patent
> >> it
> >>> for a line of clothing this year. That effort failed, as did a dozen
> or
> >> so
> >>> others before his. "I resent the word," Gregory said. "I think it's
> the
> >>> filthiest thing in the history of the planet. But we want to get rid
> of
> >> the
> >>> word without really talking about it in America. You don't clean it up
> >> by
> >>> denying that it exists."
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Mark Anthony Neal, an associate professor of black popular culture at
> >> Duke
> >>> University, said the word should be policed in most media but not
> >> deleted
> >>> from the culture altogether.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> "Before we can start telling white people who aren't using the word as
> a
> >>> pejorative that you can't use it, we need to be honest about how we've
> >> used
> >>> the words," Neal said.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Richards clearly crossed a line, he said, then added, "How much
> >> political
> >>> capital do we want to use in admonishing Michael Richards? Should we
> >> worry
> >>> about people who call us [that word] or about people who treat us like
> >>> them."
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Bill Howe
> >>>  <http://www.billhowe.org/> http://www.billhowe.org
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Past-President
> >>>
> >>> National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME)
> >>>  <http://www.nameorg.org/> http://www.nameorg.org
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> -------------- next part --------------
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> >>> Url :
> >>>
> >>
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> >>>
> >>> ------------------------------
> >>>
> >>> Message: 2
> >>> Date: Sat, 02 Dec 2006 11:30:28 -0600
> >>> From: "Dennis Swender" <deswend at kckcc.edu>
> >>> Subject: Re: (Name-mce) ListServ 10 Most Important Books: Poll
> >>> To: <name-mce at nameorg.org>
> >>> Message-ID: <s57163e4.053 at netware.kckcc.edu>
> >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
> >>>
> >>> 2006, Banks, James S.
> >>> Cultural Diversity and Education / Foundations, Curriculum, and
> Teaching
> >>>
> >>> 2002, Cummins, Jim.
> >>> Language, Power and Pedagogy.
> >>>
> >>> 2004, Diuguid, Lewis W.
> >>> A Teacher's Cry / Expose the Truth About Eduction Today
> >>>
> >>> 2005, Follmi, Danielle & Olivier (eds).
> >>> Origins / African Wisdom for Everyday
> >>>
> >>> 2002, Guinier, Lani and Torres, Gerald.
> >>> The Miner's Canary / Enlisting Race, Resisting Power, Transforming
> >>> Democracy
> >>>
> >>> 1991, Heat-Moon, William Least.
> >>> PrairyErth / a deep map
> >>>
> >>> 2005, Kozol, Jonathan
> >>> The Shame of the Nation / The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in
> >>> America
> >>>
> >>> 2003, Lawson, Steven F.
> >>> Civil Rights Crossroads / Nation, Community, and The Black Freedom
> >>> Struggle
> >>>
> >>> 1999, McAuliffe, Jr., Dennis
> >>> Bloodland / A Family Story of Oil, Greed and Murder on the Osage
> >>> Reservation
> >>>
> >>> 2004, Pollock, Mica
> >>> Colormute / Race Talk Dilemmas in an American School
> >>>
> >>> 2002, Wu, Frank H.
> >>> Yellow / Race in American Beyond Black and White
> >>>
> >>> 1988 (there is a more recent edition), Wurzel, Jaime S. (ed)
> >>> Toward Multiculturalism / A Reader in Multicultural Education
> >>>
> >>> D. Swender
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>>>> gorski at edchange.org 11/24/06 9:12 PM >>>
> >>> Hello, friends.
> >>>
> >>> I'm doing a bit of a poll. It's very simple. Please send me what you
> >>> believe
> >>> to be the 10 (or up to 10) most important books related to equity,
> >>> social
> >>> justice, and/or multicultural education. Please send the book title
> and
> >>> author name.
> >>>
> >>> Feel free to think outside the box. The books don't have to be about
> >>> education explicitly and they don't even have to be non-fiction. But
> I'm
> >>> hoping for books that push boundaries, that aren't, in essence,
> "soft,"
> >>> celebrating diversity sorts of things.
> >>>
> >>> As an example, I'm listing 5 of the books that have been most
> >>> inspirational
> >>> to my work below.
> >>>
> >>> Thanks for your input,
> >>>
> >>> Paul
> >>>
> >>> 1. Borderlands: La Frontera by Gloria Anzaldua
> >>> 2. Multicultural Education as Social Activism by Christine Sleeter
> >>> 3. John Brown by W.E.B. DuBois
> >>> 4. The Critical Pedagogy Reader by Antonia Darder (Ed.)
> >>> 5. Global Critical Race Feminism: An International Reader by Adrien
> >>> Katharine Wing (Ed.)
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> ********
> >>> Paul C. Gorski
> >>> EdChange: http://www.EdChange.org <http://www.edchange.org/>
> >>> Multicultural Pavilion: http://www.EdChange.org/multicultural
> >>> Social Justice Store: http://www.cafepress.com/edchange
> >>> Multicultural Poster Store: http://www.EdChange.org/posters
> >>> SoJust Civil Rights History: http://www.SoJust.net
> >>> <http://www.sojust.net/>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> This is a mailing of the National Association for Multicultural
> >>> Education -
> >>> (NAME) Listserv list - www.nameorg.org. The materials included reflect
> >>> diverse perspectives of NAME Listserv participants and do not
> >>> necessarily reflect a position of the National Association for
> >>> Multicultural Education. If you would like to subscribe (or
> >>> unsubscribe)to this listserv go to
> >>> http://mail.nameorg.org/mailman/listinfo/name-mce_nameorg.org. You can
> >>> read all past postings in the archives at
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> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Name-mce mailing list
> >>> Name-mce at nameorg.org
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> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> There is no box.
> >>
> >> Teja Arboleda, M.Ed.
> >> Entertaining Diversity, Inc.
> >> PO Box 126, Dedham, MA 02027
> >> (781) 329-7040
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> This is a mailing of the National Association for Multicultural
> Education
> >> -
> >> (NAME) Listserv list - www.nameorg.org. The materials included reflect
> >> diverse perspectives of NAME Listserv participants and do not
> necessarily
> >> reflect a position of the National Association for Multicultural
> Education.
> >> If you would like to subscribe (or unsubscribe)to this listserv go to
> >> http://mail.nameorg.org/mailman/listinfo/name-mce_nameorg.org. You can
> >> read all past postings in the archives at
> >> http://mail.nameorg.org/pipermail/name-mce_nameorg.org/
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Name-mce mailing list
> >> Name-mce at nameorg.org
> >> http://mail.nameorg.org/mailman/listinfo/name-mce_nameorg.org
> >>
> >>
> >
>
>
> --
> There is no box.
>
> Teja Arboleda, M.Ed.
> Entertaining Diversity, Inc.
> PO Box 126, Dedham, MA 02027
> (781) 329-7040
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> This is a mailing of the National Association for Multicultural Education
> -
> (NAME) Listserv list - www.nameorg.org. The materials included reflect
> diverse perspectives of NAME Listserv participants and do not necessarily
> reflect a position of the National Association for Multicultural Education.
> If you would like to subscribe (or unsubscribe)to this listserv go to
> http://mail.nameorg.org/mailman/listinfo/name-mce_nameorg.org. You can
> read all past postings in the archives at
> http://mail.nameorg.org/pipermail/name-mce_nameorg.org/
>
>
>
> Name-mce mailing list
> Name-mce at nameorg.org
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>
>


-- 
Bill Howe
www.billhowe.org
www.nameorg.org