If you’re interested, first watch the video, and then read Tereva’s response she e-mailed them.
Whoopi, Sherri, and Hasselback on The N Word
As an African American woman, I would like to thank Elisabeth Hasselbeck for her empathy and concern for not only the Black community, but for the unification of humanity. As Whoopi stated in the controversial episode discussing the ‘N’ word, we do not live in the same worlds. There are prejudices that I will undoubtedly undergo because of my race, but, are we not called to correct the past wrongs of our history? I believe that Elisabeth’s yearning is for us to mend the bridges that our past has attempted to destroy, and the ‘N’ word has caused nothing but emotional strife and suffering.
I hope that the View’s audience did not walk away thinking that Whoopi and Sherri’s perspectives are accurate representations of African American thoughts and attachments to the word. How can we embrace something that has such negative connotations? By continuing to embrace the ‘N’ word, we are furthering the wedge of segregation and racism, by stating that it is ‘ok’ to make allowances for some people’s use of the word and not for others. We are also stating that is ‘ok’ for us to perpetuate self hatred, but it is not ok for others to hate us because of our skin. Can we get any more hypocritical and ignorant?
Is this the kind of world that we want our children to inherit? A world where they are to continue living lives separate from their peers, mates, co-workers, friends, family, because they follow an unspoken rule of conduct? It’s absurd. You can NOT strip shame away from a word that has been used for hundreds of years. It is inextricable at this point. Whoopi, Sherri, listen to your female counterparts. The color of their skin does not strip them of their credibility, nor their wisdom, and desire to rectify situations that hurt our communities and world.
There is this thing the Lutheran church has been walking through with the Mennonite church called “right remembering”. Yancey talks a lot about this “policy” in his book “What’s so Amazing About Grace?”
How can we remove all memories of a wrongdoing and live in a world of forgiveness?
wow, what an interesting (and important) conversation, including Tereva’s email response. I would not pretend to be able to speak to this issue on the same level as my friend Tereva, my respect for her is so high. At the same time, I must confess that I feel conflicted.
Have you ever felt like you agreed with someone but you were afraid to verbalize your agreement or let them know because you were afraid they didn’t come to their conclusion in the right way?
That’s kind of how I feel about Elizabeth Hasselbeck’s response. I mostly agree with her but I think it’s so much more complex than I perceived in her responses. Is it okay to come to the right conclusion even if you don’t really understand?
Several of us Mekis-types enjoyed reading Tereva’s well-written commentary.
Tereva’s comments were encouraging and enlightening for me, as a white guy. I hate the ‘N’ word. It sucks. I don’t like it when anybody uses it. An all to familiar response (from my experience) that Whoopi and Sherri had often makes me feel frustrated and confused. I don’t hate the word or any other form of hate or bigotry based on who’s using it, but based on what it means to me, not necessarily what it means to black people, I don’t think I can ever fully understand that, but what it means to me. Sometimes the racial divide seems so far to cross because of a lack of trust and/or understanding. It’s like we can’t believe that people with different skin color or really on the same team as us. That is what I saw going on with Elizabeth and Whoopi and Sherri in that clip. It’s extremely frustrating and it hurts. Thanks for the thoughts Tereva.
And why am I reading these things in reverse chronological order?