Tarantino And The ‘N’ Word
Its 2013. My President is not only black but he has snagged a 2nd term as well. An era of racial harmony or of racial integration/achievement has been heralded in many assume. However there is a darker cloud on the horizon. A sinister almost macabre evil is upon us as we bypass the mayan predictions and head into a new year. D’Jango Unchained landed down amidst much fanfare, hype, and hatred.
The story revolves around two protagonists on a mission to stop an evil man and retrieve one of the heroic duo’s wife. What is drawing the ire of many folks is the extensive use of the ‘N’ word in the movie. Now unlike a loosely hidden bastion of hatred Tarantino can be perceived as merely sticking to the plot and timeline it corresponds too. And still people are up in arms. The famed site Drudge Report called him on it. Other people in and out of the so called minority community have voiced displeasure as well. However as a man of color serving his community my problem isn’t with Tarantino.
Let me expound on this.
A) We have allowed these written monstrosities to become powerfully pervasive and commonplace.
Abusive language and the inconsolable actions that generally accompany them exist almost solely as a result of our refusal to act. Life is a series of actions, and of these the most important are when we give ground, not when we gain it. To be mad at Tarantino when we don’t march on Hollywood or the Radio stations is pure ignorance. When we tolerate failure we become failures. When we tolerate bigotry, racism, and so forth we become those as well. And if you feel we don’t you can surely agree with my assertion that tolerating the N word has had no positive feedback, no useful outcome.
B) No one complains when we ALL use the ‘N’ word.
So that statement is written a bit poorly. It only lends to the argument. When we yearn to commercially castrate a public figure for using a word we use as part of our daily vernacular we look like assholes. Sorry for the profanity but I want to make my point-
How are we angry at the use of the word by an “outsider”, when our use of the same word clearly condones it?
Rap, television, actual existence- all flood me with the ‘N’ word. It is to the point that in the gym my Italian counterparts address each other using the word. Be mad- Why? Most of the guys at the gym use the ‘N’ word. I bounced a private party and a large contingent of white guys used the ‘N’ word as interchangeably as the word A.
Now we can blame them or acknowledge that when we use the very word that denigrated us then and denigrates us now as a common colloquialism- we are at fault.
Lastly- Words only have the power we give them. And when our focus is on such trivial issues as language in an action movie we have surrendered to our base nature as adults. There are bigger issues in our communities if not in our world. Many kids died in Sandyhook recently and my heart goes out to them but we need to cry for the kids dying daily. Many die of simple starvation. In the mightiest nation in the world we refuse to stop kids from dying of causes we can stop.
Do you see the blindness?
I will surely be painted a monster for these words but the truth is bigger than you or I. We have an obligation to search out the truth and deliver it. And then act on it.
Are you worried about being called a nigger, or acting like one?
Peace,
T3
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