I Need To Say Something About Paula Deen
I need to say something about Paula Deen and this is it.
Screw you, Paula.
Okay, here’s how Paula Deen hurt me personally. All week long I have been hearing commentators on teevee say that using the N word should be expected from “Southern white women of a certain age.” I even heard one say it was “understandable.”
Hell, no. I don’t know where these commentators got that but they need to put it down right now and never touch it again.
I am Paula Deen’s age and I live in the South. I have not used the N word since I was 6 years old (I heard it at school) and my Irish grandma swatted my bottom for saying it. I was told that words like that do not come out of a lady’s mouth and that Jesus loves all the little children — red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight. I was told to say “colored.”
I never said it again. I was 17 years old when Dr. Martin Luther King won the Nobel Peace Prize. So was Paula Deen. So, if she used that word after 1964, shame on her. She knew full well that she should not be saying that.
But now, when people look at me, they think I talk like Paula Deen, but should be forgiven for it based on my age and my birthplace. No.
Paula Deen knew for a damn fact that those words were hurtful and not acceptable. My grandmother, rest her precious soul, would have stomped her said indignantly, “And she calls herself a lady?”
My friend Laura sent me this to read. You will feel far less sympathy for Deen after reading this.
So, Paula, screw you. Not all Southern women of a certain age are a bunch of classless witches.
That’s what I have to say about Paula Deen.
I was raised by an extremely racist father, and I do not believe the n-word has passed my lips one single time in my life.
How can this be, you may ask…..
I was saved by Scholastic books and Highlights magazine – my dad was really into education and reading, and hadn’t the slightest idea that he was undermining his own racist teachings, nor why I always argued with him about them….!
(Fortunately I was reading well before school age, or it might have been too late to save me.)
1I was wondering if this might happen … Poor Paula, she won’t have a ham to hang or a pan to fry it up in!!
Paula Deen will no longer be flogging meat for Smithfield Foods.
2The food company has ended its endorsement deal with Deen, following revelations that she had used racial slurs in the past.
I was raised under segregation in the South while being black. The term still has a racist and derogatory meaning for me, even when it is used by blacks. Even though my brothers and I were raised under segregation, my parents prohibited the use of the word in their house. They would beat our behinds if they heard us using the term in any manner in referring to anything. I also banned the use of the word in my own home, and my daughter didn’t grow up hearing it and thinking it was okay to use it. What galls me is hearing some whites claim that all black people use the term. We don’t. Some of us hate the word with a passion no matter who is using it. IMHO, it’s not a term that should be a part of any conversation in any part of the country.
3Thank you for this, and most especially for that delicious link to Mr. Bernstein.
Not only is she a poisonous racist, but her food sucks too. (Trust me — it’s been inflicted on me…)
4Or even classless bitches!
5Paula’s mama probably taught her to say “nigra” because that was what classy ladies would say. Also, she was probably taught “they cain’t hep they were born that way, bless their hearts.”
6Genius Youtube auteur “Wolfgoreshow” has had Paula Deen’s number for years. Check out his many videos featuring her… and you’re welcome !
7To Majii: Yes, thank you! I’m white, and I know it is a gross overgeneralization for people to say that “all black people use the term,” (I hear it a lot from white people who are defending their own racism) but I’m always glad to hear it publicly denounced.
To John White: My grandmother was a “classy lady,” and yes, she said the variation that you mentioned, but she was born in 1895. My elderly aunt (born in the early 20’s) would never say such a thing, so I don’t believe that any “classy lady” after the 50’s would.
On the other hand, people can learn and they can change. I think it is more important to see what they do in the present than to dwell on what they did in the past. I’m not a fan of Paula Deen, but I’m not out to ruin her, either.
And thank you, Juanita Jean, for defending the honor of thousands of white Southern ladies of a certain age.
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