Paula Deen (1947- ) is an American television cook of down-home Southern cooking. In June 2013 the American press and the Internet went nuts over her admitted use of the N-word.
Her empire the day before the scandal broke:
- net worth: $16 million (700,000 crowns)
- income: $4 million in 2007
- television shows: 3 on the Food Network
- books: 5
- magazines: 1
- restaurants: 6: her own and her brother’s in Savannah, Georgia and four more that bear her name at casinos owned by Caesar’s.
- spokeswoman for: QVC
- products with her name sold by: Walmart, Target, Sears, Smithfield Foods, Walgreens
In 2012 Lisa Jackson, a former white female manager at her brother’s restaurant, took Deen and her brother to court for sexual harassment and racial discrimination.
On June 19th 2013 the National Enquirer made the court testimony public. According to Jackson, in 2007 Paula Deen said of her brother’s wedding:
Well what I would really like is a bunch of little niggers to wear long-sleeve white shirts, black shorts and black bow ties, you know in the Shirley Temple days, they used to tap dance around. Now, that would be a true Southern wedding wouldn’t it? But we can’t do that because the media would be on me about that.
According to the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, which has talked to some of the black employees:
- Light-skinned blacks deal with customers while dark-skinned blacks are put in the back.
- Whites are promoted faster than blacks.
- Her brother told one black employee, “you don’t have any civil rights here.”
- Someone in Deen’s family repeatedly called a black cook “my little monkey”.
Deen admitted under oath to wanting the plantation-style wedding for her brother complete with blacks playing slaves, but that she has not used the N-word since about 1987. That was when she told her husband about a black bank robber putting a gun to her head.
On June 21st she apologized twice, saying that the N-word is completely unacceptable.
Then the Food Network dropped her.
On June 24th Smithfield Foods dropped her.
On June 26th Matt Lauer interviewed her on television. She maintained that she is not racist. The interview ended with her close to tears, saying:
I is what I is and I’m not changing.
Then Walmart and Caesars dropped her, no longer wanting her name on their stuff.
Her friends say that the press is making her into something she is not.
It is now June 27th, early morning.
She grew up in the Jim Crow South in Albany, Georgia, in the heart of cotton country. Her family used to own 35 slaves.
In 2012 she told the New York Times:
We [slave owners] didn’t see ourselves as being prejudiced.
and that:
black folk were such integral part of our lives, they were like our family.
and that in 2012:
We’re all prejudiced against one thing or another. I think black people feel the same prejudice that white people feel.
She is not sure if racist jokes offend black people. She is not even sure if the N-word does, given how much they use it.
Thanks to Sondis and Daniel Bryant for suggesting this post.
– Abagond, 2013.
Update (July 10th 2015): Paula Deen has apparently learned little: she tweeted a picture of her son in brownface. He was supposed to be Desi Arnaz. That shows, by the way, that even white Latinos are racialized by non-Hispanic Whites.
See also:
- white women’s tears
- Jim Crow
- “It was the times!”
- N-word:
- Dr Laura and the N-word – born the same year as Deen but grew up in Brooklyn in the “enlightened” North.
- John McWhorter and the N-word
- Rihanna and the N-word
“…black folk were such integral part of our lives, they were like our family.”
********
What a bunch of Bull Sh^t !!!
I’ve been recently reminded that such families always care(d) far more for the lives of their DOGS than for the lives of black people!
There are no such things as coincidences!
A few mere hours ago I posted this comment (in part) on another blog that I frequent. It is part of David Walker’s appeal to his contemporaries ..
**********
” IT will be recollected, that I, in the first edition of my “Appeal,”*
*See my Preamble in first edition, first page. See also 2d edition, Article 1, page 9.
promised to demonstrate in the course of which, viz. in the course of my Appeal, to the satisfaction of the most incredulous mind, that we Coloured People of these United States, are, the most wretched, degraded and abject set of beings that over lived since the world began, down to the present day, and, that, the white Christians of America, who hold us in slavery, (or, more properly speaking, pretenders to Christianity,) treat us more cruel and barbarous than any Heathen nation did any people whom it had subjected, or reduced to the same condition, that the Americans (who are, notwithstanding, looking for the Millennial day) have us. All I ask is, for a candid and careful perusal of this the third and last edition of my Appeal, where the world may see that we, the Blacks or Coloured People, are treated more cruel by the white Christians of America, than devils themselves ever treated a set of men, women and children on this earth.”
.
.
********
.
There’s much to say here about the “many” who insist that slavery, despite the evidence to the contrary, was a multifaceted blessings for black people in America. but I’ll resist saying – again – what has been already stated countless times.
(Hat tip to blogger/Master of African Philosophy, Brother Onitaset)
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Abagond
Why do you think Lisa Jackson filed a lawsuit against this woman. Is she a disgruntled individual or, is there something else?
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And, by the by, I just looked for pictures of her (Lisa J) briefly on Google – she looks something other than just white to me – I wonder if she was offended because of something personal underlying.
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Search “Anthony Bourdain Paula Deen” for some great Deen skewering about all things food related too. He has been roasting her for years.
(I just realized I used “skewered” and “roasted” in a comment about a celebrity chef and I am not ashamed.)
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Once again, ashamed to be white in America.
Liz in Arkansas
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LOL @ “black folk were such integral part of our lives, they were like our family.”
I guess the Southern plantation owners of yore could’ve said the same thing…
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Personally this is how many Caucasians living in the South say about Black people behind our backs. I don’t know this woman but I am not shocked to hear about this. She grew up in the Jim Crow South where she was taught racism from her family. How do you think she was supposed to think? I live in a small, racist town and many Whites there think like Paula Deen and her brother. Many of them may smile in our faces and greet us but then talk bad about Black people behind our backs.
Not all Caucasians are like this either but many are.
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@ Liz Bliss
Don’t be ashamed because that was her dumb azz. Be proud that you are working to be a better white person and not a nasty racist person.
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Im seeing this report because Im in the states now, what I found that was interesting was that, they showed people lining up to go to her restaurant , and many of the people were black…and the ones they interveiwed said they could forgive her…there is something to be noted in that, the willingness of some black people to forgive if a white person admits they did something racist
It just shows many black people just want to see white people at least admit their racism instead of hide it and try to pretend it doesnt exist or yelling back `you blacks are racist too`
It is important for this country to acknowledge its racism and vindicate the feelings many black people have that they truly live in a racist society
This is the minimum that we need in our country to even start the first steps of healing…its got to come from white people…we have to let black people know they are justified to feel anxieties about racism in our society
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Eventually she will get angry and use the word loud and publicly. Leopards like that don’t change their spots easily… And she has never apologized to Black people, she apologized only when it was clear her money was going to stop rolling in. I doubt she’ll ever be broke but she will never be what she was. And once she has nothing to lose the hate will come spewing out. Like it’s Black people’s fault….
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That escalated quickly. It’s ridiculous that this has been so blown out of proportion. I think Lisa Hackson is full of it. If she had still been using racial slurs all this time, someone else would have said something. Especially with her being in the public eye. And as far as her saying it when she had a gin pointed at her head 26yrs ago, I know plenty of people (of all racea) who would say the same thing in the heat of the moment if that happened to them now. I will be boycotting the companies who are boycotting her. Especially Walmart. What a bunch of hypocrites. They treat all their employees like crap and its hard to get ahead there if you are anything BUT white.
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I think there is more to the story. I mean, why all the major companies dropping her like a bad habit. There is something out there that these big corporation don’t want to the public to know. Something more sinister than the flippant use of nigger.
From what I read via the internet, it looks like Lisa Jackson has family members that are bi-racial. see this is a cautionary tale for white folk. Now you can’t even talk racist among all “white” company. You never know whose got close ties to “black” folk. And will expose you.
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I am so used to whites being fake assholes that the only thing that gives me pause in this whole thing is that she gave two apologies in rapid succession – meaning that the first one was not coached by her P.R. people, meaning that she is not particularly slick, meaning that maybe her folksiness (“I is what I is” – *vomit*) is not some corny act, a la Reagan, Sarah Palin or George W.
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@Liz
I applaud Caucasians like you who are against racism. You shouldn’t be ashamed because you didn’t choose your skin color. Not all Caucasians are racists and you aren’t a racist. Paula Deen doesn’t represent you or all Whites.
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@ B.R.
I agree: no matter how badly people screw up, there should always be a path to forgiveness. Justice without mercy is not justice. But a person who is truly sorry will accept some degree of punishment too.
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John McWhorter says that it is right to freak out over the n-word, but that the Food Network should cut Deen some slack for a) being an old-school Southern white who cannot help herself and b) because she apologized (he thinks her apologies were sincere):
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@ Serenity
Her antics were suspiciously timed: her apologies came just before the Food Network fired her and her near tears in the Matt Lauer interview came just before she lost Walmart and Caesar’s.
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Not all southern white people are like this guys. I know you are hurt but please, don’t act the same way. Believe me, I have to live with them–deal with them at work. HR gets plenty of calls from me. NONE of my friends EVER talk like this, and I got a lot of friends.
I am gay, so I can 25% relate. I have even been beat up for it in high school.
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So Target, Sears, and Walgreens have yet to drop her? I must say, that negatively affects my opinion of them. If she doesn’t realize she is racist, then she is an idiot. Either that or she knows she is racist, and would rather lie than try to learn and change. Either way she is making a fool of herself and her allies. I hope black people see how many white people are mocking her too.
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Huh, what needs to be moderated in my last comment? Idiot? Names of companies?
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Testing the moderation filter: I.d.i.o.t.
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Aha, it’s a moderated word.
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Maybe she doesn’t want to fully admit her racism to herself because she doesn’t want to see her own faults. Which is still stupid.
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I cannot understand why white people always use some black people saying the Nword as an excuse for all white people to.
These same people will turn right around and not admonish black people not to generalize about white people.
I see this in the same light as “one black friend” or “my black friend thought that joke was funny.” White people seem to be more interested in defending their right to be insulting and racist than they do in recognizing blacks as individuals.
Snoop Dog rapping is not Barack Obama. Hell, Snoop Dog rapping is not Snoop Dog in a meeting. What he says in the artistry and poetry of his work does not justify white folks using the Nword or, at this stage, Paula Deen questioning whether it is even offensive for her to say it.
What a stupid racist bitch she is.
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@ lifelearner
Wow, that makes sense – that they said stuff in her presence thinking she was a loyal white person.
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I’m simply not impressed. . .
The “new” code of racism has to kick her to the curb–not in the interest of Blacks–but for the sake of keeping racisms quiet.
Yes they are making an example of her, but for whose benefit?
Not ours.
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“Here’s Actual Video Of Paula Deen Saying Cringeworthy Things About Black People”
Read more: http://www.uproxx.com/tv/2013/06/video-of-paula-deen-making-insensitive-racial-comments-surfaces/#ixzz2XQjE6P4o
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^^^^^Oops, forgot to add, it’s pretty much all bad, but it really gets bad at about the 1:44 minute mark on forward.
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I’m not at all shocked about Paula Deen. I’ve never been a fan of hers because I thought her accent sounded put on and I didn’t like that. Then after the Diabetes Debacle I lost even that minimum of respect I might have had for her. She had this disease for years and still peddled that fattening awful mess that made so much money for her. She came clean about it only as a way to make more money. This told me a lot about her so called “folksy” values. (Being a Bourdain fan, I’ve heard him say a lot of not so nice things about her and Rachel Ray.)
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and here’s a story from Paula Deens 2006 memoir, as shared by chaunceydevega at DailyKos: The whole diary is a great read if you get the chance.
“This one day she had brought her little girl to work, and that child had many big, fat blisters on her hand, probably from helping out her momma. Something about those blisters just attracted me and I remember hitting those little hands with a bolo bat, and it busted her blisters good. It was pretty satisfying.
I don’t know why I did it. I have a hard time thinking I did it out of meanness. But her mother—I can’t remember if she slapped me across the face or she spanked me or both—but either way, now I know I sure had it comin’.
Well, still I was heartbroken and I went running to find my Grandmother Paul and Granddaddy and my momma. And my granddaddy had the woman arrested for hitting me. The little black girl’s momma went to jail.
All this time it’s bothered me. It was me who deserved to be sittin’ in that jail for breaking a little black girl’s blisters in 1957.”
-Why-Paula-Deen-s-Racism-Matters-Part-2-White-Denial-and-the-Casual-Cruelty-of-Racist-Violence
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^^^^ http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/06/26/1219155/-Why-Paula-Deen-s-Racism-Matters-Part-2-White-Denial-and-the-Casual-Cruelty-of-Racist-Violence
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B.R.:
“I’m seeing this report because I’m in the states now, what I found that was interesting was that, they showed people lining up to go to her restaurant , and many of the people were black…and the ones they interviewed said they could forgive her…there is something to be noted in that, the willingness of some black people to forgive if a white person admits they did something racist”
First off, she didn’t “admit to anything” it was a court statement she made, that the inquire released to the public.
White people, “NEVER” come out and admit to being or saying anything racist, its only when they get caught and outed by someone or other entity, its when the tears and the, “I’m sorry” and the ,’I’m not a racist” comes pouring out of their mouths.
Even when white people are caught, saying racist things, they still never admit to that having racist views of blacks.
I would have more respect for a white person, who gets caught, saying something racist and admits to having racist views and follows that up with stating they want to change and receive some sort of racial, sensitivity therapy.
2nd, she never actually apologized to the very people, who she offended, if anything, she came off as she was making excuses for using the word.
I watched every interview and read every article, she has more of the victim, mentality.
She’s only sorry and crying, because the bad publicity, hurts her brand, therefore hurts her wallet.
I don’t see a genuine attempt at trying to make amends by reaching out to her black customers in a apologetic manner.
I also don’t see the white media, interviewing any black people in savannah, Georgia, to get the reaction of black patrons of her 6 restaurants , who she directly offended.
She never addressed black people, directly in any of her statements to the press, its only been about her, “I’m not a racist”.
Her sons have, naturally sided with her, which is to be expected. I doubt both her sons, were not brought up in her household and haven’t herd her use the word, they are just not stupid enough to get caught, saying it in public like some other white people.
I’ve also watched a video on my CNN app on my IPAD 2, talking about how all the “white people” that are standing by her. How typical of white people to side with another white person, that uses derogatory racial slurs about black people.
I really do think, white people are truly sick, being they seem to not capable of condemning their own people for doing something, obviously and blatantly wrong!
Watch how the host, reads the user feed back that, “condone” her racism.
You notice they didn’t read any feedback from users that condemn Paula Deen’s use of a racial slur, only the white people that supports her, regardless of saying something, so wrong against black people on many levels.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2013/06/25/lead-paula-deen-brand-expert-howard-bragman.cnn
Now watch how this host, “defends” her racism behavior” and Lamont hill doesn’t let her off the hook, so easily.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2013/06/25/exp-erin-deen-devotees-fire-back.cnn
@abagond
Thanks for making a post out of the articles i emailed to you about Paula Deen, i felt strongly about this issue and i thought you and everyone on this blog would like to open a discussion on this debacle .
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@Sondis
I have never read such a passionate post by you before, Sondis. You go, Brotha! However I do agree with every word you wrote especially about the fact that she will never apologize for her words to Black people. You are right that she is only sad because she this scandal hurts her wallet and her brand.
So much for living in ”post racial” America! As a young, Black woman, I know we aren’t living in a post racial America. America is as racist as it always was.
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I’m white. I can’t imagine how distressing it must be for Black folks to witness this person, Paula Deen, who is so obviously racist, who has admitted to wanting to put on a racist PLANTATION-THEMED wedding, get on the air and whine about how she’s not racist and she’s being persecuted. And the white-controlled media is allowing her to do this and allowing her to spew her BS. I watched the interview she did with Matt Lauer and was completely disgusted. She criticized Black folks for using the n-word (as if it’s her place as a white person to opine on that), She said “I’m not going to list all the things I’ve done for people of color.” What? What on earth has she ever done for people of color. . .been a rich white woman who has employed them at menial jobs at her restaurants? She acts as though she is some big humanitarian as opposed to simply a cook of disgusting, unhealthy food and a multi-millionaire entrepreneur. Her behavior and her deflections are contemptible, and the ugly truth (as many folks here have pointed out) is that she is not that different from most white people in this regard. More than 95% of white people are racist, including me, although I like to think I’m less racist than Paula Deen.
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Becca:
“she is not that different from most white people in this regard. More than 95% of white people are racist, including me, although I like to think I’m less racist than Paula Deen.”
Want a cookie?
You’re a screen name on a blog with no picture to identify who you are and you boldly make a statement about being racist as if that’s suppose to mean something.
Sorry, you don’t get a pass for admitting to being racist, while anonymous on a blog and then in real life, get to deny it.
Maybe some other poster will come to your aid ( white or black) and play that game, i will however will not.
*waits for a white commenter to swoop in and say…”you’re being so harsh, at least she admitted to being racist”
yawn….call a press conference and then you’ll get the pass, you are so desperately seeking…
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Fox picked her up just goes to show
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Sondis, I appreciate you being real with me. There is a part of me that seeks to be absolved of my racism. But I recognize that me and my feelings about racism are not important. What’s important is the racist oppression from whites that people of color are subjected to. What’s important for me is to not get in the way of people of color who are working to liberate themselves from that oppression. I don’t expect you to give me a cookie or a pass on my racism. You don’t know who I am, and you have no reason to trust me or give me a pass on anything.
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I didn’t know from Paula Deen before all this came out. But I’m pretty sure the people representing all those corporations who signed her up knew exactly who and what she was. As long as she kept things reasonably on the DL they were going to rake in the money and keep it stepping.
Corps don’t drop people because they are so moral and outraged. They do it because they smell fiscal losses should they continue their association. So the companies that have yet to drop her, or may never do so, are in my view no better or no worse than those that did.
Paula Deen will be just fine, just like all the other white racists who got caught and called out. I’m sure she’ll find a way to live with a couple two three less millions per year until she gets back on her feet. Which she will.
What I don’t get is all this surprise and shock from some yall negroes. I hear that accent coming out of an old white face and all my hackles go up and my spidey senses start tingling. But whatevs. Maybe this is a good eye opener for some. While Paula Deen’s racism might not hurt you or get you killed personally, someone else’s more up close and personal to your life might. If drop your guard. Or stop being aware. Or forget just what country you are living in.
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She is only apologizing because of the pressure. She is not sincere at all. I hope she just fades away. Personally I have heard enough about this woman. I’m glad they took her off TV.
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Becca:
Now this….is something i can respect!
You didn’t come back with insults or excuses, you respected my stance on the issue that you are an anonymous person, that admitted to being racist on a blog, where none of the people of color, have any connection with you, whatsoever and therefore have no stake in whether you are a proclaimed racist or not.
I would say to you, if you truly feel guilty about these racist feelings you have, you would admit these feelings to people of color and other white people, that may be your friends, acquaintances or family, people that are in your life, that you can effect in a positive way.
I say this only as a form of reaching out, not just to say to someone, “I’m a racist against black people” and then just walk away.
They say the 1st step in drug or alcoholic recovery, is to admit that you are addicted, i feel the same is true for racist white people, denying it will only make it impossible for them to cure the decease of racism.
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Thank you for your feedback, Sondis. I do already talk about how I’m racist (and how I’m working to be less so) with many of the white folks in my life. I don’t usually discuss it with people of color I know, however, because I’m afraid me saying it could be upsetting to them. But maybe I’m also not discussing it with them because I don’t want them to judge me and stop being friends with me. But that’s not a valid reason–they should know enough about me and who I really am so that they can make an informed decision about whether they want to be friends with me or not.
Anyway, you’ve given me some interesting stuff to think about, Sondis. Thanks for taking the time to engage with me.
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I can’t help but wonder if lisa jackson was black if ppl would take her seriously if she made these claims. I saw part of the interview she did with matt lauer lol, she was crying [white womans tears] but matt didn’t fall for it so good job on his part yet ppl were saying he should’ve comforted her and gave her a tissue. smh. I never really watched paula deen, If i watch cooking vids i go to youtube to see everyday ppl cooking, not some famous ppl cooking their watered down recipes. i kinda wonder if she got her recipes from black ppl or those slaves her family owned.
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One conclusion we make from this mess: the hypocrysy of the Big Business is as it always has been. You think they did not know what a woman from south was thinking about the blacks before this expose? Yeap.
This goes to show you all what racism is all about: money. They did not care less what she was saying or thinking or feeling, racist or not, untill it might hurt their money flow. And once the thing exploded, they waited to see how it goes. Only when it became so wide spread they gave her the boot.
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The funny recipe names ppl have come up with since this is hilarious.
http://breakingbrown.com/2013/06/8-most-hilarious-tweets-turning-paula-deens-racism-into-recipes-paulasbestdishes/
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To all:
This article by Tricia Rose, sums up Paula Deen, beautifully.
Editor’s note: Tricia Rose is the incoming director of Brown University’s Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America, where she teaches African studies. She is the author of “Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America” and “The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop — And Why It Matters.”
(CNN) — As Paula Deen’s apology tour continues, it becomes more and more disturbing to watch.
With each heartfelt tearful statement, Deen seems completely uninterested in the broader contexts of her comments, missing ample opportunities to address the reality of racism today both in the form of cultural and social interactions, but even more powerfully by policies and actions.
I heard her speak very little about the extraordinary injuries and injustices black people face, I have not heard her show alliance with those who fight racism nor show solidarity with or compassion for black people based on the profound impact racism has on their lives.
Tricia Rose
Tricia Rose
Stay in touch!
Don’t miss out on the conversation we’re having at CNN Living. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for the latest stories and tell us what’s influencing your life.
What kind of heartfelt apology intended to prove you are not a racist ignores these gestures?
Deen is steadfast in her denials about being a racist. But she seems to explain away her actions or redirect the conversation when asked about the specifics of her comments and their implications.
Her reflections, apologies and justifications are striking in their inability to see things from the perspective of those she has offended, and how they might feel in the face of her actions.
Plus, she can’t seem to connect her actions to broader, endemic conditions in society.
This could be a teachable moment to discuss how complex racism is, how good intentions cannot do the work of anti-racism education, and how even people who like black people can behave in ways that do racial harm.
Paula Deen: Kill me if you never sinned
Paula Deen’s emotional interview
Yes, Paula Deen, good people can hold racist ideas even though they might not be aware of them.
Instead, it has turned in to a maudlin, self-absorbed reality-TV style drama.
Her apology on the “Today” show on Wednesday is a case in point. In it, Deen was asked about her use of the N-word.
In reply, she emphasized that she had a gun put to her head and that the black man wielding it was someone to whom she had given a loan.
Her emphasis asks us to empathize with her. I guess we are to say, “Oh sure, with a gun to my head I’d resort to racial epithets, too, especially if I gave that N-word some loan money.”
She has other options here: ones that might contribute to our broader racial conversation and knowledge about race.
She could have said: “It was a horrible word to use given its powerful centuries long role, especially in the South, as a way to dehumanize black people. And, my identity as a white Southern woman (one whose family were slave holders) only makes it worse. It undermines my belief in racial equality and counters my efforts to support racial justice.”
Later in the interview, when “Today” anchor Matt Lauer returned to the issue of her use of the N-word, she deflected her use, and instead described how the constant use of the word by the young black staffers in her kitchen hurts HER.
What?
I am not a fan of black youth using the word so casually, extensively and publicly, but there is a remarkable lack of self-awareness to imagine that their use of the term is equivalent to her use of the word.
What does their use have to do with hers? How is it that we are talking about her injury again?
Her lack of awareness was evident again in her desire to have a plantation style wedding party, which would feature a black-only wait staff. She thought the black-only wait staff – who, in historical context would likely be performing as slave workers — would be an entertaining theme.
Was she going to have the white guests perform Southern plantation era behavior of “cultured” and vicious racial domination, too?
Who was supposed to be entertained by this?
Perhaps some of the apology tour could be devoted to explaining her vision for this party and why she thought it a good idea.
And, ideally, this would be followed by an admission that she should have considered the downside of having black low-wage workers, who as a group face extraordinary levels of job discrimination and other hurdles, play slaves for white partygoers.
I suspect she imagines no ill racial intent in this, either.
Frankly, she isn’t alone in this kind of thinking.
Our public understanding about how racism works today is thwarted by the personalized response that focuses on intention, rather than action.
“Good” people are very often blind to and support disturbing and discriminatory actions, behaviors and ideas. Today, there is widespread normalized racial discrimination. One study shows that white job applicants with a criminal record are nearly twice as likely to get a call back for low-wage work than equally qualified black applicants with a college degree and no criminal record.
For this apology tour to do real good, Deen might consider taking an anti-racist position, reaching out to black people and honoring the pain many face as a result of serious racial discrimination, and thinking about how she might have contributed to it.
Deen might use her extensive media platform to draw attention to racial injustice today, to show the broader public just how much it saturates American society, even for those who think they are above it.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Tricia Rose.
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Does Paula share her wealth with her whole “family”?
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[…] Paula Deen (1947- ) is an American television cook of down-home Southern cooking. In June 2013 the American press and the Internet went nuts over her admitted use of the n-word. Her empire the day … […]
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@sondis
You’re being so harsh. At least she admitted to being racist.
There, now you don’t have to wait anymore!
On a more serious note, what kind of things do you want white commenters to say?
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@sondis
Oh, I see you’re being nice to her now that she sucked up to you. I hadn’t refreshed the page in a while. I like the Tricia Rose piece.
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@ Sondis
Lamont Hill, Tricia Rose – both great. Thanks!
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V.a.g.a.b.o.n.d:
Its not about, what i want commentators to say, more so than calling white people out, when they come on this blog with liberal white-serving pity statements, instead of actions.
also, If you don’t know, then its just to damn bad, you figure it out.
My main purpose for being on this blog is for my black people that i love and want to bring awareness, too my young and old black people about white supremacy.
I can care less about what you are here for, being i feel that the only reason white people join this blog is to troll us, challenge us at every turn and manipulating us into believing they are not racist.
Everyone that has came to know me on this blog, knows i don’t like to go back and forth with white people, being that is not my purpose for being on this blog, many other do and i respect that but its not my agenda.
So consider this my one and only response to you…
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No abagon, THANK YOU! for posting this article.
Yes, I am a fan of Lamont Hill and Tricia Rose, brilliant black people.
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If white people say racist things, Sondis thinks “of course,” and if we say anti-racist things, he thinks we are being manipulative, even if we admit to having racist feelings that we are trying to conquer. He wants us to “take action,” but apparently nothing we say can possibly be right, which is a shame since it seems like the main way to fight racism is through words. White people are the main cause of black people’s problems, but he doesn’t care what we think or feel, even though our feelings naturally influence our words and actions. Unless we post over-the-top apologetic replies to him. Then he will give us a cookie after all, and maybe a pat on the head too. Yay!
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Vagabond, the main way to fight racism is NOT through words. Try getting involved in a supporting role in activist groups in your community. Spending your time working for prison abolition and public school funding or against police brutality and gentrification will do a lot more than anything you can post on a blog. You could also consider donating money to organizations run by people of color that benefit people of color. If you are going to post on this blog, you should try to not take up too much space as the main purpose of this blog (as I understand it) is not for people of color to talk to white people but rather for people of color to talk amongst themselves. The main reason I have started posting on this blog is to call out other white people when they say messed up stuff, that way people of color won’t need to, and they can focus on more important things. Also, my replies to Sondis were not “apologetic.” You’ll notice the word “sorry” doesn’t appear in them once. I was merely expressing gratitude that he shared his perspective with me. Getting called out by people of color is beneficial for me because it allows me to learn how to be a better anti-racist. I hardly feel victimized by such call-outs or think it’s evidence that “nothing we can say can possibly be right.” Instead, I welcome being called out on my racism.
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Sondis u on a roll brotha. Most of what paula says i just her trying to play the victim. She only cares because her sponsors are distancing themselves from her. Whenever these racists come out they always say sorry u were offended or i have know way of knowing what will offend ppl. Imo to avoid most of that would be to use common sense, if u think something will offend someone don’t say it, or ask someone if it sounds offensive. I agree with u too on how most of the white commenters come on here to troll, the ones that don’t are usually in a relationship with a black person and want to know what its like. If they don’t have a black spouse or bf/ gf then they don’t care because it doesn’t affect them or their loved one. If white ppl really wanted to help they’d talk to other whites instead of trying to preach at us and say we shouldn’t feel a certain way or saying cut her some slack etc.
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@Sondis
You weren’t being harsh, you were telling the truth and the harsh truth too. It is nice to hear from your point of view. Paula Deen is obviously in denial about her racism. This controversy tells me that racism is still a problem in America.
I like Tricia Rose’s opinion on this. She is a very intelligent woman
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This is a wake up to call to the likes of Paula Dean and her supporters, say the n-word and try to put us back in slavery you will suffer economical decline. The woman is a racist and her being from the South is no excuse. Slavery was wrong then and it is wrong now, so again no excuse. All the white people coming to her defense need to understand that no you cannot use the n-word I don’t care what “friend” of urs let you get away with it, you cannot say it. I’m straight and I cant use the word fagget even though homosexuals use it amongst one another and guess what? I don’t care to use the word because it is not I word I have ever cared to use.
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@Becca
I live in a small suburban town and I do not think we have those types of activist groups here, but when I am at college in a larger city I do participate in a community service outreach group. I have donated money and goods to charity before, and I plan to do so again (I am not trying to brag here – I know that most people have done those things too and it doesn’t make me a good person, but I’m just replying to your suggestions.) However, what white people say to and about non-white people is very important. Otherwise, I doubt Abagond would bother to post about modern white racism, much of which is verbal or built on words (or built on what we don’t say!) I wasn’t just talking about words written on blogs, but what’s said everywhere. Also, I don’t think the point of this blog is only for non-white people to talk to each other, but for people of all colors to learn. At least that was my impression. I read this blog because I like to learn about the topics Abagond posts about, and he usually seems to have very intelligent opinions. I don’t think you needed to take such a fawning (if not implicitly apologetic) tone with Sondis, especially when you were not even being racist in the first place, just overly pitying.
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Vagabond, abagond has specifically said that he does not write this blog for white people: https://abagond.wordpress.com/2011/04/06/i-do-not-write-this-blog-for-white-people/ The point of this blog, as I understand it, is for people of color to educate themselves about the nature of the white supremacist society we live in. I read this blog (and these comment threads) because, like you, I like to learn from the people of color on this website. But the folks on this site don’t have any obligation to educate us. There’s plenty of other ways for us as whites to educate themselves without asking people of color to tell us what sorts of things we should say. We have minds and should be able to do our own research and think for ourselves.
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I never said he wrote it for white people, but for everyone who is willing to learn. He does write some advice posts for white people though.
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Mstoogood4yall,Adeen,acj13:
I’m just tired of always being on the defense with some white folks on this blog, i don’t come here to defend my position to white folks that always make things about, “their feelings”.
“V.a.g.a.b.o.n.d
He wants us to “take action,” but apparently nothing we say can possibly be right, which is a shame since it seems like the main way to fight racism is through words. White people are the main cause of black people’s problems, but he doesn’t care what we think or feel, even though our feelings naturally influence our words and actions. Unless we post over-the-top apologetic replies to him. Then he will give us a cookie after all, and maybe a pat on the head too. Yay!”
as you can see, another classic example of a white person, making it all about his “feelings” but not about actual, racism.
He also managed twist and misconstrue my words to make it appear, that i and black people in general are only looking for white people to “apologize” to us, how patronizing is that?
This is ridiculous as nothing in my statement, speaks about anything close to an apology, being sought.
So by his logic, what white people say and feel, hold more or enough weight, than actually DOING something about white supremacy and Racism.
White folks have been, talking “at” black people about Racism since the civil rights movement and it hasn’t been about its existence, its been about its none exists in every instance, we claim to be victims of Racism.
when he says, “apparently nothing we say can possibly be right, which is a shame since it seems like the main way to fight racism is through words.”It comes off disingenuous, as if black people in America, hasn’t given white people the benefit of the doubt, trusting that they were ready to give us the same rights and privileges as they have as American citizens.
So forgive me, if i am skeptical when i see white folks, posting anonymously on a black-centric liberal blog about their supposed, anti-racism.
Becca:
I see that you’re at least trying, being you are actually trying to reach a fellow “white person” and not trying to preach to a “black person”.
We need more white folks, that try to take it to their people and give a different perspective from someone of their own race.
You’re doing more than most white commentators on this blog has ever done since I’ve been a member.
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I haven’t seen anything that shows that she actually apologized to the people that she offended and feels one bit of remorse for her actions. Sure she offered apologies to “those” out there that were offended and her family and her team but while playing the I don’t know what offends people angle. All she has been doing is dropping “white woman tears” trying to make herself look like the victim. I watched the Today Show interview (just pathetic) and she still refused to take responsibility and be accountable for her racist actions. She could care less about what SHE has done to harm others with her hateful mindset but expects everyone to care about her. Whatever.
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White people have all either used or though the N word. I don’t believe there is a person on this planet, other than babies and very young children, who have not ever used a racial slur in their lives. I know I have. Not to excuse Paula ‘I Love Butter’ Deen, but heck, I could tell by her accent the woman was a pure-d redneck. I was never a fan of hers. ever – though I once bought a Paula Deen saucepan at Big Lots. It didn’t last but 2 years, cheap. I’m glad she’s sinking. Let ’em keep using that word and getting fried for it. It’s all they deserve.
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I believe that the only reason why Paula Deen got fired was because she got caught saying the n-word PUBLICLY. If she said it in private the entire time, she’d still be making all of this money cooking foods that even harm her health.
I wouldn’t even be surprised if white people I interact with personally call Black people – even me – the “n-word” in private. We’re in a racist society, so such behavior is to be expected.
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Ms. J:
Being a Racist white person is more than just merely, saying racial slurs in private. Through white supremacy, those words are put into action, against black people.
I’ll even go as far as to say this, if a white people would go their entire lives with saying the N word or other racial slurs about black people in PRIVATE but NEVER put those words or feelings into practice, RACISM would never exist.
Racism is a verb….
Racist is a noun……
The act of using racial slurs isn’t what effects the majority of Black people in America, institutional racism via white supremacy, effects black people in America.
So i can care less about white people, using racial slurs in the privacy of their own homes. Its when they put those words and thoughts into practice, that wold concern me.
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In the back of my mind I was suspicious about Deen, But it chose to give her the benefit of the doubt. Well since she admitted to the offensive statements she made I was correct in what I suspected. She is an elderly woman from the deep south, so this is the mindset of individuals of that era. It’s no excuse but this is who this woman is. I saw her on television crying her crocodile tears, and making the statement, “I is what I is and that will not change”. Yes Ms. Deen you are who you are a racist.
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@ sondis
I don’t disagree with you.
I personally don’t see any value in calling White people racialized terms, so I don’t understand why a person would see value in doing the same if they’re not either racist or supportive of a white supremacist system. To me, institutions are made up of people, so the words and actions of people who run a racist system are very important.
That’s all I meant.
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Abagond, Is my comment in moderation because of the mock ebonics that Paula Deen made herself? I was repeating this phrase that she made.
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Well, Dean was crying real white woman’s tears.
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mary burrel, whacha doin over there? —>
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@ Sondis: Reading you get folks straight. LOL.
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mary burrel:
You know how i do, i am not playing games with these white folks, they either come correct or get corrected…ya dig? @ > : o O ) >
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Thanks for the kind words, sondis. I have a lot to work on, but I try to fight injustice and ignorance when I’m able.
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Becca:
That’s all we ask of white people, nothing more, nothing less.
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I did not know this Lisa Jackson was a white employee. This one of those things that makes you go Hmmm….. This is very interesting and puts a new spin on this. I thought the employee suing Deen was Black. Maybe she is a disgruntled employee. But I wonder why Deen admitted to this offense knowing this would hurt her brand? If you say this kind of stuff in the privacy of your home, that’s one thing. But it is not wise to say this stuff publicly. I thought she was a savy business woman. Somehow this doesn’t make sense. Maybe she is suffering from some dementia or something.
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Mary burrel:
She didn’t say it publicly, per say. She said it in court, via testimony under oath in the lawsuit that was files against her buy Lisa Jackson.
Then the tabloid news paper, “The inquire” posted the racial slurs she admitted to saying in court. It became public domain…
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Paula Dean needs that Olivia Pope character for her trouble. This is a scandal.
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@ Sondis: Thanks for clearing this up for me.
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@Sondis
I think you are being a little bit harsh on Becca. You are one of my favorite commenters however cut Becca some slack. She is one of the most decent White troll turned commenters on this site. She doesn’t demean or put down Blacks for their own benefit. Becca actually is against racism and bigotry from her own people as well as we are
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@ Sondis: I see you brother, Yeah, I know how you do it. LOL.
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Adeen:
You didn’t read my previous response?
“Becca:
I see that you’re at least trying, being you are actually trying to reach a fellow “white person” and not trying to preach to a “black person”.
We need more white folks, that try to take it to their people and give a different perspective from someone of their own race.
You’re doing more than most white commentators on this blog has ever done since I’ve been a member.”
Slack was cut… ^_^
Mary burrel:
LMFAO! ^_^
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Yeah, Adeen, I appreciate your desire to stick up for me, but honestly I don’t think Sondis was harsh with me. I feel I’ve benefited from my conversation with him, and it caused me to reflect on some important things. I’m a tough chick. . .I can take my hits and keep on chuggin’! 🙂
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@ Becca: I can respect you. At least you are trying. It makes me feel like there could be hope for humankind.
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Thanks Mary. I don’t know what it’s like to be Black in a racist society. . .but I do have some of my own struggles. . .I’m a lesbian; I’m unemployed; I have social anxiety disorder. I receive a lot of messed up treatment from other people, and sometimes it’s enough to make me almost give up on humanity. So it always makes me feel a little relieved when I meet a straight person who actually “gets it” somewhat because most don’t get it at all. I’d imagine seeing a white person on this blog for once who isn’t being a complete jerk (I can’t believe the nerve of some of the people here) is a bit of a relief as well.
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@sondis
That is the perfect explanation of why it is not the same thing when black people use the n-word to each other as when someone from another race uses to a black person.
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I’m going to be honest. I was shocked to hear ole Paula was just a good ole racist.
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@Sondis
Sorry for my misunderstanding and I didn’t read it until I went back and read the conversation. Forgive me for my misunderstanding. I know you are passionate about this issue but there are few Whites out there that are against racism like Becca and a few million Whites in this country.
@Becca
Honestly thanks to you, I do have some hope for White America to change their racist views. Where I live in a small, suburban Southern town, most of the Whites there are very racist. I hate that place and want to go back to NYC. You really come off as honest and I like that.
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@Sharina
I am not shocked that Paula Deen was a racist. I never cared for her much and maybe my instincts was right about this prune faced old woman. Besides she grew up in the Jim Crow South where she grew up around racist Whites and was taught racist ideals about Blacks and other minorities. I am glad Walmart dropped their endorsement of this woman, that old, prune faced, racist bitch.
@All
Paula Deen doesn’t care about Blacks nor will she ever apologize to us because all it matters to her is that she gets her paycheck. I bet this is a very stressful time for this woman.
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I’ll say this a hundred times a day; what comes out of her kitchen is far worst than what comes out of her mouth. I can do without both.
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PLEASE . . . if ANYONE . . . EVER . . . sees me marching, protesting, boycotting, singing “We shall overcome,” demanding “Reparations,” or complaining about white people calling me “Nigger” or any other name deemed derogatory . . . PLEASE know that I have been either drugged, or I have actually died and returned as someone else . . . either way, hit me in the head with a sledge hammer and get me off of the streets as soon as humanly possible, and I mean every word of this with every fiber of my being.
#wearebeingcontaminatedbythecivilrightsmovement
#Imtiredofnegroescomplainingaboutwhitepeople
#Martinlutherkingwouldnotbedoingthesamething50yearslater
#Wearestuckintheraceconstruct
#Lifeisbiggerthanrace
#complainingaboutwhitepeopleaintgonchangeshit
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Sondis, I was not trying to say that racism is all about white people’s feelings, but that white people’s feelings are the cause of white racism and therefore they do have some importance. Words, what people say and write, are very important too.
I never said you were asking for an apology, but rather that you were only nice to Becca after she adopted an apologetic tone, or what seemed like one to me.
Also, just FYI, I’m female.
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I just reread Abagond’s “My advice to white people,” and 6 out of the 7 steps were based on using words to combat racism.
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Vagabond. . .using words to combat racism is important, but your whole original point was that it was unreasonable for Sondis to refuse to educate you on what words to use. Sondis told you that he wasn’t interested in engaging with you and that his main interest in coming here is to talk to other Black folks. I think that’s completely his prerogative. Surely you are capable of figuring out non-oppressive ways to communicate using your own research skills and your own reasoning without relying on Sondis.
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I’m not surprised at all by her comments. I think she just got caught saying what many whites say when we or other POC are not around. I do think in that sense it’s a bit hypocritical to fire her but not other whites who make insensitive racial comments on the job. I wish our society would make a true concerted effort to right injustices in our society. Why get all bent out of shape about being called a racist but not try to actually eradicate racist practices?
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Has anyone heard or read about a reaction from the Neelys? Now them I love; when I had cable and actually watched television, it was their show I watched and not Deen’s. They seem like a genuinely nice couple and they are so cute together. I get the sense that they really love and respect each other. Also, is this Lisa Jackson married to a Black man or have biracial children? I was more surprised at hearing that a fellow white had filed a lawsuit against Deen than hearing about Deen’s comments. Usually white people don’t care about fellow whites disrespecting POC.
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Anne:
“Being a Racist white person is more than just merely, saying racial slurs in private. Through white supremacy, those words are put into action, against black people.”
“That is the perfect explanation of why it is not the same thing when black people use the n-word to each other as when someone from another race uses to a black person.”
exactly!
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@ V.a.g.a.b.o.n.d
I deleted your last comment. This post is about Paula Deen, not Sondis.
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Why don’t you take the time you are spending here, Vagabond, trying to find hypocrisy in the words of Black folks, and use it instead to read the blogs of white racists, and find hypocrisy in their words. I don’t think the people of color here have the time, the desire, or the privilege to coddle your senseless derailing.
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@abagond
Okay. I don’t know why I got so interested in Sondis. From now on I’ll try not to care about his behavior, and focus on discussing the post instead. I’m sorry for going off topic. More on topic, I am interested to see if Paula’s remaining sponsors will drop her soon.
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@ V.a.g.a.b.o.n.d
I allow whites to comment on this blog, but no one, NO ONE, is required to talk to them. In fact, most white commenters are best ignored – because they are not all that serious to begin with. Most are a waste of time. The only person who has any sort of obligation to talk to them is me. Certainly not Sondis or anyone else on this blog.
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I think I’ve almost become desensitized or grossly unaware to the point where I didn’t initially see the blatant racism. This topic, Deen using the N-word has been joked about on most of the pop culture shows, and I laughed along.
I even laughed when I saw the video of her discussing how she didn’t see color, despite her little introduction of her Black friend:
I laughed cause a fellow Black person, at least one with a raunchy sense of humor, would make a joke like that as well. I didn’t think too much of it, despite people bringing up the fact she was Southern. I just chalked it up to her having an out there, outrageous, practically offensive sense of humor.
Many Black comedians joked about forgiving her and enjoying her food, that actually made me feel uneasy cause all jokes aside the whole “sleep N eat” and the whole “Blacks being quick to forgive others” thing came to mind.
But to read the actual quote about the themed party in its entirety and see the actual word (which can’t be shown or said on tv) and to see that picture really snapped me awake.
To hear about how the employees are treated and spoken to is even more disturbing.
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Abagond, I know that this is changing the topic, but I’ve been wondering if you or anybody else knows what and where in God’s name black leadership is in regards to the Supreme Courts recent gutting of the Voting Acts Right? The silence from the African, and Hispanic American community is positively deafening. Our more liberal friends seem to have gone near mute as well since the Scotus’s last ruling making Gay marriage legal. Again, sorry if this is off topic. :))
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@ Goldfire
I am doing a post on the VRA and what the Supreme Court did to it this week. I did not like how it got quickly buried under cries of “EQUALITY!” when the DOMA ruling came down on the side of gay marriage.
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@abagond
I don’t remember saying that anyone was required to talk to me or to anyone else – I don’t even think YOU have an obligation to talk to me if you don’t want to do so. What I took issue with was Sondis’ apparent tendency to mock well-meaning white commenters, not his lack of replies to me or anyone else. Again, in the future I will try not to concern myself with topics other than that of the post being discussed, including other commenters’ behavior. I believe today was the first time I ever interacted with another white commenter (Becca, who seems more serious than most white commenters on here), and only after she directly addressed me. I do not talk to trolls, and I wouldn’t expect anyone else to either, Sondis included. I agree that it would be a waste of time. I will try not to be a waste of time either.
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My $0.02:
that video just made my stomach turn…i know black people in the audience were wincing, when she was talking about race.
By the way, if that picture in your avatar is you, you’re a very beautiful black woman. ^_^
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Everyone,
I don’t know what to say here that’s already been said. Even though it’s no excuse, I’m tired because of one blogger who started crap on my post about my analysis on Paula Deen’s nostalgia for the “good ole’ days.”
In a nutshell I concluded that there are some white people like her who secretly or openly wish to travel back in time to certain periods they think is “interesting” not realizing that certain periods were devastating to others.
I do not feel sorry for Paula Deen, and I shouldn’t. In the end she and her kin have themselves to blame and ONLY themselves. They were the cause of their empire tumbling. Their own racism was their own downfall.
Do I think they will get back up? Maybe. The thing about white privilege is that it acts like a safety net and a ladder. It catches them and helps them rise to the top. Will this happen to Paula Deen. I hope not, but then again, this is America.
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Brothawolf:
White privilege has already saved the day for Paula Deen, a couple of companies are sticking by her and haven’t dropped her. Her publishing company hasn’t dropped and as a result of her racism being revealed, her cook books just shot right up!! isn’t that grand?
Racist white people are there to support a person, who has done something very horrible and instead of condemning her, white people support her.
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@ sondis & brothawolf
I think paula will probably rise again. Look at how dog the bounty hunter got his show back and is now on cmt.He was recorded saying the n word by his own son who gave it to the national enquirer. They don’t really care about us {in my michael jackson voice].
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Mstoogood4yall:
I know all about dog Chapman and about his rant about his son’s black girl friend over the phone. Watch the clip below as Dr. Lamont Hill goes in on this goof ball with the red hat and jacket.
(http://youtu.be/4opXsfAFZ4s)
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She seems like a terrible person. Makes you wonder how she has achieved so much.
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dave:
Its called white privilege, through white supremacy.
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^ sondis that vid was something else, that guy kept going on about rappers and oh they get to use that word. I can’t stand rappers, and there are some who say when they make songs about killing other blacks or using the n word and things the record company allows it, but when they make songs about killin cops they don’t allow it because they think it will put cops lives in danger. i have no respect for racists whites or disrespectful rappers who use the n word.
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Mstoogood4yall:
I agree on Rappers using the N word is poison but the fact that black rappers use the N word, has no bearing on white people using it.
white people, know damn well, they shouldn’t be saying it and to be perfectly honest with you, even if rappers never used it, white people would still be saying the word to offend black people.
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^ yes i know, its just interesting that they use rappers as a hey they say it so why don’t u go after them instead of going after me. And white ppl are the majority who buy rap music, so of course rappers would use words that whites wish/want to say. They can use rap songs to say the n word and be like im not racist i was just repeating the lyrics to a song. i read an article by a white male who said he was going to stop listening to rap because of the degrading lyrics, and brought up a good point that if the rappers were rapping about selling drugs in white neighborhoods and shooting up white neighborhoods, white ppl probably wouldn’t buy the songs or the record company wouldn’t put it out. Like i said they are ok when these things are said about other ppl but if it is said about them they are mad. The blacks that do speak out against the rap lyrics are told to be quiet and stop being sensitive. even if black ppl united to stop rap i don’t think it would work since most of their money is from white ppl not us, money talks, and it speaks louder than us
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Thank you Abagond, it seems we’re on the same page. 🙂 I’ll be anticipating your post.:)
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thanks for the mention!
for anyone who doubts it, yes, her accent is phony. she is not really from savannah/charleston, she is from albany, ga— near alabama. i went to high school with her nephew who was also from albany. you’ll notice that she mimics “non-rhoticity” which is dropping the Rs at the end of her words, which is a key aspect of the coastal southern accent (savannah/charleston). however, you’ll notice that the rest of her accent doesn’t match the typical coastal southern accent— she’s got this sing-songy accent that is common in west central georgia and alabama, and she adds in the non-rhoticity to make it seem more authentic to savannah.
watch ‘midnight in the garden of good and evil’ to hear a real southern accent:
second of all, i’ve watched her show. the stuff that she cooks is rarely southern— it’s like fatass cuisine. one time i watched her program and she was making this pillsbury crescent roll, except instead of just rolling it up, she put like 3 layers of butter, bacon, cheese, just all this garbage in there, it was ridiculous. i know southern cuisine can sometimes be fattening, but those of you in other parts of the country are probably only exposed to southern cuisine vis-à-vis kentucky fried chicken and the like— southern cuisine is, believe it or not, focused around the vegetables. any southern restaurant you go to here in georgia will have 2-3 entrèes that yes, can be unhealthy— fried chicken, roast beef, breaded fish— but your real choice is the vegetables. some restaurants have upwards of 50 different types of vegetables to choose from— okra and tomatoes, hoppin’ john, collard greens, turnip greens (yes, there is a difference), and sometimes you’ll even see mustard greens or squash casserole. it’s all about the vegetables. that actually is a rich tradition carried over from africa— vegetables like okra are native to africa, for example.
everytime i have watched her program, i don’t see the rich food of my part of the country, the food of my people. i see the food of wal-mart, the food of generic fatassery that has nothing to do with southern culture. and it makes me sick that people associate southern food with her. it’s no surprise she got diabetes the way that she eats. we don’t eat like that down here.
okay, i guess i’ve already shown that i had an axe to grind from the get-go, but if i wasn’t already finished with her, i’m finished with her now. did you see the way she talked to that grown man in the video? she talked to him like he was a pet or something. everything that she said about him could be said about a pet dog. and then she makes a crack about him blending into the wall behind him… what the hell? she just re-enacted the entire plotline of ‘the blind side’ in 30 seconds.
but that brings me to another point— when paula deen is getting nailed to the wall about this stuff, WHY can everyone else do it and it be acceptable? WHY DOES SANDRA BULLOCK GET 3 OSCARS FOR “THE BLIND SIDE” AND NO ONE BATS AN EYE!? there’s not even a mention for the racism aspect of the movie if you look at the wikipedia article!
i really don’t understand— and maybe this is the only way i can understand paula deen’s supporters— other people get away with this crap all the time. paula deen gets called out for it. why are we letting other people get away with this stuff? it’s not acceptable whether paula deen does it or sandra bullock does it.
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@abagond
Just noticed how two-faced Justice Scalia is.
Congress voted in VRA renewal unanimously in the Senate and over 90% majority in the house. Scalia struck down the provision saying that Congress had no choice but to vote it in. However, in the case of DOMA, he supported an unconstitutional provision claiming that Congress duly elected and passed it.
So, in VRA, he completely ignored the will of Congress, and one day later, states that the will of Congress should prevail.
Two-faced scoundrel. This behavior has completely discredited him in my eyes. He needs to go.
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@ Daniel Bryant
This is how I understand the Paul Deen/Sandra Bullock thing:
Most whites seem to have a very narrow idea of what racism is. To them racism is the Klan, it using the n-word, it is hatred, especially violent hatred, for blacks, it is seeing blacks as genetically inferior. It is crude biological determinism.
Deen falls within that idea of racism, Bullock does not. Deen used the n-word. Bullock’s character, on the other hand, LOVES black people, she HELPS them, so there is no way she can be racist. She is a Nice Christian Woman.
That is why Deen brought out her Black Friend just when they were talking about prejudice. She was doing it to prove that she likes black people, to show she is not racist. I doubt she had any idea how cringetastic she was being.
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@abagond
And as Deen brought out her black “friend,” she made herself look even worse IMO by making fun of his complexion. “He’s as dark as a board” and “Come up here cuz no one can see you standing beside the black curtain…” Why she thought teasing her “friend” was OK is beyond me…just as no pale person wants to be called “powder” or “albino.” She was being insulting.
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June 28th: Sears (and therefore Kmart) and Walgreens have dropped Deen:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/28/sears-walgreens-paula-deen_n_3516532.html
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She’s a racist b*tch in attitudes and behavior, there’s no getting around that. Furthermore, she is not sorry about the things she said, she’s sorry her cracker a** got caught. I have to imagine she’s not unique among Southerners, which adds to my vexation that SCOTUS struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act calling it “outdated” I would think not. That was slightly off topic, but I had to go there.
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abagond:
How do you feel about, The companies that are dropping, Paula Deen?
Do you think they are dumping her, because she is a racist or because of how she has offended, black people?
What would you say to someone?, if they would say to you, “abagond, the only result of a white celebrity getting crucified by the media and dropped by so many companies, will be more resentment and hatred of black people, even though black people had nothing to do with Paula deen’s downfall, being a white woman, filed the lawsuit against her, that lead to her Revelation of racist words?
I also see a lot of sell out Negros, coming to her aid, saying she should be forgiven.
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As a commentator on Anderson Cooper stated last night in regards to her “friend” – there is a difference between love and respect. People love their dogs, but don’t want them at their table.
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Those companies dropped her, not because she is a racist or because they care about the feelings of Black people, they dropped her for fear of their own bottom line being affected by their company having association with her.
It is the same reason Tiger Woods lost his endorsements when his multiple adulterous affairs became news.
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*being negatively affected
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@ Sondis
I think this whole Deen thing has almost nothing to do with black people, at least for the companies that have dropped her and the press that has been eating the story up.
Compare the Trayvon Martin case – it took 45 days and weeks of protests before Zimmerman was arrested. For the Food Network, it took two days. There was not even time to get up a proper protest a la Al Sharpton. And we know how little black viewers matter to television execs.
This has been pretty much an intra-white thing. Deen broke one of their tribal taboos and now she is a pariah. If white people truly cared about racism, they would be much more interested in the racial discrimination at her restaurants. The VRA ruling would be at least equal to the DOMA ruling. Etc.
Even on the relatively liberal Huffington Post, for every page that mentions “Voting Rights Act” there are 19 that mention “DOMA” and 32 that mention “Paula Deen”. Not even close.
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abagond:
I kinda figured that’s how you felt, i feel the same. The Doma vs VRA didn’t surprise me at all.
The agenda is very clear, that they care more about, Gay white people’s rights to marry, than blacks and other minorities rights to vote.
*dusts off Passport…..
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Waiting on Target…
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Trayvon Martin and Rachel Jeantel used THAT word and they are held up as heroes. Besides, when I was prison guard inmates used that word to describe other Blacks and each other all the time. I heard more times in ten minutes that Paula Deen probably used it in her entire life.
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I feel like the media is mostly focusing on her using the n word and not so much on the plantation style wedding which to me is disturbing.I see what they are doing, they trying to chalk it up as her just using the n word and then try to excuse it by saying oh well rappers and some black ppl use the word so cut her some slack. Ok lets play devils advocate, even if some black ppl use the n word i have never heard them say they want a plantation style wedding with blacks servicing whites, so miss me with that bs
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abagond:
Have you ever created a article about the “N” word and the differences of its uses within the black community and outside of it? If not, maybe you should consider, writing an article on the subject.
I’m so tired of white people, equating rappers and black people, using the “N” word, among each other and in hip hip songs as the same as, white people using it, to describe a black person.
I mean, white people act as if, they don’t have a history with using the word in a very degrading way, towards black people or something.
Regarding black people using the word among ourselves, that’s none of white people’s concern or business.
we as black people, have struggled among ourselves over the use of the word, some condemn it and others find no problem with using the word, being some black people feel, that we have taken the venom out of the word and used it as a term of endearment .
That being said, white people using this as an excuse, whenever they are caught saying it to or about a black person, doesn’t hold any weight.
White people know damn well, the point they are trying to get across, when they say the “N” word to a black person, its to say they are less than human and inferior.
Just another deflecting tactic that white people use, when confronted with charges of racism.
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@ Jay from Philly
“Trayvon Martin and Rachel Jeantel used THAT word and they are held up as heroes. ”
Trayvon Martin isn’t “held up as [a] hero.” He was an unarmed, innocent BOY who was shot dead while walking home, and it took over a year to try the guy who everyone knew killed him.
“I heard more times in ten minutes that Paula Deen probably used it in her entire life”
In other words, “if they use the n word, why can’t we?” And btw, Deen grew up in the segregated south, so if she admitted to using that word within the last 20 years, she probably used it a lot more more before.
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I don’t see why this woman thinks she could get away with calling Blacks the n word in private and gets found out and then come on television and say that she is not a racist? That doesn’t make sense to me in the least bit. Plus this woman will never confront the fact that she is a racist. Sondis is correct when he says that it is different when Whites and Blacks use the n word. When Whites use the n word, it is usually to denigrate Black people as a race on whole. Blacks use the n word as a way to address each other. Personally I don’t like the n word and I don’t use it. Paula Deen has no excuse calling any Black person the n word because she is not better than anyone else.
Who on here agrees with me that Blacks shouldn’t use the n word or Whites either?
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@ Adeen
I totally agree that many whites use that word to denigrate blacks, as you said. Many of them, like Jay from Philly, just don’t comprehend the difference.
I am not pro speech policing. I’m a firm believer in the freedom of speech, and I’m not for telling anyone what they should or should not say. However, I’ve made a personal decision not to use that word.
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It’s so crazy to me every time something controversial happen and some high profile celebrity makes a racist statement, there is a black friend waiting in the wings to speak about how the person who caused the offense is not a racist. George Zimmerman had his black friend and Paula Deen had her black friend.
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mary burrel!! gemme hug sista!—–> \o/
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Maybe Fox News will pick her up. Paula Deen will recover. There is a food festival being held in the city I live in, Paula Deen is one of the celebrity foodies. It would be interesting to see who goes just to see her. She stlll has a huge following.
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@ Sondis, Sending you a cyberspace hug. HUG, HUG.
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mary burrell:
Thanks mary ^_^
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@ mary burrell
LOL@”Maybe Fox News will pick her up. ”
“She stlll has a huge following.”
Yeah there are a lot of people who love fried crap.
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Follow the money. Companies are dropping Deen because she might hurt them financially. Others are counting on the whole thing making them more money and there for keep her, as her publishers. This shows what this is all about: Money.
It is the same system which got almost revealed in 911. There was one guy interviewed on tv, some sort of yuppie, right after the terrible thing and he said something like this:
When I saw the Twin towers fall I just knew I would make a killing in the markets today!
This is the mentality: if I can make money, anything goes. 911 or Paul Deen, open or hidden racism. What ever. As long as it makes money.
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@Mary
You are right that she will still be around because of bigoted folks who are defending her. Faux News is a perfect place for her to vent all of her racist views about minorities. I hate Faux News and the likes of people like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh.
@Sondis
How about my cyber hug?(LOL just joking) I, too are offended by people like Paula Deen denigrating our race!
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Sam:
That is white supremacy at its best, she will be alright.
The majority of white people are racist and have the same views as she does, so they’ll support her, doesn’t seem to matter, that what she stands for is despicable and downright horrible.
She lost all her companies, except her publisher.
Maybe the Klan with hire her as their new, chef!
Gotta love that white privilege, eh white folks???
I bet all you white people on this blog are happier than a pig in spit, to have such a cosy system in place for when you are at your lowest and are of need.
Put a black person in her place, they would not have, white supremacy to fall back on, black person would be finished!
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Adeen:
c’mere sista, gemme some love—-> \o/
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@ Adeen, I agree nobody should use it. It is such an insidious word. I feel we should have a funeral for it. Kill it and bury it and send it to the pit of hell.
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@Mary and Sondis
Thank you. I hate the n word and the like of Paula Deen, Glenn Beck, George Zimmerman and others.
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Well, I’ve accepted the ugly truth a while ago. Most white people (in the USA, at least) are racist. Doesn’t mean that all of them will burn a cross on your lawn but the whites who can truly see you as another human being just like them are not the norm. Those ones know themselves because by giving up their sense of superiority and entitlement they give up a huge part of the white racial identity that was formed in the “New World” and thus suffer an identity crisis.
Paula, “I is what I is”, Deen definitely does not fall into that category and I doubt anyone imagined that she did. The decisions to end business relationships with her are likely coming from white people. No business that caters to a diverse audience wants the controversy to spread to them. She’s being punished for her unsophistication (letting bad PR leak into the public space) not for the private views that she has probably held for decades.
Old Southern white woman with slave-owning ancestors is racist. *shock*
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@Origin
Well said. I just finished my junior year in high school and I realized in my junior year that most Whites in AmeriKKKlan are racist. Not in the explicit KKK or Neo Nazi way but most of them unconsciously or subconsciously think that they are better than Blacks and minorities. Plus most of them will never owe up to their beliefs of Blacks being inferior and somehow different from them. I am not shocked that Paula Deen holds such racist views. After all, she was raised in the Jim Crow South where it was the norm to look down on Blacks and call them the n word. Paula Deen has terrible PR people or she is just a delusional old woman but both?
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Here is an exchange with Dr. Marc Lamont hill and a sell out sista on the issue of the “N” word being used by whites.
(http://youtu.be/3yy35AvHIOM)
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@Sondis
Thanks for the information. I hate the n word and I wish Black people stopped using it!
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“Those ones know themselves because by giving up their sense of superiority and entitlement they give up a huge part of the white racial identity that was formed in the “New World” and thus suffer an identity crisis.”
– – –
And that’s exactly how it happened….they came here as English, Scottish German, Swedish, Irish etc but, for the most, part willingly ended up as just “white”…which was something few of there ancestors were ever referred to or would have given a moment’s thought to back in the “Old Country”.
Nowadays, though, so many of them are a mixture of various Euro ethnicities (plus the ever popular 1/16 “Cherokee Indian princess”), that just plain ol’ “white” is how many end up categorizing themselves. I do believe, however, that if the ones who are mostly of a singular Euro ethnic background were given a choice between identifying according to their actual known ethnic heritage or as “white” alone, most would forsake their known heritage for a lifetime membership in the whiteness country club.
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Everyone,
Do not argue with Jay From Philly. His apparent knowledge of black people seems to partly come from his tenure as a prison guard. Other parts, goodness knows who or what taught him.
Sam, I agree. The companies that once sponsored Deen did not break up their business relationships because they know that Deen was wrong in her statements. They didn’t want to be associated with her racism because it makes their businesses look bad and they don’t want to suffer any possible activism against them like boycotts. In the end it’s all about the money, and they know if they stuck with her, they could lose a “significant” amount. (I put significant in quotations because to them, any amount loss is highly important to them.
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@ Sondis
Marc Lamont Hill is on point in that video: it all depends who is using the word and why.
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@ Sondis
I have not done a general post on the n-word, but I am working on one.
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@ Abagond, the commenter Origin used the same mock ebonic phrase Paula Deen used in his comment. And you didn’t delete his comment. I commented on this on Wednesday and my comment went into moderation and was deleted. I basically said what he said. If you are going to delete one commenter for this,I would think you would do it to everyone. That doesn’t seem right to me.
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Jay from Philly’s statements sound passive aggressive to me. He probably uses that racial slur when he refers to Black people all the time. I wondered if he was trolling Everyone has a right to their opinions and perspectives, But commenter Jay from Philly’s comments have racist undertones to me. And that’s my opinion..
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So the script is getting flipped, Paula Deen is going after the one who is suing her and is filing a racial harassment suit. I didn’t even know such a thing existed. But when it comes to lawsuits I guess you can sue for anything these days.
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Piers Morgan made an interesting statement on twitter. He said that Walmart was being hypocritical in dropping Paula Deen but continued to sell assault rifles just like the ones used in the Sandy Hook massacre. That’s an interesting observation to me.
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@ Sondis
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Sondis, Im on the road and cant even read all the posts up to now, I just want to address your post to me.
Im not excusing Deen, and dont really know anything about her ,or her actual real sentiments inside
What got my attention was that there were black Americans lining up at her restaurant and they expressed the opinion that they could forgive her ( Im sure they meant if her sentiments were real, which I or they dont really know)
I was just observing that some black people are willing to forgive a white person if they really own up to their racism, which again, is in question with Deen, I certainly am not implying or defending her at all , I am more impressed with the willingness of these black Americans to diologue with her and be willing to forgive her if she was really sincere…we wont get anywhere unless we have some diologue
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And the Black employee that work in her restaurants need their paychecks. A couple of years back it was Don Imus with the Rutgers Womens Basketball team, then comic Michael Richards from Seindfeld show. Now today it’s Paula Deen. Six months from now it will be another offender.
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And, I dont think those black Americans lined up outside her restaurant , who said they could forgive her, were just being naive, or foolish, I think they were implying they were willing to see if she was for real or not…I dont think they were just giving her a pass, I think they wanted to really see if she was sincere, and if she was , they could forgive her, but if they perceived she wasnt, they would be able to call her on it
and good point about the people working for her, of course they have to be political to keep their jobs
Again, Im not defending Deen in any way and certainly know its just her attempt to clean up her mistake, and some of it is publicity clean up, Im just noting that some black Americans, are willing to look face to face in a white persons eyes who admits they have been racist, and try to diologue on the matter with the willingness to forgive that person if they are sincere…I think that sais something about many black Americans
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@ Mary
That comment was moderated but I let it through:
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@ Abagond, Thank you for responding.
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You all watch this and tell me that white folks aren’t on some delusional bullshit.
I saw this a couple years back and nearly threw up. This is why we will never get rid of racism. White people deliberately instill this crap in their children.
http://www.itvs.org/films/southern-belle
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@ ThatDeborahGirl
Wow, what a wonderful website. Thanks. I loved the videos where the scholars critique the film and the Southern Belle summer camp, talking about why it is important to know the truth about the past, not the Gone-With-the-Wind fairy tale created in the 1880s.
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ThatDeborahGirl,
I just took a glimpse of that site just now, and I’m simply speechless. I’m coming back to it.
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LMFAO @ that site!
I think they’ll have a problem, finding black people to play the role as slaves.
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It turns out Target did drop her also.
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@mary burrell:
“Piers Morgan made an interesting statement on twitter. He said that Walmart was being hypocritical in dropping Paula Deen but continued to sell assault rifles just like the ones used in the Sandy Hook massacre. That’s an interesting observation to me.”
Yes, and that shows you all they care about is money. Nothing else.
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Right, Paula Deen lost Target too now. And Home Depot and Novo Nordisk, a maker of diabetic medicine:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2013/06/paula-deen-fired-by-target-home-depot-and-more/
She also lost a five-book deal with Ballantine. She had a cookbook coming out this October – not any more:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2013/06/28/publisher-cancels-multibook-paula-deen-contract/2474237/
That leaves, as far as I know, QVC, her magazine and her family’s two restaurants in Savannah.
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I’m so disappointed about this! She was my favorite TV cook! I was hoping the ‘facts’ against her were overinflated but the more I looked up the worse it got and so I cannot watch her shows any more. OK, guys, who else has a really good Southern cooking show?
But here’s a serious question: if you live in the South and stop doing business with anyone who is racist, how do you find anyone to do business with? I keep being disappointed by people. They seem to have good values on so many levels then you friend them on FB and all of a sudden they’re spouting this hate-talk and you’re like “Wow, I never would have guessed”
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yep, its official…she’s washed up! Finished! She’s a has been in a matter of weeks! Paula deen has to be the most high profile white person to fall from grace this fast in a long time.
I feel that white people will go even further to bend over backwards, when around black people, after this debacle.
The thing that troubles me is the fact that, there will be a backlash from this and guess who’s going to get the brunt of it?, black people.
Never mind, that black people have nothing to do with none of this in terms of being directly involved.
I can bet you a steak dinner, that white people are talking about black people as a result of a rich white woman that got in trouble, because of a law suit that was files by another white woman, ( Lisa Jackson ) which revealed miss Deen’s use of the “N” word in the past.
I already see it on all the news sites and stations, turning the whole conversation from what they should be talking about, Miss Deen’s use of a racial slur, into why white people can’t use the “N” word and black people can and how its black people’s fault that white people use it, because so my rappers and everyday black people use to, towards each other.
I’m going to explain how this argument falls, flat on its face.
For white people to use such ridiculous logic on why they should be able to use the “N” word, simply because black people use and or condone it, makes no sense, being that:
There are millions of black people that do not use or condone the use of the “N” word as a term of endearment, within the black community, not to mention from white people. So how can white people justify, using black people as an scapegoat, when there is as much outrage over the use of the “N” word from within the black community, itself?
I mean, its not there has even been a consensus done, within the black community on how many people use and approve of the, “N” words use for white people to try and gauge the level of outrage.
White people totally ignore this and go based off rappers and some black people who use it, within an earshot of them.
what’s going on here is typical of how white people, view and think of black people. We are always seen as a collective body, we are never seen as, individuals.
To white people, Black people can’t think independent of other blacks, therefore they apply every stereotype to every single black person in America.
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Jimmy Carter, who knows Paula Deen, came to her defence yesterday on CNN:
He advised her to get the many black people she has helped in the past to speak up for her.
More:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/28/us/georgia-carter-deen/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
In 2009 Carter called out the racism against Obama:
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On Friday QVC said it would “take a pause” from Paula Deen for at least a few months:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2013/06/28/qvc-takes-a-pause-from-paula-deen/2471317/
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@ Renate
@ Abagond
“But here’s a serious question: if you live in the South and stop doing business with anyone who is racist, how do you find anyone to do business with? I keep being disappointed by people. They seem to have good values on so many levels then you friend them on FB and all of a sudden they’re spouting this hate-talk and you’re like “Wow, I never would have guessed”
____
“Deen falls within that idea of racism, Bullock does not. Deen used the n-word. Bullock’s character, on the other hand, LOVES black people, she HELPS them, so there is no way she can be racist. She is a Nice Christian Woman. ”
**********
NEWS FLASH !!!!!!!
FACTOID:
People seem to not understand this!
Some of the NICEST, MOST CORDIAL, FRIENDLIEST, WARMEST – even non-hate talking – white people you could ever meet are racists. I’ve known quite of few of this sort of benevolent racists. I’m not saying that Paula Deen is one of these, since I don’t know her. I AM saying that racists come in all sorts of styles, types and appearances.
I don’t define RACIST (ONLY white people qualify!) solely by their speech and actions. Their attitudes, ideas, thoughts and beliefs can also render them as racists. A white mother can LOVE her black child and still remain a racist.
A white person does not have to be consciously negative or malevolent towards black people or non whites in order to be racist. If they participate in any form of racist WHITENESS, conscious or otherwise, *group think* (see the world only through the White Gaze/White Racial Frame) they are racists!
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I read that she lost 12.5 million dollars from the fallout of this scandal. And that southern belle video, “Wow”, That just shows you how many white people want to go back to that time frame in the history of this country. But I am not surprised by this. I don’t know how whites can be angry when black people try to tell them racism exists and then turn around and call black people the racist. That’s the crazy thing about that mindset. And now that I’ve learned that the woman filing the lawsuit against Deen is a white woman, I wondered why they didn’t show her face in the news media, I f she had been a Black woman they would have her face plastered all over the internet blogs. Just lets you know how the media handles images. They plastered Rachel Jentel, Trayvon Martin’s friend all over the internet and she is receiving all kinds of negative press. I never saw this woman’s face. Are the white people talking about this woman betraying another white person and accusing her of being a bigot?
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Sondis, Ive been watching these tv reports while im here in the country, and , I agree with your accesment…its very strange to see how white people, especialy `fuked news` try to defend and down play what is going on
Its painful to see how white people try to dodge and manipulate this. This is why I am noting that there are black Americans waiting in line at her restaraunt who arnt being vindictive …many black Americans arnt being vindictive about this , but, many white people are going into some kind of defensive mode, comparing the n word to cr ack er, which there is no comparison
We wont move ahead with these atitudes, I cant tell black Americans to just trust many white people when you see the dance they do when something like this happens
gosh, `fuked news` is a pariah
Good point Matari
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Now, Paula Deen needs to call Iyanla Van Zandt to come fix her life. I know she will be talking to Oprah soon. That should be interesting.
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According to the New York Daily News, as of Friday June 28th 2013:
They dumped Paula Deen:
Food Network
Sears and Kmart
Wal-Mart
Walgreens
Target
QVC (“taking a pause”)
J.C. Penney
Home Depot
Caesars Entertainment
Smithfield Foods
Novo Nordisk
They’re staying:
Kohl’s
Alice Travel
Springer Mountain Farms
Landies Candies
Epicurean Butter
Tasty Blend Foods
Kohl’s is the only big name left.
As Mary noted, so far she has lost $12.5 million.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/deen-lost-12-5-million-experts-article-1.1385469#ixzz2XiGLAg9A
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I just watched that video from $0.02, That was sickening. The way she spoke to the brother talking about his skin color. And the stupid just continued to flow from her lips. Maybe she needs to attend sensitivity training. She is just an ignorant woman who is stuck in a time warp. Just like those crazy white women that entertain being Scarlett O’Hara. They all want to live some jacked up Gone With The Wind fantasy. That’s why Deen was going on about her brother’s wedding and having the Black workers dressed in Anti-Bellum costumes and tap dancing. She is just a foolish old woman. But she needs to be brought to task made to understand that this mindset is sick and crazy. Well she is being hit where it hurts the most. Her checkbook.
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The Paula Deen cruise is still going on. Everyone really enjoys that.
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When I see things like that, it makes me see more clearly that the “race” problem is not going away anytime soon. As long as we have
– severe whitewashing of history (eg, this States’ rights mumbo jumbo);
– depiction of Southern traditional culture that was somehow independent of slavery and Jim Crow, even romanticizing it without setting it into its actual context; and
– refusal to discuss or talk about the race problem in the USA (either by omitting it from the discussion table, or by pretending one is colour blind),
It will persist.
I hope that Abagond can inspire people to stop the scourge that is the whitewashing or pure fabrication of history. We all have a duty to do this. YET, I still have yet to identify unified or organized groups that feel this sense of duty and purpose. All we have are isolated individuals and groups that rally against certain components of what schools or leaders or celebrities do (including this Paula Deen issue). However, is there no watchdog that is making sure that school systems across the country (and summer programmes like these) don’t fabricate history out of thin air?
It is great that some of the historian commenters mention that one reason why the South (and in general, the USA as a whole) cannot discuss race is to be forced to deal head on with the whole issue of slavery, (and Jim Crow, Sundown towns and blockbusting and northern ghettos, etc. etc. etc.) which no one really wants to talk about.
If white people can invent romantic histories for themselves, what can other (eg, those of non-white Southern origin) people do? Revolt somehow? They did revolt in spurts against certain oppression (eg, the civil rights era) but they are not revolting about how the country has rewritten its history.
Sometimes, I wonder the only thing that will make it change would be to replace it with a completely new order, for example, by an outside force (such as the Chinese “Invasion” experiment). But in that case, the former residents (both whites and blacks) will be forced simply to accept a new version of their own history and past written by a cultural and economic force coming from outside.
Finally, Abagond, I would like to know if you ever felt compelled to learn first hand about the South. Have you gone to Charleston and Savannah, Anniston and Selma, the Mississippi Delta, Little Rock, etc. to try to get a feel first hand of the place? I know you have read a lot about it, but have you ever gone to see for yourself?
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I wonder how large a part the new owners, Shuanghui, played in that decision.
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If I ran the Southern Belle Camp, I would have them draw lots at the beginning to see who would be slaves and who would be belles. And then maybe have them change places halfway through. Kind of like Southern Belle Camp meets Jane Elliott meets the Stanford Prison Experiment. And, of course, teach them the TRUE history, at least as far as it is known at the university level, not the stuff they teach in Texas-approved high school “history”. And it would all be painfully technologically accurate (no running water, etc).
Stanford Prison Experiment:
Jane Elliott:
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@ Abagond: I love that idea. That is just EPIC! Do the Jane Elliot business on them for sure. That is just Awesome and funny. LMAO.
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Yes, Abagond, good idea.
But, who wants to pay money to learn the truth?
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@ mary
That vid was sickening especially when she said he as black as this board. IT was really creepy to me the way she was like come here hollis and held his hand as if he a child. i tell ya the goofy sellout folks don’t mind being the token black for these racists, i wonder what she pay him in, biscuits. Now be a good lil ninja and come defend me, I say distance urselves from these racists and these sellouts who stand by them i don’t want to be around them when ish goes down.
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A southern belle camp, I am just too outdone. What other misogynistic groups have camps for their youngster? I am almost too afraid to ask.
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mstoogood4yall:
Gemme hug—–> \o/
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@Mstoogood4yall, Yeah I agree.
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Like commenter jefe said, Nobody wants to pay money to learn the truth.
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@ sondis
*runs & leaps into arms*
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Shoot i’d pay to get the truth, just as long as it isn’t too expensive lol
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But that just goes to show you some don’t want to know the truth. (In Jack Nicholson voice) : “Some of can’t handle the truth”.
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mary burrel, can i get a hug, sista? —— > \o/
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* Some of them can’t handle the truth* In Jack Nicholson voice.
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@ Sondis; Big cyberspace hug.
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I like to show my sistas some love, every now and again…. ^_^
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@ sondis: Thanx for the love. We love you too.
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@ mary and sondis
How is my beautiful cyber family doing today on this sunday afternoon
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I’m up to my usual, monkey business. ^_^
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@Mstoogood4yall and sondis: I am drinking mint ice tea. it is 100 degrees. I am in the air condition watching True Blood. Let’s stay on topic. LOL.
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@ Abagond. – the problem is – if you watch the whole documentary (I’ve seen it twice on PBS and I’m pretty sure it’s on YouTube) you’ll see that all they are learning is the romance and the pretty dresses and NONE of the real history. It’s a history devoid of slavery and what slavery is mentioned is justified. There are a lot of reviews on the documentary. Check them out if you get a sec.
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And there lies the problem they don’t want to learn history. They don’t want to learn the truth.
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@Mary
Not all of them but many of them. It goes the same way for some Black people too. Paula Deen doesn’t represent all Whites how Clarence Thomas doesn’t represent all Blacks.
The truth is many Americans regardless of race don’t want to owe up to the fact that America is still a very racist country.
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@ Adeen; yes, You are correct. I don’t like to make generalizations. It’s important to place emphasis on the word some and not all. But that stupid video about the southern belles is very telling of the mindset of some whites. Those stupid, vapid females are glossing over the ugliness of that time frame. Why would you want to go back to a time that bought pain and suffering and death to a race of people. If anything they should be hanging their heads in shame. Paula Deen is apart of that sick mindset.
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@Mary
Exactly, you are correct, I didn’t like the mind frame of many Caucasians in Southern Belles at all. Paula Deen is one of those old, Southern Whites who longs for the ”good ol’ days” when times were ”simple”. She thinks Blacks are underneath her and sadly MANY Caucasians think that way. Not all but many.
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The Southern Belle Camp is very on-point for this post since it shows how Southern whites have dealt with their past – by romanticizing It, by lying to themselves.
Yet Southern whites are only a more extreme case of what White Americans as a whole face – trying to build a positive identity in the teeth of an ugly history.
To paraphrase one of the historians at the Southern Belle website, White America is not trapped the past, it is trapped in a FAKE past. It will never move forward through the race stuff till it pulls itself out of that fairy tale never-was-land.
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Your comment goes along with what I’ve written about the subject:
http://brothawolf.wordpress.com/2013/06/23/paula-deen-and-the-good-ole-days-of-overt-racism/
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[…] Paula Deen […]
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But this is not about the N- word. I doubt that Lisa Jackson care that Black people are called N-words. There is another agenda at play here. I read that Lisa Jackson and another employee wanted to turn the restaurant into a catering business and the idea was shot down. And she was fired. But Jackson said that Deen treated the employees as if they were beneath her. But I feel she threw the race card in to really put the kibosh on Deen’s business and to tarnish her brand. This is not because this Jackson woman cares so much about Black folks feelings. There is another ulterior motive.
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mary burrell:
I can see how this happened.
The fact that a white women, files a “racial discrimination” law suit, makes no sense.
I mean, what did Lisa Jackson do?, file a claim of racism on the black employees behalf?
I mean, certainly she wasn’t claiming that she as a white person, was “racially’ discriminated against by another white person, was she?
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@sondis: Jacks.on issued a statement saying that her issue with Deen centers over her “disrespect and degredation of people she deems inferior.” The lawsuit has never been about the N-word. She filed a lawsuit against Deen’s brotherfor sexual harassement. She said Paula Deen brother sexually harassed employee and that Deen made racist slurs. Go figure. It is some horse manure.
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mary burrell:
Yeah, pure bull spit. -_-
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It is not necessary to be the direct target victim of discrimination to be subjected to a harassing threatening environment. When I worked for a large consulting firm that had an unwritten policy not to hire blacks (among other unwritten policies) I found the environment to be very threatening.
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From laromana:
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I basically agree with this comment from Gene Seymour
http://us.cnn.com/2013/07/01/opinion/seymour-deen-racist-language/index.html?hpt=hp_bn7
Indeed, most Americans probably feel she was racist because she forgot her manners. They don’t notice the SCOTUS calling voting rights a racial entitlement. They don’t notice the incarceration rates of blacks. They don’t notice the lack of blacks living in their neighborhoods, or at their workplace. They don’t even know what it means to be pulled over by the cops for DWB.
But they love to diss rich celebrities who make a public gaffe. I agree that the correct (and telling) question should have been to ask her how she defines racism.
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It’s amazing how many whites are supporting her on facebook. I guess most are showing their true colors and relate b/c they too are prejudiced!
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Most Whites in America are racists. Majority of them, of course many of them will support a racist, senile old lady like Paula Deen. Her views on Blacks are what many Whites in this country agree with.
No, I am not a troll. I have been commenting on here for over a year.
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Best article I’ve read on this subject – and its by a white guy – after reading look up his bio to find out why..
http://news.yahoo.com/banality-butter-hannah-arendt-tell-us-paula-deen-134748348.html
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It’s amazing how many whites keep bringing up the n-word and ignore the accusations that she has repeatedly discriminated against black and female employees.
Go ahead and drown in your racism.
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[…] Paula Deen […]
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Abagond,
FYI, Paula just did Exactly what I figured she would do:
She fired her white Attorneys and hired a top-notch D.C. black American attorney to pull her a’s out the fire — Grace Speights
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2361213/Paula-Deen-sacks-entire-legal-team-N-word-scandal-cost-millions.html
I knew pretty soon she would have to find a black “friend” (besides Oprah) to stand beside her.
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I forgot to add:
Paula Deen also hired the real life black PR “crisis manager”, Judy Smith, who was the actual inspiration for the TV show “Scandal” character, Olivia Pope.
Judy Smith worked with Monica Lewinsky and Michael Vick
Paula Deen Hires Real-Life Crisis Fixer Who Inspired Scandal’s Olivia Pope
http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/paula-deen-and-kerry-washington-2013266#ixzz2XKt9oS53
She also worked with President “Papa” George Bush
http://www.heavy.com/news/2012/11/judy-smith-top-10-facts-you-need-to-know/
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abagond, please delete comment 03:29:49
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lord now paula deens fans are starting to mail artery clogging butter wrappers to the companies that dropped her. lol &smh & side eye.
http://t.entertainment.msn.com/paula-deen-butter-campaign-spreads-across-the-internet?toc=tv
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What did I tell you, I knew Olivia Pope had to jump in. LOL! The real inspiration for the scandal character. You know the black folks had a “We Forgive You Paula Deen” rally in Times Square a couple of weeks ago.
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It seems that Whoopi Goldberg has extended an invitation for Paula Deen to appear her show, “The View”.
I know not why but Whoopi is known for speaking up for racist or otherwise disgraced white celebrities (e.g. the anti-Semite Mel “pack of nggers” Gibson; director Roman Polanski – who, after drugging and anally raping a 14 year old girl back in the 70s, absconded to Europe to escape US justice; and now we can add Paula “little nggers for a real Southern wedding” Deen to the roster).
Sometimes I think that Whoopi is just so desperate for attention that she’d even defend the likes of a Hitler or Pol Pot….
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You know the black folks had a “We Forgive You Paula Deen” rally in Times Square a couple of weeks ago.
Sometimes I think that Whoopi is just so desperate for attention that she’d even defend the likes of a Hitler or Pol Pot….
Its taken a while to realize the horrible fact that no matter what ,And they do mean no matter what – a good portion of black people will support and love white people.
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@ Caffine & Nicotine: I am not surprised Whoopi Goldberg would support Paula Deen and the rest of the racist creeps. She and Ted Danson put on black face at some celebrity black function many years ago. I have no respect for her.
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Paula Deen settled out of court with Lisa Jackson:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/23/paula-deen-lawsuit-dismissed_n_3806580.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
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^^ The judge had earlier thrown out the racial discrimination part of Jackson’s lawsuit because Jackson is white.
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If she does, she’s likely to slap you into a matching tuxedo and force you to serve beverages, Legion.
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I may be, but I don’t think she was.
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http://www.usatoday.com/story/experience/food-and-wine/news-festivals-events/2014/04/04/paula-deen-closes-bubbas-seafood-and-oyster-house/7298495/
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Update (July 10th 2015): Paula Deen has apparently learned little: she tweeted a picture of her son in brownface. He was supposed to be Desi Arnaz. That shows, by the way, that even white Latinos are racialized by non-Hispanic Whites.
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abagond:
“Update (July 10th 2015): Paula Deen has apparently learned little: she tweeted a picture of her son in brownface. He was supposed to be Desi Arnaz. That shows, by the way, that even white Latinos are racialized by non-Hispanic Whites.”
I am not surprised at all… and she’s doing just fine after that whole debacle.
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@ Kiwi
Andy Garcia, Lynda Carter and Raquel Welch are fine examples of a White Latinos who are seen and viewed as White.
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