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11-29-2005, 10:03 AM
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I am the cheese
Posts: 51,502
  
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One Mans Reaction to racial slur on Survivor Series
I'm sure that sum may have just gaped in shock others may have brushed it off as simply Vince being Vince. But as a African American my only reaction to Vince's comment to John Cena was exactly what Booker T did and that's kinda scary. I was so dumbfounded by the out and out idiocy of such a comment that all I could think was....Tell me he didn't just say that. Is Vince McMahon racist I doubt it, is Vince ignorant or an uneducated swine, no. Is Vince one of those who believe in the Nigger and Nigg-A concept....maybe. You could make an argument that Vince thought it was okay to say niggA, b/c that sterotypical slang is okay, but then again stereotypes are the bread and butter of black wrestlers by looking at the number of active black wrestlers to those who are given a push in a major company with out being stereotyped. On my list I got Lashley, and Shelton Benjamin. I mean Rock was in the nation, same could be said for Farooqu but he did get the big strap in WCW. Booker T plays Chicken George even with out the Harlem Heat deal, Teddy Long does not talk like that in real life at least not when I've met him, and Monty Brown is nothing more than a Jimmy Rooster act. And I'm not even touching Mark Henry, or D'lo or the trash they did with Scorpio and GodFather. But then again this isn't really about stereotyping wrestlers b/c that's just what a small minded booker is going to do, just like anyone else who doesn't know diddle about something they will grasp to the most stereotypical molds. (see Mexican, Japanese, or foreign wrestlers) I don't think what Vince said last night is anything to go on a march about, or to start protesting, quite frankly Katie Vick still puts this type of thing to shame. But I don't think it should be overlooked at what happened. Vince set this whole thing up himself, first having the plain to see white John Cena who is of course doing a street image with a hip hop edge to it. So Vince is playing on the whole wigger concept of whites who act....black, even though that concept is even more offensive b/c it suggests that talking ignorant, wearing garish and sometimes ugly clothing and being loud and obnoxious, and oh yes flashing bling all over the place is the hallmark of your average black man. But I digress, so Cena is playing wigger so Vince plays into it by using a bit of "slang" type talk and getting real "jive" in his mannerisms, then he throws out the line and walks away with either his typical strut or his attempt at a "ghetto stride" then to safely put it into context he makes sure to get himself a black man in there sort of to sanction the comment. Meaning that Vince all along knew this was going to be offensive, and he knew it was going to be controversial and he knew it was going to make people go what the hell. B/c I promise you despite popular belief or what Carlos Mencia, or Dave Chapelle say or might like to think, people using the N word is still justifiable reason to kick someone's ass on the spot no questions asked. Its bad enough that a vibrant and meaningful art form inherent to black culture is considered accurately represented by low life, ignorant, uneducated, dancing puppets we call rappers, who perpetuate completely degrading and utterly offensive images of who black people are today in America, and so they can get on a CD and shout out Nigger 50 times before they ever get to the second song, and people assume all black folks find this word socially acceptable. But that's a HUGE misnomer, Nigger, Nigga, Nucca, Nagro, My Niga they are all offensive and any self respecting African American would not tolerate the use of a name directly designed to degrade and disrespect us as human beings. Only complete idiots and wastes of space who spend their time rolling blunts instead of going to school or getting a job think that term is okay and I have gotten into more than one fight with another black b/c he thought it was okay to call me niggA. And this is I'm sure why Vince did it, not b/c he was bumping Young Jeezy or 50 cent or whoever the next cookie cutter monkey with a base line is, but b/c he saw the use of niggA as acceptable and made him hip and daring. Well it was most certainly daring I'll give him that, the real problem was not Vince saying it. But in why he would think to say it. If you watch most "black" entertainment in this modern day it is created by white people. BET is owned and run by white people, most "hood" movies are written and produced by white people, the whole concept of what is black in America is still created by white people. The movie Hollywood Shuffle by Robert Townsend is a comedy that skewers the black actor's stereotypes in Hollywood at the time. However it still holds true today sum 15 years later and its scary. Sure blacks no longer play the Pimps and Chicken George's, now their relegated to gangster, thug, druggie, rapist, killer, convict, or athlete...(well we kinda did that to ourselves but still). And for every Rock who did break clean of that stereotype image, there is a Monty Brown, for every Shelton Benjamin there is a Booker T, and its not like now a days is better than the past, is there any difference b/c u can look at Koko, or JYD or Slick (remember him) with only Virgil being the exception that comes to mind right now and that's only after he PLAYED A SERVANT!! And while Monty and Booker and the rest in the end are over and stay over b/c of their talent, it was some cock of the walk rooster act, or ghetto talking bug eyed deal, or uncle tom act that got them there. Its hard as an African American who has grown up watching wrestling to stomach that this is the only real images that are given of black athletes in the industry I love. The argument for Ahmed Johnson's and guys like Lashly is that they are big bodies so creative doesn't fall back on racial stereotypes b/c being big monsters sells better. But it is sometimes hurtful to see not only that this is all bookers can think of but that the general audience of predominately white accept it. On your site most of the feedback with Survivor Series had ZERO to do with what Vince said. Even you Dave brushed it off as Vince JUST TRYING TO BE HIP!!! but my god he used a word that is completely designed to degrade us to the level of animals. What would u have said if he said kyke, is that a socially acceptable word, what if it was, what if the only way a Jew in wrestling could get a break is if he was the Kosher Krusher, or the Helacious Heb, or the Da Shnoz, or Mr.Mench(spell check on those). The only way bookers used him as a heel was b/c he was so cheap, or he only looked out for his own. What if that was the sum of Jews in pro-wrestling a bunch of silly and nasty stereotypes, how would u feel if Vince dropped the K bomb and all you had was Barry Horrowitz saying "Oi! did he just say that!" Here's the point, I'm not going to go as far as to say I'm defending Vince but I will say that you cannot blame Vince for thinking this a cool or hip or comedic thing to do. At least you cant get mad at Vince before you get mad at Hollywood, and even more so before you get mad at the music industry which has done and will continue to do more harm and be more offensive to the image of African Americans in this culture than any one liner Vince is ever going to throw out. Was it stupid for Vince to say what he said at Survivor Series, yeah it was. Was it offensive...well if it had been Booker-T saying it, the whole thing would still have been controversial, but with Vince saying it, your damn right this was completely offensive. Should Vince apologize....no he should not, he went out of his way to do something he thought was funny and shocking, he went 1 out of 2 on it and it could have been worse. It is, however, deplorable that an educated, wealthy white man could make such a statement especially being in an atmosphere where he deals with blacks on a daily basis but again, can anyone really say Vince was trying to offend black people with the comment. What is truly the worse thing about this is that fans think its stupid or lame but they don't see anything morally wrong with the very use of the word by anyone on TV or in a PPV (this extends to guys like Dave Chapelle as well) And that by far, is what makes what Vince said so wrong, and I hope white wrestling fans take note of this not just as wrestling fans but as humans. Carl Evans Kigely@cs.com Chicago, IL Credit: http://www.wrestlingobserver.com/wo/....asp?aID=14882 ========================================= Discuss  Last edited by Destor; 11-29-2005 at 11:05 AM. |
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