Wednesday, October 04, 2006
'M' words and 'n' words
Elizabeth Strother
Recent columns
- For those who have too little
- Time to gather mountain views
- Our blind spot on roads
- Following the money trail
From the RoundTable blog
My Catholic upbringing instilled in me a knee-jerk reflex to examine my own conscience when contemplating the sins of others. Even the alleged sins.
So Virginia's cringingly embarrassing Senate campaign has made me take stock, and the old Catholic in me requires confession:
I know I used the "n" word at least once in my life.
I don't remember actually saying it, but I know I did. I was a little kid -- probably of school age, though not by much. I have a crystal clear memory, not of what I said, but of the instant and earnest reaction I got.
Do not ever use that word, my sister Barbara -- two years older and many years wiser -- told me. Her intensity shocked me so, I remember it after more than 40 years.
I don't recall what all she said, but she explained that that particular word was an insult to black people and hurt their feelings a lot, even more than the garden-variety name-calling of childhood.
Wow. Who knew?
End of the "n" word in my vocabulary.
The word carried, and continues to carry, such emotional freight that a credible -- and hotly denied -- allegation that Sen. George Allen used it as a football player at the University of Virginia has helped to turn his easy walk to re-election into a horse race.
Oh, and has helped to turn Virginia into a laughingstock along the way.
Fair is fair: Democratic challenger Jim Webb did his part in making the commonwealth the butt of jokes by writing, in 1979, that women had no business getting into combat or the U.S. Naval Academy -- a "horny woman's dream"? Ugh.
But Allen's infamous macaca gaffe opened to national scrutiny a rich vein of past racial insensitivities, from his Confederate flag lapel pin in a high school picture to his law office noose to the proclamation he signed, as governor, declaring Confederate History and Heritage Month without acknowledging that, well, slavery was a crime against humanity.
Allen always has jovially swatted away questions about his affinity for the Confederacy as a youthful rebelliousness that matured into a respectable conservatism. When he was videotaped calling a dark-skinned young man "Macaca" -- in some cultures, a racial slur -- the gibe sounded a whole lot like racism, though.
Then the "m" word led to allegations about his using the "n" word, and the character issue took off. It's a legitimate one for Virginia voters to consider this year.
For political satirists, it's pure gold. The more outrageous the offense, the funnier the jokes on Comedy Central and late-night TV. Check out the Web, too. Slate has posted a little feature called the George Allen Insult Generator. Select an identifying group and be insulted by a caricature of Virginia's junior senator.
"I am: A person with bad breath." "Pleased to meet you, Bianca."
OK, not ready for prime time, but I cracked a little smile -- followed by a little cringe.
The Washington Post reported this week that the Allen-Webb race is focusing lots of attention on the commonwealth, of the unwelcome kind. "In Virginia, it has its upside, being considered racist," Jon Stewart wise-cracked on "The Daily Show." Ha ha. And speaking of stereotypes ... .
Not that Virginians can be too touchy on the point just now, but racism is hardly confined to Virginia or, for that matter, to the South. The region is ripe for parody, but I'd wager that in any state, it has its upside, being considered racist. Among certain voters. Fewer all the time I hope.
I used the "n" word casually as a little girl, without knowing that it was anything other than a word for black people. I didn't understand all that it meant -- still don't fully, I expect. I had another revelatory moment as an adult, talking to an accomplished black colleague who couldn't bring herself to utter it even in an academic discussion about its use. Wow.
I used it as a girl -- once, that I recollect -- because I had heard it in the neighborhood where I grew up, in the Midwest.
Where I did not hear it ever was in my home. Never from my mom, born and bred in St. Louis, and never from my dad, born in South Carolina and raised in large part on a farm in Virginia.
The only region that breeds racism is a region of the heart.
Strother is on the editorial board of The Roanoke Times.
