White people - the majority of them, at least - understand how grotesque and dehumanizing that language is. Meanwhile, black folks run around making lame excuses and lamer justifications.
I mean really, Chris, "context?" Negro, please.
I was, as I'm sure you were, a big fan of Richard Pryor. But I never admired him more than when he renounced his use of that word. Mr. Pryor understood, I think, that his art was a social construct and as such carried social responsibilities. He acknowledged, in other words, a need to be intentional in, and accountable for, the things he said.
Compare that with Kanye West, who told Time magazine three years ago that he doesn't like the N-word and has tried substitutes but can't find anything with the same "impact." Or, compare it with you: smart, canny observer of human foibles, universally recognized as one of the most talented men in show business, yet still addicted to the same self-delimiting language a slave woman once used.
I'm not mad at her. She was just days removed from a system that had spent a lifetime teaching her, in every interaction of every day of every year, that she was a soulless thing little different from hogs and dogs. But Chris, that was 150 years ago.
What's your excuse?
Leonard Pitts Jr. is a columnist for The Miami Herald. His column appears regularly in The Baltimore Sun. His e-mail is lpitts@miamiherald.com.
