I remember well his early comedy routines of "Delirious" and "Raw". He didn't particulary give any breaks to any ethnic groups or sexual preference. Have you ever heard Chris Rock or Martin Lawrence? Their comments about whites, were they white men talking about blacks, would be as unforgiveable, offensive and ugly as Richard's were. I don't know - maybe its the over 500 years of slavery and oppression but to hear the "N" word come out of a white man's mouth - in any context - is just not the same as a black man calling a white man "cracker". It just doesn't have the same history, connotation or sense of social prejuduice the "N" word does. Maybe its because in the socio-historical context of race relations in the US and around the western world, whites hate blacks because they are black and because their culture is different and they consider them inferior, but blacks hate whites because the whites hate them for just being black, have oppressed them, enslaved them and murdered them. The difference between the "N" word and "cracker" is the level of hatred historically associated with the "N" word. Coming from a white man, it only has one connotation, which means hatred and is not acceptable. On the other hand I am not saying it is right for a black man or woman to use the term "cracker". It is offensive in its own right and indicates a level of ignorance and lack of education, but it does not carry the same social stigma as the other word that Richards used over and over and over again in his tirade.
I think his apology was sincere though and that he truly lost control of the moment, he definitely wasn't thinking clearly. But his tirade reveals an inner racism that we probably all carry to some extent in our hearts and minds. It has been probably passed down to us from our parents and our grandparents who we don't consider racist at all. In the socio-historic context of their days, these terms and ideas they taught us were prevalent in society and only as society has evolved have we come to see them for what they are. It may be your grandma calling small african-american children "pickaninnies" or "sambos"- like former AZ Governor Evan Meacham and my grandma did. Remember him? He was from Utah originially and knew both of my grandparents growing up. To them - that word was what you called them and they never knew it was offensive, uh... at least not until Meacham was impeached for using those words. Maybe it was your dad encouraging you to "find a white wide receiver" to idolize when you thought Lynn Swann was the greatest of all time. He never told you to hate blacks specifically and not to cheer for them or to not respect them, but just that "it's important to cheer for the white guy too". Right? Or maybe it's him cheering extra hard for Phil Mickelson to beat Tiger Woods or saying, "at least a white guy won it" to epxress his apparent disappointment when Gino Torreta won the Heisman over Marshal Faulk. Or maybe its the lack of major network programming that features middle class African-American families or dramas that have African-American protagonists. Would "24" be as popular if Jack Bauer were black? Would the CSI's be as popular if instead of Gary Sinise, William Peterson, and David Caruso as the lead investigators we had Jamie Fox, Will Smith and Denzel Washington? Now I know there are some exceptions - but they are exeptions and though strong black protagonists are growing in numbers - we are still more comfortable with the black comedian than we are with the black hero.
I guess you really have to look deep inside yourself and ask those important questions to see the extent of your own latent racism. Michael Richarda claims that he is not a racist - and frankly I believe him - but he for sure had a racist moment that no apology can ever truly make up for. So we have to see these things in ourselves, make an effort to change them and realize that the "N" word and the like are a lot worse socially than "cracker" and "honky" ever will be.
UTROY
Proverbs 21:19 (why I hunt!)
