"First of all....." (like my good friend Liz says), let me apologize for being so delinquent in my posts. I got a job and it seems as though thinking, as a pre-requisite to being "thunked out", is an anathema to work. Now that we are snowed in DC, I actually have time to think and eventually get to the point where I'm thunked out.
On the way back to DC, from one my many work-related travels, I read how John Mayer apologized for using the dreaded "N-word" in his interview with Playboy. Mind you, nobody actually reads Playboy so the apparent insult may have gone unnoticed. Lame apology aside, we should cut John some slack. Despite the fact that I really like his music and it truly crosses over to everyone who enjoys a good hook and catchy, well thought out lyrics, he is simply a musician. A musician, not a prophet. Black folk, we carelessly throw the word around all the time when we are talking with each other. We use it as an innocuous term of endearment and, Mr. Mayer, thinking that he is "one of us", used it too. He claims that he was issued a "hood pass" or a "N-word pass" and that makes him, for lack of a better word, an "honorary" Black person. I honor that pass, John.
I'm sure I'll get in a lot of trouble here with my two loyal readers (Thanks Mom and Jabu!), but I'm not upset about him using the word. If Black folk think the word is sooooo heinous, we should stop using it amongst ourselves. At the very least, spell it out like we do "bad words" in front of children. We can't expect people to hold themselves to a standard that we do not ourselves uphold. It is hypocritical and reeks of a double standard. We all know that double standards suck......and not in the good way.
Furthermore, why are people NOT from the hood wanting a hood pass? My family and friends who still live in the hood know me, so I'm assuming I'm safe with them. No pass needed here. The rest of the folks in the hood inspired me, both positively and negatively, to get the hell out of the hood. As matter fact, I'm STILL paying out of the wazoo for my "Get Out of the Hood" pass now (read: student loans)!
Somebody please tell John Mayer he can have my "hood pass" for the low, low, price of $250,000. That way I can pay off my student loans and buy my momma a condo.......outside of the hood.
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I am so loving ALL THUNKED OUT! May I please order the t-shirt, hat and bumper sticker?
ReplyDeleteI was not moved by the John Mayer interview. I have bigger fish to fry than to worry about what non-black has crossed the line...this time. But for kicks I read what people were saying. So, Mr.Reese, I do believe I concur with you.
Where I am not a "fan", do enjoy what he adds to the music industry. All of what you have already stated is very true and very intellectual I might add. :-) {he's a gentleman and a scholar}
But didn't they say he was drunk? And how many people have been drunk and said..let alone done...some things that they wished they could take back. Forget the receipt and the store credit. I am not saying alcohol should give you a pass to the hood or to be stupid, the man is just like the rest of us. Human. Sure he is a celebrity, but why do we hold them accountable for being more than what they are?? Don't you work? Don't you pay taxes?
Have a family..friends..issues..garbage? **Oh look, Reese already said that too** And if Oh Johnny Boy needs a pass for his visiting friend, I will up mine too!
Ditto, Alandria!
ReplyDeleteWell Steve, this half of you readership vehemently agrees with your thoughts on the N-word issue. It's NOT an issue. This topic should go the way of the Black vs African-American debate, as a referential term for Americans of African decent. The ubiquity of the word in our popular vernacular has stripped it of any racial significance it may have had (Kramer rants aside). The Black...uumm... African American pundits who are encouraging boycots and CD burnings are stuck in a bygone era and add nothing constructive to the advancement of American society.
ReplyDeleteFrankly I was a little more troubled by his comment about the racial preferences of his male member. Having already publically admitted a man-crush for Mr Mayer I was dissapointed at his poor choice of words and lack of sensitivity to his African-American female fans. Tsk tsk, Johnny boy.