Racism in Small Town Tennessee

My fiancee and I both grew up in small towns within the same county in east Tennessee. It was a nice place to grow up. Everybody knows each other, traffic is light and taxes are low. Those are all good things but let's face it there are still a lot of racist rednecks running around in that area. My parents put our wedding announcement in the county paper. There happy for me and they want everyone to know about this milestone in my life. However, it did cause a bit of a stir in her home town because of the biracial nature of our relationship. Her father has taken the brunt of it. He used to be a local politician. and that alone is enough to have enemies. However, his time in office was marred with scandal and a lengthy court battle. In the end he was found not to be responsible for the things that he was being accused of and it was dropped legally. Unfortunately a few of his constituents don't see things that way and they take every chance they get to cause him grief. There is this one guy in particular that is always bothering him and has now taken my impending nuptials as an opportunity to take pot shots him. He has been prank calling his home and also leaving messages wishing him many grandchildren(read between the lines). This of course infuriates her dad. It's one thing to have some idiot bothering you all the time but to use ones children as ammunition is salt in the wound. Others just make little remarks in passing like "it's all over now" whatever the hell that means. I advised him first and foremost that these people aren't worth going to jail over. So don't do anything crazy. Also, to blow as much sunshine up there butts as he could stomach. Tell them that he was extremely happy with the situation. Take their power away. It does make any since to continue doing something that isn't working.

Although her father has been nothing but nice and accepting to me I know that our relationship hasn't been easy on him. After all he was raised by the same man that told Kim that she had better not ever bring home a black man or he would disown her. Our relationship goes against what he was taught as a boy. With that said you have to respect a man who can change his way of thinking and walk his daughter down the isle and give her to a black man. I doubt the people bothering him would show the same loyalty in the same situation. I hope this whole situation has made him look back and think about some of the things he may have said or done in his life as it relates to dealing with other cultures. I think we all could stand to do that.

Death of the N-word

Monday the NAACP conducted a mock funeral to bury the N-Word during its 98th Annual National Convention in Detroit, Michigan. Much like it did in 1944 symbolically burying the Jim Crow Laws(separate but equal). It is part of the NAACP's STOP Campaign. Which basically wants everyone particularly the media and entertainers from portraying African Americans especially women in a negative light. This of course in the wake of the Michael Richards and Don Imus controversies. (More on the mock funeral) Video

I guess I can applaud the efforts of the NAACP in what is essentially a racial public relations move. I just wonder how effective it will be. I admit I cringe at sound of the word no matter who's mouth it comes out of. I do not use the N-word, nigga, nigger or any other form of the word. It is a personal choice about my own behavior and I hope the behavior of my family. I remember the first time someone called me that to my face. I was 18 years old at a get together of co-workers from the local restaurant I was working at the time. I happen to be the only black person there but I really wasn't bothered by that. I was used to being in situations where I was the only black face in the room. One of the girls there was having a fight with her boyfriend and he turned violent against one of my friends from work. Then out the blue with no provocation he directs a comment my way calling me the now deceased racial epithet. I was stunned. I kind of just stood there looking at him in disbelief. I had heard of people being talk to in that way but it had never happened to me. I was quickly ushered into the nearest bedroom for fear of what I might do once the shock wore off. Which it did and like most young black men I wanted to beat the guy so bad that he would trembled at the thought of calling anybody that again.

Now, twenty years later it doesn't effect me the same way. That word holds no power over me. I have risen above worrying about some good ole boy trying to get a rise out of me by calling my that. I'm not saying that it wouldn't anger me but I refuse to let them see that it does. I think that's where all races have to get too. Whether the slur is the N-word, spic, rag head or wop. Take away the words power. I think you should have your own burial inside your own spirit. Not only that you will not use this language but also that you won't let it affect you.

How effective can something like this really be? Is this going stop red necks and rappers from using that word? I doubt it. Is it worth all the time and effort? I don't know only time will tell. What if it reached the souls of just a few people here and there and those people reached a few others and those reached a few more. And all of those people raised there children that way and so on and so on. Then yes I would say it was worth it. A long journey starts with a single step.