By Kelvin Wade
Radio talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger stepped in it last week when she used the N-word nearly a dozen times on-air during a call about race from an African-American caller. While most of the attention has been on her repeated use of the N-word, there were plenty of other issues she brought up worth challenging.
Dr. Laura feigns confusion as to why some blacks feel they can use the word while whites cannot. In a perfect world, no one would ever use vile
language of any kind. However, comedians of different ethnic backgrounds often make un-PC jokes about their race. Sacha Baron Cohen makes anti-Semitic jokes that would provoke outrage in today’s climate if he were not Jewish. There are gay people who use derogatory slang terms to reference themselves but would still be offended if a homophobe spewed them at them.
In her call, Dr. Laura said, “…a lot of blacks voted for Obama simply 'cause he was half-black. Didn't matter what he was gonna do in office…” Of course those who make this point don’t acknowledge the inverse, that a lot of whites voted against Obama ‘simply ‘cause he was half-black.’ Also, keep in mind that while Obama won 96% of the black vote, Al Gore won 90% of the black vote in 2000. Kerry won close to that in 2004. It’s important to keep in perspective that the Democratic candidate was going to get 90% of the black vote anyway.
Dr. Laura also said, “We've got a black man as president, and we have more complaining about racism than ever. I mean, I think that's hilarious.” Well, I hate to be the one to break up the hilarity but racism didn’t end November 4, 2008. Her statement reveals the highest form of tokenism. “Racism is over because look who’s in the White House!”
When Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947, it didn’t end racism in major league baseball. His own teammates ignored him, sportswriters ragged on him and many fans hated him. When schools were integrated in the south by pioneers like the Little Rock Nine in 1957, little Ruby Bridges in New Orleans in 1960 and James Meredith at the University of Mississippi in 1962, racism in public education didn’t vanish. There was a nasty backlash.
While Barack Obama’s election is, so far, the ultimate symbol of the racial maturation of this nation, to think that it would end discrimination when all other progress has seen it flare, is grossly naïve.
Dr. Laura told the caller not to take her out of context. She told the caller not to “NAACP me.” Really? Wasn’t it Andrew Breitbart who took the snippet of Shirley Sherrod out of context? Why didn’t Dr. Laura say, “Don’t Andrew Breitbart me.” What does that say about her?
Schlessinger accused the caller of having a chip on her shoulder. Readers should go online and listen to the audio recording in context, in its entirety and see just who has the chip.
Dr. Laura, with her 8 million listeners and $15 million dollar annual income is ending her radio show at the end of the year because she says her First Amendment rights have been usurped. She says she wants to be free to say what she thinks in books and on her website.
She could’ve continued a national dialogue on race but it’s obvious, she’s only interested in a monologue.
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