written by Nkrumah StewardPUBLISHED ON: NOVEMBER, 21, 2006
Michael Richards is Done
“I'm not a racist. That's what's so insane about this,” Richards said, his tone becoming angry and frustrated as he defended himself.
What kills me are the people who say that they need to hear the context before they can pass judgment on what Michael Richards said on Sunday night at the Laugh Factory. watch it for yourself.
I have yet to find one person online offer a context in which a white person could say to a black person, “Shut up! Fifty years ago we'd have you upside down with a fucking fork up your ass.” And then following that up with, "You can talk, you can talk, you're brave now motherfucker. Throw his ass out. He's a nigger! He's a nigger! He's a nigger! A nigger, look, there's a nigger!" and it be appropriate.
My question is, in what context would this be appropriate?
There are two questions here. The first is, "is Michael Richards a racist."
The second question is," is what Michael Richards said racist".
I always hesitate to call someone a racist, bigot over a particular statement unless that statement is expression an ideology.
In my opinion what he said was racist without question.
The million dollar question is does that make Michael Richards a racist?
Probably. If I were a betting man I would say that anyone that could pull "upside down from a tree with a fork coming out of your ass" that quickly is probably a racist.
But I don't know. To know that you would have to talk to the people that know him.
Does he have any black friends? What do they say about him?
This is when having a token black to vouch for you comes in handy.
Using my litmus test, most of the world’s biggest racists never use words like nigger.
They don’t have to.
What Richards did was go for the juggler and unfortunately racist slurs was his weapon of choice.
The fact that Richards was angry doesn’t excuse what he said either.
It might explain it, but it doesn’t excuse it.
What I find truly disappointing are the people out on the net defending these statements, suggesting that they haven’t heard enough to form an opinion or even as Dave McGurgan from phillyBurbs.com suggested, that what Richards said could be possibly justified if he was responding to something that the heckler had said to him.
What is sad is that people think that this kind of race based intentionally injurious attack can be justified given the right circumstance or context.
Why is it so hard for people to say that even if the heckler had used the same language towards Richards then they both would’ve been inappropriate an unjustified?
Sure, we might use slurs from time to time, particularly when we are angry but they are never justified.
And an overly politically correct society is not to blame.
This isn't the kind of stuff that we all need to be more tolerant of. This isn't the kind of stuff that we need to learn to roll off our backs. This was said with the intention to hurt.
It worked.
He's done.
White people will forgive OJ Simpson before black people forgive Michael Richards.
There is an update to this article published in the addendum
Michael Richards apologizes: 'I'm not a racist', Associated Press, NOVEMBER, 21, 2006
same difference
MSNBC
Apologizes For Nigger Innis Misspelling "Oh,
God, I thought you guys thought I was a rapper or something,"
Uncle Tom Innis told Jarrett with a perfect impersonation of
Willie Best, the buck-eyed, forever-terrified 'Coon' made famous
in so many Bob Hope comedies.
There is an update to this article published in the 
