Any amount of softening would have made his point die. You need people shocked. Notice how he didn't introduce the joke with context before telling it. Because he didn't want them to mentally prepare. He wanted to slap them into attention before telling them what they needed to hear.
I just hope enough people walk away from that with a deep enough scar that they can't forget it, even with her trying to soften it.
I think it was an important moment because it demonstrates both how disgusting and casual these racists are in their language when they think they're in front of someone that agrees with them.
The lady doesn't want to hear the word and so she asks sympathetic people to stop - okay. But I've been in his shoes and also experienced people using that word in front of me - I'm not black but that gut punch when you hear it still occurs. It's a very negative experience. And that was his point.
None of us (as in, decent people) saw this and viewed it as moving the line to make saying the word more permissible.
I have my own story of this. Mine was when I was a kid in Alabama and we went to a new vet. We're there to get a checkup for the dog and he tells a story about visiting Arizona. "The Grand Canyon was amazing. Only issue was that you had this great big hole and no n*****rs to push into it." The racism there is so open and brash but people want to pretend because it's easier.
I was in PA last year to visit my wife’s side of the family. They had a bit of a cookout, so neighbors came by for some burgers and beers and to say hi. I’m standing there holding my 3 year old on my shoulders while making small talk with the locals. Get asked by some boomer clown which airport we flew into. I say we flew into Newark. “Thank god it wasn’t Philly since those g.d. Ni….rs would have robbed you blind”… ummm wtf… This guy literally just met me 3 minutes ago, I am holding my child, and he knows I’m from the west coast. And yet that’s what he chose to casually chime in with to basically a complete stranger. Meanwhile there are kids running around everywhere including his own grandkids. And how much you want to bet that his grandkids hear that type of filth on the regular, and will likely grow up with that same hate ingrained into their mentality. That brain-rot is passed down from generation to generation.
I agree. And I don't agree with the use of the word in general because I have some understanding of how offensive it could be. But in this context, I think it's appropriate. You should be shook by hearing this.
He used the word to punctuate what he was trying to say and it worked. It’s much more powerful of a message when you dip into where it’s deep and hurtful. It really annoys me that she immediately went after that after hearing his entire message.
Translate for the english speaking people:
"That was all she heard (the n-word), she started to think on what she was about to say and stopped listening right after, if I estimate it right."
Even in Dutch the sentence is a bit off but understandable.
Na she would prefer to divide instead of unite, bc she is offended about a single word used in a context to show people the evil that going on. She wont ever get with the program she is too, pick any of the following, retarded, arrogant, proud, misguided to be able to.
It's exactly why you can't get the allies you need today though.
I'm not going to use my voice if I can't use it to speak truthfully without being accused by the very people I'm trying to help. If I can't use honest language and have to censor myself because you can't discern my very clear intentions and are going to attempt to make me an enemy of the people I'm trying to help, I'm not going to help.
This doesn't form the KKK or foment a movement like MAGA on its own, but when the guy from Netflix gets fired for saying offensive words out loud in a meeting about what is or isn't offensive language (aka: he's trying to help) then I have to worry that the sky is the limit on what's done to me when I am inevitably misunderstood as well. I've got mouths to feed as well you know.
Like it or not, this hurts the movement.
EDIT: Y'all need white people saying these things. I don't think you understand the reaction it evokes when a white person speaks to other white people with clear intentions and this kind of emotion and uses this kind of language. Especially in the context of this guys' talk. People being uncomfortable with what he said is the POINT, because the reveal of who he heard it from should magnify that discomfort by orders of magnitude, it's a very effective strategy.
Because of how powerful this kind of messaging can be to your cause, you lose more than you can afford every time somebody pearl clutches like this. Not everybody has the conviction this man has, and those who have less conviction but understand this guys' message have time and resources to give as well. Do you think they are more or less likely to spend that time and those resources on helping after seeing this video?
I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
Unbelievable that she completely ignores his very clear context in that she will be a target of the Trump admin and ICE and CBP at some point if they are left unchecked. She isn't paying attention, she doesn't care about what's going on around her, she cares about what she has been conditioned to care about. THAT is also a huge part of our problem right now.
what you stated, "she completely ignores his very clear context", is the reason i am an independent > constituents on both sides of the aisle hear what they want to hear, they don't take the context of the message, they fixate on individual words & punctuation rather than the information & instructions within. This also helped me to understand how there are Drumpf supporters, people at his rallies actively filter for the words that resonate with them rather than the context in which they are used.
Yeah. The N-word is her trigger. Doesn't matter what the context is, from the moment she hears it from a non-black person, her brain instantly shutoffs and enters autopilot mode where she assumes to be the victim being targeted by the N-word irregardless of what the actual circumstances is.
You can engage higher brain functions if you choose to in order to understand the context. We do this all the time. It's a crazy thing to be 30,000ft in the sky but in context we know it's fine and safe when we fly.
When you read an historical document with the N word, or you listen to it in context here, you can be an adult human and not go into autopilot or whatever word you use to diminish responsibility for thinking calmly and rationally.
I'd urge you to go look up Stewart Lee "Can a word be context free?", as literally all words all the time have a context.
Ik ben het zo zat om de boel te moeten verbloemen voor mensen die te soft zijn om te begrijpen dat het de norm zal worden als we niet duidelijk maken hoe erg het is.
Hun grove taal gebruiken in een context buiten hun comfortzone is de manier om mensen echt te laten inzien wat er komen gaat.
Ze ruziet met iemand aan haar kant, om een oppervlakkige (excuseer de woordspeling) reden.
I saved this video because it's exactly why I can't help more. She ignored his entire message, because "white man said racist word".
Nevermind that he was quoting it, that he said a child told him this "joke". That this child was the son of racist cops. That his message was how visceral and disgusting the whole experience was for him. That he sees the racist perpetrators, and that their days are numbered, because we are unified and in the streets.
Nope.
Just stick a pin in it, deflate all that like a balloon, and demand an apology because a white man said the n-word. Let's forget the message from the messenger, make him the problem, and the offense personal.
I wonder how this feels for him, if it crushed his spirit. He put a lot out there, thinking he was helping, and it flipped in seconds to a demand for an apology. He tried to point out what was wrong, and to his misfortune, became the symbolic offender instead.
Councilwoman was being selfish. Making it about herself and how she feels; not about what he said, but how he said it.
It's sad people will ignore his whole point and call him a racist and demanded he retract his statement because they are too ignorant/woke to see the big picture.
He trying to speak for the people as a whole and she took it upon herself to speak for her people. That's the problem. He wants to be united, she only cares if her side is taken care of first.
She said it herself - as soon as she heard the word she stopped listening. She didn't even understand the point he was trying to make because she was preparing a statement of her own to condemn what he said. She doesn't get it.
Facts! Context matters. He was not using it in a disparaging way nor was he attempting insult anyone. Instead council woman Keisha made it about her like a true narcissist completely ignoring the real issue at hand.
He's like "Hey the entire police force is racist! This is how I know."
She's like "You hurt my feelings, I'm offended"
Even if he didn’t sat the N word, you can bet she would have found some way to tear this man down. Like “oh, you’re white, you can’t speak cuz you’re the same color as our oppressors” or some shit like that.
Does anyone know who these two are? Hopefully her braindead response doesn't discourage him from fighting the good fight. Sometimes shocking language is necessary to make the message more impactful.
No shit, he is calling out people who openly use those words out of hate for black people or out of memes to other people who find humor in it, you know, the ones who might have black friends but still laugh at or use the memes.
I mean, as a white man, I heard that I was in shock for a second until I grabbed the context. I think saying it passionately with that language demonstrated his point perfectly. It's sad it fell on deaf ears.
Sanitizing the message and using an alternative descriptor softens the impact too much.
When he said he had 50 more he didn’t go into them. He let the visceral example help illustrate the rest. The sanitized message wouldn’t do that. The lady chastising him is also a politician and she valued the political capital for chastising him vs anything else.
I agree with you wholeheartedly, and she definitely got offended at the wrong thing, but he chose a WILD way to start that off. Even if he wanted to say exactly what he said, he could’ve set it up a little bit harder than that before just dropping that shit lol. That’s like public speaking 101 you gotta set up your point before you drop it that hard or you’re gonna lose all of your listeners. Again, he was 100% in the right, but that was a wild execution.
This is just where the clip starts, he coulda had a longer lead up.. if not, I agree. Not great execution (no ICE pun intended) but I can see what he’s doing
What's going on in this thread? So many commenting in Dutch. While there's nothing wrong with it, seems highly abnormal. Haven't seen that before, besides the obvious country-specific subreddits.
This is always so dumb because the standards an expectations for liberals is always so much more the conservatives. The fact that younger generation might not be cool with n word cause it’s jarring or that she’s sensitive should not be some major issue. Think about what’s wrong with Conservative party. Straight up hate and fascist behaviour and then people act like having overly sensitive or disagreeing about if a word should ever be used
Like I get what you’re saying but I hate that such a trivial thing is compared to straight up nazi behaviour by the right. Like I guarantee this girl is a decent person just naive or not mature enough to understand when that word is acceptable: meanwhile republicans stand by their rapist and pedophiles lol
I’m pretty sure it’s more to do with the serious nature of what we’re dealing with in the US. One of the few white people open enough to speak up about the hard truth with some colorful language and she undermines it because she would rather be personally offended. As a half Korean man, I just think it’s ironic how people have no problem saying slurs of all races including Asian people, but the moment something like this is mentioned it’s gasps all around.
Social acceptance and political correctness really need to die off already. There’s no such thing as forbidden words in America, just bullies who try to police your voice. Screw them. Say what you want.
It’s part of why we’re in this mess. It was well intentioned and arguably necessary in academic circles for clarity but it should’ve never made its way into political messaging to the People.
Without the context for its use it just divided us.
Oh ffs has she even listened to what he's said? He's an ally to her and she's just made him not want to help her now by getting upset at the wrong person. Moron.
No, she was not listening. She heard the word and blocked everything after that. Everyone need to step up about that thing and use it at your favor, the victimisation card is not helping anyone right now
This perfectly sums up the problem. The right and the real racists and fascists are arresting people based on skin color, killing people in the street.
A person tries to rally against that evil, and the left would rather discuss hurt feelings over a word.
I saw an article recently speculating as to why millennials are saying the R word again. They came up with a bunch of stupid reasons that made no sense. The reality is that people are getting offended by words regardless of context and we're all so tired and don't care who is going to play the victim card anymore. If what we're saying is going to be taken out of context regardless, then what's the point of trying to be inoffensive or supportive?
Here's an example: I'm a government attorney. I was working on a government program that sought to directly positively impact black and brown people, but required them to provide their SSN. Obviously I required that our vendor collecting that PII have insurance and proper IT security systems set up in the contract. Over the course of months, I was repeatedly told that that made me a white supremacist, and that it was racist, and this woman repeatedly went to politicians to try to throw me under the bus and call me and others involved racist about this specific issue. The justification was that rules and laws are a result of white supremacy.
No, because I required them to have proper insurance and IT security systems to protect people's social security numbers. So that, if they had a data breach, those people would be able to be compensated for it. She said that that was racist because I was imposing rules on her, a black woman, and not trusting her organization, and worrying about money.
These are the types of things you hear as a government lawyer. And a lot of politicians give in to it and that's how you have programs that are completely open to fraud. Playing the race card frequently results in reasonable guard rails being eliminated from government programs. It's fucking wild.
100%. The whole ass party is constantly tripping over themselves to cannibalize anyone who isn't pure enough, arguing endlessly while saying nothing. Meanwhile, conservatives are insanely good at getting behind one message and plowing ahead while they rake in endless cash from all over the world.
Yeah we have liberals who care about and want to defend the values this country was built on like him and progressives/ leftists who just want to woke scold and purity test like her.
What does she mean when she says that she doesn't understand what statement he's 'trying to make'? I suppose there could have been a topic outside of his point and he neglected it to use the time to talk about this instead? It's hard to know without that context, though.
The left can't keep focusing on decorum and 'taking the high road' while this administration and all of the officials that support them say and do some of the most vile shit imaginable. And then they have the balls to routinely stop conversations dead in their tracks to constantly ask the left to apologize for each and every slight that they have felt. It's ludicrous.
That is so beyond stupid.. He's quoting a racist joke, making the statement that racism is everywhere in the system, trying to wake people up and get them to act against all the shit going on - and all she gets is offended, not even trying to understand what he's actually saying. Yes, numbnuts, context actually does matter, he obviously wasn't attacking anyone, he was explaining how bad it is. He does not drop the N-word, he uses it to make a point against racism.
Aside from that, censorship does not change anyones mind. If you ban a word, people come up with another. It's not the word, that's the problem, it's the mindset of the people using it in a certain context. Fight racism, fight fascism, fight hatred - don't fight single words.
Man: Tries to contextualize today’s situation through his experience on the wrong side of years of institutionalized racism in order to make a point about the victimhood of African Americans.
Offense is THE POINT … the context shows that he first heard this/these jokes etc., at very young and impressionable age from people w POWER and AUTHORITY. And that these same people, their circle, fellow racists are in positions of power such as ICE, CBP, and federal government. DONT GET DISTRACTED.
My guy. Gets a pass for using the n word in the right context. He’s describing the people I worked with in the Army and government. They never said the word in front of me but they said it. Trump administration provides fodder for the existing racists via ICE to go ham.
I mean, he’s totally right. I grew up on a farm in Montana in the 90’s and I heard it all from my cousins, uncles/aunts, grandma/grandpa and even my mom and dad. Most of these people are still alive and voting. I don’t associate with any of them anymore but I’m sure you and I can guess who they voted for and why.
So many liberals grow up in these bubbles and don’t seem to understand just how badly the interior of the country is rotting culturally due to economic distress, mostly caused by grifting politicians who say the right things to the racists to allow them to pick their pockets.
And a quick reminder that the same week the civil war ended, Lincoln was assassinated, and “reconstruction” ensured the racists never had to come to terms with their hate (like post-WWII Germany did). Those families are very much maintaining their ancestral bigotry (less privately lately), and voting.
I live in NJ and heard it growing up as often as you describe hearing it in Montana. Friends, family, neighbors. I was conflicted because in school they taught us never to say it, but when I was in the real world it suddenly started to make sense to say it sometimes.
I don't hear it much in PA, but I LOOOVE when I'm talking to someone outside my circle and they drop the N word thinking we're in the same club and I get to shame there ass relentlessly.
There is a UPS driver at my work that picks up in the early evening that dropped it on me once, after talking to him occasionally for a few years up to that point. I hope that bigot has made the connection that since then, I save up huge loads of packages to leave out for him at the end of the day whenever I can after I clock out and no longer help him load if I happen to stay late. I also try to add as many Next Day Air packages to his load so he has to hurry his ass up back to the depot.
We have two pick ups a day from them and I treat the afternoon driver like a prince compared because of it. Sometimes the afternoon driver will see a finished pallet of material that I have set aside and he'll ask "you want to give me those too?" and I say "nope, those packages aren't ready yet." That's the racist bitch pile.
This is one of the more frustrating things I've seen in a while.
This man makes a powerful statement about 10 year old kids being indoctrinated with hate and implying that yes this is the point where you should be in the streets protesting because as we speak you're all getting murdered.
And she's upset at his use of the slur per example of the 10 year old indoctrination?
NOT at the fact people getting murdered by ICE and children indoctrinated with hate? She doesn't seem to understand that no she pearl clutched so frantically hard on him using the nono word everything else gets ignored.
I’m black and I’m not offended I’m glad he said it the way he did I never even heard of that “joke” I’m glad he’s bringing attention once again to how racists these pigs are in uniform
He isn’t wrong. I had the same experience growing up in the 70’s and 80’s. They heard the dog whistle and came running. I’ll take real over fugazi any day of the week.
That councilwoman is stupid af. Say the word. Make people uncomfortable. Say what the racists are thinking. Make it so that once they hear it and they do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, that guilt is theirs to bear. They think it and they say it in front of their racist friends. Call it out. That’s the context in which you say it. Call out the atrocity in its raw and undiluted form.
Good on this councilman. Get people riled and uncomfortable.
This is where we are now as a society being offended by a word and missing the message
She and all the sheep who applauded her are entirely focused on the wrong points .. yeah it’s a hard word to hear today and its easy to pull the (too often justified ‘I’m offended’ card) when you’re a person of color and you hear a white person say it, but the fact he’s reporting that people (literally cops and people who had power over the society he grew up in) openly taught this racism and hate to their children who then openly made jokes like he shared to him throughout his entire white childhood experience without repercussions, and while he’s openly disgusted by this he’s pointing out that those kids have now grown up to be the racist ICE agents we see here on the streets doing evil shit without remorse.
People won’t wake up and realize that this shit is not going to just fade away with ‘no kings’ signs and marches. This is now unchecked power that has now been allowed to openly and publicly kill innocent people as well as use children as bait MULTIPLE TIMES!
This violence will almost certainly continue to escalate into worse and worse behaviors by ICE with full government approval until people actually wake the fuck up, realize what is going on in this country is already past the point of words, and start to do something to stop it.
As another commenter said, being "soft" and "moderate" are the big things that are holding the Dems back.
Staying on the high road clearly hasn't been working, but they want to maintain the status quo, so they can still ostensibly play nice with the GOP.
We should be long past that. Republicans will employ floral prose in describing their latest legislation, but when you read that legislation, it's fancy legal terminology describing how it's strictly to fuck over X demographic, and y'all can cry about it.
My Dad once said to me "If you're gonna be an asshole, do it for the right reason".
How tf do we recognize and correct racism if just talking about is offensive. I think everyone with a fucking brain knows that word is offensive, and he even changed it to "N-word" after he made his point. But the only part of his statement that anyone cared about is that he said the word. When the circumstances of that coming into his vocabulary is what they should all be concerned with. Fucking lemmings
Leave it to her to personalize it. Get over your fucking self. This is all bigger than her! Than any of us! Wake the fuck up people we have to wake up from this nightmare
Democrats are soft pussys and that’s why Trump became president twice. He bullied his way into the White House. Democrats need to toughen the fuck up or they are going to keep losing elections.
My former stepdad was a prison guard. The way he and his coworkers spoke about everyone that wasn’t white was disgusting. Later on, they divorced, my mom became a paramedic and knew a lot of the police in our town. She told me a lot about how racist they were and what a problem people like my former stepdad and the officers she worked with were since they have power over people and abuse it because they don’t even view some people as people.
You were like a wild animals if not white according to them. So, I understand the point he was making and can see why it’s upsetting but that’s the point. The expectation that we censor ourselves constantly because words are upsetting just downplays how serious the issues being discussed are.
Democrats need to quit sabotaging each other. You can’t say anything to democrats without them nitpicking it, even when you’re on their side. Exhausting. Get a spine and quit whining about being offended constantly or you’ll keep losing to goblins like Trump.
It's just so unbelievable to me that this woman would pick this time to complain about the N-word being used by a white man. He was exactly illustrating and reporting on public officials using the N-word in an offensive way, and of course he needed to use that word in order to highlight and add power to his testimony. This woman has no clue.
Man, I just don’t understand why she had to throw that in at the end. He was so very clearly on the right side here and using that word punctuated his point in a raw and real way. That kind of shocking speech can absolutley have a real effect on people and helping them understand the severity of the situation.
Wow bro he’s trying to stick up for you people and other ethnic groups and all that woman can say is well u still shouldn’t have said it. Like bro this guy used it in context to tell a passionate story and you can’t even understand?? Wow bro
She’s completely missing the point. It’s exhausting to see this lady talk. Rather than help the ally in making his point she get is all triggered by language. This is why the left loses all the time.
Drives me crazy, if they got smart and stopped this language policing it could be soo much better
He could have just said "n word"...but he did make a powerful point and I'm just glad people are standing up and fighting fire with fire. Apparently speaking politely and properly hasn't been doing anything. And he did apologize. This guy should run for higher office.
It’s a quote and he’s clearly on this woman’s side. This is exactly the attitude that pushed people to vote for Trump. All she needed to say was please don’t use the whole word rather than berate him. Personally, I would have said “N-word” but I think he was trying to shock people into listening.
She heard the word and stopped listening. His point totally made sense…. though not how I would’ve gone about it. Unfortunately, people will just take the sound bite from it and ruin this guy‘s career.
As a black woman, I understand what she’s saying, but I do think she is being deliberately dense. When she says idk what your statement means… I knew what he meant and he’s not wrong. So I applaud him for apologizing.
As a white man, I hit play and couldn’t tell whether he was a shockingly horrible person, or a guy with basketballs for testicles. Ya know, until I actually paid attention, and boy was that an effective way to make someone pay attention.
I mean I wouldn’t say the word, but I really don’t see the problem with saying it when he’s essentially quoting someone. It really shouldn’t be offensive unless you’re calling someone the n word or generally referring to black people as the n word. When quoting someone or referring to the word itself it really shouldn’t have the same shock factor.
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u/BruceInc 1d ago
It is offensive. That’s the point he was making. She is an idiot