Media’s condemnation of Deen unnecessary
Today, Paula Deen is our cause celebre. In a legal deposition, the now-scurrilous Deen revealed her past use of the “N” word. This paper recently noted a Tennessee politico who, in 2008, distributed a CD: “Barack the Magic Negro.” Using “negro” in this context is as offensive as using the “N” word.
As a child raised in segregated Georgia in the ’40s and ’50s, and as an adult working in Washington, D.C. (more than 90 percent African-Americans) in the 1980s, I witnessed and learned much about racial issues. Once four black D.C. colleagues said they could use the “N” word among themselves, but I couldn’t. In “Reset,” black comedian D.L. Hughley confesses using the “N” word but won’t stop until “those who are” change their behavior. He criticizes Dr. Laura (white) who was fired in 2010 after liberally using the “N” word on a radio show.
What offends more than Deen’s racial slur years ago is how fast the media condemned Paula, who told the truth and got run out of the kitchen on a rail. What a lesson: Do the “right” thing and become an outcast? Power to media for jumping on a salacious tale for “reality” ratings!
CARREN LOUISE BERSCH
Confederate, original constitutions similar
I recently read several stories about how citizens who resided within the 11 Confederate States of America during the Civil War did not look favorably upon the Fourth of July celebrations in the other 23 states of America. I am sure those observations are correct, but I wonder what the Southern politicians were thinking back in 1861 when they adopted virtually the same Constitution word-for-word that created the United States of America in 1787.