After the incidents involving Kanye West and Taylor Swift at the VMAs and Serena Williams at the US Open, I have noticed how some people have called Kanye “the n-word” and said he should be lynched and how some have called Serena “an angry black woman.” Also, I read one comment that said how Kanye makes the rest of us (i.e. Black people) look bad. While I do agree that what both Kanye and Serena did were rude and inexcusable, but at the end of the day, they are human like everyone else. Some of the responses that I have seen as a result of these two events have been just as or even more despicable as the outbursts. Why can’t people just see this as isolated events in which two human beings were acting foolish instead of bringing race into it and once again stereotyping the black race.
The constant uses of the “n-word” to say how stupid Kanye was at the VMAs was ridiculous. Several people claimed that there is a difference between black people and n***ers. What? This is why I believe in the importance of studying history. The “n-word” was created as a word to describe black people in general as being stupid. It was not used as a word to say one black person is stupid, it was a word used against all black people. Now, it feels as if it is a behavior-based usage of the word, meaning that if a black person acts wrongly, he or she is a n***er, but if he or she behaves, he or she is black again. Why do you need to disrespect someone because he disrespected someone else. What made these comments worse were how some people said he needed to be lynched and even be lynched by the KKK. Seriously?! Those comments irked me because it reminded me of Emmett Till, who was rude in whistling at a white woman, but did he deserve to be beaten and murdered for it? No! I know what Kanye did was wrong, but people are acting as if they never did wrong in their life. Also, why do you have to resort to such drastic, violent and racially insensitive words for something that should be forgivable. Maybe Kanye is racist, I do not know, and he is annoying with this being his third outburst, but people have no right to stoop to his level and call him a n***ger if he is. Moreover, stop acting as if he committed the worst crime in the world!
This also applies to Serena Williams angry outburst at a judge during the US Open. Serena was inappropriate in that moment but people need to understand that this was a big game for her and she was under a lot of stress; in addition to that, the judge was wrong in his call. Basically, she just got heated in a tense moment and that was it. Her behavior that day does not define her as a person and anyone of any race would have been angry if the judge made the wrong call. Besides Serena was given a fine and did apologize for what she said. Why is it when a black person behaves in a certain way, the behavior represents the person as a whole or the race he or she is as if other races do not act like that sometimes too? Why is it that our behavior is so heavily looked down upon as if we are not human too? When Joe Wilson interrupted the President of the United States and called him a liar, there was not as big of an uproar and it took a longer before they decided to punish him for it. Wilson may not have jumped up on the podium where Obama was speaking or used profanity, but what he did was rude just the same. Some have called it passion, however, the same could have been said for Kanye and Serena (considering that a lot of people were thinking what they were thinking). As for Serena, how many athletes have had tirades during games (e.g. John Mcenroe). She was just another who momentarily lost her self-control. That is it! Yet I did not hear racial slurs and stereotypes used against others as I have heard with Kanye and Serena.
In the end, I have forgiven both Kanye and Serena (and even Joe Wilson), and when both of these incidents happened, I did not, nor did people I know, go to the extreme of using their race as a reason why they were acting like that or using their behavior in those two moments to decide if they are a n***ger or an “angry black woman.” Also, I do not see their behavior as a reflection on me. I should not have to feel embarrassed because Kanye and Serena are the same race as me. I am an individual and I expect to be seen as such just as I see everyone else like that. For example, most serial killers are white people and all of the members of the KKK are white, but that does not mean that I see all white people as murderers or racists. It would be stupid to think so. Therefore, I expect the same treatment by other people. Yes, what Kanye and Serena did were wrong and Taylor Swift and the judge did not deserve disrespect, but if anyone of them were of any other race, it would still have been just as wrong. Look past race and just see them as human beings who do make stupid mistakes just like everyone else. So, stop with the racial slurs and move on to more important issues!