Dear White People,
Although this is in regards to a sports figure, you do not have to be a football fan to take what I am about to say to heart. As reported by, well you know, everyone; Former University of Florida star Wide Receiver and current Philadelphia Eagle WR Riley Cooper (white) was at a Kenny Chesney concert (extremely white thing to do) on his home field, the Linc, when he took it upon himself to say and do the following:
He has since apologized greatly, 140 characters at a time via twitter:
“I am so ashamed and disgusted with myself. I want to apologize. I have been offensive. I have apologized to my coach, to [Eagles owner] Jeffrey Lurie, to [General Manager] Howie Roseman and to my teammates. I owe an apology to the fans and to this community. I am so ashamed, but there are no excuses. What I did was wrong and I will accept the consequences.”
However, not to get on a soapbox here, but anytime someone apologizes for something that was no accident, it just comes off as you’re only sorry you got caught. Seriously think about it…..would you really have apologized to Claire in the office for saying her breath smells like coffee and she talks really close to your face every Monday morning if she hadn’t accidentally overheard you talking to the maintenance guy about it? Probably not…..but if you accidentally spilled coffee on said coffee breath Claire, then sure apologize away! Anyways, enough about that.
I have decided to break this down to white people everywhere:
Don’t use the “N” word. There. There it is. It’s that easy. Don’t ask why you can’t use it. Don’t get angry over the “only in white people’s head’s theory” that since black people use it, we should be able to use it. Don’t say it when you’re just with your white friends. Don’t do anything with it, just don’t. Life will go on just the same without that word in your vocabulary. You don’t need to worry about being Butterly-Effected for not saying the word. Don’t say it’s okay to say it if you don’t put an ‘er on the end of it; it’s REALLY not. Just stop……and this means in all cases. Have you ever seen a dictionary? There’s a ton of words in there…….not using one won’t hurt you (also not an invitation to try to find a word that you feel could have the equivalent meaning, whatever that may be, and try to turn it into something new by-the-way).
Eagles WR Riley Cooper
Why use a word that you know will get a huge reaction or cricket sounds; or in this case a backlash that’s probably going to end up with a possible head to head hit from an opposing safety on an un-catchable ball? Cooper may just have single-handedly turned the 2013 NFL season into the MLB’s retaliation pitches. NFL safeties will basically be Boondock Sainting their way through WRs post patterns.
Again, just don’t worry about the word. Don’t think twice about saying it. Don’t get up in arms because it’s a word you can’t understand or can’t use. For the life of me I never understood why people are so perplexed and upset that one little thing is out of their control. Think of this way, no one talks about the white guy that doesn’t use the word. All it does is spark negativity and hatred. In Riley Cooper’s case (BTW, I’d rather hang with this Mr. Cooper) he decided to say his quote with a lot of built up testosterone and meat headedness which makes it worse. If it would have ended up in a fight, this video would have easily been able to make it a hate crime. It’s a fact and it’s the world we live in today; a social media driven, where nothing is private, me-me-me society with everyone out for themselves. Speaking of that, please follow me on twitter – @Anthony_Fanelli
Regards,
Anthony
Stop & Smell the Grindstone 