Über Talk:[Video] Sherri Shepherd Blasts Barbara Walters For Using The N-word

Barbara Walters dug herself into a hole as she tried to explain to her co-hosts on The View Monday that it should be acceptable for her to use the N-word if she is only reporting news. Co-host Sherri Shepherd adamantly told her that it was in no way okay for Barbara to use it in any case! Check out the video to form your own opinion!

"When I heard you say it, it was fine," she told co-host, Whoopi Goldberg, who used the word while reporting on Texas Gov. Rick Perry's "Niggerhead" controversy. Shepherd then turned to Walters, who also used the n-word in the conversation, and said, "I didn't like the way you said it." "I don't know if it's a semantics thing, but it's something that goes through my body," Shepherd said.

Walters asked, "It's because I'm white?" Shepherd responded, "It's something about hearing you say it. I don't like it when you use the word...when you say it it's a different connotation."

Take a look at the video and tell us what you think about the use of the N-word in any connotation. Do you get the same eery feeling as Sherri when Barbara uses the word?



via People

I ran across an interesting poem that relates to the topic at hand.

What’s In A Name?
by Victoria Rowels ©1983, 2011

What’s in a name? The young student asked.
And why is the future connected to the past?
And why does that word that starts with a “N”,
Incite violence in the most peaceful of men?

The teacher looked perplexed and didn’t know where to begin,
To explain that word that starts with a “N”.
The dictionary seemed like a good place to start,
But it didn’t even touch upon the most important part.

How can a volume designed to define,
Words and phrases formed in the mind,
Give meaning to and take apart,
A concept of hate formed in the heart:
Of men who deny the humanity,
Of darker hued people who look like me.
Of men who believe that their lack of melanin,
Makes them pure and incapable of sin.
Of men who prayed and held Bibles in their hand,
While they raped and pillaged humanity’s motherland.
Of men who built empires, fortunes and fame,
By promoting a concept we mistakenly call: “a name”.

What’s in a name? The teacher asked.
And why is the future connected to the past?
And why does that word that starts with a “ N”.
Incite violence in the most peaceful of men?
The student tried to answer but he was a little confused.
So he stopped in mid-sentence and asked to be excused.
The teacher asked the student why he suddenly had to go.
At first the student looked down and said: “I don’t know”.
Then the student decided to reveal his newly made plans,
To go and study the history of all hue-mans.

What’s in a name?