Stewart explains Perry’s ‘N*ggerhead’ and other racist landmarks

[Playinghardball]

Source: Raw Story

In the light of revelations that Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry leased a hunting ranch that had been called “Niggerhead,” Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart and Wyatt Cenac took a tour of other places with racist names.

“Wyatt, I know you grew up in Texas,” Stewart told Cenac. “It’s got to hurt your heart to be reminded of the casual racial insensitivity that has long marred that state.”

“Actually, John, I’m not in Texas,” Cenac explained. “I’m in your state. I’m standing in front of Nigger Lake, New York… It’s real. It’s up here in Hamilton County. The state even listed in on its website until recently. And you can see why. It’s a beautiful lake — unless you’re a nigger.”


“The point is everybody’s rushing to condemn Texas. And, sure, there’s a lot of racist shit that goes on in Texas, but guess what? There’s Niggerhead Rapids, Idaho; Niggerhead Point, Florida; Niggerhead Pond, Vermont; Niggerhead Creek, North Carolina — good fishing; Niggerhead Mining District, Washington. Did you know there are over a 100 places that have been called Niggerhead in this country?”

Read more and watch the video from Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, broadcast Oct. 3, 2011

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/10/04/stewart-explains-perrys-nggerhead-and-other-racist-landmarks/

[dmallind]

1. Too true. You find dated terminology everywhere.

I happened to come across the word twice yesterday - in a G.K. Chesterton short story and a Debussy piano piece. While the black character in the former was the villain, there was only the casual, thoughtless racism of a bygone era in either usage. Racism is such a loaded term that it's often easy to forget that it differs in both quality and degree. Now of course we should try to avoid and minimize even historically "innocent" racism, although I personally am uncomfortable changing literary works where the epithet is both of thematic or technical significance and not intended as a maliciously racist term in the modern sense, but that's not Perry's problem. I think I'm right in saying he did not name the ranch, nor have the chance to rename it. It's not that he went to a site with a racially insensitive name, it's that he did not see why it WAS one. It would have been easy, and disarming to all but the most sensitive, to say "Yes that's an unfortunate place name because it was named in an era when casual racism and insensitivity were the norm. We've talked about it, and I support changing the name - but that's in the hands of the appropriate local officials. I just call this place "the ranch" myself, and so do most folks seeking to be more inclusive in a more advanced era."