Nobody
(other than some alert Tweeters I just found) seems to have paid much attention to a particular word President Obama spoke during
his recent interview by comedian Marc Maron for the latter’s WTF podcast, a
podcast that was the subject, shortly afterwards, of this Fresh Air interview of
Maron by Terri Gross:
That word—actually,
a name--- that Obama spoke, in passing, that nobody seemed to notice, was the first
word out of his mouth after Maron asked him a spontaneous question at 1:02:53, right
before the end of the podcast:
Maron:
You like comedy?
Obama: I love comedy.
Maron:
Who are your guys?
Obama:
Pryor was one.
The
President was referring, of course, to the late Richard Pryor, and he then went on to name Dick Gregory and Jerry
Seinfeld as other favorites, before the subject quickly changed and the
interview ended.
Now
here’s the funny (as in funny-strange) thing about that collective not-noticing.
There was another word that the
President spoke during an earlier portion of that interview (beginning at 45:32)
that was noticed by everyone who heard it. Indeed, that word became the subject of a
media furor that brought it to the attention of countless millions of people in
the US and around the world:
Obama:
I always tell young people in particular: 'Do not say that nothing's changed
when it comes to race in America ----- unless you've lived through being a
black man in the 1950s, or '60s, or '70s.’ It is incontrovertible that race
relations have improved significantly during my lifetime and yours, and that
opportunities have opened up, and that attitudes have changed. That is a fact. What
is also true is that the legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, discrimination in almost
every institution of our lives — you know, that casts a long shadow. And that's
still part of our DNA that's passed on. We're not cured of it.
Maron:
Racism.
Obama:
Racism. We are not cured of it.
Maron:
Clearly.
Obama:
And it's not just a matter of it not being polite to say 'nigger' in public.
That's not the measure of whether racism still exists or not. It's not just a
matter of overt discrimination. Societies don't overnight completely erase
everything that happened 200-300 years prior.
So
what I tried to describe in the Selma speech that I gave, commemorating the
march there, was, again, a notion that progress is real, and we have to take
hope from that progress. But what is also real is that the march isn't over,
and the work is not yet completed. And then our job is to try in very concrete
ways to figure out, what more can we do?"
I am
sure that I don’t need to tell you that the word everyone noticed in that
segment of the interview is the N Word. And the furor, as anyone reading this
probably also already knows, was about whether the President ought to have spoken
it publicly.
Now,
it will come as no surprise to anyone who regularly reads this blog that I found
that furor to be only the latest in a series of increasingly desperate attempts
by the Far Right to characterize the President (as Marc Maron aptly put it) as Satan
incarnate. I am of the camp who applaud the President for so shrewdly and thoughtfully
using the N Word publicly as he did in that instance, in order to make an
important point very tellingly---using his bully pulpit to do what he can to
keep race relations improving during the remainder of his Presidency. And it is the amazing grace and tact that he
has always shown in all his public utterances which makes his using that loaded
word so particularly powerful.
His
unspoken, yet powerfully delivered point, as I understand it, is that white
racists no longer being able to use that ugly word in a hateful way, with
impunity, is a good thing, of course. However, let’s be real, he’s saying, this
is only one step in the long, painful, uncertain path toward true racial
conciliation and justice in America.
And
consider this. Barack Obama has endured being called N-- countless times:
verbally, in print, and on the Internet. In fact, due to his historically
unique position, he probably merits an entry in the Guinness Book of
Records---he has been called that name more than any black person before has
ever been called that name. The name-callers constitute a legion of benighted cowardly
bigots who still cannot accept the fact, 6
½ years into his Presidency, he sits in the White House as the first
black President—and as of this very moment, his popularity ratings are higher
than they’ve been since shortly after his reelection—and little wonder. And so, what a grotesque irony it would be, if
he of all people did not have the moral standing to use that awful word in the
careful, righteous way he did, in the context of a powerful statement about the
path toward ending racism, and taking us closer to the still-distant finish
line.
And speaking
of lines, here’s my punch line, which perhaps some of you have already guessed.
If you had to pick one word that defined Richard Pryor’s extraordinary career
as comedian and social commentator, and especially the twenty years from the
mid 60’s to the mid 80’s during which he reigned supreme in that field, it
would have to be….the N Word—as in the title of his first smash hit album—“That
N--‘s Crazy!”. And so, the rest of this
post springs from the fact that my favorite
comedian of all time is….also Richard Pryor, and has been for over 30 years!
I
find it extraordinarily interesting, and no coincidence at all, that the
President used the N Word during the WTF interview, and then, a scant 15
minutes later, referred to Richard Pryor as his favorite comedian. For those
who are familiar with Pryor’s complicated genius and legacy, the President’s
comedic taste for his particular brand of comedy speaks volumes.
First,
then, for those who are not familiar, but are interested to know more, I have
three YouTube videos to recommend to you, the definitive crash course in
Richard Pryor:
First,
there is the excellent 2013 documentary, Richard
Pryor, Omit the Logic, which I only heard about and then watched,
mesmerized, the other day, as it was clearly a labor of love produced by those
who loved and understood his talent, and it presents his life in a rich and
empathic way:
Second,
the 1982 stand-up performance by Richard Pryor that defined his career (and was
my first real exposure to his comedy, especially given that I saw it in a
theater in South Florida surrounded by a mostly black audience, whose enjoyment
of his magic was, to say the least, contagious!), displaying his mature comedic
genius at its peak, Richard Pryor Live on
the Sunset Strip:
And
third is the eerily prescient, absurdist segment from Richard Pryor’s
short-lived 1977 TV show, in which he played the role of the 40th
President of the United States giving a press conference you’ll never forget,
and making you wonder if he had a crystal ball then which had allowed him to
see 30+ years into the future:
You
don’t need to have seen any of those videos to follow what I now have to say. What
I find most revealing in the President’s offhand reference to Richard Pryor as
his favorite comedian, is the intersection of the N Word between their two
extraordinary careers.
Unlike
the case with the President’s public utterances, even 30 seconds of Live on The Sunset Strip will reveal to
those of you unfamiliar with Richard Pryor, that he used the N Word thousands
of times during his career, and almost none of those usages were of the careful,
polite variety that included the President’s. I will not attempt the impossible
task of explaining why Pryor used the word so much, and what it meant to the
extraordinary power and humor of his performances. Just watch the above YouTube
videos and you’ll begin to understand, if not immediately, then over time.
What I
want to address before I close is the most poignant use of that supercharged word
that Richard Pryor made, the day he renounced the use of the N Word for the
rest of his career. Here is what he said, and you’ll find it to be the emotional
center of Live on the Sunset Strip:
“Racism
is a bitch. White people, you gotta know. It fucks you up-but what it does to black people is a bitch. Because no
matter what it—it is hard enough being a human being. It's really fucking hard
enough just to be that. Right, just to go through everyday life without
murdering a motherfucker. It's hard enough just to walk through life decent as
a person. But here's another element added when you're black... It's enough to
make you crazy. If you're in an argument with another man he may be white but
it's man on man for a minute and the shit gets rough and he ends up calling you
a nigger... You gotta go "Oh, shit...fuck...now I ain't no man no more,
'nigger' now I gotta argue with that shit. Fuck throw my balance all off
now." ... But it's an ugly thing and someday I hope they give it up.”
And
then, after describing his transformative trip to Africa, Richard Pryor no
doubt shocked a lot of people by announcing that he would never use the N Word
again, “Because there aren’t any..We never was no niggers. That’s the word that’s
used to describe our own wretchedness.”
As in
“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me”?
Amen,
Richard Pryor and President Obama. You both done us all proud.
Cheers,
ARNIE
@JaneAustenCode
on Twitter
