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Add to FavoritesDoes using the "n" word automatically classify one as a racist? I have heard people say things in the heat of anger that I am sure did not represent their "true natures."
Does Duane "Dog" Chapman believe he is superior in character or ability to anybody else because of his race? No.
Dog knows his roots. Dog was a former gang member who was in jail for 18 months for a murder he says he was a "legal accessory" to. He was 24. He was sentenced to 5 years, but he was released on probation after 18 months.
Chapman will be the first to admit he has made many bad choices in life, and he is very grateful he got a second chance to make good.
The "racist" issue focuses on a private phone call between Chapman and his son. Tucker was talking about his black girlfriend. Dog had never personally met the girl, but it seems her reputation preceded her, and Tucker knew she was a hot button topic. Dog called her a "n" and was furious that Tucker was dating her.
During his dad's rant, Tucker taped the phone call and sold the tape to the National Enquirer for a measly $15,000.
On the Larry King Live show, Dog saw a picture of the girl for the first time. He said she was a beautiful woman; he meant nothing personal about her. On national TV, he personally asked her for forgiveness. I believe she is taking the low road and suing Dog.
Perhaps Tucker knew he could get his dad to blow off his mouth by talking about his black/white/green girlfriend that his dad didn't like. Maybe he pre-planned the taped call?
Dog, the Bounty Hunter, as most of us know him from his reality TV show, has the job of risking his life to put criminals back in jail to keep the rest of us safe.
Dog puts some very unsavory people in his van to haul them off to jail. He often offers them a cigarette and gives them a "fatherly talk" about the ways of life that lead to death, like theirs.
He tells them they have family who love them and want them to do well in life. Sometimes he gets emotionally choked up with sympathy. He says they remind him of himself at that age.
His wife, Beth, who always stands by him and works alongside him, will often put the "case" into perspective for him, and say this is how it must be done. But she, too, shows her caring side to the criminals they pick up. In fact they often hug and shake hands with their "captives."
Dog and Beth offer their "clients" help and explain their job as bounty hunters. The Chapmans tell them they care about them, and they can look them up when they get out of jail if they want help out of their self-destructive lifestyles.
Dog has mentioned his 12 children. His sons, Leland and Duane Lee, his daughter, Lyssa, and his associate, Tim Chapman (no relation) also work with him.
None of them uses weapons, except for pepper spray, and practicing karate. They all have risked their lives to help make America safer for the rest of us by getting the "bad" people off the streets, whatever their color.
The Chapmans live in Hawaii. Dog makes friends with many of unsavory characters - of all colors - that most of us would not invite home to meet our families. They give him information and help him catch the bounties; his life depends on them.
Dog has been in jail himself, a few times, which he readily admits. He could have been extradited to Mexico on charges of "deprivation of liberty" because Dog, along WITH the cooperation of local Mexican authorities, picked up a man wanted in the U.S. on 86 counts of drugging and raping women. Dog brought Andrew Luster back for justice in 2003; Luster is in prison for several life terms.
Mexico doesn't allow bounty hunting so they came after Dog, Leland, and Tim in 2006. This seemed to become a political game for months between Mexico and the U.S. Finally, Hawaiian state representatives got involved and wrote a letter to Mexico asking them to drop charges. Ultimately, on 8-2-07, the charges were dismissed.
A lot of jailbirds - because of bounty hunters - would kill the Chapmans if they had the chance. What a thing to have held over your head because you're doing your job!
If any of us used the "n" word, what kind of punishment would we get? Would we be branded as a racist? Would we lose a good paying job over it because a conniving, disloyal son taped us in a phone call using the "n" word?
How much more does anyone want than a public apology, with real tears? Dog has a wife and a bunch of kids to feed, including his 5-year-old granddaughter, the child of his 23-year-old daughter who was killed in a car accident in 2006.
Dog says he will be buried in a black cemetery, by his own choice, as another act of contrition.
What he said was stupid BUT it should have remained confidential. When a father can't even speak his piece on a PRIVATE phone call with his son in the heat of anger, we've got problems in America.
His show's producers didn't want to offend anyone so they played it safe by suspending the show. It was the politically correct thing to do. They made money off him, but since he has become national news - in a negative way - they don't want to go down with him.
Dog told Tucker he didn't want to lose 30 years of his life over the chance that he might get caught saying the wrong thing, so some cheap tabloid like the Enquirer might pick up on it.
Isn't this ironic? Dog knows he has a big mouth and sometimes shoots it off - in the privacy of his home. He wasn't being paranoid; he knew what would happen. With a "street" background, where the "n" word is spoken a lot, most people would likely spout off rash, familiar words in the heat of anger. That does not make them racists.
Dog has a black man for his pastor, friend, and confidant. Dog prays with him; he makes personal confessions to him; he asks for spiritual guidance from him. He has a black hairdresser. (With his hair-do, he might need to find a new hairdresser if he is going to keep making TV appearances asking the nation for forgiveness.)
What else can this man do to apologize to blacks all over America? Some seem to want blood. Most of us have said embarrassing things we don't really mean on a deeper level, but we don't have them broadcast to America so we have to publicly apologize to millions for it.
Dog is dedicating his life to doing good. He has spent 30 years making amends by risking his life to clean up the streets for the rest of us. He has apologized enough.
He really deserves some thanks for doing a job most of us don't want to do, with criminals of all colors. He does not discriminate. He hunts the bounties down and takes them to jail. Then he bails them out for another chance. Doesn't he deserve a second chance, too?
Once Duane "Dog" Chapman dies and is buried alongside the blacks he supposedly hates, let God judge him, not the rest of us.
Learn more about this author, Karon Brandt.
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Yes
Of course Duane is a racist. The use of the word "Nigger" to describe the boy Lisa has not yet met is the proof. Anyone white in America or Europe that generalizes an entire ethnic group by pre-judging people is racist. Any Black or person of color that generalizes an entire ethnic group is prejudice or is a bigot. The difference is power.
In the United States and Europe the economic power is currently in the hands of the white established governments. These governments allow systematic disenfranchisement of their minority populations through the implementation or ignorance of unfair policies and practices throughout their societies. An example of this is media representation of minorities in the United States. Since the media is the most common tool of socialization for children here, they will learn what they see. White children and Black children see minorities represented in very narrow and damaging scopes. Blacks are portrayed as poor, violent, hyper sexual, materialistic,athlet ic, or as benevolent entertainers. Black women are almost always fat, and angry at Black men. While some of this is true in the Black community (as it is in the white community) there are not enough Blacks playing characters that would be considered "normal." You can count on one hand how many smart, productive, well adjusted Blacks one might find consistently on network television.
The faulty message of Black inferiority is pumped daily into trusting children and adults all over the world. What does this do to a white child who has no Black people in his life to dispute these messages? What does it do to the development of the hopes and dreams of the Black child? It creates racism and self-loathing. What does it do to this country? Or to the world?
Media representation is just one example of racism built into the fabric of our nation. The concept of "a jury of our peers" as guaranteed in the constitution is another example of how this government continues to facilitate racist ideology. For me, a jury of my peers would consist of twelve single black working mothers of children with absent fathers. I'd like to see such a jury convict me of bouncing checks at the end of the month. Instead, minority defendants are judged by a jury of adults socialized to view their presence with fear and hostility. Endless statistics show Black men going to jail for years for crimes their white peers consistently get probation for.
Another example of systemic inequities is Red Lining. This is when a Black person goes to a Realtor to look at properties for purchase and then to the bank. According to the Forbes Media Company, Investopedia:
"The unethical practice whereby financial institutions make it extremely difficult or impossible for residents of poor inner-city neighborhoods to borrow money, gain approval for a mortgage, take out insurance or gain access to other financial services because of high default rates. In this case, the rejection does not take the individual's qualifications and creditworthiness into account. In some cases of redlining, financial institutions would literally draw a red line on a map around the neighborhoods in which they did not want to offer financial services, giving the term its name."
The saddest thing about this is that race does not even exist. It has been scientifically proved that only one race exists within the human species. While race is a man made concept developed to separate and exploit, racism and it's effects are real. Many, in response to this new episode of Mr. Chapman's, tell Blacks to "just get over it," but we can never get over it until you do - because you surround us. And we will know you are over it when you stop calling us "Nigger."
Works cited:
10 November 2007 .
Learn more about this author, Jacqueline A. Johnson.
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