24 responses so far ↓

• ynot // Jul 17, 2008 at 11:43 am

  Elisabeth should really take a few steps back when it comes to speaking out on issues that she has absolutely no knowledge of. She has no idea what issues affect african americans back then and now.

• yfer // Jul 17, 2008 at 12:21 pm

  Are you kidding me. If it is ok for one it is ok for all. To say otherwise makes you the racist. Elizabeth knows exactly what she is say and is obviously the most intelligent person on this lame show. Whoopie hides her racism behind the cloak of oppresion, grow up. N-word is no more endearing when she uses it as it is when any other person uses it. Get a clue people!

• 24pearls // Jul 17, 2008 at 12:27 pm

  Team Elisabeth.

  I think one reason why there are still issues with race is because the media {& in some cases older generations} won’t let us get passed it.

• isabelle // Jul 17, 2008 at 12:33 pm

  I agree with Whoopie. Different races really are in different worlds. I am a Hispanic, I don’t speak a word of Spanish I live life like everyone else. I like to think I am pretty fashionable. However you notice differences out in the world. If I go shopping with Caucasian friends at a high end department store and I split from them. It is always a lot more difficult for me to get the attention of a sales person, my friends have no problems. With so much attention being put on imigration problems and illegal aliens, a lot of us american hispanics feel the backlash of peoples frustrations. There are so many things I could explain, but make no mistake there are differences out there and I really think it would be difficult for a Caucasian person to comprehend that since they have never experienced it on the same level.

• isabelle // Jul 17, 2008 at 12:50 pm

  YFER : Unless you have walked a mile in another persons shoes you can’t judge them. To say whoopi is a racist and that she is hiding behind a cloak of oppression is an extremely ignorant thing to say. Most black people are faced with some sort of racism on a daily basis. Just like Hispanics. I deal with someone, almost a daily basis who would rather not work with me because of my race. Are you telling me that you also deal with problems occurring because of your race? I make jokes with my family about being Hispanic all of the time, and honestly if I heard a white person make the same jokes in my presence, I would not be okay with it. Does that make me a racist too? Because if that’s the case I would have a lot to explain to my white husband. I don’t expect you to understand because again, you have never walked a mile in my shoes. You should really open your mind a little before you pass judgment on a person, especially if you are going to go as far as calling them a racist.

• AL // Jul 17, 2008 at 12:58 pm

  try this.. Dont say it.. Dont tell people what to say or not say.. and avoid the topic!! wow simple! eventually.. EVENTUALLY!! it will go away!! in a few generations! maybe more.. As long as there is feelings this strong on both sides and there can only be one answer that NO ONE will agree on, this is the only answer. SEE ONLY GOOD BABIES!!

• Kim // Jul 17, 2008 at 1:17 pm

  Elizabeth needs to stop with her fake ” I’m so perfect and I know every thing.” She is so ignorant.

• krucial // Jul 17, 2008 at 4:42 pm

  I understand what Elizabeth is saying and I understand what Whoopi is saying. The difference is WE ARE NOT IN THE SAME WORLD. Elizabeth is speaking from a culture which is sitting 2 steps up and Whoopi is speaking from a culture that is percieved as 2 steps down. Yes we would love balance, but until both sides recognize the big picture not much more will change. I hate the word, but it’s used in so much black culture today, it’s hard to avoid it. Both women have great points but the reality is that the black/white war is pretty much over…the new war is rich/poor.

• SarahLita // Jul 17, 2008 at 4:49 pm

  If we don’t speak, problems will never be heard.

  If we do speak, we have the capabilities to:
  rise or fall
  help or hurt
  brighten or darken
  hate or love

  or any thing in between. Everyone is discriminated in one way or another. It might be about race, sex, age, class, sexual preference, religious views or even things as simple as hair color. This is not just because we live in a dark, evil world. We as human beings are fearful of the unknown. Sometimes it is easier to hide behind words than to try to open our minds and hearts to what we fear.

• AlwaysHungry // Jul 17, 2008 at 6:09 pm

  Why be team anything. Is was a discussion. Each one brings their point of view. What Elisabeth needs to do though is learn not to get so flustered or break down. It cuts off communication. Sometimes people will just not agree. That is life but again.

  Why choose sides?

  My point of view - I don’t use the word EVER but I still feel no need to take sides when two people voice their opinions.

• traci // Jul 17, 2008 at 8:22 pm

  The only thing I dont like is when white people say or pretend there isnt racism. A white person can never tell an african american that we live in the same world. Me, an african american medical student, face racism more frequent than I care to mention. It’s like, “oh you are black, you shouldnt be a med student.”

• Robert // Jul 17, 2008 at 8:40 pm

  As someone who works with inner city kids of many nationalities, I don’t see how words like that as being constructive. We promote positive behavior and treating each other with respect. We are proud to say, the kids in our program are doing very in school and work well with each other. What I hate to see is the crime, violence and drugs these kids are exposed to. These things are not exclusive to any race or nationality. If a child hears something long enough he or she will tend to believe it, that includes the N-word.
  Whoopi has made it very clear on several shows, she has a dislike for white people and I’m sorry for that. But the fact is, there is a whole world of Americans of all nationalities that get along just fine and they don’t have to use the N-word.

• ya // Jul 17, 2008 at 9:24 pm

  “Elisabeth should really take a few steps back when it comes to speaking out on issues that she has absolutely no knowledge of.”

  What’s new?

• Fuller // Jul 17, 2008 at 11:04 pm

  No one group has a monopoly on being the object of bigotry. I’m a white, American female and I deal with racism almost every time I leave my house–not to mention sexism! Is that a reason to stereotype all people who have harrassed me? Absolutely not. If a word is offensive, then it must never be used. Period. You simply can’t have it both ways. If you’re going to keep a racial epiteph going then you keep it alive, give it validity and, instead of moving forward, we continually rehash this tired subject.

• Grey // Jul 18, 2008 at 4:00 am

  I am black and I totally agree with Elizabeth. NO ONE should be using that word. The word was sprung out of such hatred and pain until anyone who condones its usage can’t understand why white people shouldn’t be saying it either. This word will never be removed from the conscience of our people if black people keep throwing it around as a word of love and friendhip, and telling whites it’s so hateful. That’s ridiculous to me.

• Dave // Jul 18, 2008 at 7:20 am

  I’m curious, how does one justify two sets of rules for the use of this word? My opinion; Woopi enjoys using the specter of racism as a liscence to be condecending. If you debate with another person under the premise that they cannot possssibly understand your perspective because of their skin color, that is offensive. Woopi is saying that skin color defines your experince in life and your ability to understand certain things, like the specific use of this word, and that is inherently racist. She is a contemptible fool at best, at worst, she’s worse.

• Vincent // Jul 18, 2008 at 7:52 am

  Someone answer this.. what is it that Liz said that was so bad? She didn’t say anything that was divisive but was promoting togetherness. We all do live in the same world.. in our case it’s America. This country is known as the Melting Pot but people are beginning to forget that. The point of the Civil Rights movement was for equality. Why are we still at a place where its only ok for some people to use the n word? It may be acceptable to use the n word in the black culture, but I think it only hurts blacks in the long term. African Americans ARE equal now they just have to start believing it. Peace to all.

• Christine // Jul 18, 2008 at 10:01 am

  TEAM WHOOPI!!!
  TEAM WHOOPI!!!
  TEAM WHOOPI!!!
  TEAM WHOOPI!!!
  TEAM WHOOPI!!!

  Elizabeth is always in some sort of debate. She doesn’t know the history behind the “N” word. There is pain behind the word that she will never know. Elisabeth is way too conservative and closed minded and needs to take a step back and look at the issue as if she were in an African American’s shoes.

  TEAM WHOOPI!!!
  TEAM WHOOPI!!!
  TEAM WHOOPI!!!
  TEAM WHOOPI!!!
  TEAM WHOOPI!!!

• Evenflow // Jul 18, 2008 at 11:40 am

  To all those who think they should be able to say the N-word because Black people say it. You ever call you family member an idiot or something worse? What do you do when someone else does it?
  You tell them off. Why would you think you have a right to force yourself into their personal space? You are not a part of the circle. I know there are going to be people saying if you call you family or someone close to you a name anyone should call them it. Then that person who says this or anything like it is a lair. I have seen and heard people of all race and in different language call their kids, wives, friends, and family names that they would go postal if a random person or someone outside their circle were to say it.
  Though our worlds are still different they are coming together. Though slow it shows great promise for our nation’s future if we can at least talk about these subjects.

• Edward // Jul 18, 2008 at 3:03 pm

  Well, all I have to say is this, I don’t use the word, never have, and my parents don’t use the word when we came here form France, and first heard that word used in Oklahoma, and in Virginia, we were put aside ourselfs, and from then on we fought to not use that word, now in some black homes the word is used to mean something different, and in others it means something different, we should not be using the word period. We call yourselfs adults, but we seem to not get past the past, God says to forgive and forget, have most of us done that, I don’t really think so. You know that webster dictionary took the word out of the dictionary, when my little sister found it after a little white girl said it to her because she heard mommy or daddy, or big brother or someone in her family say it one day, and decided that is was a good word to use, remember children look up to us and mook us as they grow and learn, so teach them the right thing to say and how to be, remember you have to answer to GOD when the time comes, and I hope you have a good answer, and to say something about the talk show, it was good that they both talked it out and got it out, as women in this world, the show is diverse to say the least four women all of different colors and backgrounds keep it up and maybe we cam still change this world for the better and get some of these young kids to use different words to express themselves. Ciao and Merci.
  Edouard

• Alona // Jul 18, 2008 at 5:12 pm

  This is for Isabelle; If it is true that we are living in different world’s that whites could never understand, then tell black men to quit dating white women. Or if is just a double standered for blacks then that is reversed racism. And that is more and more the case in movies and tv, pushing black men on white women. As a black woman I am pissed at how we are not givin equality in anything in America, black men could vote 50 years before black and white women could vote. And I think for the most part black women are to strong will’d for most black men, that is why they go for the stupid low self esteem white girls. Peace

• Gen // Jul 21, 2008 at 2:00 pm

  The Whoopi-Elisabeth argument painfully underscored the truth that Africans will never achieve intellectual parity with Europeans. This is in large why “people of color” and their liberal lapdogs perpetually cry racism.

  Rosie the muffdiver was the first to rightly be outed by Elisabeth, and now she’s gone, out with yesterday’s dirty dishwater. Perhaps Whoopi will be next–and then Barbara Walters.

  The only mistake Elisabeth made was to cry upon being right. Whoopi might just be one of the ugliest homo sapiens ever to frequent a television screen–both physically and emotionally. Whoopi’s words are the type that might just persuade people not to vote for Barack Obama. Liberal ABC ought not spend any more time promoting this kind of garbage, if it doesn’t want another four years of Republican governance.

• Toni // Jul 21, 2008 at 9:40 pm

  We don’t live in the same world. No one can tell another race how racism affects them. The real test is the meaning behind the word. From one Black person to another it’s not a demeaning word in a lot of cases. From a white person to a Black person it is. The truth is some people don’t want anyone to use certain words because they can’t use them. All races have “inside” jokes.

• Judy // Jul 28, 2008 at 8:54 am

  I am a Black women in the South and I totally agree with Elizabeth. My husband and I raised a boy and a girl not to say that word. I cringe when I hear it used. I don’t think we can move forward when we keep taking these steps backward. My entire family are educators and this is not a good thing to say, “we use it how we want to and you all use it for something else.” It is time to cut the word so we can really heal.

Leave a Comment