DR. LAURA’S “N” WORD RANT

RIDDLE ME THIS:

Q:  What’s blond, white, old, conservative, and uses the “N” word 11 times on a live radio show while completely insulting African-Americans and interracial marriage?

A:   Dr. Laura Schlessinger

Yep, unless you’ve been living on the dark side of the moon for the past several days, you’re likely aware that sharp-tongued conservative radio host Dr. Laura Schlessinger is being called either considerably crazy and/or incredibly stupid, for recent remarks made on her live radio program.

Last Tuesday, an African-American woman called into THE DR. LAURA SHOW to ask for advice on how to deal with seemingly racist comments from friends of her white husband.  When the caller was pressed for specifics, she asked the radio host how she should deal with “the N-word.” And that’s when all hell broke loose.

Dr. Laura became extremely irate and argumentative, telling the woman she was being “hypersensitive” about the term, since “black guys use it all the time.”  She then told the African-American caller “You turn on HBO and listen to a black comic and all you hear is n—–, n—–, n—-.” She then added “If anybody without enough melanin says it, it’s a horrible thing — but when black people say it, it’s affectionate.”

Needless to say, the woman was dumbfounded at the radio psychologist and her antics, since she had only called into the radio program for a piece of advice, not expecting to be ridiculed or whipped with a verbal lashing on behalf of the entire African-American community.  But when the caller spoke up against Dr. Laura’s rant, she was quickly told “Don’t N.A.A.C.P. me!” A further verbal exchange ensued, with the caller suggesting that perhaps the radio host was being insensitive and unsympathetic, to which Dr. Laura replied: “You know what… if you’re that hypersensitive about color and don’t have a sense of humor, don’t marry out of your race!!”

The next day, following a boatload of backlash from African-American leaders, journalists, and listeners to her radio show, Dr. Laura apologized.  But for some, it was too little, too late.  According to Jamelle Bouie of THE AMERICAN PROSPECT: “Dr. Laura isn’t known for her sensitivity, but this is an impressive display of raw racial resentment.”  Civil Rights activist Al Sharpton also weighed in, calling her radio rant “despicable,” saying “The advertisers and the people that carry her show should be very concerned about someone that’s freely using this word over and over again.”  He added: “She said the word over and over, and in a very animated way, I might add, but that she actually, if you listen carefully to the logic of what she was saying was that the N-word was not offensive.”  He and several other African-American leaders have since called for Dr. Laura’s resignation.

Ironically, Dr. Laura previously called for the resignation of IMUS IN THE MORNING host Don Imus, when he said on air “That’s some nappy headed hoes there,” referring to a teen aged basketball squad of young African-American girls.  But at the time, Dr. Laura had little sympathy for Imus or his own apology. “As for Imus, it would seem his arrogance caught up with him,” she wrote in a blog post during the 2007 scandal. “His remark was insulting, stupid, mean and ugly. It was so seemingly ‘off-the-cuff’ that it felt too casually familiar a thing for him to say.”

Was Dr. Laura’s apology enough to calm the rising tide against her?  Or could this be the beginning of the end of her public career?