My understanding of the situation. As I understand it, 2 things have happened. 1 she used the N word sometime in her past. 2. She tried to plan a wedding with a slave theme.
My take on the situation.
1. The N word. White people have no right to use this word in any way shape or form. That being said neither should an African American. Racism is about inequality. All things being equal, that word should not be said by anyone. If you have 1 group of people where something is acceptable and another group that it is not acceptable then you have racism and inequality. You can’t have it both ways. The word is derogatory. Don’t talk to me about balancing the scales. Barriers exist in the world today because stupid people on both sides refuse to admit what is right and wrong.
2. Wedding with a slave theme. What the hell was she thinking? You don’t dig up the past by glorifying the subjugation of a people. There was nothing good or beautiful about slavery. It’s good that people remember slavery for the lessons it teaches us, but making a joke out of an institution that reduces another human being to servitude is kind of horrid to me.
What I take away from this. Perhaps the biggest lesson to be learned is when this happens instead of getting angry, it’s best to sit down and talk about it. I think the best thing we can do as a society is to continue to talk about it and think about it. The best thing Paula Dean could do is say yeah, I screwed up. I made a mistake. I regret what I did, I regret that people were truly hurt. All she can do now is to remember that words hurt. Intentions or not, words do hurt. Find a better way to react and better words to use.