Chris Rock: Niggas vs. Black People Essay

This paper addresses the individuality that is constructed of African-Americans through Rock’s linguistic communication usage of racial address and forbidden linguistic communication. It besides attempts to portray Rock’s map of the skit and the controversial attitudes that arose. including my ain. 1. 0 Introduction ‘Sticks and rocks may interrupt your castanetss but words will ne’er ache you’ . Unfortunately for Randall Kennedy this limerick held no intension that he wished to admit. as he recites his Mother’s words. he finds himself in war with a word. a word that for every Afro-american is at the nucleus of inflicted hurting ; Nigger.

Kennedy narrates his Mother’s experience during the epoch of the Jim Crow segregation. ‘I have been called nigga to my face on a twosome of occasions by people who sought to convey their racial hatred or contempt for all inkinesss including me. ’ ( Kennedy. 2002 ) This word for Centuries. although has been at the Centre of standardization and authorization in recent old ages. is the definition of bias assigned by white supremacists.

Racial discourse has changed over the old ages. the media has been at the frontline of these alterations along with the jurisprudence and democratic societies yet the word nigga still remains a temperamental tabu. its history foreshadows it and no affair what context the word may be used in. its cultural heritage warrants its saving. ( Kennedy. 2000:3 ) A adult male that attempted to pull strings its damaging significance was the celebrated comedian Chris Rock. Rock is known for his politically wrong temper and his battle to undertake racism and his 1996 HBO particular. Bring the Pain public presentation is what give him his combative position today.

‘Niggas vs. Black people’ is a turn on street civilization vs. working category ; it is a linguistically controversial skit that portrays how loutish behavior provenders racial stereotypes while including his ain personal appraisal of the province of Black America. Rock empowers the word nigga and efforts to alter its deleterious significance. The hurting this word has caused the African-American community has been an expedient 1. compromising the self-respect. individuality and representation of their race.

Rock intends to contend and get rid of the hurting and with this is calls his public presentation. ‘Bring the pain’ . 2. 0 Laughing Matters The invasion of laughter is an ideal that is sought after by many comics ; it is the impression of laughter that holds profound significance amongst its audience. It gives society and the single entree to the truth. truths which become identifiable from a different position point. ‘laughter serves as a means to understand both what is found in the universe and what is found within the person.

’ ( Gray & A ; Putnam. 2009:18 ) . Without laughter fright would non be defeated and frights of the truth would non be overcome. with this society becomes reliant on laughter. it gives a sense of belonging. apprehension and serves as a joint apprehension and belief. ( Clark. 1996 ) This thought of the truth is based upon Bahktin’s theoretical position on laughter. as Gray and Putnam ( 2009: 18 ) province. ‘Laughter is besides a defense mechanism mechanism against external worlds that contradict our interior truths.

’ These truths and frights are identified with constructs such as. racism. political relations and feminism. 2. 1 Encapsulating the audience To capture Daniels’ ( 1989: 15 ) phrase when discoursing the subjectiveness of temper. ‘it’s amusing because it makes me laugh’ . high spots single societal political orientations. each person has their ain set of attitudes and beliefs and this therefore contributes to the success of an anecdote. whether or non it fits with ideological positions is at the nucleus of an audiences’ mirth.

It would be deemed accurate to admit that comedy is maintained and controlled with ideological boundaries in head nevertheless at the same clip. the mastermind of comedy derives down to comics forcing these boundaries. this disrupts societal order and it advocates alteration and ridicule’s power instead than reenforcing it. which relates back to this impression of placing our interior truths.

Harmonizing to Daniels ( 1989: 15 ) . he states that comedy is non achieved through content entirely. nevertheless when picking apart the history of Afro-american comics on black comedy ; it is in fact the content entirely which becomes a pandemic with the features of the comics talk that sets off the full public presentation. Dating back to the Minstrel epoch – the innovators of comedy today. ‘Bert’ Austin Williams took phase to be the first black American to take a lead function on a Broadway phase. Williams first became noticed in Vaudeville as a successful double-act “Williams & A ; Walker” .

Williams and Walker were a success for the black community. their Acts of the Apostless were a representation of their race but they entertained white audiences by presenting Acts of the Apostless that included content which demeaned their race: utilizing words such as. ‘coon’ . At the hazard of knocking the Afro-american race. they still. at the disbursal of their callings performed for the white audience and their outlooks.

This stereotype of African-Americans is one that became a corporate rite of rhetoric ailment and happening. In 1951. a Television show called ‘Amos ‘n Andy’ came to our screens but was cancelled in 1953 due to ailments from the NAACP ( National association for the promotion of colored people ) . who acknowledged the programme to be merely one representation of black folks. ‘Stereotyping is a procedure of selective perceptual experience by which the complex character of experience is filtered and simplified into fixed classs.

’ ( Daniels: 1989 ) Parallel to these representations of Afro-american figures in the media. impressions cited from Daniels ( 1989:3 ) are those of Hallwaies who deeply high spots. ‘ [ T ] he word picture of inkinesss in popular media is restricted to a repertory of basic images – the slave. the native. the entertainer – as merely certain traits and features are selected for accent. ’ Black people were subjected to the impression that as a cohort they were portrayed to be the same as one another ; holding no original individuality as an Afro-american as there were no other representations of the black cultural community.

Comedians such as Dick Gregory. Richard Pryor. Bill Cosby and Eddie Murphy were merely a few of many that fought against these racial negative stereotypes that were portrayed within the media. In 1984 the debut to ‘The Cosby Show’ was set across our screens. ‘The thought of The Cosby Show which was rejected by ABC. they felt that America was non ready to accept the construct of an integral. black middle-class household. ’ ( Crenshaw. A ) The Cosby Show declared positive properties to the black stereotype in opposed to the black situation comedies that came before it.

Although the success of The Cosby Show dispelled negative perceptual experiences of the black community the initial thought was thrown. which contributes to racial segregation in American at that clip during the 80’s. However. the typical black household perceptual experience did alteration as a consequence of ‘The Cosby Show’ and opened the doors for many comics and situation comedies to come. ‘The fresh prince of bell air’ and comics such as Chappelle and Chris Rock were the start of a new coevals of insurgencies. 3. 0 Rock’s lingual segregation ‘Now we’ve got a batch of things. a batch of racism traveling on in the universe right now. Who’s more racialist?

Black people or white people ; black people. You know why. cause we hate black people excessively! Everything white people don’t like about black people. Black people truly don’t like about black people. ’ ( Rock. 1996 ) In 1996 Chris Rock took to the phase with his controversial stand-up skit ‘Niggaz vs. Black People’ at the HBO particular Bring the hurting public presentation. Like Bill Cosby. Rock excessively was in effort to eliminate negative perceptual experiences of the black community but a manner in which engages with a diverse group of audiences. to make this he interplayed cultural and lingual tabu to mock ideological perceptual experiences of Afro-american individualities.

Rock’s chief purpose of the debated skit was to decrease stereotypes that were evident amongst the American populace. this impression from white supremacists that Afro-american citizens are categorised to be ‘all the same’ was. in Rock’s eyes about to be obliterated. Rock proclaims ‘Nigga’s’ to be in clear withdrawal from working category African-Americans. whose bad behavior is giving damaging negative images towards other ‘black people’ . his efforts to present critical messages in a comedic format is a portraiture of Rocks inexorable purpose to non let a minority of troublesome persons tarnish the image of the African-American.

‘Every clip black people wan na have a good clip. nescient buttocks nigger fuck it up. ’ ( Rock. 1996 ) His immediate purpose is to of class eliminate racism non advance it. nevertheless from the position point from an audience member who are a aggregation of a assortment of different races. the inquiry to whether he reached out to all single members is problematic due to ideological boundaries and beliefs. as discussed in ( 2. 1 ) . Rock opens the show with Irony. it draws a ‘white’ audience in and takes members of the populace by surprise ; an Afro-american adult male is standing on phase stating his audience that black people are more racist.

He has now captured communities of different races. whether that being good or bad he has his audience seized. He identifies his ain community and creates a separate individuality to others within the ‘black’ community ; he takes these comments made by the media. thoughts that are created amongst groups of people and verbally throws it back leting the power of discourse to be retained within the Afro-american community.

Rock efforts to take on a societal discourse. giving the political orientation ‘Nigga’ a new combative position. dividing it from working category Afro-american citizens. In congruity to this. Gray and Putnam ( 2009:19 ) provinces. when mentioning to Chappelle’s ‘Exploring Niggerdom’ . ‘ [ C ] hapelle succeeds in allowing a nomenclature that has antecedently been held in the custodies of the Whites. By utilizing linguistic communication for his ain intent. with his ain niceties and purposes. Chappelle takes back the power that Whites had originally given to that linguistic communication.

’ The cardinal impression that is represented here is power within linguistic communication. although Rock efforts to capture this power as Chappelle ( 2003 ) successfully did. a little per centum of Rocks audience failed to link to his linguistic communication usage decorously because of this Rock ne’er performed that skit once more. Some critics province that the ‘black’ community was offended while others felt they excessively had the public authorization to state the ‘N’ word. 3. 1 The ‘N’ word ; Nigger. ‘There’s black people and there’s nigger and nigga’s have got to travel.

’ ( Rock. 1996 ) The term ‘nigger’ is one many do non wish to publicly observe. it is derived from the Latin word ‘Niger’ and has transformed over Centuries to keep different intensions ; throughout history. the term ‘Nigger’ has been a frequent happening. its usage is. ‘ [ vitamin E ] mployed to enforce contempt upon [ inkinesss ] as an inferior race’ ( Kennedy. 2002:5 ) It has even been employed upon kids with nursery rimes. one that may be normally known is. ‘Eeny-meeny-miney-mo. catch a nigga by the toe. if he hollers ; allow him travel. eeny-meeny-miney-mo.

’ Paradoxically. ‘Nigga’ is a phrase that is now used often amongst ‘black’ people. going a term of friendly salute and even authorization ; it is comics. rappers and hip hop amusement that have created this discourse. However. what Rock does with the word is give the term a negative perceptual experience to underscore differentiations between societal groups irrespective of their race.

Footings such as. ‘Nigger’ . ‘fuck’ and ‘shit’ . are normally known to be censored words. tabu words. words that when used today in a western society become intertwined with constructs of face and niceness. ( Goffman. 1967 ; Brown & A ; Levinson. 1978 ) Face-saving positions of politeness start from this thought that worlds are rational agents who are witting of their linguistic communication picks.

( Brown & A ; Levinson. 1987 ; Clark. 1996 ; Grice. 1975 ; Locher. 2004 ) Both interacting participants. for illustration H and S. would hold an involvement in keeping each other’s face but frequently have to perpetrate to face-threatening-acts. ( Brown & A ; Levinson. 1987 ) Face endangering Acts of the Apostless can endanger the independency of ‘H’s’ face and the face demands of ‘S’s. ( Locher. 2004: 66 ) in relation to this construct. when Rock uses racialist address and forbidden linguistic communication he puts his ain face at hazard. which wittingly as a comedian it is a hazard that threatens the engagement of their face.

When Rock uses normally heard forbidden linguistic communication. there is a higher opportunity. as it has been heard before. that the audiences’ face demands are non jeopardised. nevertheless when utilizing racial address. for case when Rock makes mention to the ‘KKK’ . there is a possibility that face demands are threatened. whether that be the Afro-american community or the white community ; it seems Rock knew that his linguistic communication usage would endanger the face demands of some of his audience members as near the terminal of his public presentation he exclaims. ‘Man. why you got to state that? … It isn’t us. it’s the media. The media has distorted our image to do us look bad.

Why must you come down on us like that brother? It’s non us. it’s the media. ’ ( Rock. 1996 ) Rock in this sense does non fault the media for the corrupt behavior of what he calls ‘Niggas’ . he blames the cohort minority that are giving African americans a bad repute. However to oppose this analogy Van Dijk ( 1992: 513 ) coppices upon racism in the imperativeness and offers illustrations to emphasis the thoughts that are represented within the ‘black’ community. ‘We have racism excessively – and that is what is behind the secret plan. It is non white racism. It is black racism… But who is at that place to protect the white bulk?

… Our tolerance is our strength. but we will non let anyone to turn it into our failings. ’ ( Sun. 24 October ) The black community do hold an arguable point when experiencing face-threatened by Rocks impression of Black people vs. Niggas. as clear grounds of favoritism is shown within Newspaper articles such as these. but Rock emphasises that it is the boisterous. uneducated. minority of black people that are giving the community a bad name. he so puts himself in the places of a white individual. comedic sarcasm once more. by being a portion of the KKK and feeling threatened at dark when pulling money out ‘at the money machine’ .

What is so cardinal about the article above is the correlativity in linguistic communication usage within Rocks opening public presentation and the beginning of the article. two really similar debuts with two really different purposes and it may be perceived potentially by some members of Rocks audience that it was interpreted in ways that are incongruence to articles such as these. articles which are in denial of racism.

The contention caused by Rocks inordinate usage of the word ‘Nigga’ led him to take the piece from his act ; Jay Washington ( 2012 ) stated that in a 60 minute interview Rock said. ‘By the manner. I’ve ne’er done that gag once more. of all time. and I likely ne’er will. Cos some people that were racist idea they had licence to state nigga. So. I’m done with that modus operandi. ’ 4. 0 Cultural Impact The cultural impact made by Rock’s 1996 public presentation of Niggas V.

Black people has been an matter-of-fact 1. Barack Obama made mention to his skit in a Father’s Day speech in 2008. it besides made telecasting as ‘The office’ did a censored return on the soliloquy and audience members watching his 1996 public presentation still will express joy at his Ironic sarcasm study. I surely did. although Rock removed the piece from his act due to ‘overusing’ the word ‘N’ word. his concealed purpose was mastermind. Rock was seeking to give this word a new significance. eliminating its history of disdain. he was seeking to halt stereotypes of Afro-american people and push boundaries of the ideological perceptual experiences within the audience.

Rock’s purpose was to unveil a concealed truth. a truth that may be covered up by fright but must be defeated with laughter. ( 2. 0 ) Why should Rock non utilize this word and effort to give it a different intension. his ascendants were victims of bondage. his parents were victims of favoritism and ridicule why should he non poke merriment at true racialists by authorising the tern ‘Nigger’ and giving hardworking African-Americans the voice to be disassociated with the word?

A mention cited from Gray and Putnam ( 2009: 23 ) . is a quotation mark that correlates with my impression. Elizabeth Ludwig provinces. ‘ [ degree Celsiuss ] learly. if comedy is an look of abasement. so it must be an look of one’s ain abasement. ’ I feel Rock exerts his right to utilize this word. despite its negative media responses. It is true racialists that watched this study and felt that favoritism against black people was now acceptable. which is a shame because I feel what Rock intended to make was seek to educate the ideas of people who were of different ethnicities and it seems that the minority of these different racial groups allow them down.

Rocks chief intent was to aim minority groups and convey to their attending to antediluvian impressions of pigeonholing. 5. 0 Conclusion Rock is a lingual comedic prodigy ; he faces racism caput on and delivers his content in such a confident mode that he encapsulates the audience and brings psychotherapeutic laughter from a masochistic heritage. He draws upon truths. pushes ideological boundaries and empowers racial address ; this linguistic communication usage constructs a typical individuality of working category African-Americans which is separated from the minority of pack civilization which is influenced by bad behaviour.

Although the term nigga is used in a manner that contradicts is ideological significance and portrays positive perceptual experiences of working category African American citizens. the term can be portrayed otherwise from different positions in the audience. ‘I think people who use the term nigga in their address should bear the hazard that hearers catching them will misconstrue their purposes.

’ ( Kennedy. 2002:146 ) The truth about the ‘N’-word is that even as a euphemism the term should still be excess due to historical context. the manner in which the word has been empowered additions nil but positive properties nevertheless I feel its connotative history foreshadows its usage and no affair who attempts to pull strings its intending its history will ever stay. Mentions Brown. P. & A ; Levinson. S. ( 1987 ) Politeness. Cambridge: Cambridge U. P. Chung. J. ( 2002 ) The Burden of Laughter: Chris Rock battles ignorance his manner.

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