South Park: "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson"

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In the South Park episode, “With Apologies to Jesse Jackson” that aired on Comedy Central on March 7 this year, the n-word was used excessively. At the beginning of an episode, Randy Marsh, Stan’s father, is on the Wheel Of Fortune and says the n-word on live television. He becomes known as the “nigger-guy” and is called this throughout the entire episode. Stan’s black friend Token is mad at Stan for what his father said and Stan spends the episode trying to understand why and get Token to forgive him.

Stan:
[comes to a certain realization] Wait a minute. That's it! I don't get it.
Kyle:
...Huh?
Stan:
Don't you see, Kyle?? I don't get it! [smiles, then walks up to Token] Token, I get it now. I don't get it. I've been trying to say that I understand how you feel, but, I'll never understand. I'll never really get how it feels for a black person to have somebody use the N word. I don't get it.
Token:
Now you get it, Stan. [smiles]
Stan:
[smiles] Yeah. I totally don't get it.
Token:
Thanks, dude.

Entire script can be seen at: http://www.southparkstuff.com/season_11/episode_1101/epi1101script/

Video of entire episode can be watched online at: http://www.southparkstuff.com/season_11/episode_1101/epi1101watchonline/

"With Apologies to Jesse Jackson." South Park. Creators Matt Stone, Trey Parker. Comedy Central, New York. 07 Mar 2007.


The South Park episode, “With Apologies to Jesse Jackson” is all about the harm the n-word can have on people and why it is offensive. It shows how white people of privilege just don’t understand how saying this term makes black people feel.

Although the n-word can be offensive to anyone who hears it, even if they are not black, only blacks can truly understand what it feels like to be called the n-word. To whites, it is a bad word that should not be said because it is derogatory and offensive. To blacks, it is a reminder of what their ancestors went through during slaves time, and the power whites had over blacks. In “With Apologies to Jesse Jackson,” Randy Marsh is ridiculed by the entire country for saying the n-word on national television and becomes known as the “nigger guy.” At one point in the episode, he starts an African American scholarship fund in his name and is giving a speech in front of black people. He says that he wants to rid himself of the bad name people have given him but none of them could understand what it is like to have someone use such a term to identify you. He is completely oblivious to the fact that what he is feeling is how black people feel when they hear or are called the n-word. By being in a place of white privilege, he has never had to think about how the n-word can be offensive to other people and how it would make people feel hearing it. This is exactly what Johnson is talking about in Chapter 2: “Privilege, Oppression, and Difference.” He says, “The ease of not being aware is an aspect of privilege itself, what some call ‘the luxury of obliviousness…White privilege gives whites little reason to pay attention to African Americans or to how white privilege affects them”(22). White people don’t understand how the n-word makes black people feel because they don’t have to. With white privilege, it does not matter. Because blacks are in the position of oppression, the constantly feel the effects of white privilege and are aware of it. However, because white privilege only helps whites, they do not see the negative effects it can have on black people because that does not matter to them in their status. Without the oppression of blacks, whites would not receive privilege. Randy, a white male, was in the position to receive white privileges. He had no idea what being called the n-word felt like and neither did his son Stan. Stan does not understand why his black friend Token is upset until he realizes that he cannot understand and he never will understand because he is not black. By being a white person, he will never truly understand the meaning of being called the n-word to a black person.

Although I could not believe how many times this episode used the n-word, I think the last monologue sent a good message that parallels what Johnson was trying to say. The episode does it in a backwards way of having the white person being called an offensive name so that he can see what it feels like and then is completely oblivious to the fact that that is how black people feel when he called them the n-word. This episode may have opened people’s eyes to the fact that they should think about things like this, even if before they never did because they were never directly affected by it.