It seems like everybody nowadays is getting in trouble for saying the wrong thing. First Don Imus, who deserved it; Oprah's taking heat for telling Howard University graduates she has some "really nice white folks" working for her (the context was the fact that her grandmother was a maid who worked for white folks; she advised her granddaughter to find some "nice white folks" to work for...hilarious and not offensive in the least). But this pales in comparison with what my six-year-old said the other day.
It's my fault. I rented "Blazing Saddles" because I thought my kids would enjoy it--especially the bean scene around the campfire, that is definitely 10-year-old humor--and because Madeline Kahn's performance in that movie is a comedy classic. As movie fans know, Cleavon Little plays a man who shows up as the new sheriff in a 19th century Western town; the white townspeople greet him with utter consternation and horror because he is (gasp!) black. They are about to ride him out of town on a rail but, thinking fast, Little pulls a gun, puts it to his own head and says, "Stay back! Or the (n-word) gets it!"--which is at once a biting social satire and also a gut-busting funny moment. When we got to that part I paused the movie and went to a lengthy explanation to both kids (my six-year-old didn't appear to be paying attention to the movie but I told her anyway) about the N word, its history, why it was used in that scene and why they should never, ever, ever allow it to pass their lips, even if they heard other people using it. Just: never.
We live in a majority-black county. My 10-year-old has no recollection of the civil rights era and her knowledge of Martin Luther King is a little spotty (she told me once that he freed the slaves), but basically she got the message that this was a word with a history and a lot of baggage. My six-year-old, however, went to school the next day and, attempted to relate that scene in the movie to one of the after-care staff because she thought it was funny. You guessed it: she used the N word. Oh sweet Lord in heaven.
The staffer she said this to is black. I think (I hope, I pray) that this person understood what happened and is prepared to let it slide. My daughter volunteered this information; when I asked, "What did Miss Marjorie (not her real name) say to you?" my daughter said, "She said that was a bad word and she didn't want to hear it." I then reiterated my talk about never using that word. So far, I've heard nothing from anybody.
I can't decide whether to bring this up, and potentially make things worse, or let it pass, and potentially leave people at my daughters' school with a distinct misapprehension of who this family is. I'm also kicking myself for letting my six-year-old watch this movie; I should have known she wouldn't grasp the nuances. But I needed a laugh myself, and sometimes Mel Brooks' brand of silliness is just the thing. But, man, sometimes the dumbest things can just rise up and bite you in the ass.