“Dr. Laura” Caller Nita ‘Jade’ Hanson on “Larry King Live”: Next Time, Sista, Go to a Qualified Shrink to Work Out Your Problems, Especially Not a Wing Nut Radio Talk Show Host

This is the full interview that was on Larry King Live a couple of nights ago, with Nita “Jade” Hanson responding to Dr. Laura Schlessinger’s racist rant and use of The N Word a week or so ago. What gets me is why smart-appearing black women like her listen avidly to such outright cranks and even contribute to these shows. Then they put their business out on the airwaves for discussion, instead of going to qualified and responsive psychologists, therapists and licensed clinical social workers black or white to work out problems like this! SMDH. This is a wake-up call.

This is from the CNN transcript of the Larry King Live show. Check:

HANSON: Every time I hear it, I am shocked. I’m stunned. I’m confused. I’m hurt. Listen, I was a longtime listener. And I did not expect to hear that at all. I called for advice about my relationship with my husband. And that was it. And as you could tell by the tape, she was very angry. I couldn’t get a word in edgewise. And I just — I was embarrassed. I — and I was — I was a fan, and I just — I was hurt. I was really hurt.

KING: All right, you’re married to a Caucasian. And his friends would — what was the problem you were having? What did — what did he or his friends say that bothered you, that you felt the need to call in?

HANSON: You know, it was the stereotypes. And I’m the type of person, it takes a lot for me to get mad. I had been putting up with the stereotypes for a long time. And finally, you get tired of it. And then you think, okay, is there another motive? The questions keep
getting — they’re worse. And I was just sick and tired of the stereotypes. And the “N” word had been–

KING: Well, a friend might say what?

HANSON: –not in that particular — why do black people act the way they do? Why do you talk the way do you? Stuff like that. Why do you sag your pants? And I don’t do any of that. So, I just — the generalization of–

KING: What does your husband say? I get it. They generalize. What does your husband say about all of this fuss?

HANSON: He has been very supportive. He loves me very much and I love him. He’s been very supportive through this whole thing. He cannot believe this happened as well, too. Because I didn’t even tell him I’d called Dr. Laura. I wanted to try to fix the problem.

KING: Wow.

HANSON: And, you know, call her to get the advice and then try to fix it myself. But he had no idea that I had even called the show.

No, fool. Understand that this host, and hosts like her, are excoriating other Americans for fun, entertainment and profit. Why you hadn’t gotten a clue even when you knew that Laura Schlessinger had said hateful things about gays and other marginalized groups is beyond my comprehension. Did you think that you wouldn’t eventually get the poke in the eye with a sharp stick? That because you had previously contributed to the show as “Jade,” that she was your Dr. Schlessinger?

You know, I don’t even listen to these haters, because I would be destroying my own property throwing the TV and the stereo out of the window with the dreck that they spew. I worked hard for my rapidly going out-of-style stuff and I have to eke as much enjoyment out of them before I can afford to get some new, updated stuff. But I don’t listen to these haters! I do not make accommodations with people who want to kill me and my own both literally and figuratively.

Unfortunately, there is a sizeable population of blacks who listen to that toad, Rush Limbaugh, and who watch Faux Noise, and host of other haters. I may not get it, but I can understand that this may not necessarily come from admiration (as with Nita Hanson) but from the idea of knowing your enemy and being amused by them despite loathing them and their beliefs. It’s not bringing the asp, as it were, to one’s heart, but playing around with it.

Sorry, but I don’t touch no snakes crossing my path, or play with them. There’s always the risk that they will bite down hard. But if snakes start messing with me, I’ll do them like Clint Eastwood did to that rattlesnake in Two Mules for Sister Sara. Stop listening to these haters, people. Turn the channel, and switch that dial.

Furthermore, why did Hanson take that sh*t from her husband’s pals for so long? This is what gets me, too. Not a couple of weeks. Not a couple of months. Years, it appears, she put up with that junk, to smooth things for her white husband, throughout the four years of their marriage. Oh, no. I would have laid down the law from the first, saying to hubby–it’s either me or them–and walked if that mess had continued. I’m not there to school them about black people. I’m not there to assuage their unease.

And it wasn’t her problem, but her husband’s for not telling those frat boy idiots to BTFU or else. They wouldn’t be his friends if it continued. By allowing it to go on, it appears that he “respects” them more than her. Which makes me want to ask, what kind of husband is this? Why would he not defend his wife on principle and publicly?

These so-called friends were sick, because it wasn’t what you would call good-natured teasing. Every other day, month after month, Hanson defied every stereotype by being herself. She was just a good, okay black woman who was an integral part of their friend’s life. Those idiots couldn’t deal with that. They couldn’t accept that there are other kinds of black people, and not the people that they see in popular culture. That’s why they kept picking at her like a scab, trying to see whether she would suddenly turn into Ghetto Girl.

Man, there is a lot unsaid about what that marriage might be truly like, especially when it comes not only to friends, but to relatives. People who are supposed to be family. This is why stuff like this cannot be discussed in an entertainment milieu, but privately with the help of a therapist who specializes in such issues.

Especially a therapist who doesn’t–as a parting shot–tell his/her client not to marry interracially if s/he doesn’t want to hear that crap. Or tells him/her not to “NAACP” her when s/he objects to The N Word.

I’ve had interracial relationships; I’ve had fights and misunderstandings with white lovers, but I’ve never heard that hate word come off their lips (at least, not in my presence) and I’ve never called them any kind of racial epithet either. It never got down to that level, and it never should. Why? Because the guy wouldn’t have any lips left when I got through with him. That word is a hate word. A. hate. word. And like Hanson said, Schlessinger knew better than to use it. They all do. You know that they do.

Schlessinger was a crybaby to allege that her First Amendment rights were being abridged when people criticized what she said. The favorite bawl (and dodge): well, black comedians and black hip-hop artists use it, so why can’t I? Ha. You can’t. It’s a word whites have always used against black people as a weapon of degradation and dehumanization. Say That Word at your own risk to a black person. Any black person, from Oaktown, CA to the Southside of Madison, WI. I dare you. I double-dog dare you.

Black people don’t even like other black people using That Word, even in a cultural context, and it also depends on how it is used in our community. However, from the time the word began to be used by whites in the 16th century, during the slave trade, blacks have turned the word around, inside and out, naming and not naming themselves with the racial epithet. That’s a continuing discourse among ourselves, especially between young and old, and where whites, even if they gave a damn about our opinion, aren’t allowed. But for my part, I would like to see That Word dead and gone.

The haters want to say it out loud and make it a part of so-called rational discourse in the public arena as it was in the bad old days, before the Sixties, when all a white politician needed to do was yell The N Word the loudest and get reelected. When yelling The N Word meant that this politician looked out for white interests alone. All of this yearning of certain whites to use The N Word is an extension of what they deny and hate: that there is a black president in the White House.

Moreover, the haters don’t want the ramifications that result whenever they use That Word. They don’t want to be criticized or made to feel responsible for their words and actions. They want to be absolved from saying it, as if they are justified in their hatred. They get angry when they get caught looking less than what they claim to be. Get a clue. They’re mother-fricking cowards. Even Howard Stern gets this, and I sure don’t like him either.

At the outset, I sure would like people to realize is that these radio and television talk show hosts aren’t your personal friends that you can sit down and chat with them over a cup of coffee. And I would warn those on the left side of the dial, that the liberals are no better about issues regarding racism. Why does MSNBC always trot out the likes of Pat Buchanan (Buc(kkk)hanan), even on Rachel Maddow’s show? I’ve disagreed at times with talkers like Randi Rhodes and Ed Schultz to the point where I have turned off their shows. They don’t always get it, and often go overboard with adhering to their points of view. When that happens, I have a feeling that they know they’re wrong, but since they’ve dug the hole, they might as well dig it deeper and wider.

Shrinks aren’t your personal friends either. You’re paying them to help you. But some people object to getting a shrink–a stranger–to referee. You’re certainly not getting advice on the cheap, and it takes more than ten minutes, sometimes a lifetime. It’s easy to shortchange yourself saying that it’s too long and hard and too expensive. But radio call-in talk shows suggest a kind of intimacy–and provide anonymity. Face-to-face weekly meetings would enjoin the participants to build trust. They can’t avoid confrontation. In contrast, anonymity behind a fake name is an escape and a fantasy. Remember, Hanson didn’t use her real name on the show. She also chose a name that seemed more an alter ego. Plus, calling in for quickie answers to important questions promised to be on the cheap and wouldn’t require her to go deeper and expose herself all the more.

Ultimately, like a good little consumer, that’s what Nita Hanson did: she cheapened what she said was a serious issue in her marriage by bringing this it to someone who was not equipped (despite possessing a Ph.D, Schlessinger is not a psychologist or psychiatrist) or understanding or enlightened enough to truly help her. (Steve Harvey and his daily “Strawberry Letter” lands in this category as well.)

And for about fifteen minutes, Nita Hanson has let all of the nation into her life, because she was in pursuit of advice on the cheap. I guess, that’s America.

~ by blksista on August 20, 2010.