In a follow up to a story that I didn’t even notice at the time, the chairman of the Roger Williams University in Providence has had to step down after accidentally using the word “nigger” during a meeting about the difficulty of finding appropriate African American candidates to work on the University board. Leaving aside the irony of a man using a racial slur to describe a group of people he was having trouble getting to work with him, his apology is a spectacular gem of comedic baldfacedness.
The ex-chairman, 80 year old Ralph Papitto, claims to have never used the term before in his life. In fact, he was only recently introduced to the phrase, apparently, saying “The first time I heard it was on television and then rap music or something.” Kudos to you, Ralph Papitto. If the jonsonblog handed out awards for best racism, you would win all of 2007, and we’re only in July. It’s 100% believeable that you never heard the word before, that you don’t secretly refer to all blacks by that word, and that you’re a totally colorblind, judge men on the content of their character type of guy.
