Roger Williams University board chairman gets bitten by the racist fairy

by Carmen Van Kerckhove

Last November, Jenn at Reappropriate wrote a razor-sharp post describing the way in which Michael Richards took no responsibility for his words, but instead, acted like he was bitten by the racist fairy:

According to Seinfeld and Richards, who are both “mystified by what happened”, it’s like some Blackface Tinkerbell crawled up Richards’ ass and shot him full of that Strom Thurmond fairydust. Think racist thoughts, and you can make minorities fly — far, far away from you!! After all, Richards is absolutely shocked by what happened (it’s one of those “awful, awful things”, says Seinfeld) – he’s not a racist, he just came down with that racist funk.

I love the use of the passive voice here — racism didn’t just happen. It’s not like when you’re in bed with some girl and the condom just breaks: that’s just one of those “ooops” moments. No… here, racism didn’t just happen! This man did it!! Don’t tell us “what happened”… as if you’re an innocent bystander in some drive-by slurring.

Uh-oh! Looks like Blackface Tinkerbell has claimed yet another victim.

According to CNN, Ralph Papitto, the longtime chairman of the Roger Williams University board came down with a bad case of that racist funk at a recent board meeting:

The longtime chairman of the Roger Williams University board admitted Monday to using the N-word during a board meeting, saying it “kind of slipped out.”

“I apologized for that,” Ralph Papitto said in an interview on WPRO-AM. “What else can I do? Kill myself?”

Yeah, give him a break already! He already apologized! What is he supposed to do? Ritualistically disembowel himself like those chinks? Oops, I mean… Orientals? Or whatever the hell we’re supposed to call those Chinamen nowadays?

Papitto, 80, who stepped down earlier this month after nearly 40 years on the board, admitted he had used the racial slur at a May meeting of the school’s board of trustees.

He had been discussing the difficulty of finding blacks and other minorities to serve on the 16-member board, which at the time included 14 white men and two women.

Barbara Roberts, then a board member, said Papitto became irate when he discussed pressures to make the board more diverse, at one point using the slur to refer to black candidates to the board.

Please note the context of this slur. The board of a university is talking about finding more diverse members, and Papitto writes off all the black candidates being considered as merely a bunch of niggers. That’s right. These folks, who are probably extremely wealthy, well-educated, successful people who are industry and community leaders, are nothing but niggers to him.

She said he then told the board he knew he couldn’t say that because of Don Imus, the radio host who was fired after referring to Rutgers University women’s basketball team members as “nappy-headed hos.”

“There was, like, this complete and utter silence, and I was shocked beyond belief and very angry,” Roberts said.

Yes, that’s why he couldn’t say it. Because of Don Imus. But wait – it gets better.

Papitto, who has given the school at least $7 million and whose name is on the only law school in Rhode Island, said he had never used the term before.

“The first time I heard it was on television or rap music or something,” he told WPRO.

Awwww yeah! Papitto may be an 80 year-old man but he’s a hep enough cat to know that blaming your racism on hip hop is the best strategy there is.

Please note: My usual practice is to use the euphemism “n-word,” but I felt that with this story, it was necessary to spell the word out to see just how disgusting the whole situation is.