Where Mercy Is Shown, Mercy Is Given (2010) by Duane Dog Chapman Page A

always circumstances where I felt it was safe to use the word without fear of offending anyone, especially among friends in Hollywood. Because of my past experiences, I thought I had a pass to use the word without issue. When I did, it was always used as a slang term of endearment—never a racial cut-down.
    I’ve been looked down on and discriminated against my whole life. Not just because I’m part Native American, but also because I’m an ex-convict, a seventh-grade dropout, an outlaw, and a biker too. From the bottom of my heart, I thought all of those things made me a “n***er.”
    The use of that word was never about color for me so much as it was about culture. It was more of a “been there done that” way of thinking.I know sophisticated people might not be able to understand how I felt. But they haven’t walked in my shoes. I lived with thirty-six thousand black inmates in Huntsville. I chase and capture criminals for a living. The use of language that is offensive to so many people is simply a part of the culture I live and work in. I have a limited education. I was in a Texas state penitentiary until I was twenty-two years old. I spent my first year out of prison high on Valium while trying to figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Where would I have been taught that using the “N” word was wrong? Of course, as I got older, I realized that using that word in a public place is never acceptable.
    How we talk is dependent on where we were brought up. For example, there’s a perception that New Yorkers use the “F” word all the time. Rappers use the “N” word without having to worry about accusations of racism. In some communities, that language might be deemed acceptable, while it would be reprehensible in others. I was called a “half breed” most of my young life and never once thought it was wrong, because it describes who I am. If you’re a white or Hispanic guy raised in South Central Los Angeles, you may sound more black than not. When Madonna moved to London, she began speaking the Queen’s English even though she was born and raised in Michigan, and Eminem sounds more street even though he’s a white guy from the suburbs. It’s an effect more of culture than of the color of your skin. That’s how I always viewed my use of the “N” word. It was never, ever about race.
    Many of my most valuable civics lessons weren’t learned growing up. They were picked up along the road of life. I didn’t know it at the time, but this was going to turn out to be one of the greatest lessons.
    About a year or so before that story hit the tabloids, I was at the MSNBC studio doing an interview with Dan Abrams. I used the “N” word off the cuff in between segments. My mic was still on, so everyone in the studio heard me say it. Dan Abrams asked me if I had heard about what happened to Don Imus. I knew who Imus was, but I never listened to his show. I asked Dan if Imus was the redneck guy who wore the big white cowboy hats. He said that was him.
    “Well, I’m not surprised he would use that kind of language. I figured a guy like that might make a derogatory reference to black people from time to time. What was the big deal?” I asked. “You know, if I used the ‘N’ word to that guy right there,” I said, pointing to one of the stagehands who was black, “I don’t think he’d care because I’m the Dog.” Abrams looked shocked by my statement, but it was true. So much so that the stagehand agreed with me. “That’s right, Dog,” he said. He was treating me like we were equals, as if I was a brother and my using that word was not a problem for guys like him. It had never been an issue in the past.
    I looked back at Dan Abrams, shrugged my shoulders, and opened my hands, as if to say, You see? My point exactly.
    I never gave the use of that word a second thought because I believed everyone felt the same as that stagehand.
    I kept thinking, Why on earth would anyone care if