Reality Bug

Dog and the N-Word Part I: The Offense

Thursday, June 26 2008 | Comments (1)

Tucker Chapman

Last October, the National Inquirer released a tape of a private phone conversation between Duane "Dog" Chapman and his son Tucker. In the conversation, which had been recorded by Tucker in March of 2007, Dog uses strong language, including the N-word when referring to Monique Shinnery, his son's African-American girlfriend.
Reaction to the tape was swift and angry. Roy Innis, chairman of the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE) since 1968, was one of the first to respond,"Dog Chapman should not have a show. That show should be taken off the air!" Innis told the Inquirer, "This man should not be held up as a role model for children. He has venom deep in his soul. This is a picture of his heart — a revelation of his true nature."

On 1 November 2007, Chapman issued a public statement apologizing for his "regrettable use of very inappropriate language." Chapman also claimed that the statements were taken out of context and that he was "disappointed in his [son's] choice of a friend, not due to her race, but her character." His lawyer stated Chapman's son sold the recording of his father's conversation to the National Enquirer for "a lot of money."

Despite his apologies, On 2 November 2007, A&E announced it was removing the show from their schedule "for the foreseeable future."

Monique Shinnery

Despite this incident, Dog does not appear have a history of racial intolerance. Quite the opposite. In his autobiography, "You Can Run But You Can't Hide," Dog relates how his devoutly Christian mother, who was half apache, taught Dog to "view people for who they are, not for the color of their skin, their race, or religion." Growing up, Dog knew the stigma of being half-white and was often beat up by neighborhood bullies for his mixed heritage. And when in prison, he did fine in racial integrated Huntsville prison. He was such good friends with one African American inmate, Edward Wittaker, that other inmates referred to the two as "Salt and Pepper" as they were nearly always together and were eventually cellmates.

After his release, Dog was known for his tolerance and respect for others. As a bail bondsman in Denver, Dog had many Mexican clients and his treatment of them led a lawyer friend, Frank Martinez, to comment, "I've never met anyone like you, Dog. You defend my people. You're not Mexican. Why would you defend my people?" Dog replied, "They're my people too. I'm a bondsman. I don't care where my clients come from. They're all my brothers." Dog felt that few of his Mexican clients ran, not just because of his fair treatment of them, but because he would "shake hands with them like blood brothers."

One of the main reason Dog likes Hawaii is the "Aloha Spirit": the willingness to treat all people as brothers and sisters.

So what went wrong?

Part of Dog's problem may actually be his deep seated sense of brotherhood. It is often the case that "insiders" in a group call each other names that those outside the group can never use. Most homosexual men would be highly offended if a straight guy called them a "queer," but might think nothing of a fellow homosexual saying the same thing (perhaps depending a bit on tone and context).

Dog has an erroneous belief that he is part of every group and therefore "in" enough to use some of these emotionally loaded terms with no consequences. "I thought that I was cool enough in the black world to be able to use that word as a brother to a brother. I'm not." He is perhaps less guilty of racism than he is of being insensitive, severely naive, and a bit arrogant. "I used to say, 'I'm black, too.' . . . my whole life I've been called a half-breed, a convict, king of the trailer trash, this and that. I take that and stand."

So what should Dog do about this? And what has he done so far? We'll discuss that next week in part II.

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