Where Mercy Is Shown, Mercy Is Given - Duane Dog Chapman [64]
Before I left his office that day, I noticed that Roy’s son was wearing a pin that had the letter “N” on it in a circle with a slash through it. I asked if I could have one.
Niger said, “Yeah, but I don’t think you should pass them out!”
I wore that pin on every show and at every appearance I made after our meeting. Even today, I carry the pin Niger gave me in my pocket when I’m out on bounty hunts. Something about having it with me makes me feel protected.
One of the fights CORE was involved in that intrigued me was the belief that the “N” word is being abused by the entertainment industry. Niger, in particular, voiced his concerns about the industry’s double standards, which allow comedians such as David Alan Grier or Dave Chappelle to be given a pass when doing skits using the “N” word, without public outcry. Rappers are also given a pass to use it with far more consistency and stereotyping. To some degree, my use of the word fell into the pass/no pass system being used in today’s pop culture. David Alan Grier did a short monologue about my use of the word and used it over and over again to make his point. There were no headlines, no fallout for his show, Chocolate News, and no public outcry against his tirade. I wanted to do whatever I could to help CORE resolve this issue within the entertainment industry.
After our first meeting in New York, Roy Innis had a change of heart about old Doggie. Beth and I attended a luncheon hosted by Mr. Innis at the CORE headquarters in New York, where we posed for photos and got to know his predominately African-American staff, none of whom seemed reluctant to pose with us. It had become pretty clear to most everyone there that the papers had made me out to be something I wasn’t. In fact, Roy Innis came out and publicly made a statement about the matter, saying, “Like many that heard the comments made by Duane ‘the Dog’ Chapman without the proper context, I was offended and outraged. After meeting with him and his wife Beth, and hearing his side of the story, we realized that the controversy had unjustly spiraled out of control without context.”
His public statement vindicated me in the eyes of his organization, and I believe it started me down the path of recovery and reconnecting with the African-American community. After that luncheon, Roy invited me to attend a CORE dinner in late January 2008 honoring Martin Luther King. I was told I’d be attending with Senator John McCain and a host of other high-profile politicians and celebrities. I was deeply honored by the request and gladly accepted the offer to attend.
I have never forgotten a rebroadcast speech I heard Martin Luther King give on television when I was in Huntsville prison. He said, “The Bible says an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” At the time, I remember thinking, Right on. And then he said something like “America would be blind and toothless if we lived like that.” I couldn’t get his words out of my mind. I walked around the rest of the day thinking how great this man was. He made an unforgettable impression on me and gave me the gift of realizing that revenge has its price too.
CORE had asked me to speak at the Martin Luther King dinner. As I prepared for the evening, I wanted to find a connection to Dr. King that would make my presence relevant that night. And then it occurred to me that James Earl Ray had been wanted for breaking out of jail by hiding out in a bread truck, making him a flat-out fugitive when he shot and killed Martin Luther King. If I had been bounty hunting back then, he was just the type of guy I would have gone after. Knowing this fact gave me a purpose for being there and an inspiration to speak to the crowd. As I spoke, I thought I did a good job capturing the audience, but someone later told me that T. D. Jakes refused to listen to what I had to say and walked out before I was done.
After I spoke, an African-American woman approached me with her young daughter, a beautiful child