The 'N word' briefly revisited

Oprah was trying to get Chris to stop using the "N" word. I got educated early on by a co-worker, who was a black muslim.

There are plenty of things I do not or would not say, generally out of respect for myself or whoever might be within listening distance. I do not feel it is my right or privilege as a PERSON to shun civility.

Hmm....

Im off to see this movie.
It sounds really good.


As for my stance on the word nigger..

I am sort of a walking contradiction. I don't believe the word is friendly and harmless .

Then again..... I do.

There used to be this short clip on the internet in 1997 or so, that showed pictures of slaves, the trees on their backs, the slave owners , the houses and such they lived in, pictures of slaves starved to death, raped , beaten.. .. and all through out the little slide show, the word nigger, would pop up on the screen to describe the person who was being beaten.. or starved.. or sold..


At the bottom , was an older black man sort of 'walking along' the time line of slavery watching it evolve.
He watched every way the word nigger was thrown at black people and how it was used as a sort of 'legal stamp' on blacks to allow -non black- people to abuse them with justification.

He watched it all up until present day ... where more modern photos started showing the use of words like Afro american. Colored. Coon. ......... all much more friendly -supposedly- but still flung at black people as labels , and in a way that implies they are still powerless over who calls them what and how they are viewed by the very society they are a part of.

when the clip was finally over, the cartoon man at the bottom sits on a bench and cries.

Then this teenage character walks up to him and says " wassup niggah"


Sorry to quote a whole cartoon like that, but that is how I feel about the word nigger.

Then, to contradict myself, I feel that the word SHOULD be used and easily to take away its power.
But, I don't believe , the way it is used today.. is removing power. I think it is giving MORE power to the word because it has become a word that has re-created a hot button in society.
Frankly, people who are not black and use the word are seen as racist. Yet young black people can use it freely .
Even in common discussion, if the person using the word isn't black, sometimes black people get pissed. They take offence and try to reprimand the person who said it by attempting to remind them of their skin color and letting them know they have to right to use it.


im babbling again.. but I hope I made sense.

Re: The 'N word' briefly revisited


I can't speak for anyone but myself Snood.

I'm White, and I loathe that word.

Just as I hate and do not use words that are commonly known to be insulting to the Polish, Italian, Asian, Hispanic, German, Jewish, etc.

I have a lot of faults, but directing an ugly word at the essence of another persons heritage is not one of them.

If Blacks use it as a friendly expression to other Blacks, that's none of my concern. I'm not Black, so I won't assume it would be welcome.

Funny, I just thought of something. Growing up, I never heard one Italian say to another.....you damn (fill in blank) unless they were REALLY angry. Same with all the other groups mentioned above. The only exception was the Polish, my heritage. I can't remember how many times I heard "you dumb (fill in the blank)" The insult was directed at the fact that Poles were supposed to be stupid.

So, there's 2 groups I personally know of that call each other, nasty names, one of which I know means you think the other person stupid.

Now, of course, this is only my experience. Others may post something totally different.

However, my behavior is based on MY experience.

I don't wake up in the morning saying....."I'm gonna do this today because I'm White, and I can"

So, just as you are many other things besides being Black, so am I.

I don't say certain words because of my experience, and out of respect for other humans. Not because I'm White.

good point.

I dont know of any white people who call each other cracker, or honkey

Or spanish people who call each other spic

Or asians who say chink....


the list could go on and on.

My only responce to that is ... maybe nigger was more of a sore spot then other racists comments.

I mean, how many people really get upset , no matter what thier race, when they hear cracker?, for example?

Most people laugh.. in my experience that is.

Nigger seems to carry more of an impact then other words.

Re: The 'N word' briefly revisited


snood
I love Rock, but I'm not sure I have the joke right. Does he mean by "do" that white folks can't speak that word whereas black folks can?

If that's what is meant, then the joke would be about an over-riding sense of entitlement we in the white seats often demonstrate, and I couldn't argue with that one.

I think Pryor was probably the first to use the "n" word proligately on national TV. I loved hearing him hijack this racist term and turn it on its head to bestow dignity and honor where that had been absent previously. It was a necessary step. And it's still necessary, I think, which is why Rock and others (not necessarily just blacks) still find it useful. I have gay friends who frequently use "fag" and it doesn't bother me at all. I understand why they do and how such terms have to be broughtly fully into the light rather than hidden away for their old meanings and power to be cancelled out.

words, like flags and other symbols only have the power we give them.

I don't get it either, blatham, but then there are a lot of things that I don't get. I do wonder about the origin of that epithet, however.

I never use it, privately or otherwise.

My personal take on it is, everyone has a motivation for using the word, not always the same. I never did put it in my vocabulary, because it is a hurtful word, aimed indiscriminately at a group of people who have been harrassed for simply existing. It is anathema to me. I listen to Rock or Pryor saying it and accept the spirit in which they use it, but never let it in beyond that.

Actually, I hadn't looked it up before, assuming it had originated in relation to the Niger River...duh...of course I should have realized that Niger wouldn't be the word that local folks used for their river, but rather the name European folks gave the river.

My word, I just found the etymology, and was stunned.

There we go.

I have posted this before.

I grew up in a poor predominately black neighborhood.

White kids I encountered outside my neighborhood called me a white nigger (they didn't have the term wigger then) and rejected me in a most hurtful way.

In my neighborhood, practically not a school day went by when I wasn't being wailed on by black kids calling me a little white bitch and a punk and trying to take my lunch money.

As far as I'm concerned, most people are racists by nature. because I think, given the opportunity, most people are looking for the chance to lord themselves over others using one "tool" or "card" or another.

It's the law of the jungle. We define ourselves by our ability and our sincere struggle to not succumb to our own shitty instincts IMO.

That's exactly what the movie Crash was all about, bear. As I often told my students: Hey, we have names, why not just use them. That is why to this day, even on a forum, I prefer to say the name of an individual.

As some of you here on a2k know, I spent much of my childhood in Saudi Arabia. I had strikingly blond hair. Some of my fathers arab friends would come to our house just so they could rub my hair for good luck.

That's why I came to your house. Then I had a heart attack.

That was from the salsa.

Here in the deep south, we rub an albino for good luck (see God's Little Acre for reference).