The "N" Word . .

[ZorCrow]

http://www.ferris.edu/news/jimcrow/caricature/

I support this site

www.abolishthenword.com

I will have more thoughts on the word and it's usage later.

 

[DonDaddyD]

You know I saw this site and it touched me in that place and I don't want this thread to be not answered to.

I believe that the use of the Word should not be glamourised and I remember a documentary on channel 4 detailing why teenagers think its ok to call each other nigga. The conclusion was that they didn't know the true origins of where the word came from. Oh, they knew that slavery existed but they didn't know the deep rooted hatred, cruelty and out right dehumanisation of an entire race that happened even after slavery was abolished. When faced with the truths of what happened during slavery each and every one of the Teenagers refused to use the word ever again.

What gets me too the core is people who think it's ok to say Nigga with an A as oppose to the word with an er. It amounts to the same thing, they are saying the same word and its origns are rooted in the same place.

In my eyes the word cannot be glamourised or desensitized, by doing so it will take away from the injustice that was wrought upon the Black people. Black people calling each other by such a hateful moniker believing it makes it ok or that they are 'taking back' the word is foolish, why would we want such a hateful word anyway? We never created it.

Calling each other the Nword implies that it excuses slavery and it doesn't. It is not cool for anyone to call each other Nigga in jest!

 

[Black Widow]

What with the rise in the popularity of Hip Hop music nowadays, a white girl has to wonder... WHY is 'nigga' so OVERUSED?

And furthermore... WHAT does it mean for the rest of us? SURE, it's alright for black people to greet each other 'what's up, my nigga?' But OH MY LORD... If my white ass let that slip, I'd probably be KILLED... branded RACIST.

Listening to Eminem's music... and I could be wrong... but i've NEVER heard him say nigga or any variation [and rightfully so-- or he'd probably get "tupac'd"]. but rappers like Nelly, 50 Cent, Ludacris... these men use the word to punctuate practically every verse.

What's so perplexing is just that... its OKAY now for black people to say, but would be racist for a white person. As a white girl [who DOES enjoy hip hop music], its hard to understand how this word got a foothold in pop culture in the first place. It IS such a hateful word... and I can't even begin to comprehend why people would GREET each other that way, or speak to each other that way. White people don't walk up to each other like "hey cracker. hows it going?" "not to bad, pasty. how about you?"

:eek3:

It seems crazy to me that blacks as a whole would ALLOW this term to get such widespread usage... ESPECIALLY since we ALL know that in the mouth of a white person, IT STILL would invoke its original meaning.

No one could ever excuse slavery OR the hateful racism that the word 'nigger' was born with... so it makes no sense to even USE the word... most certainly since it will NEVER shake its original associations.

 

[Lawless]

As a black man I haven’t said the N word in 17 years now. It just denotes a sense or better yet lack thereof of self-worth. Blacks claim they taken the word and made it there own but if that were true we wouldn’t get angry every time a white person said it. What blacks have taken is referring to ourselves is complete sentiment of worthless, lazy, etc and have only removed the tired old outdated caricatures of ourselves and replaced them with new ones. Instead of ole’ Toms and Mammy’s we’ve thuglife Tyron and the like. Blacks refer to other blacks as N and laugh at the old sentiment but haven’t removed the old sentiment. Blacks who are angry at each other use N to exaggerate the lack of value of each other as in ‘you worthless N’. We’re “OK” with it to each other because we’re all (blacks) in the same boat of not being worth shit to the world at large. Blacks will refer to a rich and successful blacks as a supposed ‘smart’ or ‘uppity’ N with the contempt that a N will think of themselves as anything other than worthless.

Maybe I think to much of myself of course I don’t listen to a lot of hip-hop either so maybe I missing the point. Of course despite differences I don't want to contribute to the idea that another human being is worthless. To me the only worthless people to me are the ones that cut me off in traffic.

 

[Buddy]

I think with the random usage of the word it has lost most of its meaning to the younger generation of all minoritys at least in the united states. Many races are found using the word now and do so out of ignorance of the background of the word instead of hate of the people who were refered too as the N "word". Being a black male I find the word offensive however being a person I try too look at it as its not what people say but how they say it. I know when someone is talking shit to me and if they mean me harm to me physically or mentally than I dont think its what they said per say because they could say anything in a manner offensive to me and will get the same action of retaliation. I do however understand the deep deep roots of hate for the word from the older generations of black males. I still feel its a terrible word however.

 

[mrfolson]

Well for me......I'm a black male who find the N word degrading no matter who say it or how its said. Whether its said out of the mouth of a white person or black person. As for my race as a whole we shouldn't have the so called priviledge to call each other the N word because we don't know how to come together as a race of people. Truly the only time we stuck together as a race was during slavery and even then we had a few of our own that was against us. Tell you the truth most of us are too damn stupid to realize that the N word really affect us, an saying that is one minute we could say "wuts going on nigga" and I guess thats a harmless greeting and then the next minute you could here, "fuck you nigga", which is an insult. Well.....I think both terms are insults if the N word have to be even mentioned. I hate to say this but as a race of people, most of us have our priorities backwards. We use the N word an B word way too much, an you women know wut the B word is.

 

[Buddy]

I can see exactly what you mean. I dont see us as black people comming together as a race anytime well ever and if it was possible than I would say take the next step and come together as a species with all of humanity. I dont like the idea of saying I am just black, I am human like everyone else. I guess its this outlook that makes me see the N word like I do and not care for it as much as other black people do. I feel that we should look past that and realize that we all share the same planet and we are all human. But I doubt that would happen it would be a step too far in the right direction for most people of any race.

 

[ZorCrow]

Buddy, I am a black man as well and I agree with your sentiments.

I remember I asked a relative one time,

"Why is it wrong for a white person to say nigger and not a black person?"

They said to me, "Because it's two niggers."

It was the most ignoran answer I have ever heard before ever .. .

That is the ignorance behind us using this.

Twice, in St. Clair Shores, MI and in South Lyon, MI have I rolled up on white youth playing "gangster rap" saying, "I killed this nigger, I make niggers in to graves."

Just pure self hatred and representing pure hatred to other folks.

The amount of foolishness has to stop. I stopped using the word, and I am working on eliminating it completely from my mental vocabulary.

The sad reality is I have been called nigger out of hate by white people before. But more often have I been called nigger out of hate by blacks, fare more times.

It's pure self hate, it's the word Skinheads call us, and bigots use when are not around.

Times being called NIgger:

I remember when I liked this white girl, her name was Aimee Wontanay.
I remembered, one day I got her a single flower, as a part of Valentines Day. I gave the flower to a guy (a white dude) name Brian he gave it to her from me.

I remember when he walked over to her she said, "That's so sweet"

Brian said, "It's from >>>>>"

She refused to accept it and dropped it on the ground.

I wonder why she did that. Then one day I head friend say, "Let's go over there and hang out." and Aimee said, "We're not going over, there, there niggers over there."

So much racism . . . so much hatred . .. I had a complex against white women until that day. I still don't find white women attractive and still don't trust white people in general based off the use of that word and the treatment of that word.

The word is language and it's history and it's not for us to use on each other, it's not affection, it's hate.

I had a majority of white friends in Middle School and crushed on white girls (Jessica, Kristi, Aimee, Kelly and Stephanie (they were all blondes by the way, and I still have a picture of Stephanie, Kelly has light brown hair, anyway). However, none of the white girls would date a black guy. My white friend used the word nigger all the time. I never thought anything of it. Until I was in High School and stopped hanging out with white folks. I really thought, "Man how full of self hate was I."

I from then on never trusted white folks to me when they are alone they call us niggers and hate us. I still feel that way. I became prejudiced. I cut loose my white friends, even those who weren't prejudice. I just didn't get it. I remember one of my white friends came to class saying, "I hate black people, I really do, not you though >>>>> you are the only one that's cool." I felt proud, but now I feel ashamed. I wasn't above black people, I was just a toy that they played with. Never seen as a equal just a sambo, a nigger they liked.

They never respected me, never invited me to their parties, never hung out with me. I was less to them.

I don't trust white folks. None of them to this day . . . I think they are all one incident away from calling a black person a racial slur.

Maybe one day I can overcome that, but now, I don't want white women, I dont' want white friends, I don't want anything but life.

 

[DonDaddyD]

I once dated a black Girl 2yrs my junior that thought my last name was a black sounding name.... I told we could no longer date until she watched Roots.... Thats the problem with England, slavery isn't a topic they teach in schools and parents forget to teach their children about the depths of slavery. Sure SOME black people under the age of 23 know there was slaves in the past they aren't made fully aware of the implications of it or the mass affect it had on black people as a whole.

Young people feel comfortable about using the Word 'nigger' because they have little to no knowledge of where it comes from. The gross ignorant use of the word almost suggests that Slavery was ok, it wasn't the word shouldn't be used and when black people are made fully aware of the history behind the word I know for a fact they feel compelled not to use it.

And furthermore... WHAT does it mean for the rest of us? SURE, it's alright for black people to greet each other 'what's up, my nigga?' But OH MY LORD... If my white ass let that slip, I'd probably be KILLED... branded RACIST.

Titania raised a brilliant point here, why is ok for a black person to call each other a hateful word but it isn't ok for a white person to call a black person 'nigger'?

Surely this implies that is ok for black people to hate each other but it isn't ok for white people to hate us. Isn't that hypocritical?

(I feel) As black people as a whole we do not advertise ourselves to the World as a people with any worth.

I also question, that despite hip hop music being so influential what does it tell other ethnicities that listen to it when the topic is about murdering each other and/or refering to each other as 'nigger'.

 

[DonDaddyD]

Buddy, I am a black man as well and I agree with your sentiments.

I remember I asked a relative one time,

"Why is it wrong for a white person to say nigger and not a black person?"

They said to me, "Because it's two niggers."

It was the most ignoran answer I have ever heard before ever .. .

That is the ignorance behind us using this.

Twice, in St. Clair Shores, MI and in South Lyon, MI have I rolled up on white youth playing "gangster rap" saying, "I killed this nigger, I make niggers in to graves."

Just pure self hatred and representing pure hatred to other folks.

The amount of foolishness has to stop. I stopped using the word, and I am working on eliminating it completely from my mental vocabulary.

The sad reality is I have been called nigger out of hate by white people before. But more often have I been called nigger out of hate by blacks, fare more times.

It's pure self hate, it's the word Skinheads call us, and bigots use when are not around.

Times being called NIgger:

I remember when I liked this white girl, her name was Aimee Wontanay.
I remembered, one day I got her a single flower, as a part of Valentines Day. I gave the flower to a guy (a white dude) name Brian he gave it to her from me.

I remember when he walked over to her she said, "That's so sweet"

Brian said, "It's from >>>>>"

She refused to accept it and dropped it on the ground.

I wonder why she did that. Then one day I head friend say, "Let's go over there and hang out." and Aimee said, "We're not going over, there, there niggers over there."

So much racism . . . so much hatred . .. I had a complex against white women until that day. I still don't find white women attractive and still don't trust white people in general based off the use of that word and the treatment of that word.

The word is language and it's history and it's not for us to use on each other, it's not affection, it's hate.

I had a majority of white friends in Middle School and crushed on white girls (Jessica, Kristi, Aimee, Kelly and Stephanie (they were all blondes by the way, and I still have a picture of Stephanie, Kelly has light brown hair, anyway). However, none of the white girls would date a black guy. My white friend used the word nigger all the time. I never thought anything of it. Until I was in High School and stopped hanging out with white folks. I really thought, "Man how full of self hate was I."

I from then on never trusted white folks to me when they are alone they call us niggers and hate us. I still feel that way. I became prejudiced. I cut loose my white friends, even those who weren't prejudice. I just didn't get it. I remember one of my white friends came to class saying, "I hate black people, I really do, not you though >>>>> you are the only one that's cool." I felt proud, but now I feel ashamed. I wasn't above black people, I was just a toy that they played with. Never seen as a equal just a sambo, a nigger they liked.

They never respected me, never invited me to their parties, never hung out with me. I was less to them.

I don't trust white folks. None of them to this day . . . I think they are all one incident away from calling a black person a racial slur.

Maybe one day I can overcome that, but now, I don't want white women, I dont' want white friends, I don't want anything but life.

You know this post is very real and captures many of my sentiments even a continent away. My parents told me similar stories I've experienced the same thing. Never more so than at Uni where Black is truly a minority. I've been made to feel the outcast I've listened to white people refer to other races by racial slurs and that has left me thinking what makes them think its ok? What do they call me when I'm not around?

I hate the majority of sterotypes that are handed to black people it is so limiting, what I find the most limiting is that we refer to each other with hate.

I do trust white people but its a trust shaped around my understanding their culture. I expect different loyalties from white people than I do black people... its wierd, its even harder to explain.

I have developed a complex of white women, I try to look past it.-More often than not I just assume they don't go for black guys and the ones that do just want the stereotype. But too many times have I been labled and categorised by stereotype to not have a complex. Too many times have I been dismissed due to that stereotype (it really is insulting) and far too many times have I seen white people slip back into racism for me not to be weary.

What really bugs me is white people who use the word around me, some seem to think that because 50cent uses it its ok to use it. Its not and its not ok that a black man uses it as well.

 

[Rampage]

I will try to bring a voice to the opposite sentiment. Here goes...

That word belongs to us, to black people. Whites do not nor will they ever get to use it freely and safely because they abused us with it for so long. For many of us as a society the word became label, as much as black or African-American. So we co-opted it. took it over. Made it ours to flaunt in front of whites as we used it as wished and dared them to object OR to even THINK about trying to use it themselves, as least not without extreme repercussions. Whites always ask why, but they know: they lost the ability to use it and we have taken that power for ourselves, to use or misuse, but never to cede back to them.
I am just trying to get across the opposite sentiment of many Blacks when it comes to the word. I have seen the word condemned, and it is hateful, but I think it is short-sighted to deal with the word on an intellectual level and ignore the reality on the ground which is this: this word is indelibly linked to the Black experience. Many Blacks (especially in the South) DID in fact use the word on each other to inure themselves to its sting. That way they would not fight when whites said it and be killed. Let's not EVER forget that this is the genesis of that word's usage among us as much as any other, that we as a people took the ultimate literary LEMON and concocted a strange LEMONADE from it. We may not all like it, but to universally condemn its use and people who use the word seems to be blaming the victims here.

 

[DonDaddyD]

I will try to bring a voice to the opposite sentiment. Here goes...

That word belongs to us, to black people. Whites do not nor will they ever get to use it freely and safely because they abused us with it for so long.

I cannot believe you wrote that. Its almost upsetting that you say that, I certainly don't want the word. How does the word belong to us, we never created it, its origins do not stem from our native tongue/s. The word has one meaning; it is an offensive racial slur that refers to black people. Look at the hatered that the word was born in and you would claim it for your race? Are we not more than that?

For many of us as a society the word became label, as much as black or African-American. So we co-opted it. took it over. Made it ours to flaunt in front of whites....

No we didn't because the negative connatations are still there. When a white person calls a black person nigger its still carries the hate. When a black does the same the word still carries the hate. It echos the past injustices, the word Nigger in my mind is not a word that we should as black people feel proud of at any stage of our time on this Earth.

Whites always ask why, but they know: they lost the ability to use it and we have taken that power for ourselves, to use or misuse, but never to cede back to them.

A white person can still call a black person a nigger and it still has the same hateful meaning. When a person asks why is it ok for blacks to refer to one another with the word and not for whites, it isn't in my mind due to the empowerment of black people, but mostly out of hypocrisy and a lack of education.

Many Blacks (especially in the South) DID in fact use the word on each other to inure themselves to its sting. That way they would not fight when whites said it and be killed.

Did they have a choice but to use the word? They were stripped of their names, their language, their history and their identity. All their life they were referred to as Nigger, never taught to read, kept uneducated, spirit broken and taught to believe themself less than their master. That was what nigger/negro/coloured/coon/spade/jigaboo meant. All their lives they were referred to as Nigger. All they knew was that they were Niggers and that they as niggers were less. That was the black man's world, that was his truth. The fact that black people back then referred to each other as nigger wasn't to soften the impact of the Word, they considered each other niggers because that was all they knew that they were.

I am not a nigger, I have an identity, education and for the most part a rebuilt history. I am a black man and proud of it.

 

[Black Widow]

What really bugs me is white people who use the word around me, some seem to think that because 50cent uses it its ok to use it. Its not and its not ok that a black man uses it as well.

BINGO. That's what I'm saying. 'Nigga' and its ABUNDANT use in pop culture SEEMS to make it okay to use the word. So what about the ignorant ass white teenagers who listen to this music? WHAT do rappers teach through their music? They teach blacks AND other ethnicities who listen that nigga is okay... and its NOT... but not EVERYONE is intelligent enough [or educated enough] to realize that nigga in any form will NEVER be okay.

and another point that was raised... BITCH is incredibly overused today as well. [Anyone ever seen the movie "Mean Girls"?] the very WORD is derogatory and I would NEVER, EVER go up to a girlfriend and be like "Hey bitch! Whats up?" and ANY woman who addressed ME that way would be met with an "EXCUSE ME?" Because EVERYONE knows... a man would AT LEAST get himself SLAPPED if he called a girl a bitch.

So why dont ENOUGH black people feel the same way about nigga?

I am not a nigger, I have an identity, education and for the most part a rebuilt history. I am a black man and proud of it.

Whoo... gave me chills. That's empowerment, right there. THAT is taking the sting out of the racial slur 'nigger'. Why don't more people see that??

 

[DonDaddyD]

BINGO. That's what I'm saying. 'Nigga' and its ABUNDANT use in pop culture SEEMS to make it okay to use the word. So what about the ignorant ass white teenagers who listen to this music? WHAT do rappers teach through their music? They teach blacks AND other ethnicities who listen that nigga is okay... and its NOT... but not EVERYONE is intelligent enough [or educated enough] to realize that nigga in any form will NEVER be okay.

You know a white guy from Africa once said to me 'wassup my nigga' He thought that was ok because he was from South Africa....... I asked 'why haven't they fed him to the Lions?'

Question I have to ask you Titania is when your singing the Words to these lovely hip hop songs do you leave out the Word nigga when saying the lyrics or do you just say them? The latter would be easier. I know that I (hypocritically) do say the words when I'm "rapping" the lyrics to some songs.

and another point that was raised... BITCH is incredibly overused today as well. [Anyone ever seen the movie "Mean Girls"?] the very WORD is derogatory and I would NEVER, EVER go up to a girlfriend and be like "Hey bitch! Whats up?" and ANY woman who addressed ME that way would be met with an "EXCUSE ME?" Because EVERYONE knows... a man would AT LEAST get himself SLAPPED if he called a girl a bitch.

That to me is very interesting indeed. Because I know a card carrying wiccan and a feminist, who refers to themselves as a bitch on a regular basis..... I never realised that some women would disagree with the use of the Word... though I would never normally refer to Women as such. Not casually anyway.

 

[Rampage]

DDD, just so you understand, that is not my personal view that I wrote, but it belongs to many people and their view and history is as valid as yours or mine. For my part, I understand why the word upsets so many people (hell, it pisses me off) here but for so long it was a label for many Blacks that I think that was the tortured logic that brought it into the mainstream, and it will not leave simply because you or I or especially anyone white says it should.
Because what people here are not acknowledging is that while it ALWAYS bother you to hear it, for many Blacks hearing it in a positive (or by your reckoning, psuedo-positive) manner AT ALL reduces its sting, because the truth of the matter is that if Blacks stopped using it today, they would still hear it. From whites. As a completely negative racial slur. I think for many Blacks taking it and using it in a way that THEY control and define is preferable to how it used to be, and for my part I cannot say I disagree totally with them. In the end, if you cannot get EVERYONE to stop using it, you lose traction when you try to stop people from co-opting it for a decidedly less sinister purpose.

 

[DonDaddyD]

DDD, just so you understand, that is not my personal view that I wrote, but it belongs to many people and their view and history is as valid as yours or mine.

Ok I'm sorry if I came at you, I thought that that was your personal view. Needless to say you can see that though my upbringing has made me completely intollerant and shut off too that view.

I've seen documentaries and had conversation with younger people that think that by using the Word nigger we are taking it back from the white person. I tell ask two-three things; does it mean any less when your being chased by a racist saying the word? Do you know the full extent of what slavery did and the injustice done to the black race? (then if I need to be sarcastic I ask) have you even seen Roots? Normally all three answers are no. Remember in my country they don't teach Slavery or Black people living in America in schools. So I do not feel that those views of those people are valid because everyone I know who is educated on the subject will firmly say the use of the Word is not ok and using it is not taking it back for the black man.

Because what people here are not acknowledging is that while it ALWAYS bother you to hear it, for many Blacks hearing it in a positive (or by your reckoning, psuedo-positive) manner AT ALL reduces its sting, because the truth of the matter is that if Blacks stopped using it today, they would still hear it. From whites.

Chinese people still hear Whites in my country refer to them as Chinks, Indians hear whites refer to them as Paki's. Dare I say that those words are less taboo than Nigger, they do not and will not lower themselves by refering to each other by the word. I do not see why Black people should.

I may be one black person and the majority may be ok with the word. But its not ok. Anyone educated in the history of the word will tell them its not ok. And I've seen those who go through the process of education in relation to the history of the word also realise that it isn't ok. Nigger was a word to strip a race of its identity, it isn't coincidence that those who are not aware of their racial identity believe the word to be ok in everyday use.

I will never stop saying and knowing that the casual use of the word is wrong. AND I am wrong each and everytime I sing along to the songs that use that word so freely.

In the end, if you cannot get EVERYONE to stop using it, you lose traction when you try to stop people from co-opting it for a decidedly less sinister purpose.

I don't want everyone to stop using it. What I want is for black people as a whole is to be educated in their history, to be taught about slavery in America and colonial britain, I want them to know the Women were raped, the men hung, I want them to know that for centuries they weren't taught to read or write and instead taught that they were less than their master who used the word nigger, I want them to know they were sold as cattle to work fields or serve masters, I want them made aware of the Jim Crow Laws, I want Bristish Blacks taught of the hardships of living in Britain during the Windrush era and before I want them taught that the BBC was Britains greatest racist institution alongside the police that ridiculed the black identity, I want black people made aware that their English last name was given to them by their master and that English is not their native tongue. Then after all that what I want is for black people to CHOOSE if Nigger is a word they want as a way of identifying themselves.

 

[Rampage]

To say thatBlack use it simply due to lack of knowledge is an extreme oversimplification. I daresay that in the American South to not be aware of slavery and its sting is unusual if not unheard of among Black people. I know that to live here is to be aware of Jim Crow laws and racism in general. And while you may have been raised to have no acknowledgement of the word, you cannot simply ignore the reality of many people that does not mirror your own.
As far as relating it to the negative words for other races of people, there is no comparison. There is no equating anything I can find to the loss of life during the Middle Passage to North and South America, which led to the direct loss of over 20 million souls (by estimate, could have been over 30 million).
As far as seeing Roots, I don't know of anyone Black over 25 who hasn't. There are younger Black people who may not have, but I can say that there are horror stories that happened in North Carolina in the last century. We don't need Roots to understand racism and its sting. We can listen to our parents and grandparents. Hell, I have stories of my own...
For myself, I say the word from time to time. I do not wear it out and I do dnot say it in mixed racial company. When it is said, the recipient knows why and for what purpose.

 

[DonDaddyD]

To say thatBlack use it simply due to lack of knowledge is an extreme oversimplification. I daresay that in the American South to not be aware of slavery and its sting is unusual if not unheard of among Black people.

You know admittingly I cannot speak as the voice of black people (wish I could) throughout the World. I can however hand on my heart say the vast majority of PEOPLE in my country of any ethnicity and to a lesser extent Europe use the word in either a derogatory and out right racist sense or because they think that using the word is now ok. I can firmly say that the latter is born out of ignorance and not fully being aware of where the word originated from.

My problem with the use of the word, for me a black man; who studies black history, the black identity and has worked as a TV researcher for black related programmes, is that the word in and of itself is not reflective of the black identity, and certainly not in a positive sense. The word was used to strip a race of its identity and help impose a new one that was far less than its predecessor. To claim nigger as an identifier of a race to me seems like an admission that we are in fact niggers and the white people were right to do what they did as we are sub standard humans less capable of mentally challenging tasks. - Because thats what was said and believed about niggers and by niggers.

The word is what the word is and it means what it has always meant; hatered, oppression, racism. Regardless of how it is used now by some, it will always carry with it the connatations of the past that cannot be undone. It isn't like the word meant something else and then was warped by racists and then can be converted back (Gay did not always mean homosexual it also means happy-for want of a better word-and can be used for both meanings even they used a positive word to identify themselves as, why must black people use such a negative and racist word?). Nigger however has always meant a disparaging term for a Black person. Knowing what I know I cannot say I am a nigger with pride. Can you?

I know that to live here is to be aware of Jim Crow laws and racism in general. And while you may have been raised to have no acknowledgement of the word, you cannot simply ignore the reality of many people that does not mirror your own.

I think for the most part living anywhere in Europe and being anything but white is to know racism.

I acknowledge the word for what it is and what it always has been, hate. No one has ever called me a nigger and in turn I have felt proud because of it. No one has ever called me nigger with good intensions and I have subsequently felt unaffected. It will never be ok for a white person to call me that because it is direspectful so I don't see why it is ok for another black person to say it in the same context.

As far as relating it to the negative words for other races of people, there is no comparison. There is no equating anything I can find to the loss of life during the Middle Passage to North and South America, which led to the direct loss of over 20 million souls (by estimate, could have been over 30 million).

Of course a comparision can be drawn, the actions taken against black people in your mind may have been greater but the racist terms used to describe Chinese, Indians and all other ethnicities are just as hateful.

But to give a better comparision in your mind do Jews refer to each other as Yid's?

As far as seeing Roots, I don't know of anyone Black over 25 who hasn't. There are younger Black people who may not have, but I can say that there are horror stories that happened in North Carolina in the last century. We don't need Roots to understand racism and its sting. We can listen to our parents and grandparents. Hell, I have stories of my own...

Dude in October I was walking out of a club with two white girls on my arms next thing I know I'm getting punched in the face in a kebab shop and fighting because I'm black and I'm with white girls. During the Brixton riots my Uncle less than 15yrs older than me, was attacked, beaten, broken in the back of a police van, they claimed that he was carrying a TV, he wasn't there was no evidence that he did. A club got raided by the police and my 15yr old friends were cornered beaten and again broken. When I last saw one of them he still had the scars. I've had banana peels thrown at me. So please I'm fully aware of horror stories and the ones I've given you are not the worst that I know of - they are the ones I care to share.

I said that I sarcasticly cite Roots because it is the most accessible and one of the most recognised films that details the story of slavery onwards. I only use that question (have you even seen Roots?) in a patronising manner and because to those that do watch it it seems to carry a powerful message that awakens something within the viewer 9of every ethnicity). Also the fact that they made a film about it, it ironically carries an air of visual realism. There are other and better examples of the injustice wrought upon black people, obviously. Roots for me is one of the most precise and easiest examples though their are others. It was also at the age of 8 part of my doorway into cultural awareness.

For myself, I say the word from time to time. I do not wear it out and I do dnot say it in mixed racial company. When it is said, the recipient knows why and for what purpose.

When do you use it and in what context? My Mum uses it, she uses it as the ultimate insult against myself and my father. To date she has called my Father it twice and myself once, to which I called her mother, my grandmother and told her what her daughter has been saying.

 

[Buddy]

With the way I feel I think its a good thing that the word is getting tossed around so much by everyone now. The more the word is tossed out there the more it loses its value. For many with personal experiances like Zorcrow the word will be offensive due to those experiances. However the younger generations dont understand the words deep rooted means thus will not derive hate from it. Its like when you are little and your told that Fuck, shit and all that should never be said and when you hear it you think wow that is something serious. When you get older and you hear it more and more it just becomes another word, then its not the word that offends or makes you think its serious but how it is said.

With that said I was born and raised in San Francisco and before I had someone say something racsist to me I heard people of different races getting taunted by others outside thier race. I think this softened me up for the most part as far as my concerns about racsist people go. Since SF is so diverse in the people it has I found that every race can show thier ugly side including my own, since I had alot of black friends I guess it was especially my own. With that I found that its not a race of people that I cant trust its up to the individual person to be a racist. I remember a friend of mine used to call this white kid at the store a cracker and whitebread everyday he had no reason for this at all the guy never said a word to him he just wanted to be an ass. One day the kid got feed up and said "You would like it if I called you the N word would you?" He didnt even say the N word and my friend went off and went to go beat his ass, I stopped him and said it wasnt worth it but he was fuming mad about it. When I told him he provoked it he told me that the guy deserved it and so do all white people, I think asked him why and he couldnt awnser me. After that I asked him if he felt he should be punished for things his parents or grandparents might have done and he looked at me puzzled and said he never thought about it, his dad allways called white people crackers and reacted the same way when he was called a nigger or even close to it. Through that I found that hate for races isnt something that just poped up, its something thats taught. If we as a species continue to hate all people of a race for the actions of others we will just continue in the shitty cycle. Thats why I hate individuals based on thier actions i cant hate all people for the actions of a few. Lets face it all races have fucked up bad at one time or another killing off thier own even.

 

[DonDaddyD]

In Germany the word Nazi is the upmost insult, being found wearing a Swastika comes with a prison sentence. They are aware of their crimes and though they have moved on from that dark time they are not willing to accept any hint of it within their culture. That to me is not moving on, it is in fact elevating oneself. They will never forget and the will never accept it.

So why must black people make lemonade from the lemon that is the word nigger. When others have proven that you simply don't have to?

I don't think the word should be tossed around freely and accepted by black people as a term to be used casually. I feel that people should be made to feel embarrassed for using it.

The word in my mind helped create, justify, maintain and mean this:

It is a word so damaging that its impact has a 'knock on effect' on black people today. It is responsible for much of the fragmented culture & society we call our own today (we have none). It is a word of our adopted language that helped destroy our original culture and religion. It is a word found only in the western society we were forced into and have been stranded in.

The word can never mean less it cannot truly loose its value, it has history and history shouldn't and cannot be forgotten.

We don't call each other Nigger with respect. So why must we continually disrespect ourselves.

African's do not regard themselves as Niggers, they do not call each other it. So why should we. We call ourselves it because our ancestors were once slaves and we accept the fact that once upon a time they were niggers. But that isn't ok and we shouldn't consider ourselves that.