The "N Word" Still Hurts
After the Michael Richards fiasco, people were disgusted and taken aback with Richards' unrestrained use of the word Nigger during a comedy show at the laugh factory. With good reason, the African American community was appalled and hurt that the Seinfield star used the word so freely. Several leaders, such as Jesse Jackson and Michael Eric Dyson, spoke out and demanded an apology from Richards and asked that he sought treatment for his rage. However, Richard's rant was more than a suppressed fit of anger, but a reflection of our society's race relations as a whole.
Many comedians have already taken a stand have vowed to discontinue the use of the "N word" in their acts. Unfortunately, the issue reaches far beyond comedy club stages, and there are opposing opinions on the matter as it pertains to the use of the word within the community it both demeans and endears. There are two websites in particular which represent varying viewpoints: AbolishTheNWord.com and NiggaSpace.com.
Abolish the "N Word" calls for African Americans specifically to eradicate the use the word Nigga from our vocabulary. The site features an online pledge that you can print out to show your support of the elimination of the word from our culture. NiggaSpace.com, a site modeled after the popular Myspace.com, is an online community for people who identify themselves as Niggas, be they Black, White, Asian or Hispanic. The website's owners state on the front page that the site's intention is not to offend but to make the word a positive term used by people of all creeds and colors.
Unfortunately, no matter how you spin the word "Nigger," one cannot ignore the foundation of hatred and racism on which the word was built. Whether you use the word to signify brotherhood and sisterhood, the word can still be used as a tool to hurt, even more so than sticks and stones.
Published by Ain HD
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6 Comments
Post a CommentDo not know how to deal with the citizens that call people names like spick, wetback, ginny, whop, micks, dot-heads, gooks and so on. They are the same ones using the N-word in the cruel way. I do not think it is going away anytime soon. I heard it spoken on a primetime show the other night. It would be hard to erase it out because that is how young brothas speak to each other in real life. Even tho' I am quite used to hearing it "Mi N*a" and understand embracing it was to take away the sting, it still hurts my ears.
Totally unrelated to that is the word Caucasians. A German scientist invented the Caucasin and Negro races by studying skulls. He choose the word from the pale skin color on ladies he found attractive that lived in the Caucas region of Russia. Defining race by skin color fell out of favor in Europe, because there is only one race of people: humans. Perhaps a change can only come when the US government starts counting peoples as citizens or non-citizens and forget about ethnicity.
Well written and I totally agree.
I forgot the word, out... so the sentence should be, "Taking this word OUT of the coomon American language is what I meant to write, but the mistake appeared after I posted. Here it stands corrected, remove the N word from everywhere ! and all the negative isms too . . .
Taking this word of the common American language, regardless of race or culture, is exceptionally beneficial here and while we are at it let us remove all the 'isms words that reflect negativity like racism, ageism, feminism, sadomasochism, monotheism, capitalism, dualism-- all of which are cognitively defined individually to particularly destroy unity. I really enjoyed your article and I understand more deeply what my fiancee, an African American, bears in his mind when these words fall from uninformed, out to hurt lips directed at destroying unity between two cultures. I thank you for voicing this and writing it with such a passion (even if it was anger-emotion fueled)!
As long as the word is tossed around by African Americans themselves it will continue to be used. I know white teens who think its so cool to use it in front of black teens and not get beat up. Not only should their butts be kicked for using it, but so should the African American kids. As long as its "cool" to say it, that takes away from the negative side of the word and how bad it really is to use in a true racist manner. Nice article!