I was facilitating a group discussion last week and a white participant raised the question of why it’s acceptable for black (and brown) people to drop the N-bomb but not white people. “It’s an unfair double standard,” she said, as have hundreds of other before her.
I’ve always found this to be an odd complaint. There are all sorts of things that each one of us can say to family and friends that would be off limits if a total stranger said those very same words.
But so many white people have voiced this double standard complaint over the years that I’ve come to see their struggle as rooted in more than the issues unique to race relations and the disturbing legacy of that word. What I see now is that young white people in this generation do not want to drop the N-bomb (with the “a” ending) as a means of entitlement, “If you get to say it, we get to say it.” I’m starting to think that they want to do so because that word has become the “gold standard of cool.”
Let’s face it. Urban African Americans are the epitome of coolness. It’s been like this for generations. Jazz. Cool. Rock -n- Roll. Cool. Hip Hop. Cool. Timberland shoes worn by white people. Uncool. Tims worn by black people. Cool. You get my point.
Watch Dave Chapelle and Chris Rock and a long list of lesser others kicking around N-bombs. What white person with any healthy barometer of coolness does NOT want to be as cool as Chapelle or Rock? And what it looks like these days is you’re not going to get there if you can’t drop the N-bomb — especially in mixed company, with black gatekeepers of cool nodding or laughing in approval. THAT is the ultimate statement that says “I’m cool,” AND “I’ve been admitted into the club.”
Very simply, young white people may be wrestling with “nigga” not so much as a racial signifier as a signifier of “cool.” In comparison to the generations that preceeded them, black people have reshaped the word from its singularly hateful focus and now it stands in the center of the culture as an indicator of much more than the state of race relations.
More to come…
As we know that languages are changing over time, the word “N” is the same thing. For some people might find it offensive. However, for new generation might not think as the same way. From my experience during high school, my school is 80% black and 10% is Hispanic, and the rest is Asians. Every day, I heard the “N” word everyday, but it has not used in the bad way. Most of them were using it as a “greeting” for each other. I always hear the “N” word using more then five times before I get to class. Soon as I stepped into class, one of my friends would say, “What’s up “N”. The “N” word becomes more acceptable in new society. However, there will be new words that come, replace the “N” word, and make people offended
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I would agree with the comment someone else made saying that I don’t really like it when anyone uses the n-word. It just makes me personally uncomfortable and I think that it makes a lot of people who are not black uncomfortable. The issue arises because a lot of black people use it all the time and are cool with it. They use it as a term of endearment, like friend, and some are perfectly fine with their white friends using it as well. The problem comes in when you encounter black people who are not ok with the word under any circumstance. You accidentally drop the n-bomb and you are done. Or you come across the people who are fine with other blacks using it in every day language, to joke around with and sing along to it in songs but the very second a person of any other race, particularly a white person, says it they go nuts on them and suddenly it’s this big problem. That’s where the real problem is. It’s not necessarily that white people are dying to use the phrase all the time like some black people do, it’s just that there is so much confusion with when it’s ok to use it or who’s allowed to say it and sometimes it’s a huge deal and sometimes it’s not. I think that it should not be ok for anyone to say. Black, white, Puerto Rican, whatever; it’s a horrible word with horrible connotations and a horrible history behind it.
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When I was a boy, the first time I heard the “N” word was in a song by Jay-Z. Jay-Z was my favorite artist growing up, and I specifically remember wondering what the phrase, “Eight figga(figure) nigga, by the name of Jigga,” meant. My brother, being three years older then me, was in 6th grade, and he told me that “nigga” meant black person, but I shouldn’t say it, because it was mean. But is it really mean? Sure a few hundred years ago, it was anything but nice to call a black person a “nigga,” but today, with a black person as our President, I find no harm in calling a person that, unless they themselves have issues with the word. I would never call an older man a “nigga,” but if it’s someone my age, I feel that there is no problem with it. After World War II, being called a Jew in Germany was probably the same as being called a nigga in America after slavery. Slavery happened decades before the genocide of Jews in Germany, and yet, today the average person has very little issue with calling a Jew a Jew. You may also notice that I no longer put the word nigga in quotes, simply because I feel it should be treated as any other word. We live in a sad world when we are analyzing the use of a word in today’s society. We live in a society of free speech, and sure Oprah, a Goddess amongst middle-aged women, may look down upon the word, but that gives no reason for people of all races to deter from using a word.
I understand when a person may get offended by the word, however as a brown person, I have never had to deal with any problems when using the word. I don’t get offended when called a sand-nigger, simply because of the ignorance behind the word. As a brown person of East-Asian decent, the amount of sand in my country is so miniscule, that when called a sand-nigger, I truly think about what an ignorant statement that is, more than how much that hurts my feelings.
I’d have to agree with Sam, when she mentions that black people have “reshaped” the word from a hateful one, to one that people today yearn to say, just to be “cool.” I also agree with the fact that white people always feel uncomfortable saying it, but as a brown person, I stand in a view-point different from both sides. I do feel comfortable saying it, but also don’t ever feel offended when called it. Given that I am brown, I truly don’t care for the importance of the word, as I see it as just a word. I could start a cult amongst all my brown friends to call all non-brown friends, “bagel” but would that hurt anyone’s feelings? One could argue that it could very well hurt their feelings if they were all slaves of brown people, and that all the brown people used to call them “bagels” as a way of putting them down, but I honestly think, they would have to be slaves at most a hundred years ago for the word to be a derogatory word today. In a nutshell, the word nigga, should be just as normal as the word bagel.
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I believe that depending on your race it determines a socially acceptable way to dress, think, act, and even speak. These prejudices and stereotypes can be seen throughout your daily life in the media including television, magazines, and songs on the radio. Using the word “nigger” is just one of the many controversial words that is considered racist if used by any race other than black people. I do not think black people should embrace the word so freely and use it so casually, yet still take offense to it if it was said by a white person.
There are thousands of racial slurs including a “beaner” to call a Mexican, a “chink” for a Chinese, or a “gringo” for a person of Spanish decent. I have the same belief regarding using any of these words…which is it should not be said by anyone! Even if you belong to that race, I feel if there should be a universal agreement that racial slurs should not be spoken. This includes within music (especially the rap industry), stand-up comedy, and even within your daily conversation with your group of friends.
I have always stood by the golden rule, “do unto others, as you would like done unto you”. This directly applies to this controversial use of the word “nigger”. Whether you are a black person using it playfully towards your best friends, or are a white person using it with a derogatory purpose, you should always consider the others person’s feelings and how they may process your words.
Since I have traveled and moved all over the United States, and abroad (including Tokyo, Japan, and Paris, France), I have first-hand experience of the extremely diverse world we live in. I know how it feels to be the minority and learn to adapt to another culture. When I lived in Tokyo, Japan, I attended The American School in Japan. I was surprised to find that most of the kids were not from America. There were kids from Australia, London, Peru, Africa, Japanese-Americans, and Japanese. Although this learning environment was extremely diverse, I still found a lot of stereotyping and racial slurs being used. Most commonly I found my American friends getting agitated when they would be in a social setting with half whites and half Japanese, and the Japanese would randomly interject Japanese into the conversation. This was referred to as “enganese” (English/Japanese). My friends would find themselves out of frustration calling the Japanese, “Japs”. This infuriated me and I found myself yelling at my friends or just not talking to them because of this.
I think the next time anyone hears a racial slur being used no matter who says it or who it is directed towards, a stand must be made in order to promote change within society.
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The word nigger is a word that white people use to degrade black people in the worst way possible. Me personally I do not think anybody should use the word nigger it is offensive both ways. My family originally came from Jamaica and down other there the word isn’t used as frequently as in America, so I guess I just grew up thinking it wasn’t a word that should be used. As black people, I think we are one of the few races that would use a word that people have used against us and try to turn it positive. I haven’t meet any Hispanic people who go around referring to each other as spics cause to them it wouldn’t make sense to do that and it shouldn’t make sense.
When African Americans use the word so much and are indirectly, telling white people they cannot use the word it makes them want to use the word more. Telling white people, they cannot use the n-word; is like telling a little kid not to touch that the more you tell them not to do it the more they want to. Even though white people aren’t suppose to use the word they sneak around and use probably more than black people because they cannot use it. I know coming from a mixed high school, I know that they were white kids that use it when they were around other white people. I think it comes out when white people are drinking, and they unable to remember that you only say the word when there is no black people around. When you go to the white frats, I notice that all the kids are saying the n-word when they are singing the words to the songs. In that situation, it stills brothers me, but I feel there is nothing that I can do at the point. At the point, it really shows how racist people really are because if they were not racist they would not be saying that word. Another instance that happened to me I was at a party playing cards there was one white girl and her black boyfriend and his black friends and me. Then she started singing the words to a rap song, and the n-word was about to come up, so everyone at the table just stopped what they were doing and looked at her. At that moment, she felt very uncomfortable and just did not say the word. After that, her black boyfriend referred to her as his nigga, and everyone at the table started laughing. I know that she probably would have said the word if they were not any black people around but since there was she didn’t say it.
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