Vibe.com, November 10th, 2005
Even when looked up on dictionary.com, I was expecting to see ignorant and lazy in the description of the popular expression – this wasn’t the case. Instead of giving a definition, “Nigga” is listed as a discriminatory term for black people that only black people are allowed to use to describe one another.
I wondered if this is universally true. Is this a term that is made okay by black usage? Now, everyone knows that a decade ago, if the word “nigger” fell out of a white person’s mouth it was seen as the ultimate offense; however is the baggage that the word carries released when a black person uses the word?
This is where a thousand and one perspectives come in. One of the arguments towards blacks using the word is there is a difference between the word “nigga” and “nigger.” “When I am with my boys it is cool to use 'nigga,' because it is not like in a discriminatory way, it’s like white people saying ‘dude.’ But I get really uncomfortable if a white person says it or if it is in front of white people. It is all about the environment,” says Michael Steel, a senior at The University of Toledo.
Many people said that the word “nigga” is not used to degrade or isolate; instead it takes a word that was used to oppress the black culture and puts a spin on it, making it a word that can only be used within the black community.
As one dot comer says, “I'm a Puerto Rican girl from Detroit and in my hood- everybody uses the word- no matter if they're white black brown purple. We don't use it as an insult or anything; it's just another word for any race of guy/dude/man, not just a black guy.”
No one seems to agree on the usage of the word. There are some people who say that the word carries too much hate, disgust and too much of a bitter past to be used in a positive light.
“I mean I am used to hearing it and it doesn’t enrage me or anything, but at the same time I can’t let it come out of my mouth, because I dunno it is just…negative,” says Amber Bondurant, a junior at Miami University.
After hearing my conversation about the word, two white men chimed in, saying that they hate hearing anyone use the word. “It makes me feel so uncomfortable, because I was taught that it was used in and outside of slavery as such a derogatory name towards black people,” says Jason Snodgrass.
The words background bothered more than Snodgrass. One vibe-dotcomer asked, “How can everybody talkin' bout ‘that's my n****!’ have respect for history, heroes, music? Don't you know how many people had been killed, while they where called a ni***!!!”
In case people don’t understand the background of the word, the word was used to describe blacks as lazy, worthless, stupid and nasty; it was a way to separate blacks from whites, and just the use of the term to some blacks puts the same bondage on the black man. Strangely, the word is still being directed at blacks, but by blacks as well.
Along with the words usage towards African-Americans, what many people fail to realize is that black people are not the only people called “nigger.” Many times a word to completely insult Arabs is to call them “sand-niggers,” Jews have been called “white-niggers” and the Japanese “yellow- nigger.” These are all derogatory names for groups of people who have been discriminated against in America’s history. However few people hear these names, because they are not spurred out in popular culture.
Some people on the boards have blamed the excessive use of the word on rappers. One post says, in order to gain respect rappers need to stop using the word so much. Then another suggests that rappers who refuse to use the n-word and spread knowledge instead, are lacking radio airtime.
What do you think? Join in on one of the many conversations about the word. Are you for the use of the N-word or are you against it? Is there a certain time or place the word is appropriate? Click here to comment.
Recommended Reading:
- Nigger : The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word (Buy)
- Nigger : An Autobiography (Buy)
- The Souls of Black Folk (Buy)
- Race Matters (Buy)
- Up from Slavery
