The “N” Word Just Won’t Die

There have been several discussions, debates and demands regarding the N word.  There’s a group of black folks that feel it’s okay to use the word Nigga and not Nigger.  Nigga, “they” say is a term of endearment and not used to demean nor offend.  Nigger, “they” say is meant to disrespect and discredit a race of people.  CHILE PLEASE!!!

Now before I come off self righteous and holier than thou, I will confess that I have used the term Nigga.  I’ve said it while so called joking to make a punch line stick…for example:  “Nigga please”  or “Nigga, What!” have been particular favorites in the past.  But lately I’ve been thinking about my mother and her southern roots and the hurt the mere use of that word brought on.  My mother told me on several occasions how that word would strike something in her even as a child.  You see, my mom grew up in an era where black folks were being lynched and beaten for simply being black.

A lot of hip hop artists have made it cool and okay to use the N word.  Jay-Z and Ludacris told Oprah Winfrey that it’s a term of endearment in so many words.  Do you feel endeared when you’re called a Nigga?  When did it become cool to use the term against each other?  Like what was the turning point?  After slavery?  After the death of Dr. King and Malcolm X?

I went to the dictionary to find out what the other “they” thought the word meant and it’s use.  Here’s what I found:
nig⋅ger
/ˈnɪgər/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [nig-er] Show IPA
Usage note:
The term nigger is now probably the most offensive word in English. Its degree of offensiveness has increased markedly in recent years, although it has been used in a derogatory manner since at least the Revolutionary War. Definitions 1a, 1b, and 2 represent meanings that are deeply disparaging and are used when the speaker deliberately wishes to cause great offense. Definition 1a, however, is sometimes used among African-Americans in a neutral or familiar way. Definition 3 is not normally considered disparaging—as in “The Irish are the niggers of Europe” from Roddy Doyle’s The Commitments—but the other uses are considered contemptuous and hostile.
–noun
1.     Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive.
a.     a black person.
b.     a member of any dark-skinned people.
2.     Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive. a person of any race or origin regarded as contemptible, inferior, ignorant, etc.
3.     a victim of prejudice similar to that suffered by blacks; a person who is economically, politically, or socially disenfranchised.
Origin:
1640–50; < F nègre < Sp negro black
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source
Word Origin & History

nigger
1786, earlier neger (1568, Scot. and northern England dialect), from Fr. nègre, from Sp. negro (see Negro). From the earliest usage it was “the term that carries with it all the obloquy and contempt and rejection which whites have inflicted on blacks” [cited in Gowers, 1965]. But as black inferiority was at one time a near universal assumption in Eng.-speaking lands, the word in some cases could be used without insult. More sympathetic writers late 18c. and early 19c. seem to have used black (n.) and, after the American Civil War, colored person. Also applied by Eng. settlers to dark-skinned native peoples in India, Australia, Polynesia. The reclamation of the word as a neutral or positive term in black culture, often with a suggestion of “soul” or “style,” is attested first in the Amer. South, later (1968) in the Northern, urban-based Black Power movement. Variant niggah, attested from 1925 (without the -h, from 1969), is found usually in situations where blacks use the word. Nigra (1944), on the other hand, reflects a pronunciation in certain circles of Negro, but meant to suggest nigger, and is thus deemed (according to a 1960 slang dictionary) “even more derog. than ‘nigger.’ ” Slang phrase nigger in the woodpile attested by 1800; “A mode of accounting for the disappearance of fuel; an unsolved mystery” [R.H. Thornton, "American Glossary," 1912]. Nigger heaven, “the top gallery in a (segregated) theater” first attested 1878 in ref. to Troy, N.Y.

” ‘You’re a fool nigger, and the worst day’s work Pa ever did was to buy you,’ said Scarlett slowly. … There, she thought, I’ve said ‘nigger’ and Mother wouldn’t like that at all.” [Margaret Mitchell, "Gone With the Wind," 1936]

When I’m on stage, I sometimes tell a joke that gets a lot of laughs from blacks and whites.  I have decided I have to stop telling it because really it’s terrible.  You may laugh and you may not but the truth is I got the joke from my high school track coach many years ago.  I start by saying black folks always claiming they’re mixed with Indian…always trying to claim they’re anything but black.  So I usually ask them what tribe are they from…the MoNig tribe?  Mo Nigga than anything else.  See…Terrible.

It’s 2010 folks.  We have a black man as President of the United States of America.  There’s a black woman, name Oprah Winfrey and she’s a billionaire.  We are dreaming big dreams again.  We are seeking better not just for ourselves but for our children too.  Let’s make this the year of Death to the N word.

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