The N-Word is back in the news again. From the video of members of the University of Oklahoma’s Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity singing a song that prominently features the word to actor Terrence Howard arguing that the word should be used on the hit TV series Empire, it’s got people talking and talking and talking.
There seem to be two schools of thought on this: either it’s a racist word that white people should never be allowed to use or, since so many black people, especially rappers and comics use it so freely, white people be should be expected to use it too.
That latter why of thinking might fly for me if there were no distinction in the way the words were used. When people say there’s no difference between white people chanting, “There will never be a Nigger SAE,” and rappers using the N-word as, yes, a term of endearment,” I don’t buy it.
Of course the ideal thing would be for everybody to stop using the N-Word in all forms, but it doesn’t seem like that will ever happen.
It is definitely deep rooted in today’s rap music, so much so that I don’t believe it’s looked at negatively by teenagers at all in certain contexts. A TJMS staff member’s teenage daughter says when she hears her favorite rappers use the word, it’s a substitute for the word friend, or brother. When actress Gwyneth Paltrow, a good friend of Jay-Z’s and Beyonce’s came under fire a few years ago for tweeting “Niggas in Paris”, most people who were upset didn’t realize she was in Paris at Jay-Z ‘s concert quoting the lyrics of his hit song Niggas in Paris.
Several years ago, Chris Rock famously made the distinction, on stage, between black people and N-Words. He said N-Words were people even Black people can’t stand. Many people considered that the definitive, be all, explanation. And out of those who think that way, some still cringe when they hear the word used out in public, even though they may use it or at least be tolerant of it behind closed doors.
So, whose problem is in the N-Word? I think it’s a problem for people 40 and up, black and white. And I think when it’s used in a racist form, we know it and so do the racist people who use it that way.
I think a word that has just as much negativity as the N-Word does for people over 40 is the word racist. And the more racist a person is or his or her actions are, the more likely they are to deny that they’re racists.
I believe you’re a racist if you use your dislike, disdain or prejudice to intentionally hold a minority person back. Racism is all about power. There are racist people and racist systems. Segregation is a racist system. Affirmative Action is not a racist system. Affirmative Action and quota systems are meant to even the playing field. If there are 30 job openings, and five are earmarked for minorities, that is not racism. It is not a system designed to hold white people back, it’s a system intended to help to desegregate colleges, companies, etc.
Black people in power can be racists too and there are some out there. But white people who’d rather spend time finding examples of this instead of acknowledging their own tendencies are what is keeping the system going. As they say, the first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem.
So, I’d like to know your feelings on this topic. Does the N-word need to be judged in context or is it wrong in any form?
