The N-Word! (A Term Of Endearment Or Ignorance?)
I have a very profound question to ask, or rather a thought-provocative challenge for a certain class of African Americans:
Question: Why is it okay for you to use the word ****** to reference yourselves but whites and or Non-Blacks can't use the word, even as a term of endearment? Isn't that kind of bias to say that only a certain group of people can use a particular word to reference themselves, but other groups of people can't?
Doesn't this seem to be some type of unfair double-standard, or is it just plain modern-day ignorance on the part of a certain class of African American people today?
Why do so many African Americans have to use that profane word in the first place when our ancestors fought so hard for nearly a century to banned the word?
I can remember reading an article about a "white" male who shouted "****** at an African American man in the street, who had to be cleared of "racial abuse" after a court agreed he was merely using the word in the form of "street slang" or as many African American people today would foolishly classify it as being....a term of endearment.
The "white" guy aka Christopher Jones, who claims he has "more African American friends than white friends," was....
charged with using the racially aggravated words and or behavior when he was overheard using the racial slur to a group of males, one of which happened to be an African American.
The 43-year-old hip-hop fan argued that it was impossible for him to be considered a racist because he simply used the word "******" as a "term of endearment" or in the same manner as most African Americans use it regarding themselves today.
He went on to say; "This is just how I speak. I am not a racist. I was using it as slang or again, in the manner that many African American people today use it - as a term of endearment.
The Original Use For The Word ******.
The word "******" was created and used by the oppressors of Africans during slavery.
The word was used to demean and dehumanize African slaves who were thought to be inferior, as well as socially, morally and economically disenfranchised.
It was associated with a falsely created perception that African people back then were uncivilized, lazy, good-for-nothing animals.
Sadly, too many African Americans today foolishly use the word "******" as a term of endearment, and unfortunately, it has become a common cultural reference to African people by African people, especially by our young hip-hop and thug subcultures. Because our young children, as well as our 40 and over "grown" children are NOT taught "race pride" they are forced to adapt to and embrace "street pride" and all of the classless destructive, negatives that comes with it.
Total disrespect of one's self, as well as their own people I believe openly invites the same disrespect from other ethnic groups, particularly when those being disrespected are willing to tolerate and embrace it on a daily basis, from one another.
So is the common use of the word "******" by a certain class of African Americans today to reference themselves really a term of endearment or just plain ignorance spawned by self-hate and or as a direct result of cultural devaluation?
If the word ****** can in any way be regarded as a term of endearment by African Americans today, then why can't whites and non-Blacks use this word in the same manner without being accused of being racist? And if we don't want whites or non-Blacks to refer to us as being ******S, then we should "STOP" referring to ourselves as being ******S altogether, even as a so-called term of endearment or as a futile attempt to take the racist sting out of the word.
The truth of the matter is this: The sting is apparently still there if any African American is offended by a white individual or another non-Black individual referring to them as being a ******, or the same word many of them foolishly refer to themselves as being.
Please Note:
•The Asians are not walking around calling themselves; "Chinks" or "Gooks" as terms of endearment or to take the racially motivated sting out of those words!
•The Latinos or Hispanics are not walking around calling themselves; "Spics" or "Taco Benders" as terms of endearment or to take the racially motivated sting out of those words!
•The Jews are not walking around calling themselves; "10% off" or "Kikes" as terms of endearment or to take the racially motivated sting out of those words!
•The Middle Easterners are not walking around calling themselves "Sand ******s" or "Camel Jockeys" as terms of endearment or to take the racially motivated sting out of those words!
•And the Europeans are not walking around calling themselves "Honkies" "Crackers" or "Red Necks" as terms of endearment or to take the racially motivated sting out of those words!
So why are so many African Americans today foolishly walking around referring to themselves as being ******S, NIGGAS or NIGGAZ? It's totally disrespectful to our race, our culture, our heritage and more importantly, it is totally disrespectful to our ancestors who fought very hard and perhaps gave their lives for Africans to be treated equal, and with the same amount of respect as everyone else.
Please note: The word "******" was the greatest child racism ever gave birth to. The NAACP and a host of other African American civil rights activists and freedom fighters fought so hard to kill it, but today many African people young and old, continue to "foolishly" resurrect it!
That's just plain ignorance, inspired by mis-education, self-devaluation, and it will continue to be used by a certain class of African American males and females as a result of Black- on-Black degradation!
It's OK that many African Americans can call or refer to themselves as "******S". That's when it's classified as being defanged or a term of endearment. But when a white or non-Black individual call those same class of individuals the same thing they revel in calling themselves, especially as a so-called term of endearment, all of a sudden it's very offensive, derogatory and all hell needs to break loose.
How ignorant is that?
I'm totally against anybody using the word ******, regardless to weather they are Black or non-Black. It's only a term of endearment when everyone can use it without anyone being offended.
There are laws today that protect Africans and prohibits the word ****** from being used publicly by whites or non-Blacks as a reference to describe African individuals, yet many African Americans today without shame, pride or dignity publicly uses the same offensive, derogatory word to refer to themselves, and it's OK. Is that fair? Is that honorable or again, is that just plain ignorance?
Why Am I So Against African Americans Using The Word ******?
Answer: Because I strongly believe "HISTORY" should tell a people who they are, where they come from and what their potentials, and aspirations should be as a collective ethnic group or as a race of people.
It should also include what they should call themselves or refer to themselves as a collective ethnic group or as a race of people no matter where they are located geographically, or regardless to what their ethnic struggles may be.
Successful cultures stick to their roots and they are very proud of their heritage, no matter where they are in the world.
Many Africans here in the U.S. are so infatuated with so many different cultures here in this country that they have completely disregarded their own. This is why many of them will continue to promote and celebrate Christmas as opposed to Kwanzaa in the month of December!
For the sake of future generations to come, the name(s) African Americans call themselves from this day forward should provide the next generation a clear understanding of our rich heritage by connecting them to a geographical land mass, a language, a culture, a religion, a philosophy and so forth etc.
There is NO such place as NEGRO LAND or COLORED LAND! And there's NO ethnic group in Africa today who calls themselves or refer to themselves as being ******s, Niggaz or Niggas.
Black people, we are the descendants of AFRICAN ancestry....LET'S START ACTING LIKE IT!
Proper identification with our Roots by learning our true HISTORY (not HIS-STORIES, LIES or HERESIES) is going to be a very important step towards total mental liberation regarding Africans born here in the United States of AmeriKKKa. If we get very upset and offended when a white or non-Black person call us a ******, can we really render the word as being powerless or a term of endearment? Or is it a down-right ignorant double standard?
I think the word should be dead and buried altogether. Again, too many of our freedom fighters sacrificed their lives in their all-out efforts to make that possible. As a race of people who continue to fight for justice and equality on so many different levels, collectively "WE" shouldn't want their efforts to go unrewarded.
Personally, I don't stand for anyone calling me a "******", Black or white, even though, it's not what people call you, it's what you answer to. So let's all collectively remove this irrelevant, profane word from our vocabulary!
If everybody CAN'T use the word ******, then it has NOT been defanged nor has it been completely transformed into a term of endearment!
It's so sad that even a child (by the name of Johnathan McCoy featured in the video below) is wise enough to clearly understand the destruction of the perpetual use of the word "****** by so many classless, ignorant African Americans today!"
http://bmawufbp.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-n-word-term-of-endearment-or.html
A Note On The Word "******"
The word "******" is a key term in American culture. It is a profoundly hurtful racial slur meant to stigmatize African Americans; on occasion, it also has been used against members of other racial or ethnic groups, including Chinese, other Asians, East Indians, Arabs and darker-skinned people. It has been an important feature of many of the worst episodes of bigotry in American history. It has accompanied innumerable lynchings, beatings, acts of arson, and other racially motivated attacks upon blacks. It has also been featured in countless jokes and cartoons that both reflect and encourage the disparagement of blacks. It is the signature phrase of racial prejudice.
To understand fully, however, the depths and intensities, quirks and complexities of American race relations, it is necessary to know in detail the many ways in which racist bigotry has manifested itself, been appealed to, and been resisted. The term "******" is in most contexts, a cultural obscenity. But, so, too are the opinions of the United States Supreme Court in Dred Scott v. Sandford, which ruled that African Americans were permanently ineligible for federal citizenship, and Plessy v. Ferguson, which ruled that state-mandated, "equal but separate" racial segregation entailed no violation of the federal constitution. These decisions embodied racial insult and oppression as national policy and are, for many, painful to read. But teachers rightly assign these opinions to hundreds of thousands of students, from elementary grades to professional schools, because, tragically, they are part of the American cultural inheritance. Cultural literacy requires detailed knowledge about the oppression of racial minorities. A clear understanding of "******" is part of this knowledge. To paper over that term or to constantly obscure it by euphemism is to flinch from coming to grips with racial prejudice that continues to haunt the American social landscape.
Leading etymologists believe that "******" was derived from an English word "neger" that was itself derived from "Negro", the Spanish word for black. Precisely when the term became a slur is unknown. We do know, however, that by early in the 19th century "******" had already become a familiar insult. In 1837, in The Condition of the Colored People of the United States; and the Prejudice Exercised Towards Them, Hosea Easton observed that "******" "is an opprobrious term, employed to impose contempt upon [blacks] as an inferior race…The term itself would be perfectly harmless were it used only to distinguish one class from another; but it is not used with that intent…it flows from the fountain of purpose to injure."
The term has been put to other uses. Some blacks, for instance, use "******" among themselves as a term of endearment. But that is typically done with a sense of irony that is predicated upon an understanding of the term’s racist origins and a close relationship with the person to whom the term is uttered. As Clarence Major observed in his Dictionary of Afro-American Slang (1970), "used by black people among themselves, [******] is a racial term with undertones of warmth and goodwill – reflecting…a tragicomic sensibility that is aware of black history." Many blacks object, however, to using the term even in that context for fear that such usage will be misunderstood and imitated by persons insufficiently attuned to the volatility of this singularly complex and dangerous word.
Some observers object even to reproducing historical artifacts, such as books or cartoons, that contain the term "******." This total, unbending objection to printing the word under any circumstance is by no means new. Writing in 1940 in his memoir The Big Sea, Langston Hughes remarked that "[t]he word ****** to colored people is like a red rag to a bull. Used rightly or wrongly, ironically or seriously, of necessity for the sake of realism, or impishly for the sake of comedy, it doesn’t matter. Negroes do not like it in any book or play whatsoever, be the book or play ever so sympathetic in its treatment of the basic problems of the race. Even though the book or play is written by a Negro, they still do not like it. The word ******, you see, sums up for us who are colored all the bitter years of insult and struggle in America."
Given the power of "******" to wound, it is important to provide a context within which presentation of that term can be properly understood. It is also imperative, however, to permit present and future readers to see for themselves directly the full gamut of American cultural productions, the ugly as well as the beautiful, those that mirror the majestic features of American democracy and those that mirror America’s most depressing failings.
For these reasons, I have advised the management of HarpWeek to present the offensive text, cartoons, caricatures and illustrations from the pages of Harper's Weekly, as well as other politically sensitive nineteenth-century material, as they appeared in their historical context. This same advice holds for slurs relating to Irish, Chinese, Germans, Native Americans, Catholics, Jews, Mormons and other ethnic and religious groups.
http://blackhistory.harpweek.com/1Introduction/RandallKennedyEssay.htm
