<font size="6"><center>Say no to the ‘N’ word</font size></center>
St. Louis American
Wednesday, April 4, 2007 8:45 PM CDT
Guest Columnist James Buford
Scholars, theologians and people of polite society all seem to agree that words hold more potential for human destruction than the largest bomb that man has yet to manufacture. Certain words not only have the power to destroy, they also have the power to corrupt. Such is the corruptive influence of the use of the “N” word.
Although less in public use among white well educated professional adults of today, the “N” word, after being seriously challenged during the all-too-brief emergence of African American pride in the 1960s, is in full force today among African-American youth - and to a lesser degree among young, hip white teenagers and adults, to express their association with the hip-hop generation.
Perhaps everyone needs to understand the history and cultural corruption that the use of the “N” word has caused. The Spanish word “negro” has its roots in the Latin word for black, niger. When anglicized by the English, the word niger quickly became “negar” and eventually “******.” It was then, as it is now, used as a derogatory racial epithet. At one time its use was so common that the “N” word was used in popular entertainment vehicles such as plays, books and songs.
It was used by the Irish writer Bram Stoker of Dracula fame in his 1911 novel, The Lair of the White Worm, to describe the servant Oolanga. Gilbert & Sullivan’s great opera, The Mikado, uses the “N” word, as does Harper Lee’s 1960 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. Agatha Christie’s famous book, Ten Little Indians, was first published as Ten Little ******s. Even the heart warming tale of personal heroism and sacrifice, the Scarlet Pimpernel, contains a disturbingly frequent and casual use of the “N” word.
Whether it was Louisiana Governor Earl Long’s paternal use of the “N” word while simultaneously advocating voting rights for African Americans, or the 2006 meltdown of comedian Michael Richards, in front of a black and Hispanic audience, the “N” word is still used to deny dignity to African Americans.
At the same time, many young blacks have started using the word “N” word as an act of rebellion and camaraderie. However, their use of the word has had the effect of giving license to non-blacks to use the word, After all whether it comes out of the mouth of George Wallace or Billboard’s number one rapper, it’s still the “N” word. That’s the power of corruption.
On February 26, the St. Louis Clergy Coalition - in conjunction with the Urban League, the St. Louis Black Leadership Roundtable and the NAACP - took a stand against the use of the “N” word in our schools, businesses, communities and families. Thankfully, the Say No to the “N” Word campaign is catching on.
Recently, the New York City Council passed a resolution banning the use of the “N” word. The resolution also asks that songs using the “N” word be excluded from consideration for Grammy Awards. In addition, online search companies Google and Microsoft have rejected an advertising campaign from a hip-hop website called RapSpace.tv, citing the use of the “N” word as the lyrical theme in a contest being held on the site.
As we move forward in the fight to remove the “N” word from our vocabularies, African Americans should remember that this was the name that was carved on the bodies of dead slaves and that it was the name that every lynching victim was called prior to his or her murder. We should ask ourselves why we use a racial slur to define ourselves. To help with this campaign, we should challenge anyone who uses this word in our presence, whether they are black, white, Asian, or Hispanic.
James Buford is president of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis.
http://www.stlamerican.com/articles/2007/04/27/news/columnists/lguest13.txt
