Seriously people, I love this argument put forth by stupid white folks who somehow clamor to say nigger and have black people smile, and even stupider black folks who claim that my use of nigger somehow empowers aforementioned white folks. The logic is just laughable, in that it basically asserts that words have the same meaning, no matter who says them, and no matter what the context. I'm sorry, if I called your woman "honey" you'd have a problem with me. Me saying, "But I just heard you call her that!!" probably wouldn't stop you from trying put me in the reconstructive surgery wing of a hospital. My partner and her closest female friends have been known to sling "bitch" around in playful banter. A quick way for me to lose custody of child and take up residence at the local singles bar would be for to address her in that manner. My father's mother used to call him "Billy" (His first name is William). But he'd have a big problem if I did the same.
I never thought that because Toby Keith made a record called White Trash With Money, that somehow gave me the right to address random white people in the fashion. I never thought the fact that there was a magazine called Heeb gave me the right to address my Jewish buddies as such. More to the point--I never wanted to. So this is what I don't understand--What's the big beef? Why is that in "Blackworld" the normal laws of human interaction somehow don't apply? I don't get white people who have a hard time with this--you call your mother "Mom," I call her Ms. Phillips--same deal here. Nigger means one thing when used amongst a group of people with similar experiences, and something else when used by people outside of that experience. Nigger when used by black people, is a lovely, lovely thing. I will believe that till the end of my days. It can be beautifully ominous ("Nigger, what?") and just plain beautiful ("Ta-Nehisi, that's my nigger").
Now a quick note of qualification--I am of that group of black people who've never had a white person refer to them as nigger, at least not to thier face. Frankly, we're I grew up there weren't any white people to say it. I once had a drunk white guy amble over to my table and claim his dog was a nigger, but that's about it. I was grown then, and he was obviously a fool. He didn't scar me one bit. But listen--there are black folks, who had to hear that word constantly as kids. I think there are less of them these days, but they obviously came up different than me. I have great sympathy for them and how they feel about the word. I understand why they don't want to be referred to in that way, or why anyone else wouldn't want to me. I just don't want them policing me.
UPDATE: In response to comment below, I--personally--have no problem with white people saying "nigger" while singing, say, a rap song. Also, I hate the phrase "n-word." I feel about "n-word" the way a lot of folks feel about nigger. Seriously, too many people in this world sit around waiting to take offense.
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
"I am of that group of black people who've never had a white person refer to them as nigger, at least not to thier face"
I think that is part of the source of confusion for some white people. White people (I am one) have been taught that it is a bad word, and is hurtful to black people--so hurtful and mean that there is no situation where it is OK to say. But, there is not any real experience of lots of white people using the word as an insult. So the only situation where is it heard, is when black people talk to each other.
This leads to some confused white people.
Yeah. I would only add: not only do people manage deal with this concept all the time, but years of use among black people has not actually diminished white people's awareness that you'd better not fucking use that word. My husband does have to make sure to turn down the volume a little & not sing along when he listens to certain Tribe Called Quest songs, but that's not really much of a problem, and I don't foresee us having a problem teaching our kids not to say that.
Also, I oppose the term "the n word" for the same reason I oppose the term "f-bombs": it sounds really stupid & like you're treating your readers/viewers/listeners like little children. TV networks, just use your little bleep sound, and newspapers, just use a damn asterisk.
(actually, as a white person, I don't have a position on whether black people should or shouldn't say n*gger--it's not my damn business. But I don't find it even a little bit confusing.)
Just to be clear....I am not confused. Though I have met confused people.
I certainly don't want to call anybody that, but I would like to be able to refer to the word "nigger" without being expected to resort to stupid euphemisms. Calling it the "n-word" just makes the word more powerful when people do use it.
Yeah, the only time I ever actually would want to use it is in direct quotations & when the topic is: "appropriate use of the word n**ger." I always use asterisks, even in forums where I would just write "fuck", and end feeling slightly ridiculous & like I'm calling the Harry Potter villain "you know who" instead of "Voldemort". But it's not a big deal.
On-topic, & very funny:
http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=84493
"if I called your woman "honey" you'd have a problem with me"
who are your assumed readers, men & lesbians? wtf?
heh, just saw the update. I should note: he makes sure not to sing along to the rap song or listen too loudly *in his office*. And I'm pretty sure that the asterisk thing as a neurosis on my part, of the sort that the Daily Show skit above parodies, but since it's not as aesthetically offensive as "the n word" I tend to do it anyway .
Coates: "I am of that group of black people who've never had a white person refer to them as n****r, at least not to their face."
As a white guy, I'm pleasantly surprised to learn that your group exists - what percentage of your friends are in this group?
Ropty: "there is not any real experience of lots of white people using the word as an insult."
Depends on your social circle I guess - I heard it plenty of times as an insult where I grew up (early 1980s, upstate New York).
Sorry to disagree with this post today. I was born in '73 and it really doesn't matter how many people called me nigger. I know my history. And I don't get why we as black people have words that only we can use. There are many words that white people try to say to sound cool and I like to laugh at them but how can we have a word that we use and then get pissed when someone uses it in the same context? I can't agree that the context is actually my black skin. All I know is that NOBODY better call me a nigger,nigga, bitch, or dog because its an insult to me. And if someone thinks that I get their context simply because I'm black, their "shared experience" will be my foot up their collective asses.
This is kind of funny and on topic:
"N Word for the White Guy
who can say the N word?"
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/3147
I also grew up in Upstate NY in the '80s, and I also heard the word tossed around a lot. Like, a REAL lot. There were no black folks around, of course, so it was usually used to describe them in absentia or (this was fun) directed as an insult at other white people--there being no greater insult than a suggestion of blackness. Good times!
Incidentally, as someone who obsessively repeats hip-hop verses under my breath while doing the dishes or otherwise puttering about the home, I'm glad to know I don't have to self-bleep.
Jay,
Yes lesbians and men. Only lesbians and men. Maybe I'll call my blog that...
Brian,
Black folks are the most segregated minority in the country. Many of us live in neighborhoods where there not only aren't any white people, there aren't any white people in the next neighborhood over. Combine that with the general sentiment among whites not that "nigger" isn't a polite word, and you start to see how there could be large swaths of black people who've never heard a racial epithet come out of the lips of someone white. It's one of those small things that is often missed in our un-nuanced conversation on race. Small, but it makes a big difference.
Shani,
Never apologize for disagreeing here. I support your right to be called--or not be called--whatever you want, if not your right to make creative use of your foot. That said, all people have words that they use, and more to the point, many ethnic groups have slurs that they've reversed. It's a very human thing. Nothing particularly black about it. Check out the Hitchens piece below. Of course that doesn't mean that I'm arguing for all black people to talk like I chose to talk.
http://www.slate.com/id/2154854/
tc:
"I don't get white people who have a hard time with this"
I don't want to get too simplistic, but basically the answer is privilege.
I was raised with a ton of privilege as a white male in a small town in the South. I'm transitioning to female. It's worth it, but I'm losing a ton of privilege. I was raised to expect that if something was valuable, I was as entitled as everyone else to have a share. Folk outside this dominant class aren't raised with that expectation. Your family may expect that for you, but don't expect the cashier to believe it. For straight white men in small town Texas... they believe it. They believe it *at* you, even if you don't believe it directly.
Leaving that class has been ... interesting.
It's not a surprise that some white folk, prolly men I'm afraid, don't get it. "You don't get to do that" is really something they don't hear that often. Or at least it's something they don't hear often when the reason isn't obvious to them. I know *I* didn't get it before I started this. It is really obvious now. :-)
My wife equates the word nigger with "man". If I were bothered by being called nigger by my wife my marriage would have been over ten years ago.
I don't really fall this way, (and I sadly don't think the circumstance presents itself that often in our segregated society )but I get the impression there are white folks who feel they need (or imagine they need) some way to "authentically" or "genuinely" or I suppose in a "deep heartfelt way" express to a black friend their friendship in a way that evokes the feeling in you when you say it's: "just plain beautiful ("Ta-Nehisi, that's my nigger."
I can see that the WASP-y, "That Ta-Nehisi, he's all right" does not connote the same affection, but still....
I also think BethanyAnne is on to something. "You don't get to do that" is really something they don't hear that often.
Being Jewish, I can't remember any kind of commonplace inversion of typical anti-semitic slurs. Heeb magazine notwithstanding. Although occasionally you will hear a heated spitting of anti-semitic invective from one jew against another when they are publicly doing something that confirms non-jewish stereotypes.
I was also raised to view the word as an abomination, and still have the subtlest of inward tics when rockin' out with my iPod.
Sometimes, those tics are less subtle, depending on the context, when I hear it (among black folks) walking down Lenox - but I know that it's not my call despite persuasive arguments on both sides of the issue.
I don't get the friends-calling-each-other nigger, bitch, etc. thing, but I suppose it's generational. Whatever.
I'm one of those post-Civil Rights babies who did hear the word used in its original form -- not nearly as much as my Mississippi-born mother, certainly more than the blogger here. If you guys (I mean my black brothers and sisters, not white folks. Sorry) want to use it, fine. I won't police you, if you will just kindly not spew it (or "fuck" or "bitch" etc) on the T (Boston subway) when I'm sitting there with my children. The music I can choose not to buy, but the public space we share.
Free speech is not an absolute right.
To the youth who are delusional about ' owning' the word.
You CANNOT own NIGGER.
Never.ever.ever.
I can count on one hand the number of times that I have used it in my life. It's offensive. Period. And,
NO WHITE PERSON CAN USE IT.
When you get your ass beat when you use it, don't say you weren't warned.
Don't be listening to these young, clueless Black kids. They are delusional.
You say the "logic is laughable", but how logical is it to equate relatively innocuous words like "honey", "Mom", or even "bitch" (which does have a legitimate definition in the animal kingdom) with the most divisive and denigrating slur in the history of American English? No one ever used "honey" with the intent of belittling and controlling an entire population.
You link to Hitchens, who's usually spot on, but who jumps the tracks with the line "If black people use the word, they are either uttering an obscenity or trying to detoxify a word and rob it of its power to wound them." A.) I doubt seriously that the 9 and 10 year olds on the bus this morning ever gave much thought to linguistic detoxification, and B.)if in fact it is accepted among people of all races that whites should never use the word, then isn't that an acknowledgement that the word will ALWAYS have the power to wound? (thus rendering any attempt to rob it of that power moot?)
It's telling that your most vocal dissenter should use the phrase "I know my history." There are countless white people who do not want the "right" to use the word in question. But they, too, know their nation's history. And that's precisely why it bothers the bejeezus out of them to hear that word spouted so freely in semi-public places like the amusement park or the mall, regardless of the color of those who spout it.
All I got to say is that I don't go around calling White people redneck (actually argued with a sister that it is a racial slur during/shortly after Howard Dean's campaign) nor do I use any other racial slur. I also don't call other people spouses by their personal/intimate nick names.
All this is so simple to understand. The idea of "we have words other people can't use" is absurd. I know Whites who not only call each other rednecks and white trash but other slurs particular to their ethnic groups and I'm never "confused" as to whether I can or should join in, so I didn't.
I extend that common courtesy, I expect it to be returned.
I know what is and is not my business. White people better know theirs on this issue.
Great post. You have any thoughts/opinions on other racial groups appropriating nigger/nigga? In college, I got the impression that the various ethnic cliques used the word to each other. I know many of the Indian kids did it all the time.
I've also noticed that when college kids segregate by race or ethnicity, they often imitate popular images of so-called black culture. Lord knows I went through that phase.
Of course, I am a single data point...but I get the distinct impression that it happens in many places.
Thoughts?
Neal,
I'd argue that virtually every word in the English language has the power to wound--some obviously more than others. But my point is that everything comes down to context. It simply can not be true that every other word in the English language--except Nigger--is defined by context. I respect any black person's right to not use the word, and to not have the word directed at them. But they can't dictate and define, for me, what Nigger means.
I think Nquest summed it up perfectly. Certainly, I've witnessed whites slinging the word "white trash" amongst each other--sometimes even as a point of pride. Not once did I think I could address them in that way. It's not my experience and thus, not my place.
Hey Neal,
When you say, "No one ever used "honey" with the intent of belittling and controlling an entire population," you might want to check-in with women on this. Especially in professional situations. Good thought though, Honey. ;-)
I heard the word all the time as a kid. I'd probably heard it for a year before I knew it was related to race. I went to a magnet school in Des Moines, it was probably 50% black or more. I'd hear the black kids using the term, I didn't realize that it was only the black kids until I mentioned its use around my mother. I knew the word was a naughty word, but I didn't know it had a racial connotation. I think I first realized it was a naughty word when my black first grade teacher scolded someone harshly for using it. Then I think I mentioned the incident to my mother and she explained its history as best she could to me.
My family moved to rural MN, and my high school had literally 5 black students out of 1000. This was around the time NWA hit it big, so there were bunches of white kids listening to NWA and the like and becoming familiar with the word in an environment devoid of actual black people. It was weird. I think that probably led to the use of the word in too free a manner amongst ourselves. I had some context with the word before so I had a different relationship with it.
I think your context argument is certainly valid but might not go far enough. It is not in my mind a black vs white thing. I would have absolutely no problems if any of my non-white friends called me "White Trash", "Honky" or any irish/hungarian slur you could think of. I would have no problems if any of my friends were to call my wife Honey.
And the reason for this IS context. These are my friends and I already know they are not racist. Saying a word with no intent to slander doesn't change that. If by Puerto Rican friend called me white trash I would take it in the EXACT SAME context as if a white friend did. Similarly somebody that I do not know calling me "White Trash" would be equally insulting regardless of race.
I think one of the keys to your original post was this sentance "Nigger means one thing when used amongst a group of people with similar experiences, and something else when used by people outside of that experience" The problem here is that it means something else to the first group when said by a member of second group. It doesn't appear to matter in what context the member of the second group was speaking. To me that sounds potentially racist.
Hypothetically, Suppose my 5 yr old daughter was playing with yours and another black friend at your house. Your child calls the other black child nigger. My white child does the same. Is that acceptable? They both have similar experiences. How is it wrong one way and not the other? How can you explain to my child what she did was wrong while what your child did was acceptable. Perhaps today it is somewhat acceptable to have a word that is exclusively owned by the black community but I don't see this as something that is maintainable.
I was raised in a majority white neighborhood and certainly couldn't think of uttering the word nigger aloud. However I do admit that the majority of times I have heard the word nigger has been coming from musical references. I'm not sure how I would even teach my kids that the word nigger is an insult without some
language is powerful, and most people simply don't pay enough attention to that fact. but i think if you break it down for people with a million other examples (in addition to the very good ones you already listed), it still won't matter in most instances.
some men will still say they'd "kill" their daughter for working at a strip club, despite attending them. just like some white people think listening to the blues is the same as living them. usamericans are socialized to not think about structures (like race), and it allows terrible thought processes to develop. it's crazy, but patriarchy and white supremacy aren't exactly "logical" anyhow...
p.s. watch whoopi try to set shit straight: http://www.mollygood.com/elisabeth-sheds-crocodile-tears-20080717/
It's not that I think white people should never use the word. For me, and I am pretty sure a lot of other people such as myself, the real issue comes down to the bludgeoning of any white person who uses the word, regardless of context.
As an example, let me recount a story I heard on NPR a few years ago. I can't find it, otherwise I would link. Since I can't find it, it may be the case that my memory is wrong, so consider me corrected.
A group of university professors were talking about the renaming of sports teams to remove American Indian references. In this multi-race group, some white person said that teams like Washington Redskins should not be considered offensive. A different white person asks a black participant, "Well, how you would feel if they renamed the Vikings the Minnesota Niggers"?
This person resigned rather than be forced to go to the sensitivity training ordered during the lawsuit.
To me, this is a classic example of "waiting to take offense".
Like most problems, it's the assholes on the extremes who are creating the hassle for the rest of us.
batojar, fair point. Although I'd argue that honey is used predominantly to belittle the individual to whom it's directed rather than millions at once. e.g. It would be hard to imagine a clubhouse full of old boys complaining that "things have gone downhill ever since they let the damn honeys vote". But I get what your saying, particularly regarding the workplace.
Ta-Nehisi, I hear you. I'm not suggesting context shouldn't apply to only one word. But when you wrote that you didn't understand why white people didn't get this concept, I merely wanted to remind you that many white people are as cognizant of history as Shani is and that's why they cringe at hearing the word in any context.
By the way, my bigest pet peeve with "white trash" is the inherent condescension in the phrase's existence. Why is there no corresponding "black trash" or "hispanic trash."? Why is the presence of whatever certain people define as "trash" within the white population the only one so unique as to merit it's own descriptor? No one ever discusses that.
"I love this argument put forth but stupid white folks who somehow clamor to say nigger and have black people smile, and even stupider black folks who claim that my use of nigger somehow empowers other aforementioned white folks."
I think the real question is how are white folks supposed to know what words offend black folks? In your example it is somewhat obvious if your familiar with history but for a generation raised open racial predudices it may not be obvious in the future.
Can you tell me right now what words would offend a Paraguayan? How about a Lithuanian? If a culture wants to let a word offend them then they have some responsiblity to educate the masses and be consistant in the message. This teaching does not occur in a classroom but is picked up in conversation. I know nigger is an inappropriate word as the only context I ever heard it growing up was in racial slurs (mostly from movies, hardly ever in real life). If my experiences were different and I only heard the word nigger used in the positive voice you reference I would have no way of knowing that if I were to say it to you you'd find it insulting. In that sense I think it isn't a stupid argument to say that blacks calling themselves nigger, empowers non-blacks todo so.
It is perhaps worth noting that, quite apart from the race issue, the word "nigger" has such heavy class connotations that a certain subset of people are never going to feel comfortable saying the word, regardless of context, and will thus tend to use circumlocutions like "the n-word." So it isn't always the case that the circumlocution results from trying to be inoffensive to others.
I understand where you're coming from but on the flipside, hopefully you understand that just because hypocrisy is justified doesn't make it any less hypocritical.
Hypothetical question: If there were a word that white people could use but black people could not, would you make the same argument about context?
Neal, I'm with you. Though I do wish I had the time to wring my hands and sit around taking offense and being stupid, I'm afraid it's not that extreme.
More like: don't like it, never use it, none of my friends, family, fellow church-goers, etc use it, will not allow my children to do so, simply don't buy all the complicated arguments in favor thereof.
It is not part of my shared experience.
But ya'll go on.
i certainly hope it's ok for white people to quote rap lyrics accurately (use/mention people) whilst karaoke-ing. i have really good renditions of "hypnotize," "big poppa," and "one more chance / stay with me remix" that i'd hate to have to give up.
(correction: "one more chance remix" doesn't have any relevant lyrics. i sort of just assumed it did.)
Well said, Ta-Nehisi. Especially that the update. I'm with spike. I can't imagine referring to a black person as a nigger whether in person or not. However, exorcising a word from usage and granting it some kind of talismanic power. That's just stupid.
Well said to Nquest as well. As for rikyrah, bite me.
...stupid white folks who somehow clamor to say nigger...
To be fair, Hasselback was not clamoring to say anything; in fact, just the opposite.
Also, I find it interesting that we can now "hate" the use of the euphemism "the N-word." Please. Some of us can still remember when hate actually meant something important and was not used in relation to a euphemism. "Annoyed" maybe, but "hate"? Really?
To be fair, Hasselback was not clamoring to say anything; in fact, just the opposite
_____________________________________________________
Just the opposite..... what?
She didn't know what she was saying and the sh*t was so phony and contrived...
One minute she's trying to feign outrage and offense for a slur that's offensive to other people. Then she's trying to feign outrage because "you get to use it and I don't".... and for what?
If that's not clamoring then what is the argument for?
And then the phony "we live in one world" bit. Well, she seemed to forget that when you was parroting Fox News during the Rev. Wright scandal. No one is obliged to pretend like she was making a genuine argument or plea when none of what she was saying made sense.
People act like they 10 Easy Steps to Avoid a Premature Dental Extraction. Well, I got one that has to fall somewhere on the list: don't try to make an argument with some hypothetical nonsense you don't subscribe to yourself and for those how think hypotheticals are relevant you're automatically disqualified. This is not an academic exercise or a contest for who can say the lamest bs while pretending the sh*t is clever.
After all pre-cry huffing and puffing with Hasselback's rhetorical quandry over how she was supposed to teach "Grace" (her daughter), Hasselback says, in essence, "I was just playing. I know what to tell my daughter."
Seriously... Don't insult your own intelligence while trying to insult ours.
For the guy (Mikd?) who said he didn't care if his non-white friends used a slur around him because he trust his friends. Okay, that's you. Other people have different personal and cultural comfort zones and some things just aren't allowed.
I have white co-workers who make jokes talking about being with each other's wives. In my experience, that's a cultural difference because I don't get down like that and I don't care who you are.
So it's all about respecting people... That or guaranteed savings on your dentistry bill.
Maybe it is beautiful to say "Ta-Nehisi, that's my nigger". But say it in private. When I am on the NYC subway, and I see black kids saying nigger every ten seconds, it just makes me feel lonely. They are drawing themselves apart. They are saying something that I, a white person, cannot repeat or respond to and that I certainly can't join to. It slams down a divide between us. Saying nigger in such a public place celebrates the divide and reinforces it. Do we need to be further balkanized? So maybe it is a beautiful thing to say between friends in private. Just like I (Jew) sometimes talk about something being very "Jewy". But not in public. It coarsens our world and divides us.
"It slams down a divide between us."
_________________________________________
Bullsh*t.
A comment on another blog highlighted the utter ridiculousness of trying to juice all this kind of stuff out of the use of the word (like Hasselback did on the View) and the great hardship it causes people who "can't repeat or join in on." This phony double-standard issue and phony "divide" issue rings hollow.
Until as many people invest the same amount or more emotions in the racial and structural inequality that exist and certainly "divides"... then I'm calling bullsh*t.
Be melodramatic if you want to. That bs fools no one.
That should be:
Until as many people invest the same amount or more emotions in [speaking out and acting against] the racial and structural inequality that exist and certainly "divides"... then I'm calling bullsh*t.
I think your first two paragraphs are right on point. But I'd suggest that there are a lot of Black folks in Louisiana your age and younger who not only have been called nigger, but don't know they won't be tomorrow...at least behind their backs and maybe to their faces. Which makes things a little less simple than you make them sound in your third paragraph.
I already left one comment, Ta-nehisi, but I wanted to tip you to a "footnote" on my post today at http://whyaminotsurprised.blogspot.com/2008/07/i-read-news-todayoh-boy.html thanking you for a better perspective on the term "the n-word." What a relief!
The first I ever used the word "nigger" (I'm white) was when I was 4 or 5 and a friend convinced me it was a nice thing to call the black woman who was walking towards us. My mother was so embarrassed.
I think it was also the last time I've ever used the word outside of a discussion about it (like here). But I grew up in the south (born in 1974) and I knew white people (grandfathers, some of my peers) who did use it. And I knew it was wrong.
I can't see white confusion over why black people can say it and we can't as coming from anything other than racism (or perhaps the tendency to question everything that most people go through during adolescence, but surely we expect kids to be dumb). I've never been the slightest bit confused over it.
Mikd, the reason you can hear your Puerto Rican, etc., friends call you "white trash" without feeling racially insulted is privilege. I feel the same way for the same reason.
I'd disagree with it being privilege. The are working on the same crew I am with equal pay. Playful ribbing between peers seems to be a long standing male tradition regardless of race. My point was context is a lot more than skin color. The OP was correct in saying it is all about the context and not about the word itself. But it also sounds like he is judging context based on skin color, implying that it is 'stupid white folks' that use the word. Judging context based on skin color is certainly a form of racism.
Now I grew up in the '70s and could never bring myself to use the word nigger other than in conversations like these. I also have never said cunt aloud. I just see a flaw in the reasoning that says nigger is cool when a black person says it but is evil when a white person says it. It may work for this current generation but doesn't seem like it would stand the test of time. The vast majority of times that I hear the word nigger used is from music.
Tam have you had a conversation with your children specifically on how never to use the word nigger? I know I certainly haven't as I have never heard it used in a derogatory fashion in thier presense. In that case how would my/your children know it is a racial slur? There is a current generation growing up where they have never heard nigger used in a derogatory fashion.
This is basically right. There does, however, have to be a Mel Brooks exception to the rule:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=vcZ9ku_wInw
The key is, he deploys the word, over and over again, to make fun of racism, not endorse it. Again, context is everything.
haha, man you say things that I have said/am planning to say so often it's crazy.. have a video lined up that's so much like this post I almost don't want to put it up now.
But yeah, I've never understood why people, on this issue, can't tell the difference between a "double standard" and a "standard."
UPDATE: In response to comment below, I--personally--have no problem with white people saying "nigger" while singing, say, a rap song.
This was my first thought when I saw the debate, actually. You're singing along and then your like 'whoops'. And then you find yourself censoring yourself and it's really kind of awkward to sing along with bleeps like you're on television.
But seriously, I think most people understand that white people cannot use the word and black people can, but for some perverse reason people like to argue about it.
You have any thoughts/opinions on other racial groups appropriating nigger/nigga? In college, I got the impression that the various ethnic cliques used the word to each other. I know many of the Indian kids did it all the time.
It's important to remember in this context that it was very common for British colonists to refer to Indians as niggers. Indians and Pakistanis have as much historical "claim" to the word as Africans or Aborigines.
as a white person, I don't have a position on whether black people should or shouldn't say n*gger--it's not my damn business
I would say that it is your business every bit as much as it is an African or African-American's business whether you should say "nigger" or not.
The key is that we should try to avoid unnecessary harm to others with our language. That requires a great deal of sensitivity to context, yes, but ultimately if we do have an interest in the words that others use, that interest is shaped by our interactions with culture and isn't necessarily race-dependent. Put it this way... there are non-black people I know in whose presence I feel I should not say "nigger" and black people I know in whose presence I would not necessarily be dissuaded if the word were le mot juste (it rarely is).
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