No one should use the n word

This post is more about black people using the n-word since it is already viewed as unacceptable for white people or other races to use it and it would be extremely difficult to change my view that white people should be able to use the word.

So my basic reasoning is that the word has a long history of hatred and use to disparage and put down black people. The continued use of the word by black people only encourages the use of the word in a negative way by white people. I only have anecdotal evidence for this, but I often hear white people repeating lines by black comedians and musical artists thinking if the artist says it, why can’t the audience. This then snowballs into the use of the word in everyday speech and then, for a few people, into actual hate speech.

I know one of the main arguments for its use is to take the power away from the word and give it to the people it was originally targeting. While I can see the logic in this, I don’t think it has worked. The word is just as harsh as it has always been. If a white person uses it towards a black person it will cause just as much harm now as it would in the past. I could very well be wrong about this point as I am white so I don’t know the actual harm a black person feels when hearing the word so feel free to explain to me why this is working.

I would like to point out I don’t think there should legal repercussions against the word, but there should be an effort made to stop the prevalent use of the word in modern culture. As simple efforts as reminding people not to use it, pushing artists and entertainers away from using the word, and just a cultural pressure to stop the use in general.

Lastly, I don’t disagree with the use of the word in historical context or in order to make a powerful point about race. For example, I wouldn’t want to see abridged versions of huckleberry Finn or try to cover up the history of the word in new media that covers historical context. Secondly, if a speaker or artist wants to make a point about oppression using the word with the full weight of it behind it, I don’t see an issue. But using it has a pronoun as it’s often used today seems to have be more harm than good.

It’s simple: the N-word, or any other hurtful racial slurs, should never be used. Yet the word seems to be fine when placed on a hip-hop record, rap verse, or used as a form of endearment among black friends. Why is this?

We all seem to be very anxious about its use, and afraid to question why it’s continually blighting the black community. Imagine if I greeted one of my relatives by saying “yo what’s up my N***a?”. I would be disowned, and feel like a complete fool. Yet for some reason this black-on-black racism has been accepted by the mainstream, and left completely unchallenged.

I get it though. White people feel too anxious to question why it’s still used within the black community. Many they feel like they’re not in a position to say that it shouldn’t be used by anyone, because they’ve weighed up that a white person telling a black person what to do is probably worse than a black person using the N-word. So they let it go.

If a white person says the N-word, they are branded a racist, and rightly so. Of course, it’s different when a black person says it, given our history. But this still doesn’t mean it’s right for us to use it, just because the context is different. The word should be banned. You don’t find other horrific and derogatory terms used by other ethnic groups, at least not in the same way it’s used by many black people. So why have my brothers and sisters allowed the N-word to be glorified, and become a term of endearment?

Hip-hop is a large part of the reason why. When artists began using the word it was organic, authentic and meaningful. Groups such as N.W.A and Public Enemy used the term as a way to identify and explore its meaning. It was a thoughtful reappropriation that partly highlighted how wrong it was. Now, modern hip-hop artists such as Rick Ross and Lil Wayne glorify the N-word. It’s all part of the brash materialism and rebelliousness of their stage personas. And as such, with the considerable influence hip-hop and rap continues to exert on our society, it’s become the ultimate throwaway term which is somehow deemed to be endearing, not derogatory.

The word has become so sanitised within the hip-hop community, that anyone seems to know think they can use it, given they’re part of the inner circle. The aspiring hip-hop artist Chet Haze (Tom Hanks’ son) recently posted a video endorsing the word’s use, along with in depth analysis on why «N*****» should be used, and its cultural significance to hip-hop culture. Chet said he has the right to use the term in his music, saying: «The way I see it, it’s a word that unifies the culture of HIP-HOP across ALL RACES, which is actually kind of a beautiful thing. It’s a word that can be used out of camaraderie and love, not just exclusively for black people.» As you might expect, he’s faced a huge backlash, even from his fans. But he’s not alone – there are plenty of people within the hip-hop community, black and white, who share his view.

This is worrying, as hip-hop is one of the most powerful music genres. It unites all types of people regardless of race, creed or religion. As such, it has a duty to inform and educate young people. Instead, it has allowed them to accept the N-word as a cool and rebellious. Martin Luther King must be spinning in his grave. His fight and cause wasn’t for us to greet each other in an unjust and prejudice manner.

I’m in my thirties now, and I know there’s probably plenty of young people who disagree with me. They’ll say I just don’t get it. But I would urge them to think about what the N-word actually means before using it. I’d referring them to the legacy of the civil rights movement, the actions of far-right groups, and the day-to-day racism we still face. I’d ask them to think think about saying it to one of their grandparents, and see how they’d react. I’d point towards the pain that was inflicted on previous generations, who fought for equal rights. The N-word dosen’t allow us to move on. So entrenched in our collective distress as it is, it’s too far gone.

We can’t let history wipe out what has been achieved for so many. This is what using the N-word does. It takes us back to a time where black people were treated as second-class citizens. We should never forget these times, but this doesn’t mean we should hold on to the terms of abuse we suffered, and pretend that they’re somehow ok.

So what can be done to stop the word being used? First of all, the hip-hop community should come out against its use. And young people need to be educated in a way that doesn’t skirt around the issue. But most importantly, black people must unite and make it completely clear – no-one should say the N-word, regardless of who you are.

I’m wading into this thicket because of a controversy at Rutgers University Law School in New Jersey. Last October, a criminal law student said the n-word while quoting a 1993 legal opinion during virtual office hours. The class’s professor, Vera Bergelson, told the New York Times this week that she didn’t hear the word said at the time and wishes she had.

I have great sympathy for that Rutgers student, a middle-aged White woman embarking on a second career in law. According to the Times story, she had the good sense to forewarn her classmates by saying, “He said, um — and I’ll use a racial word, but it’s a quote.” In that context, I can’t fault her for wanting to quote from the legal opinion exactly. But if she knew enough to warn of the forthcoming word’s “racial” nature, she should have known better than to utter the six-letter abomination in the first place.

A petition circulated on the Newark campus called for a policy on racial slurs and for the professor and the offending student to issue formal apologies. Both did so during a meeting with the criminal law class and first-year students. Now, there’s talk of a voluntary ban on racial epithets being spoken in class.

I have a better idea: How about people educate themselves on the ugly history of the n-word and then avoid articulating it? I mean, that’s why we have the clunky “n-word” euphemism in the first place.

Columbia University professor John McWhorter did a fine job recently tracing the etymology of the n-word and how the slur became “unsayable.” What was missing in McWhorter’s analysis was a thorough discussion of how that word was used to dehumanize Black people and keep them in their place, how the n-word was likely among the last words heard by Black people before they were lynched.

A 2017 report from the Equal Justice Initiative, “Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror,” documents more than 4,000 extrajudicial killings (read, murders) across the country between 1877 and 1950. One was the 1906 lynching of Edward Johnson in Chattanooga, Tenn., in defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court, which granted him a stay of execution for allegedly raping a White woman.

Johnson was dragged from jail by a White mob to the Walnut Street Bridge, where he was hanged, and his body shot hundreds of times. The EJI report notes, “The mob left a note pinned on the corpse that read: ‘To Justice Harlan. Come get your [n-word] now.’” Johnson’s last words reportedly were, “God bless you all. I am innocent.” He was cleared of rape in 2000.

For African Americans, the n-word is not a Rorschach test. It’s a stress test, the intensity of which rises and falls depending on one’s mood and sense of charity in the moment it tumbles from non-Black lips.

To the White parents of children enamored with rap music, where the n-word is omnipresent, I implore you to teach them the horrific history that shrouds the word. Teach them that saying it can cause others great pain and pray they act accordingly. As for me, I am constitutionally incapable of saying the n-word. I will not participate in my own degradation or that of Black people by repeating it.

There is no avoiding the n-word. It’s everywhere, from American literature to legal opinions that get read aloud in a university law class. If you end up saying the n-word in full, I might be willing to give you a pass. But it would be better to pass on saying it at all.

Read more from Jonathan:

Who can and can’t say the “N word”? Is there ever an “n word” pass for non Black people? Can people of color say the n word?

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There are some people that believe people of color can say the n word, because they’re not white.

When I say “people of color” or “POC” I’m referring to non Black people that also happen to be non white.

This word, the “N word” seems to always slap bang in the middle of race relations in regards to a multitude of issues. I think by now most of us should know the history of this very derogatory word. It’s very clear the impact of this word towards African people and people of African descent. 

Attraction

But what is the attraction to non Black people with saying this word?
There has been many excuses made for saying this word from non Black people:
“I’m not white, I’m a person of color, so it’s okay”.
“I’m not saying it in a racist way”.
“It means friend”.
“But Black people say it so why can’t I?”

“But Black people say it so why can’t I?” 

I think one of the most common arguments I’ve heard from a multitude of races is “But Black people say it so why can’t I?”
Now, if you feel the way I do, then we’re in agreement that no one should say this word. I am not a believer of reclaiming the N word. I do not believe for one second that you can reclaiming a word and take the sting out of it by using it in your everyday vocabulary.

Historically during slavery even when Black people started to use the N word, they themselves were using it in a derogatory manner. It was used to describe someone lazy, disloyal, untrustworthy, dirty. It was always in a negative manner.

So when did the N word start to mean “Friend”?

In my opinion, I do not believe that it ever was used as a friendly term. When you think of the ways it’s used in music, it’s normally always in a negative way. In reference to violence.

Long Story Short

It’s 2021. No one should be saying the N-word.
One minute it’s a weapon, the next it’s a term of endearment. Some people get a pass, other people don’t. 

A slur shouldn’t have rules and regulations. A slur is a slur and will always be a slur, no matter how you try to dress it up.

However, I know I’m not the only Black person noticing non-Black people saying it more than Black people. Especially in the age of political correctness and freedom of speech, there are more and more non Black people fighting for the “right” to say this evil word.

I read an article a few months back with a white person stating “It is my right as a human being to be able to say any word I choose. I pay my taxes and I will say whatever I want when I want how I want, as many times as I want”. Yep, you read right. It’s strange how you can’t “mis-gender” someone or call a person that was born biologically male that now identifies as female a man. But you can however say the N-word as much as you like without repercussions. 

So Can Asian People & Hispanic People Say The N Word? 

A big pet peeve of mine is the incorrect assumption that hispanic or latino are races. They are not. There are Black hispanics, white hispanics, asian hispanics, you name a race there’s a hispanic or latino of that race. This video will explain what race hispanics are.

There’s an assertion that because you aren’t white, your experiences are similar to those of a Black person’s, which is far from the truth. Especially when the majority of asians are inherently racist towards Black people. Or in latino communities racism towards Black latinos is rife.
If you know the history of the n-word, why would you say it? What do you get out of it? Everybody wants to be Black until it’s time to be Black. Everybody wants to use the N word, but no one wants to be treated like a nigger! Whether you add an “er” on the end or an “a” on the end, really makes no difference. The word still means the same thing.

It’s just For Black People

The need to say the N-word by non Black people is one of authority and control. They hate the idea of being policed and not having rights over Black people. It drives them crazy to not be allowed to do something. So when you tell them that something is just for Black people, of course they will react in a child like manner. 

How many times have white women interjected themselves in conversations that are strictly for Black women in regards to positivity or upliftment? “But all women are beautiful”.
White people can never allow Black people to have anything to themselves. So do you really think for one moment that white people would allow Black people to be the only people allowed to use the N word? A word that white people introduced to Black people in a derogatory term? Of course not. This is not our word, this is white people’s word. This is their word that they used to describe us. I am a great believer that if we want white people to stop using the word, then we ourselves must also stop using this word. 

“I can call myself a b*tch, but you can’t call me a b*tch”. It makes no sense right?
If a word is offensive, then it’s offensive period, regardless of who says it. I myself have no desire to reclaim a word that has such a long history of oppressing my ancestors. 

Culture

Sadly the culture today with the new generation of kids growing up is simply an urban culture. It is not a Black culture or a white or asian culture. It has mutated and merged into one. This may sound good to some, but it’s really not. Of Course this new hybrid culture is predominately Black in roots as most things. But the the problem is these kids do not care about history. They don’t care about the history of words or the oppression of our ancestors. They have forgotten the significance and meaning behind everything. Well, I say they’ve forgotten, but they were never taught.

Society wants to make our children stupid. At this rate it will be the next generation that will think slavery was a job and the transatlantic slave trade was a migration to a better new world.

As a teacher in a racial diverse high school school I can tell you, that these children do not care about the use of the N word. I see white and asian kids in my classes with cornrows, freely calling each other the n-word and the Black children smile and laugh with them like it’s normal. 

I grew up in a day and age (I’m a 1986 baby) where if a non Black person said the N word, we kicked their ass, many times over. 

But now….. that’s not the case.

Look at music, Tv and social media. The N word is now fair game. 

The only way to stop this is by making sure we educate all children about the history of the N word. We as Black people must also stop using this word and honor our ancestors.

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My cousin’s teenage daughter, whom I affectionately call my niece, was recently hanging with some family friends her age when a boy in the group started using the N-word when speaking with another group member, using it like you would use the term “buddy”. Like us, the boy was South Asian, so my niece told him it wasn’t right for him to use the word. He disagreed, saying, “My Black friends don’t mind.”

Knowing that I teach about equity, diversity, and inclusion for a living, the next time she saw me my niece inquisitively asked, “Is it ok for people who aren’t Black to use the N-word?” It took me less than a millisecond to respond — “No!”

Hearing this story, you might be thinking, “Oh, this can’t be happening!” Unfortunately, I continue to hear that the N-word is constantly being used across the South Asian community and other communities who are not Black — communities that should know better and would vehemently tell you that they’re not racist.

I’ve had enough of hearing paltry excuses and “explanations” from people about this. In the spirit of allyship and fighting against anti-Black racism, I want to use my voice to speak out about the use of the N-word.

In this video, I talk about how no one — other than someone who is Black — should use the N-word. It’s flat out wrong. Why? I spell this out in my video.

If this feels unfair to you, I urge you to hear me out. Watch the video to learn the reasons why you shouldn’t use the N-word if you’re not Black.

Watch now!