White girls say the n word

Her name is Jasmine Barkley. This is my university. Penn State. Beyond ridiculous. @penn_state y’all already know the deal. Just do your thing. pic.twitter.com/ItUzHV38aE

— Seun ✊🏿 (@seuntheactivist) April 22, 2018

Last week, two white sorority girls from two different universities recorded themselves saying the n-word in videos that have since gained notoriety on social media. Now they’re both facing backlash at their respective campuses.

In the first video, Penn State student Kaitlin Listro can be heard saying the n-word over and over while traveling in an elevator as music blares from her phone. It doesn’t appear that Listro is actually singing along to the lyrics of any particular song. From the video, it seems she is just saying the n-word–albeit in a sing-song voice–on repeat.

As Listro exits the small space, she says, “If you’re offended, you can suck my dick.”

After Listro got thoroughly called out on social media, her friend Jasmine Barkley–who attends William Paterson University in New Jersey–posted a video poll to Instagram asking whether or not it was okay for white people to say the n-word while singing along to a song containing that word. She asks:

Is it appropriate for me to say ‘nigga’ if it’s in a song and you’re singing the lyrics? Or is it not appropriate for me to say ‘nigga’? Let me know.

Also. pic.twitter.com/ZjFE7M8lsk

— Seun ✊🏿 (@seuntheactivist) April 22, 2018

As Barkley intones her loaded questions, a bow-wearing girl in the background sings, “What up my nigga, what up my nigga,” before smiling and taking a sip of her beverage.

(The first video is available in full here; the second here.)

Seun Babalola, an activist at Penn State who brought widespread attention to the videos on Twitter, said, in comments to The Daily Collegian, “I don’t tolerate racism. Period. I will always do whatever it takes to ensure that my community is treated with respect here at PSU. That is one of my primary roles as an activist.”

In response, Barkley was swiftly kicked out of her sorority, Delta Phi Epsilon. In a statement posted to Facebook, the organization noted:

Delta Phi Epsilon will not tolerate racism. The woman in the video is no longer a member of DPhiE. Our organization was founded by 5 Jewish women who were discriminated against. They stood up for social justice and we continue to stand for that today. We will be forming a task force on diversity and inclusion as a result of this incident.

An earlier version of the post contained the following statement, “Delta Phi Epsilon International Headquarters has just become aware of an unfolding situation at William Paterson University. We are investigating the actions of one member and will take swift, decisive action to remove her or any member who does not uphold our values.”

Penn State responded to the uproar via Twitter. The university condemned Listro’s speech but said there was no way to punish her for it because of the First Amendment. They wrote, “Penn State’s embrace of diversity & inclusion, and opposition to prejudice & hate, are clear. We condemn racist messages, as they are hateful and violate our institutional values. We cannot, however, impose sanctions for Constitutionally protected speech, no matter how offensive.”

[images via screengrab/Twitter/Instagram]

Follow Colin Kalmbacher on Twitter: @colinkalmbacher

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Internet Culture

Posted on May 27, 2022   Updated on May 30, 2022, 11:25 am CDT

An old controversy featuring Kendrick Lamar has been rekindled after a video of a 2018 concert went viral this week on TikTok.

In 2018, Lamar invited two fans, Rohan and Delaney, onstage to rap along to his song “m.A.A.d city.” While Rohan omitted the N-word from the lyrics, Delaney did not. This led Lamar to stop the song and chastise her for using the word.

“My boy Rohan kinda knew the rules a little bit,” Lamar says in the video. “You gotta bleep one single word.”

Delaney was initially confused, asking, “Am I not cool enough for you?” She then became apologetic: “I’m used to singing it like you wrote it!” Lamar eventually allowed her to try the song again.

A portion of this incident went viral on TikTok this week, accumulating over 2 million views.

@zac.burkett 4 years ago today, att Hangout Fest 2018, Kendrick brought a guest onstage to rap m.A.A.d. city. She forgot to filter out some certain lyrics. #Kendrick #KendrickLamar #Hangout #HangoutFest #mrmoraleandthebigsteppers #AuntieDiaries #fyp ♬ m.A.A.d city – Kendrick Lamar

A full video of the incident can be found on YouTube.

Lamar commented on the incident in a 2018 interview with Vanity Fair.

“Let me put it to you in its simplest form. I’ve been on this earth for 30 years, and there’s been so many things a Caucasian person said I couldn’t do. Get good credit. Buy a house in an urban city. So many things—’you can’t do that’—whether it’s from afar or close up,” he told writer Lisa Robinson. “So if I say this is my word, let me have this one word, please let me have that word.”

On his new album Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, Lamar reflects on the incident further, comparing Delaney’s use of the N-word to his own use of a homophobic slur in the past.

“See, I was taught words was nothing more than a sound /If ever they was pronounced without any intentions / The very second you challenged the shit I was kicking,” he raps in the track “Auntie Diaries.”

He even notes the situation specifically, continuing:

“Reminded me about a show I did out the city / That time I brung a fan on stage to rap / But disapproved the word that she couldn’t say with me / You said, ‘Kendrick, ain’t no room for contradiction / To truly understand love, switch position / ‘[F-slur], [F-slur], [F-slur],’ we can say it together / But only if you let a white girl say ‘[N-word].’’”

An annotation on Genius explains that these lyrics intend to challenge the audience’s biases as well as Lamar’s.

“If he truly holds the belief that words are nothing more than sounds without intent, then he either needs to embrace non-Black people using the N-word or must reject all slurs equally; if one means something then so does the other,” the annotation reads. “There is ‘no room for contradiction,’ as Mary-Ann says.”

In the comments section on TikTok, users once again mocked Delaney while discussing the specifics of the incident.

“Why did he even bring her up there,” one user asked.

“Man’s was flabbergasted,” another added.

“The fact that’s she just didn’t get it and kept embarrassing herself,” a third noted.

Others commented on the discourse that surrounded this incident back in 2018. At the time, a few online accused Lamar of “setting up” the girl, per Newsweek. This explanation did not make sense to TikTokers.

“i will literally never forget this and people stay saying he ‘set her up’ like ???? what r u literally talking about,” one viewer wrote.

Comments like these reignited the debate from four years ago.

One user responded, “He got her up on stage to sing his song and then grilled her for singing his song… not that hard to understand where people are coming from.”

“Kendrick weirdly told her to sing all of it then did this too so. Idk man, seems like he baited her tbh. Also the fans there didn’t care til he did,” another added.

“If it’s in the song then there is no problem saying it,” a third user argued.

However, most commenters were in agreement that Delaney was in the wrong—and were sure that she continues to be embarrassed by this incident.

As one user wrote, “She def thinks about this daily.”

Today’s top stories

*First Published: May 27, 2022, 9:17 am CDT

At one of his recent shows, the Pulitzer Prize winning rapper and emcee Kendrick Lamar asked a white fan to stop rapping the n-word.

The crowd in Gulf Shores, Ala., started booing as the fan used the racial slur. The rapper had invited the fan identified as “Delaney” on stage to sing “M.A.A.D. City” during his set.

But he stopped the music and told her, “You gotta bleep one single word.” Delaney appeared not to realize why Lamar had stopped her from singing. She asked: “Am I not cool enough for you, bro?”

She apologized, saying: “I’m so sorry …I’m used to singing it like you wrote it.”

A video recording of the incident in Alabama has reignited a controversy that gained wide attention last year.

Last fall social media erupted after a video of white sorority girls singing along to Kanye West’s mega hit Gold Digger went viral. The lyrics include the word n-gga. The students promptly apologized and were absolved of racism by their university and by commentators and journalists — most notably Piers Morgan.

Morgan, writing in the Daily Mail, insisted that white listeners of rap music cannot be reproached for using the n-word. Rather, he said, they are targeted and exploited by Kanye and other Black celebrities, who send mixed messages about whether the n-word is offensive. Morgan wrote: “The only way to stop its use is for everyone to stop using it, including Black people.”

Though Morgan’s take on the n-word was widely derided, it went viral, and a few commentators endorsed it in whole or in part. As a white fan of rap music and as a linguist who writes and teaches about hip-hop language, I feel compelled to add my voice to others who have countered his poorly informed arguments.

Hip-hop as counterculture

Though hip-hop is now consumed by mainstream pop audiences, it is traditionally made for, and by, working-class Black youth whose “in-group” acceptance depends in large part on their fluent use of Black vernacular English. “There is no question that Black talk provides hip-hop’s linguistic underpinnings,” write linguist John Rickford and his son, journalist Russell Rickford, in Spoken Soul: The Story of Black English. They go on to explain:

Nothing thumbs its nose at conformity like the unrestrained African American vernacular. Although white suburban youngsters eat up hip-hop’s edgy tales of money, sexual adventure, ghetto life, and racial injustice (and keep ghetto rhymes atop the pop charts), Black urban youngsters are the genre’s target audience.

Now the n-word looms large in the vernacular of many Black youth. In a new linguistic study of “Black Twitter,” the n-word stands out as the most frequent distinctively Black form, being used 6.6 million times by Black American Twitter users in a single month. The study notes that the n-word has various uses but defines it simply as “guy.”

Black emcees, too, generally use the n-word as “guy,” with diverse connotations, none of them truly offensive. In Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap, Grandmaster Caz, a hip-hop elder, explores the word in a 300-word freestyle that includes 46 instances of the term. Caz shows that it has dozens of meanings, ranging from peaceful to aggressive, from camaraderie to competition, and from boasting to “dissing.”

I’m that top n-gga, … I won’t stop, n-gga … I’m that sweet n-gga, that never off-beat n-gga … I’m that cool n-gga, ran my whole high school n-gga … I’m that proud n-gga, that stand out in the crowd n-gga … I’m that smart n-gga, always first to start n-gga. I think with my head, but I feel with my heart, n-gga!

A Black man from the Bronx, Caz’s use of the n-word in these lines is in direct opposition to “out-group” racist uses of the term. According to a philosopher of language, Adam Croom, the racial slur describes “a constellation of prototypical attributes,” the most derogatory being “subservient,” “prone to laziness,” “prone to violence,” “simple-minded,” and “emotionally shallow.” Croom explains that slurs are used in non-derogatory ways within countercultures such as hip-hop, to oppose and to subvert entrenched sociocultural norms.

Surviving racism and the evolution of language

Black youth appear to strengthen their solidarity and identity by using the n-word as an in-group term. Linguist Jacquelyn Rahman argues the term may help Black males identify as “resourceful, pragmatic survivors” of racial injustice. “During the period of slavery, n-gga became a term that Africans used to refer to themselves and companions in the struggle to survive,” explains Rahman. “Using the term highlighted the identity of a speaker as participating in the culture of survival.” This is apparent when Jay-Z tells himself in Holy Grail, “you still alive, still that n-gga. N-gga, you survived, you still gettin’ bigger.”

The survivor meaning of the n-word has a long history. But African Americans have also developed new meanings and uses of the word in the last few decades. For instance, its use has expanded from noun to noun modifier. An iconic example is New Orleans’s MC T. Tucker who described himself as “the n-gga, the n-gga n-gga, … the n-gga n-gga n-gga you love to hate.” The n-word has also grown from an expression of solidarity among survivors to a term of endearment (as in, “that’s my n-gga”).

The n-word has even evolved into a meaning-neutral pronoun in the first or third person, similar to “I/me,” “we/us,” “he/him,” and “they/them.” So for instance, KAAN simply refers to himself when he raps, “I’m still rolling by myself, a n-gga [I] never had a crew … you lookin for a n-gga [me], you know where to find me … Lawd knows that a n-gga [I’m] feelin hopeless.”

Altogether, then, the use of the n-word in hip-hop is about identity and survival. When a Black emcee says the n-word, it is intended without derogation. So can white hip-hop heads — like me — and other non-Black people rap along without being offensive?

It is never OK: Eminem

In my rap linguistics course a few years ago, a student of South Asian heritage made a memorable class presentation titled, “The meaning of n-gga.” He’d asked a Black childhood friend to join him in class that day, to stand beside him, and to say each instance of the n-word in his stead. My student said that though he is a person of colour and an emcee immersed in hip-hop culture, from a “hood area” in Northeast Calgary, he makes a point of never saying this word, even with Black friends who encourage him to use it. One of his idols, white rapper Eminem, never does either.

Indeed, Eminem and the Black culture of hip-hop famously adopted each other. Much of Eminem’s accent, grammar and vocabulary are drawn from Black vernacular English, but he avoids saying the n-word. (He admitted he said it on occasion in his teens but he has been mostly excused for this — as Nas wrote, he’s “not mad ’cause Eminem said n-gga, ’cause he my n-gga.”) In ’Till I Collapse, Eminem even avoids a euphemism for the n-word — by substituting “wizzle” for “nizzle” in Snoop Dogg’s well-known expression “fo’ shizzle, my nizzle.”

This song (like many others by Eminem, such as Not Afraid and Survival) is about being a “survivor.” Because the n-word is deeply rooted in African-American history, Eminem cannot use it to mean “survivor,” no matter how integrated he is in the Black culture that is hip-hop. More generally, because Eminem is white, he cannot subvert the n-word as non-derogatory, as Black hip-hoppers can with each other. Only the in-group members that the slur was originally intended to target can perform this “normative reversal.”

So for Eminem, the n-word must remain the racist slur that white America has always used and sadly, some continue to use.

The bottom line is this: if a renegade rap god, who is one of the most unrestrained artists in hip-hop, won’t rap the n-word, then what might possess mere white listeners of rap music to do so?

One of the sorority girls who came under fire after filming herself saying the N-word said she is ‘not a racist’ and that she felt ‘unequal’ when she made the clip.

William Paterson University student Jasmine Barkley responded to the controversy on Monday with a lengthy statement tweeted out by the school’s newspaper. 

Over the weekend videos were leaked that showed Barkley and a friend from Penn State University repeatedly saying the N-word on her Instagram and Snapchat. 

One clip shows the Penn State student in an elevator repeatedly singing the N-word before saying: ‘You’re a fat n****r, suck my d**k’.

In the second video, Barkley asks her Instagram followers: ‘Is it appropriate for me to say n****r if it’s in a song and you’re singing the lyrics, or is it not appropriate for me to say n****r? Let me know.’  

On Monday Barkley said that she believes in ‘equality and respect among all’ and that she was ‘deeply sorry’ to those who were offended by the videos. 

‘I admit that the place and context of how I presented my question was insensitive,’ she wrote. 

But then Barkley’s apology came to a halt as she began explaining why she believes the N-word has no place in rap music if she can’t sing along as well. 

‘If a word is offensive to a particular race then it should not be presented in music,’ she said. 

‘When an interracial group sings along to lyrics, including the N-word, people don’t call out those who are not black, racist for singing along.’ 

Barkley said she filmed the videos because she became ‘upset’ after her friend was ‘harassed’ for singing along to the song Freaky Friday by Lil Dicky and Chris Brown. 

At one instance in the song, in which the white rapper switches bodies with the black R&B singer, Lil Dicky expresses his excitement at being able to say the N-word. 

‘I never attacked a specific person or group,’ Barkley wrote. ‘I was simply questioning why one race has more rights to freedom of speech than another.’ 

Barkley then went on to quote Charlamagne The God, who hosts an MTV talk show. 

‘[A] comment he makes is about how if Martin Luther King Jr or other historic black figures were to come back to life, they wouldn’t be shocked by white people using the N-word but by those of the black race using the N-word,’ she writes. 

‘There is no moral  justification stating that I am not allowed to sing lyrics sung by a different race.’ 

‘The black race has been fighting against segregation for a long time, yet the divide of those who can use the N-word only creates more segregation,’ she added. 

Barkley went on to say that she had been using her voice on campus to make ‘positive strides in equality’.  

‘My hope is that people realize this was not a malicious act but just a response to feeling ridiculed and unequal pertaining to this issue,’ she continued.  

Barkley’s response was quickly ridiculed on social media, with one person tweeting: ‘She found the most elaborate way to say «I don’t respect black people»‘.  

‘This isn’t even an apology, why would you give her a platform?’ asked another.  

‘I’m confused. So there’s no disciplinary action being taken for this? It’s 2018 and she’s in college,’ one commenter wrote. 

‘Whether a word is said in a song or not, she should know her history of where the word derived from& how many people are offended by it.’ 

Barkley’s statement came after she first apologized on her Snapchat account. 

‘I am so sorry for everyone that is offended by my Snapchats, but obviously from here on out if you have a problem with what I have to say then you should just not watch,’ she told her followers. 

The videos, which were both posted on social media by Barkley, were leaked on Twitter by user @seuntheactivist, who attends Penn State.

They have been watched more than 200,000 times.

‘This is my university. Beyond ridiculous. @Pennstate y’all already know the deal. Just do your thing,’ he wrote in the post. 

But many were disappointed with Pennsylvania State University’s response, which was tweeted directly to Seun.   

‘Penn State’s embrace of diversity and inclusion, and opposition to prejudice and hate, are clear,’ the university tweeted in a statement. 

‘We condemn racist messages, as they are hateful and violate our institutional values. We cannot, however, impose sanctions for Constitutionally protected speech, no matter how offensive.’ 

Penn State has since posted a message from University leaders revealing that the Office of Student Conduct is investigating the videos.    

‘The University shares the outrage and disgust expressed on social media and beyond regarding the use of a racial slur by a student on her personal social media account,’ the statement read. 

‘The inclusion and safety of all our students is paramount. It is deeply troubling that as a society, we today are still facing racism.’ 

‘We must uphold our values, and Penn State is increasingly focusing on how to address and educate our students on the impact of hateful messages and actions.’ 

Meanwhile William Paterson University, a public college in Wayne, New Jersey, said officials were investigating the videos to ‘determine what actions are appropriate’.   

‘We have learned of videos on social media including one in which a William Paterson student, who is also a leader in our sorority community, makes abhorrent and racially charged statements at a non-University gathering,’ the statement reads.  

‘We are disgusted by this behavior, which does not reflect our values or those we expect from our students.’ 

It was later discovered that Barkley was a member of Delta Phi Epsilon, which also issued a statement regarding the videos.

‘Delta Phi Epsilon International Headquarters has just become aware of an unfolding situation at William Paterson University,’ the statement reads. 

‘We are investigating the actions of one member and will take swift, decisive action to remove her or any member who does not uphold our values.’ 

Delta Phi Epsilon’s WPU chapter has since revealed that Barkley is no longer a member of the sorority following the incident. 

‘The woman in the video is no longer a member of the Delta Phi Epsilon organization and her actions did not occur at a DPhiE event,’ read a statement posted to the sorority’s Instagram page. 

‘Her actions are not condoned or shared by the Epsilon Chi chapter at William Paterson University.’