I really don't get the confusion here. The "N" word was used by whites in this country in its darkest era, as a complement to slavery, lynchings, segregation and all manner of horrors. If blacks want to take it back and use it themselves, however they want, that's their business. White people don't have any "right" to do the same, just because blacks decide to do that. It frankly amazes me what a short memory (or failure to understand history) white people in this country have. If you want to oppose Affirmative Action or something, fine. But to demand equal use of the "n" word? Come on. Why would you even want to use it? And why would you take the horrors visited on blacks by our ancestors (and even some of our living relatives) so lightly? There's a parallel in the gay community, where gays have taken the word "queer" back. That doesn't give straight people the right to use it -- they were the ones who invented it as a form of abuse (just like the "n" word was coined by whites as a slur to accompany great abuse).
In the early 90s I'd say, when "Queer Nation" was formed. Since then, "queer" has been a term of empowerment among the gay community and more radical activists talk about "queer rights" and not just "gay rights."
Using the n word is pretty bad, but I don't want to see any woman beat up over it...even if it was from other women. Even if she was looking for some form of punishment, that's her own issues. The history of violence against women is just as stacked as America's slavery problems. As for men using it to incite a fight, while childish, people have used it in escalation. Every other word has been thrown about the other person's sexuality and his mothers. It's just for some reason, there's a lingering aftertaste for using it that can sometimes be unforgivable.
Ok, but it's not like using the "n" word in the sense that it would be wrong for a straight person to use?
That idiot is eventually going to get the dog crap beat out of her. Stupidity isn't like a faucet that can be turned off, so she's an emergency room visit waiting to happen.
No, not really. Certainly not to the same degree, though I could imagine gays thinking that straights using the word was presumptuous and maybe offensive. I use the word "queer" with my gay friends, but they very clearly understand the way that I mean it. I would never use the "n" word casually with my black friends. So yes, they're different words in different contexts but both are examples of a group of people reclaiming a slur that was once commonly used against them. And in neither case are 'equal rights' to use the terms somehow 'deserved' by people who don't belong to those groups.
Let's not forget, the woman in this clip was using the word in a derogatory way too, it's not like she was saying "What's up my n*ggas!" which I still don't like bit is the context which a lot of folks seem to think is OK.
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Not having hung out with anyone who has posted so far I don't know how tight fisted they are with their money.
Considering the flap over Shirley Sherrod I suspect that if a black public official were caught on record referring to white people as "crackers" or "white trash" they would lose their job. The Sherrod incident, even though it was mistakenly applied shows that there is a sensitivity in regard to racism even if it is directed at whites. At the same time any public official who referred to Asians as "gooks" or "Chink" would probably lose their jobs too.
Its not quite the same though as you cannot legally yell "fire" in a crowded theater. To my knowledge there is no legal restriction to using the "N-Word". I agree with Shroopy and Batman Jones that its really up to blacks to decide if and when they are offended by the use of the term. Of course its a double standard but as a non-black I don't feel deprived or discriminated against that its not socially acceptable of me to use the term. The one thing regarding the use of the term though is when blacks have referred to non-blacks with it as a term of friendly endearment. For instance I was playing pick up ball at a neighborhood park and hit three three pointers in a row. Some black kids, probably between 10-13 years old, watching the game said "that N-Word can shoot!" It just struck me as an odd complement and not something I would say about a black guy, who I didn't know very well, at a pick up basketball game even if I was trying to praise him.
