The N-Word

my best friend is black and although some of our other friends use the word around him to describe the less likable african americans, they tell him that hes not one. i personally think its awful and i cringe when i hear it, especially around him. needless to say, even though he wouldnt say anything about it even if it bothered him, i would never use the word.....ever. if they want to use it, thats great. (EDIT: by them i meanblack people) it doesnt offend me a bit so more power to em.

that being said, i think a real huge problem is when i see people with anything having to do with the confederate flag. and i hate when people use the "i love the southern culture" excuse to glorify its display. it was a group formed bc they wanted to defend the right to have slavery....hmmm. great culture and worth displaying gee, if youre part german, why not fly nazi flags bc you looove nazi culture. sorry but i think its the same thing

 

Remember though that the n-word has been historically used to denigrates all blacks PERIOD not a subsection of blacks. And the reason that the word has potency is because in US history, blacks have often heard it while being lynched, had crosses burned in front of their homes, discriminated against and such.

I'm not saying that it is good even for blacks to use such a potent and hateful word. But even if a black person used the word in a hostile way to another black person, it would never have the full potency that a non-black person saying it would have. If a non-black person said it to a black person, the black person could immediate relate to white hoods, lynchings, discrimination and such. If a black person said it to another black person in a hostile way, it would have the potency of calling someone an "*******" (or whatever non-racial put down you want) but would never carry the full potency due that the word would have in a potentially racist context.

 

Why should people be described by their color? Why in this day and age should we of any race be using derogatory terminology to each other or about each other? Surely by now we have all learned sufficient vocabulary to be talking in a more gentile way about our brothers and sisters of all three races.

 

You hit it on the head perfectly, I use it when I'm around my boys but I dont say it around people of other races even though I try to restrict my use of the word altogether.

I also know a lot of older people my parents and grandparents age that dont want to hear the word regardless of who says it.

 

Basically, some things just aren't to be understood. The point is to not try. Just understand that that's a golf course not to be used by any race other than white Americans. Blacks especially. No offense intended as I have plenty of black friends but we'll never be close enough to share a tee time.
Don't over-analyze it. Respect it.

Would this be considered anything other than racist? It is largely the same as dwil8686's post.

 

Bottomline, it's the way it's used. If you're joking around with someone and call them stupid, it's just that, you're joking. But if you say it in a nasty, degrading well, then that's what it is, degrading. There's a difference between a racist person using it to degrade someone, and a black person using a watered down version of the word.

 

its a word, who cares.

i hear it about a hundred times a day, it doesn't make a difference.

it is part of our vernacular.

 

im filipino but alot of black peeps (especially my friends) often call me "hey! sup my n****" and that's nothin to me. but i dont reply them the same way coz i dont want to disrespect people. its really a call of personal issues when it comes to this subject. some people may take it as a "slang" word for man or dawg and some people may take it as racism and discrimination. its all about a person's understanding to the situation. as for me, im not bothered if black peeps call me that coz i know they ment it positively. i just take that as a compliment. for me, its all or none. eventhough i dont use it.

 

So Blacks using the "N" word is the same as Whites Only golf courses?

You just proved my point. You have no idea what you're talking about.

 

Yes, it is the same. I showed you how by using almost your exact same post. You are saying that only one specific group should be granted a certain privilege, at the exclusion of all other group, and in particular one other group, using only skin color as a differentiator. That is the very definition of racial discrimination. It doesn't matter if it is a word, a golf course, a job opportunity, a mate, a drinking fountain, or anything else. You cannot give preferential treatment based on skin color without being a racist. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe you, as a black person, get to be the final arbiter on what each race is allowed to do and say. Somehow that just doesn't seem very fair to me though.

 

I couldn't have said it better (really I couldn't have).

I get pissed if a non-black says it to me even if I know he/she is kidding, I don't know why but I do. I use it privately as not to disrespect.

 

Isn't this how Kerry Collins self-destructed?

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"It was the last night of training camp," said Collins of an ugly incident during his time with the Panthers. "We were all out, we were having drinks, I was very intoxicated. There was some celebrating going on back at the dorms, the end of training camp, that sort of thing. And I used a term that was not meant to be used in a malicious way. It was more in a joking manner. I was trying to be a funny guy, I was trying to say something obviously I knew I shouldn’t be saying but that the guys wouldn’t take it that way obviously because they knew I couldn’t be saying that. And in a strange sense, in my polluted, chemically altered mind, I believed that maybe in some sort of way that it would reinforce some sense of camaraderie, and I certainly did not mean for it to be taken the way it (was). I’ve always been a person that has had black friends, friends of all nationalities, have supported it, believed in equality, and it goes back a long, long way."

The next day, the you-know-what hit the fan.

"The next day, boy, it was when someone addressed me with what I did, Coach (Dom) Capers addressed me with it, and I explained my side of the story and where I was coming from, and at the time there were certainly some feelings that the team and the guys that were there that night took it in the manner they took it," said Collins. "They felt that because of the nature of the situation and the nature of the word that I used it in a derogatory sense, and I regret the incident and I wish it never would have happened, but like I said, I always held true to my beliefs and certainly have tried to make amends wherever I needed to make amends."

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Then right after that he misspoke again to Capers and Capers canned his ass. Apparently Kerry Collins spoke without thinking a lot.

In the long run, he went to NO, flopped, got outta the NFL, sobered up, backpacked across the globe, came back, signed with NY, and two years later led them to the Superbowl. Alls well that ends well, I guess.

 

Its a privilege to use the n word. See that's the stupidity I'm talking about of this thread even being started. I can understand, being against things like affirmative action, but when you start to say it is discriminatory that blacks can only say the N word, that's just stupid. I didn't know you wanted to use it that bad. Go ahead, since you feel you are being denied the privilege to be a racist, no one is holding you back. At least we know how you really feel.

I mean, comparing not allowing blacks to go to certain schools, not allowing blacks to even use the same water fountain, to the double standard on the N word is about the dumbest thing you ever wrote for the simple fact that you can use the word if you want. There are no legalized consequences. If you use the N word at your job, you may be reprimanded, you may not. When blacks tried to integrate schools in the south, they were beaten by the police that were supposed to protect them. I don't think police are going to hop out and beat you if you accidently let the word slip out.

 

Of course it's fair. Everything's fair. It's fair for you to stop for gas in small rural towns at night on the highway. It's fair for me to rather run out of gas on said highway in fear of all the "fairness" that was given to my father and grandfather.
It was fair for me to have a two-parent household just as it was fair for my friend across the street to be evicted after his father became a crackhead. It's fair for he and I to still call each other n!gga and if you'd like to walk up and call us that also, then that's fair too. Just remember that the repercussions will be fair as well.
You're concerning yourself over something that's not that serious. Just don't call a black person a n!gger. I can only speak for myself but when I hear it come from a White person's mouth (no offense intended again) it only conjurs up thoughts of Kunta Kinte, being sprayed with water hoses, my fathers military stories, my grandfathers baseball playing days stories, being told that I look like a monkey by a little White kid, having my car thoroughly searched during a "routine traffic stop", my management collegues at work assuming that I can "dance like MC Hammer", etc. Do you ever have similar thoughts?
It's all fair.

 

i'm totally serious when i say, thank you for posting this. it's not easy for me to understand what it must feel like to live with that. but when you explain it like that...through your eyes..it helps. man, i'm so sorry about that stuff. that really sucks...

 

I think this word would die out a lot faster if everyone stopped using it. It's ridiculous to not expect anyone to use a word just because of their skin. Just like it's ridiculous to expect someone to be able to dance MC Hammer.

 

Its funny that you criticize my post and turn around and write dwil8686 makes a great point, when we are both making the same point. When he writes, "you're concerning yourself over something that's not that serious" maybe you should take note.