Should I Use the Word “Nigger”….?

I saw Jessie Jackson on CNN’s “Your Money” over the weekend, and despite him being brought on to talk about the mortgage crisis, he was also swift-questioned about the comments he made on a hot-mic about Senator Barack Obama. In being questioned on the subject, he was asked about his use of the word Nigger. And that got me thinking: “Should I continue to use the word ‘Nigger’?”

Before any of you bring up semantics, let’s get one thing straight, when I’m talking about the word Nigger, it is inclusive of the slang version of the word as well: “Nigga.” And don’t tell me about how they have two different meanings, I understand how the word is used in today’s society, but for all intensive purposes, it’s all one word, with definitions that are as numerous as the number of different people you ask to give you the meaning of the word.

That said, my own personal definition of the word comes from an understanding of the word in its culture. I’m a 24-year old black man, and I hear that word everyday of my life. It’s a part of hip-hop culture. It’s a part of the black culture. I hear racists use it. And my friends and myself often engage in conversations discussing the word and the decision to use it.

I myself have used the word, and I haven’t necessarily banned it from my vocabulary just yet. But I’m ambiguous as to whether or not I will continue to use it.

The word “Nigger” has bad roots. Everyone knows that. It was a word contrived by white people to disparage black men and women over 400 years ago.

However, as the end of slavery, Jim Crow, and overall oppression begin to reach the comparatively minimal levels at which we sit at today, “Nigger” has become a part of the black language as well. Blacks use it in every day conversation. A lot of blacks in favor of the word will tell you that we use it as a term of affection, and that blacks have reversed the negative meaning behind the word to empower themselves. This may be true, but whether they are saying such popular terms as “Hey, Nigga,” “Fuck you, Nigga,” “What up’s, my Nigga?” and “Yo, you my Nigga,” it comes with different connotations and varying levels of affection.

Also, you cannot avoid the fact that even in present-day some people outside of the black culture use the word “Nigger” to disparage blacks. I’ve been called it by people outside of my race.

So here, you have blacks using the word as a way to identify other blacks, and yet some people still use the word to deprecate our race. But I ask you, how can a word have two different meanings?

Like I said earlier, don’t give me that crap that “Nigger” and “Nigga” aren’t the same word. That’s just semantics, because they are same the word, just maybe black society has taken the word and given it different connotations.

But why?

The empowerment thing falls on its head, when both myself and many other black people I know, use the word “Nigger” to talk about people in an un-empowering fashion, such as some of the aforementioned examples demonstrated.

And don’t tell me that the word is merely a term of endearment, when most people will agree that the word “Nigga” is most used by blacks when they themselves are in a less than happy mood.

The fact of the matter is that most blacks aren’t using the word as a term of empowerment. Sure, maybe those who hail from the Civil Rights movement use the word that way, but it is those older blacks that tend to be the biggest proponents of eliminating the word from popular use.

As for my generation, I don’t won’t hear that we use it to empower ourselves. Not when I hear a group of black children saying “Nigger” with every other word that comes out of their mouths, or when I hear rappers use the word “Nigger” repeatedly while perpetuating a misguided lifestyle and disparaging women in their music videos. This generation just doesn’t use the word in an empowering way. We don’t have the proximity to the roots of the word to use it that way. I went to an Ivy League school, where there are plenty of proven black people who used their minds to empower themselves, and yet already having empowered ourselves, we used the word when I was in college. And I certainly didn’t feel any more empowered because I did, and most of my friends would probably agree with me. The truth is that we used the word because that’s what we heard growing up. It’s just like if you grow up in the Midwest and everybody call’s carbonated beverages “pop,” then that’s what you’re probably going to call it. Many black youth heard their elders use the word “Nigger,” and so they used it too.

But let’s forget that. Let’s say that we actually continue to use the word for empowerment or as a term of endearment. If I do use it in that way, if I really have attempted to reverse it’s meaning, then why can’t I allow a white person to use it in the same way.

Let’s face it, I could talk to the strongest proponent of the use of the word “Nigger” as a term of affection, and I could listen to him or her defend the use of it as a way to reverse the psychology of black people who have been so hurt by that word. But if a white person walked by and said, “What’s up, my Nigga?”, that same proponent of the word would be endlessly infuriated.

But why? Can a white person not use the word endearingly?

That’s where my issue with the use of the word “Nigger” comes into play.

I’ve had white people who are “down with the brothers and sisters” approach me and use that word in an endearing fashion during a conversation amongst other black people. And with me being a pretty muscular guy, I was 100% sure that there was no malice intended by the person when saying it in my presence. But it still made me angry. I still didn’t want that white person to say it, and I let him know it. And I’m sure that 2 or 3 hours after I spouted off at the mouth with that white person, I probably went on to use the word “Nigger” later in the day, in the same fashion with which that white person intended to use it with me.

Is that fair?

Of course not. Which is why when any white person says that they don’t think the “N-word” shouldn’t be used by black people anymore if a white person isn’t supposed to use it, I can’t disagree with them.

I mean seriously, who do we think we are? Do we think we can copyright the word “Nigga” from the English language?

That’s just foolish. Why not copyright chicken and beer and call it a day? That will surely help end segregation and stereotypes.

Seriously, for us to get mad when white people used the word “Nigger,” is preposterous. Now if they use it to clearly disparage us, that is one thing. But if they are clearly trying to use the word in the same manner with which they hear black people use the word on The Dave Chappelle Show, rap music, and everyday conversation for many black people across this nation, then how can we fault them?

It’s hypocritical to do so. It’s a double-standard. And correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t double-standards what we’re trying to fight everyday as black people. Isn’t that fight hampered by the fact that many blacks incorporate this double-standard into their everyday lives?

Look, I don’t think I can tell another black person that he or she can’t use the word. One, I can’t copyright the language to eliminate it from someone else’s vocabulary. And two, for some people, the word “Nigger” really is a way of reversing its prior meaning, and perhaps it does empower many of those who do use it.

But many people are saying it just because they heard other people say it when they were growing up. It’s just like anyone who uses a cussword; if we didn’t hear people use the cussword in everyday language, we wouldn’t use those words the way we do, because they really aren’t great examples of using diction to articulate our feelings.

And the same goes for the word “Nigger.” If it were just another word in the dictionary that was hardly used, my generation wouldn’t have grown up saying it, and I wouldn’t be writing this piece right now.

So what’s my conclusion on the use of the word “Nigga?”

I understand I can’t tell all blacks to stop using the word “Nigger” like some of these super-activists think they can. It would be foolish, self-righteous, and disrespectful of me to do so, because that would be grouping everyone who uses the word into a category that each individual might not fit into.

However, I can say whether or not I will use the word “Nigger” and why, and then hope that that inspires some people to heed my opinion.

My final take on the word “Nigger” is that I won’t use it anymore. And that really is a tough decision for me. It has long been a part of my vocabulary, and more times than not, I used the word to endearingly speak with my other black friends and family. But the truth is, if other people didn’t use the word in my youth, I wouldn’t use it. So when I do use the word, I am merely playing the part of copy cat and perpetuating its unsubstantiated use by kids and generations to follow.

I don’t want to do that. And I believe that any thinking black person who sits there on the subway and listens to little elementary school children use the word “Nigger” 9 times in 90 seconds, or listens to white people use the word when quoting a rapper or a Dave Chappelle skit, would agree with me. It is a vulgar word we don’t want children not of age to use, and it’s a divisive word we don’t want white people to use, even when they intend to use it in the same way we do.

So why not just stop using the word all together?

In concordance with the popular elementary aphorism, I don’t let words hurt me. And when a white person uses the word “Nigger” positively or negatively, I don’t let that cloud my emotions. But that doesn’t mean I would talk to that white person if I knew that they regularly used the word. And as a result, I won’t use it. Not just because I don’t want white people to use, but because I don’t want there to be a generation of people using it like some ordinary cussword. And perhaps by not saying the word “Nigger,” I’m empowering myself and Black America, more so than if I did use it.

~ by Uzo Ometu on August 5, 2008.