When children of a certain ethnic group grow up, they often hear phrases or words that are used often by that specific group and they develop a definition of that word or phrase. The word is usually never used to hurt someone’s feelings or to put them down but instead used to greet one another or used to describe someone. That all changes when a person outside of the ethnic group uses the word or phrase. The meaning of it becomes totally different and can become hurtful. There’s a new meaning that’s different from the one that the child already had known and then it becomes a word that is hurtful and bad to them. This exact thing happened in the short story “Mommy, what does ‘Nigger’ mean?”, by Gloria Naylor. A young African American girl grew That changed when a white boy called her a ‘nigger’ and she knew that it wasn’t meant to sound like the way that she had heard it before but instead to hurt her. Naylor wrote “But I didn’t “hear” it until it was said by a small pair of lips that had already learned it could be a way to humiliate me” (346). Just like in the story I grew up with an African-American family and society and become to know words or phrases that when used within the group was completely acceptable but when used outside the group became offensive. The words or phrases that offend me are; the word ‘Nigger’, the phrase “All crimes are committed by an African American”, and the phrase “It’s because you’re I’m not a person’s property but a free person. The word also offends me because it makes me feel like my name that was given to me at birth is not being acknowledged by the person talking to me or that they don’t care enough to learn it so they just call me ‘nigger’ because it can be related to every black person and they feel like they can’t go wrong because it’s related to all black people regardless of their actual name. The word ‘nigger’ alone doesn’t offend me but instead when the way it is said is used to try and afflict pain upon me by making it direct and saying it in a harsh tone. For example, when someone says “You’re nothing but a stupid nigger” it makes me angry because it is used to hurt me and it makes the person saying it that they are above me in some way and that they are better than me because of the color of their skin. When the word is used around my community it is used to greet someone that it very close to that person and have a lot of memories and history together or used to describe someone but never in a way that can be hurtful or taken in the wrong
As a black American male, the word nigger conjures up within me hate, hostility, violence, oppression, and a very shameful and unfortunate part of American History. The word symbolizes the everlasting chains of a people plagued with hate and bondage simply because of skin color. For many black people, including myself, nigger is the most pejorative word in the English language. Even when compared to racial slurs like kike, honkey, cracker, wet back, spic, jungle bunny, pod, tarbaby, and white trash, nigger is noted as the worst insult in the English language. The word nigger suggests that black people are second class citizens, ignorant and less than human.
Moreover, the racial terms can be a projection of more positive definitions and interpretations that can establish individuality. In “Meaning of a Word” by Gloria Naylor, she talks about instances where adults of her community/race have references of the ‘n-word’ that differs from how society or individuals who may use it.
Words are commonly used to separate people by the color of their skin, but they can also be used to bring people together, no matter what their skin color was. Using words improperly was a common problem in America when our parents were our age, and even way long before that. People have written countless stories about racism, it’s affect of the world, or it’s effect on the person themselves. One of the more well known poems about racism is “‘Race’ Politics”, by Luis J. Rodriguez. The story the poem is based off of took place sometime in the mid 1960’s, so this gives us an insight of what the world was like back then.
“I don’t give a fuck what a nigga say,” for a word that many different things I think most people would agree that in this since nigga means a person preferably black. Nigga is a derogatory and racist word that refers to Black people. But, we, meaning Black people, still use it. We do not care, nigga flows off the tough. In using nigga we not only show disdain but become a nigga when using it and we’re ok with it. This is why I choose Katt Williams, 2006 comedy skit Pimp Chronicle Part 1. In William’s skit he use nigga some 221 times, in 45 minute, that’s about four times per minute. I could not find a better example of someone using nigga. 221 times, he must have something interesting to say if he can find 221 reason to say the word and you know what he did. I could not help but laugh it was funny, but at the end of the day I knew though it may have been funny it was still morally wrong. In Williams, he uses nigga in ways that support Black stereotypes, which make the audience laugh. There is nothing worng with that a mans
In "The Meaning of a Word" and "Being a Chink", Gloria Naylor and Christine Leong examine words of hatred that are meant to scorn, hurt and disgrace people. But these same words could also be used without harmful intentions and in a fashion of endearment amongst the people those words were created for. They each had a different word to discriminate their different culture and ethnicity. These writers discuss the words "nigger" and "chink", which are words in our language mostly ignorant people use. Naylor and Leong are also both minorities who were raised in America. They talk about how discrimination and hatred towards minorities is almost always inevitable in America, which is mostly populated by Caucasians. Naylor and Leong observe how these racial acts of discrimination can unify a group of people even closer together. Naylor didn't know the true meaning of the hate word nigger until it was used against her in a degrading manner. On the other hand Leong already knew what chink meant but wasn't traumatized until she found out her father discovered it.
The words Negro, nigger, and nigga have always been a sensitive topic, yet it is a topic that needs to be addressed in light of the more common use of its vernacular. One word is used to describe a color, while the others are used to define a people. It’s very clear to many the negative connotation these words carry, but where did these words come from? Furthermore, is there a difference between the word nigger and nigga; and why is it that African-Americans now use the word nigga to degrade each other in today’s society? These words, in spite of their spelling, still holds the same degrading power as it did during the time of slavery, and they are still spoken out of cruelty and ignorance, but who is to blame? Can one still blame the Spaniards for considering people of a darker skin tone –Black? Can we blame the Europeans for perpetuating their hatred and ignorance of superiority over a race of people to the point they felt it lawful to define and dehumanize them? Or does the blame lie with the African-American race as we use this degrading labeling on our own kind, thus becoming the victimizer. Either way nigger or nigga are words that should be eliminated from the vocabulary of every human being.
As Elie Wiesel once stated, “I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented” (“Elie Wiesel Quote”). Michelle Alexander’s book The New Jim Crow, which discusses criminal justice and its role in mass incarceration, promotes a similar idea regarding silence when America’s racial caste system needs to be ended; however, Alexander promotes times when silence would actually be better for “the tormented.” The role of silence and lack of silence in the criminal justice system both contribute to wrongly accused individuals and growing populations behind bars.
In “Citizens: An American Lyric” by Claudia Rankine the audience is placed in a world where racism strongly affects the daily American cultural and social life. In this world we are put as the eyewitnesses and victims, the bystanders and the participants of racial encounters that happen in our daily lives and in the media, yet we have managed to ignore them for the mere fact that we are accustomed to them. Some of these encounters may be accidental slips, things that we didn’t intend to say and that we didn’t mean yet they’ve managed to make it to the surface. On the other hand we have the encounters that are intentionally offensive, things said that are
No, my name isn’t Sha’Quonda, Fri'chickenisha or any other common “ghetto black girl" name that you may have expected. I also do not come from a broken home. My family isn’t on welfare. I’m not promiscuous nether am I a dumb person. Even though I don't fit within society's standards for a black girl, I am a black girl and I am also delighted to be one. Why should I be upset with something that I can’t change? In the words of Denzel Washington, “I'm very proud to be black, but black is not all I am. That's my cultural historical background, my genetic makeup, but it's not all of who I am nor is
“Nigger” is a highly controversial term used a lot in America. It is used by both white and people of color. Some believe that the word can be used freely, others object to the use of the word. Some use the word as an endearment, and some use it as an insult. Some people believe that no one should use it, others believe that only blacks are allowed to use it. Some even believe that you can use it in private as long as you are not around people who it may offend. And then there are
For instance, in the show Freaks and Geeks, we find individuals, calling themselves freaks, because they do not belong in the ‘status quo,’ and live or desire to live alternative lifestyles. Would this be disrespectful to individuals who according to 19th and 20th century lingo, were called freaks? I think it is highly disrespectful indeed, because in the show, we find these kids who are not disabled, and are all white using a term which has caused so much pain to others,used it in such a free way, to be different and alternate. It goes back to what he was saying about how individuals who identify with the pink triangle and the term freak, need to also be a witness to the pain that other individuals suffered, like the gay POC and non-disabled POC. And it is worse because these kids in no way bear any semblance with either of the categories mentioned. It’s becoming some sort of norm, in which white people of years passed create words which are meant to relegate different individuals to the outside, and then after this relegation is done, choose to use it as freely as they want. For instance the use of the word ‘nigger’, white people want to include this word in their vocabulary so bad, because slavery happened more than 300 years ago. But they forget the pain that comes with this word, but you cannot truly forget what
The word “nigger” has two main variances today, and they were both expressed beautifully by Tupac. The word carries with it a privilege also, a privilege that only certain people are allowed to use this word. And it is what African descendants call each other as a way of connecting in a brotherhood type of fashion. In areas such as “Bomton” - otherwise known as “black compton” - “brothas” can casually see each other at the convenience store and address the other as “my nigga” or “niggah” however they prefer. Now imagine the same scenario but with two Caucasian males saying the exact same. It’s weird right? That is because the word is still highly debated to the present. It is unclear whether the word should be banned from everybody’s mouth or if it should all be left to identify
The word “Nigger” was a term used in reference to a slave. A slave meaning, you were the lowest scum of the earth, Illiterate and uneducated in every sense. Today, the usage of the word is spilt in to different context, it is used to refer to one another. A lot of children today use the word freely, not because they are ignorant to the history and putridness of the word, but solely because they are not really offended by it and the only time they hear it, it's being said by someone else who is of color. As I looks back over the years, I can’t really remember anyone distinctively ever calling me the N-word, or better yet, not in a derogative fashion. I don’t think that anyone has ever called me the word to my face or in hearing distance. Growing up in New York City, the only time I ever heard the word “Nigger” was from people who called themselves “Nigger”. I remember sitting in class daydreaming on the word, thinking to myself, “How could anyone call themselves a Nigger and be proud of it?” Yet It’s Hard to hurt me with words, but I had never heard that word used with such vengeances. What does this word mean in my everyday life?
What does it mean to say the “N-word” both it in its original form, or as the “N-word’, and what is the context for the impact which occurs when it leaves the mouths of blacks and or whites. I begin with a look at ‘Teaching the N-Word” by Emily Bernard, she is a 30 year old African American professor who teaches at University of Vermont which happens to be a predominantly white institution. She works alongside her husband, a white man, who is also a professor of African American History ; her brother writes for The Source and urges her students to think about the ways in which the “N-word” is used in pop culture. The students in Emily Bernard’s honors literature class must question the effect of the n-word on black people and just as importantly
In “Mommy, What Does Nigger Mean?”, author Gloria Naylor explains throughout her piece that reality shapes language and language can shape reality. Naylor explains this, “chicken or the egg dispute” (Naylor 1) through her experiences with the word nigger. Gloria explains how she starts on one side of reality and shaping her language, then comes to another understanding from the boy in her third grade class. Language can be how words are used, what their meaning is and the purpose behind that selection of words. Reality is everyday life and experiences. When in third grade Naylor encounters nigger as a racial derogatory when a boy said “nigger” to her while receiving graded tests back. To Gloria it was anything but a racial put down since her grandmother insisted the family use it in the sense of a communicating word describing a person, and to not hate the African American race. She had to ask her mother what the boy had called her that day. She grew up with the understanding nigger could be a reputation, quantity, gender, perspective or pronunciation from how her close-knit family w...