Nigger: Historical and Current Use

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Nigger: Historical and Current Use

“Nigger: it is arguably the most consequential social insult in American History, though, at the same time, a word that reminds us of ‘the ironies and dilemmas, tragedies and glories of the American experience’” (Kennedy 1).

Harvard Law Professor Randall Kennedy’s book Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word is at the center of debate because of its controversy. It addresses questions among a diverse audience of students and scholars of all racial and ethnic backgrounds in its quest to discover how and why the word should or should not be used in modern day America.

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.

While many blacks and whites agree that the word should not be censored from the English language, it certainly should not be used by all people because of its historical significance. For example, black militants believe whites should never use the word nigger. On the other hand, the word nigger has been “reclaimed” by black youths particularly in the hip-hop culture. These modern day teens claim that it is just a word and that people give words meaning rathe...

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Elwes, Andre Brausher. Tri Star, I989.

Kennedy, Randall. Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word. New York: Pantheon

Books, 2002.

Naylor, Gloria. “Mommy What Does ‘Nigger’ Mean?” New York Times. 20 Feb. 1986.

Pilgrim, David. Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memoribilia. Fall 2002.

<http://www.ferris.edu/news/jimcrow>.

Saxon, Shani. VIBE Magazine. Fall 2002. <http://BET.COM>.

Thomas, Alex. Fall 2002. <http://BET.COM>.

White, Jackie. “Dealing with the N-Word.” Time Magazine. 2I Jan. 2002.

Wickham, Dewayne. “Book Fails to Strip Meaning of ‘N’ Word.” USA Today. 2 Feb.

2002.

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