If there’s one word in the entire English vocabulary that makes me cringe, it’s the word nigger. In Africa, my ancestors were referred to as “natives” by Europeans who had claimed new ownership of the country; in America, Africans were once again faced with oppression when the white man decided to label them as niggers. Referring to any African-American as a nigger causes me to feel as though my citizenship as an African-American means nothing. Reading the word nigger in Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, or hearing someone say nigger in the hallways of Masters never eliminates this feeling.
I, and many other boys and girls just like me have sometimes grown up disliking the color of our skin or the texture of our hair. We grow
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My response to that would be, “was it fair for white men to refer to African-Americans as niggers?” In my opinion, a white person saying nigga is just as bad as using the word nigger. “Straight Talk About the N-word” talks about the complexities of the N-word. It seems as though there are two prevalent perspectives on using the N-word in the white community. On one side, “some are so comfortable with the n-word because they’ve grown up on and been nourished by hip-hop.” Therefore, as white kids rap along to songs, the N-word loses its meaning. For them, nigga becomes a cool word- just another term in today’s culture. However, when black kids say nigga to each other a sense of brotherhood and understanding overcomes them. From another perspective, there are many white Americans who were taught never to say the N-word. Therefore, they spend their entire lives refraining from saying nigger, nigga, or any other forms of the word without a second thought. This may seem like a positive first step to becoming an ally to the African-American community-but it’s not. When white kids are programmed to never use the N-word without asking why, they lose the history behind the N-word. I believe that teaching white America more about the answer is what we need to put an end to the cycle of …show more content…
At the time, whites tried everything they could to demean African-American culture. White supremacists did everything they could to make the mind of a slave believe that he was nothing, and that his people were nothing. According to “Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word,” nigger "is an opprobrious term, employed to impose contempt upon [blacks] as an inferior race. . . . The term in itself would be perfectly harmless were it used only to distinguish one class of society from another; but it is not used with that intent. . . . [I]t flows from the fountain of purpose to injure.” Slavery taught the black man to compete with his brothers and sisters for the scraps society gives us- something that we still see today. You see, using the word nigger puts us back into that place of anger and oppression. We get angry because it reminds us that white America still does not see the African-American community as equal. Every time a white person calls an African-American a nigger they let us know that all the pain, anger, and fighting we did means nothing. People must understand that when they use this word they’re igniting a flame that America wants the rest of the world to believe is over. The truth is, the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments that were put in place to protect the rights of African-Americans are only
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.
Purportedly, Abolitionist and Black male orators of the time were becoming increasingly persuasive in their arguments and it was feared that their message would garner support. With this in mind, white supremacists took it upon themselves to attach a contemptuous label to those Black men that dared speak up. The word “angry,” was likely chosen because it typically evokes negative perceptions. This would have been a major factor in the promotion of the trivialization process and also the attaching of the conspiracy theorist stigma. Not only was this a manner of dismissing the Black man’s claims, but it also helped to dehumanize him as well.
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.
“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.
First, though, a little background on Jim Crow is in order. The term Jim Crow dates back to the eighteenth century, although there is no evidence it is referencing an actual person. Instead, it was a “mildly derogatory slang for black Everyman (Crow, as in black like a crow)” (Edmonds, Jim Crow: Shorthand for Separation). A segregated rail car, or anything separated from the Caucasian race might be called ‘Jim Crow’ because of a “popular American minstrel song of the 1820s made sport of a stereotypic Jim Crows” (Edmonds, Jim Crow: Shorthand for Separation). Finally, “As segregation laws were put into place-first in Tennessee, then throughout the South- after Reconstruction,
Even though slaves had been free for almost sixty years, it was still hard to find well paying jobs in other areas nationwide. The lives of African Americans were so well established, the area was coined the “Black Wall Street of America”. You’d think with such well-rounded men and women that something like this would not happen just based on their skin tone, but that is far from true. Whites of the time were still extremely prejudice towards African Americans, despite the reputation they had. It was only a matter of time before something ignited the flame that had been burning for years.
The Meaning of the Word “Nigger” I can recall the first time I paid close attention to the word nigger. In junior high a school fight would occur about every week and of course the whole school would gather together and watch. Well this particular fight sticks out in my mind because it was between two boys of different races, Hispanic and black. During their conflict the Hispanic boy bluntly called the black boy a nigger, and that was when the rest of the black students became verbally involved. I remember screaming out “ who do you think you are calling him that?”
Slaves were commonly referred to by the n-word as if that was their definition of who they were, when Rufus speaks to Dana as a child after she has saved his life he says “WORDS” (PAGE NUMBER). It’s a category and a word that means lower than white people and it is a strict enforcer of the idea that the races were not only separate, but that all of them can be defined as a single lower entity. Furthermore, Dana is referred to by other slaves as a “white nigger” (PAGE NUMBER) throughout her stay due to her education and ability to talk back to Rufus as if she were equal to him. When (NAMES) call her that,(PAGE NUMBERS) they mean it in a derogatory way and thus were enforcing the ideas of oppression, that only whites were smart and can read or write and that to be black is to be inferior. They don’t see Dana as someone to look up to, but as someone to despise for her abilities and that helped enforce oppression. The slurs and ideas had become embedded in the slaves themselves and even Dana in the end of Kindred continues these ideas when she tries to convince Alice that things aren’t that bad for her without meaning too (PAGE
When it comes to the use of the “N-word”, “nigger”, most of us will readily agree that it is derived from negativity. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of is this word appropriate and should it be a part of our vocabulary today. Many feel like this word is okay to use but there are some that disagree.
In the past, it is true that African American have suffered injustice, however, today there are still some wounds that needs healing from harsh treatment blacks people experience from whites people back during the civil right movement. Now, some whites are in positions where they are able to use their authority and demand unnecessary respect from minorities in certain situations, just so they could be in control. “In any case, white people, who had robbed black people of their liberty and who profited by this theft every hour that they lived, had no moral ground on which to stand” (Baldwin, 2000, p31). For instance, threatening to fire or suspend someone for not allowing them to be in control is the same attitude people had back then. Because of this, some blacks feel that they need to respond in any way possible to make their point. In other words, the attitude that some blacks have express at some point could be aggressive at time.
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?
...to have such low esteem. According to another young girl named Princess Onwenu, she shared some of the same issues growing up, her views about being dark-skinned are “I have an attitude all the time. I 'm probably not as pretty as most other girls," Onwenu said. "They see light-skinned girls as being prettier and dark-skinned girls are ugly, and I don 't think that 's true.()" Surprisingly, those with lighter skin deals with this issue to. They are also being teased, another high school junior, Taylor Ivey states that people say to him, “Oh, you 're not black enough. '" "It 's almost become a running joke amongst my peers. If you don 't respond to a text message or a phone call immediately then, 'Oh, you 're light skinned. ' We say, 'Oh, you 're light skinned, ' because that 's kind of to suggest that you think that you 're better than other people or too good."()
“The ‘Jim Crow’ laws got their name from one of the stock characters in the minstrel shows that were a mainstay of popular entertainment throughout the nineteenth century. Such shows popularized and reinforced the pervasive stereotypes of blacks as lazy, stupid, somehow less human, and inferior to whites” (Annenberg, 2014). These laws exalted the superiority of the whites over the blacks. Although equally created, and affirmed by the Supreme Court, and because of the Civil War officially free, African Americans were still treated with less respect than many household pets. The notorious Jim Crow laws mandated segregation and provided for severe legal retribution for consortium between races (National, 2014). Richard Wright writes about this, his life.