Monday, June 11, 2012

The "N" Word....Access Granted

You know exactly what "N" word I'm talking about.  It seems like now-a-dayz its cool to be a "N"....cool to say "N".  Lemme tell you something, I use it....but its not coming out of my mouth every second.  I'm an entertainer, and sure...it comes out in a joke or two.  Hell, my Mother even says the word, but she uses it wisely. By my definition, a "N" is someone who is ignorant, and its not specific to race/gender/class. Therefore, by my definition, ANYONE can be a "N"....yes, you read me correctly....anyone...White, Black, Man, Woman, Jew, Asian.....you get it!

Most people use the word affectionately to describe a friend or an acquaintance.  I'm not offended by it, when "we" are using it....and by "we" I mean people of African decent.  I had to take a deeper look, and ask myself, "Why are you okay with a word being used by people of African decent, if I am defining the word based on a person's attitude, and not their race?" Self, you pose an excellent question to yourself....but I think that's due to the way that the word was used historically.  Look, I'm not trying to create any theories...just letting you know how I feel.

If you know the history of African Americans, we were called NIGGER by our oppressors, therefore I feel like we inherently own rights to the word.  According to UN reports, over 200 million people identify themselves as being from African decent...which includes members from all races.  Ok, its obvious that West Indian people are of African decent....also Latino, and Middle Eastern people.  Some people who identify themselves as White would be surprised if they swab themselves and take the test...they'll find out that they TOO have African descendants on their family tree.  With that being said, is it okay for them to say the "N" word too?  In my mind, yeah....but no at the same damn time!

True Story

I know this guy (he's probably reading this now..HEY HONEY), who lives in the heart of Dixie, that calls Black people "NIGGA" affectionately on a regular basis. Now, all he hangs around are black people...he dresses urban....talks urban slang,  his body language and attitude says Black....he's what we would call "White Chocolate".  Every time I would hear him say nigga, I would cringe, but his homies didn't think anything of it.  I knew that him saying "NIGGA" was not coming from a hurtful place, but I was still bothered by his usage of the word. 

One day I decided to have a talk with him about his frequent usage of the word "NIGGA".  He got me right together and told me that he is 25% Native American, and if any group of people have endured hardship...its HIS people.  He told me that he understood the struggle of African Americans and he would never use the word in a hurtful way, but he thinks of Native Americans and African Americans as people of color that both endured hardship at the hand of White people.  Damn, how could I respond to that....from the outside, he does not look majority White AT ALL, but the thought of this guy who is more than half White saying the word was like nails to a chalkboard. 

Wrap Up

The word "NIGGER" has different definition than the word "NIGGA".....its something about that "ER" at the end that screams racism!  How did the oppressors say it, "NIGGER".  What do you think?  Leave ReleVent Randomness a comment. 

1 comment:

  1. I agree girl ! The "N" word is a sore spot for generations that experience it to the 18 hundred power. I don't believe that generation will every be comfortable with the use of the word in any state of it being, and they have a right to that. I come from the generations that created in my opinion the positive of the "N" word (NIGGA). As for the usage of the word, we know when it's said from what place it comes from no matter who says it, the will require a beat down. I no longer ponder of over it , but will beat a "N" down if it's said to me from a place of racism. As a comic I use the word as well and thank you for address the issue my NIGGA !!

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