The topic I’m about to discuss is one that’s been addressed multiple times and with varying opinions over the years, but I still feel like I should drop my two cents into the bucket like everyone else.
After watching 12 Years A Slave, I was having a conversation with some family members about the use of the word “nigger” and any other form of the word, and whether the word should or should not be used due to all the negative history associated with it.
As I mentioned before, this is a conversation that I’ve had and witnessed multiple times, and there’s always been two distinct, valid opinions about the word and its use. Allow me to explain.
ARGUMENT#1
For sake of ridiculous example, let’s replace the word with “Tony.” As most of you are aware, my name is Anthony, with Tony being one of the most common nicknames for my name. For this example, let’s say that I hate being called Tony, to the point that one of the quickest ways to get me upset and offend me would be to call me by that nickname.
There’s a group of people who hate me just for being me and know that by calling me “Tony” they’re doing more to offend me than they would by calling me anything else.
This is something that continues to happen until I’m finally fed up and decide to take action to stop this from happening. If so much power can be given to a person who uses that word, the best way to reduce that power is to turn the word into something other than its intended use.
So I get my friends to call me Tony. I show no ill will towards other friends when they decide to call me Tony. It gets to the point that even the hateful people can’t get the same level of reaction out of me anymore by calling me Tony because I’ve flipped the meaning on them. It no longer carries the power it once did.
ARGUMENT#2
On the other hand, let’s say that out of the millions of Anthony’s in the world, none of them like being called Tony. In fact, some of history’s worst recorded crimes have been performed by people who hate other people simply for having the name “Anthony.” There are several Anthony who are still living with horrible reminders of the suffering they had to endure, simply because they were an Anthony. Why would they feel the need to embrace my ideals of changing the meaning of the word “Tony” when Tony was a word that was born out of hate? Why should the word Tony be used at all?
These are essentially the two viewpoints you get when it comes to discussing the casual use of the word “nigga” and neither of them, in my opinion, are incorrect ways of thinking.
Personally, I’m more in favor of ideal number one. I wouldn’t say it’s a word I throw around casually, but I do think the word has taken a power shift in the context where it’s used today.
People who are against the first ideal like to counter it with statements such as, “Well if that’s true, then why is it only okay for black people to use the word but not okay for other ethnic groups, especially whites?” My answer to this is simple.
White people conceived the word “nigger” out of hate and black people turned it into something else for themselves. It would only make sense that the ethnic group who created the word with such negative intent would receive the most backlash for using the word no matter how much society as a whole progresses and the power of the word diminishes. The fact that black people were able to take that word and turn it into something for themselves is an impressive feat in and of itself.
I admit, it’s a little strange because it seems like a word invented to insult blacks is now something that can only be used exclusively by blacks, otherwise we get offended, but it does speak volumes about the power of taking power away. I also find it interesting that, of all my personal encounters with racism, I’ve never actually been called a nigger or had any similar phrase directed my way to know that the person was a racist. I feel that situations like that speak towards the cultural shifting of the word as well.
Ultimately, there’s no definitive answer about whether the word nigger should still be used and in what context, and truthfully, it would almost undoubtedly be better in the long run if the word was no longer used at all, but as long as it is a word that is continued to be used in today’s society, I feel that people are free to choose which side of the argument they fall under without questioning of their reason for doing so.
