The battle to ‘bury the N-word’: Efforts to ban the epithet gain momentum here
There are few words in the English language saddled with more historical baggage and capable of causing more pain than the word “nigger”. To refer to the word as simply a legacy of slavery would be simplistic and it would totally miss the significance that the word has assumed in today’s society.
What strikes me as so interesting about the multple meanings that “nigger” carries is that if I were to use it, it would be considered an insult. If a young African-American were to use it, it could be expressed as a term of endearment. If an older African-American uses it, it could possibly be a pejorative directed at another African-American viewed as shiftless, ignorant, and lacking in drive and ambition. Same word, three different and distinct meanings.
There have at least two separate burials for “nigger” in recent days- one in Pearland, and the other at the NAACP convention in Baltimore. Whether or not these symbolic funerals will have any impact on the use of the word is still an open question. I suppose time will tell, and raising awareness can only be a good thing. From my perspective, African-Americans will have a much more credible position when it comes to arguing against racism if the use of “nigger” goes the way of the buffalo. After all, if you’re going to claim to be oppressed, continuing to use the language of oppression isn’t going to help your case. Perhaps someday this will all seem a quaint detour on the historical road to racial equality and peace. Then again, I’m not about to hold my breath on that count.
