Saturday, November 22, 2008

The N-Word

Ahh, the n-word, the reviled word that white people are not allowed to ever say, but black people can utter at anytime. There's a teacher in Florida being punished, probably rightly so, for using the word in a classroom (http://www.stlamerican.com/articles/2008/10/27/news/local_news/localnews0000000000001.txt or the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qasfRkIAw9I). He, of course, is white. The news article never goes into the specifics of the situation, just the way he used it by writing in on the board in the acronym c.h.a.n.g.e. (Come Help A N***** Get Elected).

Most peoples reaction is probably that the teach never should have done what he did. I would agree. He chose a very poor method for teaching. But what was his intent? Is he a racist that was just passing along his racist attitudes to a mixed class? Or was he trying to teach the kids how pervasive language can be used to perpetuate racist ideologies? I could not find anything that says what the teacher specifically said in class or what his intent was.

I am of the opinion, and I'm not alone, that the word should be removed from use. It won't be easy for some, as this article points out: http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Local/newWEST01112008.htm. But that does not mean we should not try. The only way to do this is to punish anyone who uses the term, white, black, or other. If a black teacher were to use the term, the punishment should be the same as if a white teacher used it. If a black student uses the term, the punishment should be the same as if a white student used it.

I do realize that historically the courts have not treated white and black criminals the same. I like to think that is changing. However, to say that because the courts do not treat people the same is an excuse to not treat people the same is other situations, is allowing a bad thing to be perpetuated. Perhaps the courts will become fairer after the language is made more fair.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

why not the reverse? a word is no more than a combination of letters that are given a certain meaning. It is the meaning that causes issues. It is naturally assumed the the N-word for white people is derogatory, of which it necessarily is not. Likewise a black man can say it and it has the effect of brotherhood and comrade. The world needs to recognize that words themselves can and should be used freely however it is the context in which they are used that must be questioned. Why is it that the average teenager does not find the F-word offensive? Because the context in which it is used. anyways that's my two-sense.

spacer01 said...

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. Okay, maybe not never and sometimes words do piss me off. I don't think we should eliminate nigger (there I said it since you wouldn't). If you try to eliminate it, then you are censoring language (something I am generally against). Also, you run the risk of having people forget history (including what was said). It is a word, it has a long, racist history to it, and it should not be used. However, no one is talking about getting rid of redneck, honkey, peckerwood, white devil, casper, paddy, mick, pollock, dago, kraut, gerry, tommy, russkie, chink, slant, gook, dink, wetback, spic, beaner, redskin, raghead, sand nigger, or any of the other mean words we use to identify people we think are different than us.

We could always just fall back on what our distant ancestors used, "we" are "the people" and "they" are "hairy barbarians".