When talking about race and racial tension in the United States, we are usually talking about a black/white conflict. Derogatory terms have deep roots in our culture and what once was a way of dehumanizing blacks, has become a way that African Americans address each other. That's right I am talking about that word. So is this wrong or right? I personally think it is ok because by using it African Americans are empowering themselves as a community by basically saying this word was used to take away our rights as humans so you can't use it anymore, and you are forced to address us as equals. It is something that whites abused, and now can no longer use. It is a way of acknowledging the common struggles that everyone in the black community experiences at some point in their life. Obviously not everyone will agree with me, some of you may have heard of a boy by the name of Jonathan McCoy. If this name is unfamiliar to you, or even if you think you may know who I am talking about I suggest you look at this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMyp8y8SkUM
He does make a lot of sense but this is just something that I a can not be swayed on. What do you all think? What are your reactions after seeing this video?
President Obama walks fine line on race, justice
11 years ago
I don't think the n-word should ever be used, even if the person saying the word is African American. The n-word is an offensive, derogatory word and that it gets used so often in the entertainment business (example: gangster rap, comedy sketches) and amongst the black community, I think, is wrong. It is a word used to keep the black community on an unequal, inferior level.
ReplyDeletepersonally i think that if African Americans want to use it amongst themselves be it gangsters or whatever they can go right ahead, as long as they are sure of what it means for them and those that hear them, for a non African American person to use it would probably and i think is always problematic because of the history, so if i would not use it.
ReplyDeletei do not think we can expect the use of the word to completely vanish, but i do think the use if decreasing, amongst some African Americans, in the media, i doubt it will completely disappear.
so is it right/wrong? i say it depends who you are and the context, and motives
essentially we want to move on from the past, we do not want to see other people being degraded because of what they look like
I understand that using the n-word in a group of African Americans could potentially empower the community by uniting the race against previous oppression by twisting the use of a previously horrendous word, but I believe this empowerment could be achieved in other means without the use of a word that divides the black community from the rest of the races. The term is definitely not an acceptable word for a white person to say; therefore, an African American using the term sets the two races even further apart. I do not think that the word should be abolished because history and words are very important in understanding the past and present. However, I do not think that black culture should encourage the adoption of the word solely for the use of its race. I think it is important to note that the two different contexts of the words also have different speeches correlated to them. When the n-word is used in a derogatory manner or if a racist person uses it, the pronunciation is articulated. However, when used for comradely purposes, the word has a slangish tone. This correlates to common stereotypes of the education level of African Americans verses white oppressors; therefore, I think that by adopting the slang context for this term perpetuates the stereotypes of African American culture, and does not benefit the race.
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