Use of the N word Black vs. White

This is something I constantly hear by white people (BTW, I am also white). "It's such a double standard. Black people can call each other "N!gga" and it's cool, but if a white person does, he's a racist."

My response is, that's right.
1. It was white people that started using the word "n!gger" as a derogatory and demeaning label for their black slaves. It is still used by white people with the same intent.

2. Groups of people that are called a specific name, as an attempt to degrade or insult them, often take that term and start to apply it to themselves, but with a positive meaning. This is done to diffuse the negative implications the term has on their psyche or community. If you make something your own, it is more difficult for others to use it against you. For instance, the term "Yankee" and the song "Yankee doodle dandy" were insults from the British about the U.S. during the revolutionary war, but somewhere along the line, Americans adapted "Yankee" to be a patriotic term, and it ceased to be an insult.

3. Why is it so very important for a white person to need to refer to a black person as a "n!gger"? Is your vocabulary so poor, that you cannot use any other word? What purpose does calling someone a "w0p" or a "sp!c" or a "n!gger" really serve? There is no reason for someone to call another person a name, that they know will be perceived as an insult, unless they have something to prove.

If you really don't mean to be insulting, then there are a million other ways to describe or speak to someone of another race, without being derogatory.

If you do mean to be insulting, but try to justify it with the statements, "N!gger can mean anybody that is sub-human, not just a black person", or "If they can use that word, then I can too", you are not fooling anyone. You show your true, ignorant, racist, colors just as clearly through that thinly veiled argument as you would without it.

[Edited on 25-11-2003 by jezebel]

true but what I was implying was why is the double standard there? i cant walk up to one of my black friends and say whats up my 'n-word'. he would find that offending. well actually he woudl know i was joking but we would both feel very uncomfortable even if it was just playing around. the word is a cuss word for me but common language for other people?

Originally posted by hmmm
true but what I was implying was why is the double standard there? i cant walk up to one of my black friends and say whats up my 'n-word'. he would find that offending. well actually he woudl know i was joking but we would both feel very uncomfortable even if it was just playing around. the word is a cuss word for me but common language for other people?

The double standard is there because, usually, the intended meaning of the word, when used by a white person, is insulting. The majority of white people that still use "n!gger" in reference to black people, use it as an insult, not just a slang term. Besides, what does it hurt, to not call a black friend, "my n!gger"? Why can't you say "What's up, my man?" or something else that doesn't have such a negative history. Would you go up to a white friend and say, "What's up, my n!gger?"

Also, many black adults who were around before and during the civil rights movement, do not accept the use of "N!gger" by other black people as common language. They hate the word, because they lived thru the hatred that spawned it.

When people stop using it to classify blacks as "sub-human" then it may end up being nothing more than a slang phrase, which nobody cares about. As long as racism persists, however, that is unlikely.

The N-word has gone through a cycle. It is a racial slur, period. But, I believe by our parents making it taboo they created this monster. Just like using the F-word, we whispered the N-word. We became so accustomed to using it that now it's part of our perminate vocabulary.

No one should embrace it in my opinion. Any white person that complains about not be able to use it is suspect. That's just where I'm coming from being black, and understanding what it means on every level. I've been called it by white folk in a negative way and black folk because it is negative to black people, too. Sometimes when we get into a beef we will use it as an insult and that's the tricky thing about the N-word. We don't just use it like homie or best friend we use it as a slur too. I say we, cause I'm just as guilty of it.

and on a side note I'd like to formally object to the replacement for the n-word on ats...colored people...ewww, how offensive!!!! that's even worse than the N-word just because of what it implies.

I agree with you jezebel, but in the words of the great George Carsen "It's just a #ing word"

that guy cracks me up

like i said it feels like a curse word for me to use but i watch dave chapell and chris rock (who are both excellent i suggest listening to them) and i hear them say it and i dont even think twice about it. you know there are just some thigns which are taboo for some people and not for others. like you would probably never here a mexican person call his buddy a wetback. its just wierd.

Originally posted by Saphronia
The N-word has gone through a cycle. It is a racial slur, period. But, I believe by our parents making it taboo they created this monster. Just like using the F-word, we whispered the N-word. We became so accustomed to using it that now it's part of our perminate vocabulary.

I agree that making anything taboo, just makes people want to do it more. I can, however, understand why parents did so. It must have been incredibly painful to hear the very word, used for so long to degrade them, uttered so nonchalantly by members of their own race. I imagine it would tie knots in their gut, to hear it used by anyone, let alone someone of the same race.

Personally, I always have hated the word, and have never felt the need to use it, except in discussions of this nature. My father uses it, but when he does it around me, I tell him not to. Nowadays, I think he just says it to piss me off, though. He is a wonderful man, and I would not trade him for anything, but his racial opinions remain a constant source of argument.

...calling someone afro-american. There is no 'afro-american'. We are all Americans, black or white. Otherwise, we white people should start calling ourselves euro-americans, since our ancestors came from Europe.

The only native Americans are the indians that we white people have exterminated.

I do find it strange that a word that was used by white people to insult black people for years is now a trendy word! I would never call a black person a 'n-word' because I have no right. It is something only black people can call other black people now. Thats fine. I wouldnever want to appear racist to anybody.

I don't approve of the word in any of its forms (a or er) used by blacks or whites. There's probably no more hurtful word in the English language. However, whites should NEVER complain about not being able to use it. When I hear someone complaining about "double standards" it makes me sick. :bnghd:

Also, the "but they call us [insert name here]" argument doesn't work either. Look at your history, before starting that. No, actually look at the present.



[Edited on 11/25/2003 by Flinx]

Oh ain't we so touchy feely here!

Yeah you lefty fools the black man is laughing at you.

He has so you brain washed it makes me sick.

Originally posted by THENEO
Oh ain't we so touchy feely here!

Yeah you lefty fools the black man is laughing at you.

He has so you brain washed it makes me sick.

Well, we know that "righties" are unaware of the concepts commonly called "compassion" or "empathy", so I don't expect you to have any about this subject.

Personally, I'd rather be empathetic toward others, than a racist, self-righteous ass.

Originally posted by jezebel

Originally posted by THENEO
Oh ain't we so touchy feely here!

Yeah you lefty fools the black man is laughing at you.

He has so you brain washed it makes me sick.

Well, we know that "righties" are unaware of the concepts commonly called "compassion" or "empathy", so I don't expect you to have any about this subject.

Personally, I'd rather be empathetic toward others, than a racist, self-righteous ass.

Good call jezabel.

- embarassed, they blush
- angry, they turn red
- sick, they turn pale
- scared, they turn white

So, between 'black' and 'white'....who really is 'colored'?

im 16 years old at a high school near san fran

yes sometimes the same thing happends, but manly the word dose not mean what it ment back then,


everything is cool at that school noone is racist, only thing that gets me wondering is why we "whites" cant have a "club" and theres 15 clubs

Sticks and stones....

The only thing that makes any word hurtful...is allowing it to have a hurtful effect in the first place...

That's the reason you'll never really tick off a white guy calling them "cracker" or anything else you can come up with.... They simply don't let it get under their skin, and then it loses (or never gains) any effectiveness...

If it wasn't so taboo to say certain words....they'd quickly lose their shock value...

what i get a kick out of is when people call me cracker.

know the origin of that word?
no?

it decends from "whip-cracker" or... the master.

so in a sence this get's pretty comical.

oh and i say what's up? I'm white and indian,
I never was a #ing wigger. All my black friends appreciate that about me. i don't go around saying "how".

I will never call a black person 'n-word' (because this is censored it will turn up as another word I would never call a black person). Especially not with an angry conotation. Sometimes when playing around, I might, but only if I know he'll be okay with it. The funny thing is that I call my non-black friends it all the time. Its that evil hip hop culture, corrupting my mind I have a very good arab friend that calls me nig, and say the same to him. Probably cause we always listen to rap, and are trying to emulate the stars Course, course.

I think that anyone should be able to call anyone anything they want. Course they shouldnt get angry if everyone hates them and ignores them.

its a dirty word. ive never said it my self. ive only said it when i had to read Huck Finn in lit class

well,

the high school i go to isnt some rich preppy privet school...

It seams racizim has about died "agents blacks asians eta,eta"

I have a friend who was joking to this one colored kid, they were saying back and forth"you stupid cracker, ill eat you" eta,eta

then my white friend said "you browny tast so good"

you know what happend? my white friend got suspended for 3 days becouse the dean overheard them...

and we "cant" have a club of any kinda that has to do with "white" people (but lol, the "white" club meatting is next week, dosnt sound right)



its not the kids falts its usly the teachers/staff take it too "hard"


when the next gerneration starts to take hold, racisim will be wiped out