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Seymour Monet 30 July 2008 Pop Culture 141 views 6 Comments Print This Post  Email This Post

Nigger. Nigga. My nig. Nigra. There. Got it out of the way. I figured that if I was going to offend anyone I might as well start the show with it. One of my favorite rappers, Nas, recently attempted and succeeded to some degree, to put “the” word back into the realm of public debate. Even he was humbled in the presence of taboo. Marketing and mass appeal concerns forced what should have been a statement of progression in Hip-Hop into a nameless martyr. In a rare moment I actually applaud an artist for trying to have his art actually stand for something. As a black man raised in the South I can firmly say that there isn’t a more instantaneously polarizing word known to man. Followed closely by Republican. I kid, I kid. Even my old nemesis Webster agrees…

it now ranks as perhaps the most offensive and inflammatory racial slur in English.

My question is…should it be?

I recognize that racial slurs have a deep and storied history. With nigger being the elder statesman of the group. It epitomizes the depth of hatred that weaves across the fabric of this country. That will never change. Hordes of elder African-Americans have a different relationship with it than I and most young blacks. Then it was singularly synonymous with the bilious hatred and subjugation of an entire race. (Technically black isn’t a race….blog coming soon) I am not discounting the pain that I know its usage has caused. I still remember the first time I was slurred upon. It was my freshman year of high school on the JV basketball team traveling to play our rival Ledford High. (yes I’m calling them out!) In my neck of the woods this happened to be where most of the white kids in our area went to school being that they served the county rather than the city. They also held the reputation of being openly racist. Needless to say, we were hype upon arrival only to be greeted with eggs and rocks. They even called in the deputies to “assure safety.” The whispers grew into audible “f*ck them niggers” as we left the locker room and got on the court. I wanted to fight, we all wanted to fight. It was an innate feeling of being disrespected that ran across the entire team. Now I don’t know if it was the fact that our team had only one white person, or the fact that we used to beat the ever loving dog shit out of Ledford in every sport from football to softball that made them hate us so. They just did. (Or maybe it was my boy Brian giving their best player the meanest forearm shiver known to man….not so sure anymore)

This blind hatred is often the case for most people that hold ill feelings toward another race. Toby asked the perfect question in “Got Yourself a Gun”…

why do you hate that man down the street? Why is “nigger” the first word you run to when you feel that unexplained disdain?

Conditioning.

Which runs both ways. My teammates and I at the time were not fully aware of the complexities of the racial divide and the deep seeded hate in the South. We just knew that if a white boy called you nigger you better reach for his spine through his mouth! Even now as a grown man who considers himself a progressive thinker, I bristle up just thinking about it. Once again I am forced to ask why. We give power to the word when we react like “niggers.” Yeah, his jaw might regret him saying it but he is now justified in his labeling. And further feels excused when he relays the story to his son as proof of niggerdom. It baffles me that a man can call you a son-of-a-bitch, basically spitting in your mom’s face, and he wouldn’t get such a response. Cries have been heard for years calling for a change in the public perception of black people. It starts at home and with the most famous slur known to man. We are definitely more than the word nigger but we will never escape it. As a race and culture we have defied and overcome any and every attempt to destroy us as a people. Nigger is a tool that has been used for years to strip African-Americans of their pride and self worth. Take the power away from the bigots by taking in stride what they are trying to use to trip you up. Spit in their face figuratively by recognizing their hatred for what it is; ignorance and fear. It isn’t really an insult if you are not insulted right?

I won’t even dignify the “nigger vs. nigga” argument by giving it more ink thank I am doing now. Personally, I think that is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard in my life. To suggest that the word should mean nothing solely based on its pronunciation is a weak justification for what we know makes no logical sense. Webster’s punk ass even recognizes the contradiction, the definition earlier goes on to say…”Its use by and among blacks is not always intended or taken as offensive.” ???. This side of the dichotomy deals with what I believe Nas was trying to accomplish. To publicly put on the lips of white America a word that is most definitely used in private. Members of the African-American community use the word nigger like the word smurf. It flies fast and furious and I would venture to say that most blacks don’t even realize how much they say it. I challenge anyone to listen to the radio or watch the top hip-hop videos and find a song where it isn’t used in the hook, ad-libs, and verses! The part that kills me is that young white kids are far and away the biggest financial supporters of Hip-Hop right now. I went to a free Ghostface concert at a hole in the wall this spring and literally had to seek out the black faces! Did any of the white people hesitate to sing along when Ghost rocked “Shame on a Nigga?” Hell no, to answer the question. Some were hesitant when the first hook rolled around. I saw a few look around to see if any beer bottles were flying their way after their first screw faced, in public “nigger.” And…Nothing. Here was a club full of white faces shouting, “shame on a nigga, who tried to run game on a nigga” and there were no riots…no fighting…no hate. Frankly, any artist that puts the word in their lyrics is automatically acknowledging that he/she is encouraging whites to use the word simply by singing along to their songs. We are the most emulated population on the planet. If you want the word to disappear….guess what?

Now please don’t get it twisted in thinking that I am encouraging or even saying it’s ok for whites to add it to their lexicon permanently. I am merely suggesting that we don’t give the hate mongers the power by allowing the word to devolve us. If a white man calls me nigger I can’t say I won’t reach for his thoracic vertebrae. I’m not perfect. I’m just saying that he can call me “chump” with the same amount of hatred and I still might reach for his T-6

–Seymour Monet