Of course no word ever dies. It might fall out of common usage or become archaic, but words always remain in the lexicon, even if only relegated to dusty dictionaries. The meaning and power of words can wax and wane, similar to how the “N” word is going through a metamorphosis in American culture. But like sagging pants, gangsta rap and racist organizations like the Klan, it no doubt will always be with us.
However, its power to hurt black folk when hurled from the mouth of a racist has been greatly diminished, and for a number of reasons. Primarily, because we blacks have become more self-assured and really don’t care near as much about what whites — especially bigots — think or say about us as a race. But another (perhaps more powerful) reason the word has been de-fanged, robbed of its ability to hurt, has to do with white people.
There’s a video making the rounds on Facebook showing four white dudes inside what appears to be a motorcycle repair shop wolfing at each other, about to come to blows. They keep taunting each other by using the “N” word.
Now, before I go any further, I’m going to dispense with the use of the euphemism “the ‘N’ word” mainly because it’s cowardly. Out of PC (political correctness), I’m not supposed to say the word “nigger,” but I’ll make you say “nigger” in your mind by saying “the ‘N’ word.” In that way I absolve myself of any responsibility for your thinking a derogatory word, or so I like to think — enough of that bullshit.
But back to the video: I’m somewhat ashamed to admit I occasionally watch those videos that someone captures of brawls on cell phones since they show humanity at its worst. But I did watch these clownish white dudes as they squared off, calling each other nigger. One guy eventually decked the other guy twice (along with his friend who entered into the fray) but it was very clear that calling each other niggers was routine with them. Just like it is for Snoop Dog Kowalski — you know, that sagging pants white dude from Parma — and his friends to routinely greet each other by saying, “What’s up, my nigger!”
Try as we might to kill it, the word “nigger” has become somewhat cool among a certain class of whites who are far from being racists, just as it remains a staple of black conversation among some youth.
Lenny Bruce, the comic who did more for freedom of speech than the U.S. Constitution and the Supreme Court combined, (he gave his life for it, dying in his bathroom of a heroin overdose, while being hounded by law enforcement for saying banned words), once took the stage at a club called the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco in the early 60s and, without preamble, rapidly said, “Nigger, nigger, nigger, nigger,” and, after a pause he again said, “Nigger, nigger, nigger, nigger.” He then said, “Maybe if we say this ugly word enough it will lose its power to hurt.” Indeed.
Richard Pryor, who steadfastly maintained that Bruce was the greatest comic and social critic of his — or any other — generation, once related the story of how he was having a heated political debate with a person whom he thought was bright, and when Pryor was beginning to win the debate, the man blurted out, “Nigger!” Pryor responded, “Damn, you just fucked up what was starting to be an intelligent conversation.”
During a podcast taped in June, just days after the mass killings at the African-American church in Charleston, S.C., President Obama said, “The legacies of slavery and Jim Crow too often remain in the nation’s DNA.” He then said, “Racism — we are not cured of it. And it’s not just a matter of it not being polite to say ‘nigger’ in public.”
When he uttered those words, the PC folks acted as if the world was about to come to an end.
Myself, I was roundly criticized when I titled an article “The ‘Niggranazation’ of White Americans.” My point was, plutocrats have increased their wealth so greatly by financially raping blacks for centuries; they are now doing the same thing to whites by turning them into economic niggers. The PC crowd was all over me for that one.
Personally, I still refrain from using the word “nigger” in conversation. My vocabulary is such that I don’t have to use it to make my point stronger. But then, I don’t use the word “cracker” to denote whites either.
No, the word “nigger” isn’t dead just yet, but when it dies, it will be due more to the fact that white folks killed it, not blacks.
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.com.
One Response to “MANSFIELD: Is the “N” Word Almost Dead?”
Michael Johnson
I am writing as a resident of a street named Ambler in the inner city right near the Rapid Stop at Woodhil and 93rd. Since the City is praising the benefits with the Opportunity Corridor, at times, it fails to take into the people it affects. Recently the city blocked off Holton Hill and now the portion of the street we live in, which is a one way has been turned into a mass of illegal two way traffic. There have been numerous close accidents and one accident where a driver hit a person on a bike and kept going. Thankfully he was Ok. We have called the 4th District and they send an officer to the street. Yet, he can not be here 24/7.
I am sure if this were a White Suburb, Action would have been taken immediately.