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Never you mind what we pick. Black folks don't care about what terms white folks throw around to describe themselves, so keep your nose out of what we choose to say. Ignore it. Which is the only choice you have anyway.
You have got to be kidding, right?
Try using the n word and see what happens. In fact you can' t even type it on here.
It may be a good thing actually. I've noticed teenagers and tweens using "n****h" a lot in daily speech.
I think the word will simply lose it's meaning in time. I'm hoping "n****h" will become like "dude". Way back in ancient times before the Internet, "Dude" was not what it is today. While not vulgar, it wasn't particularly nice to call someone "dude". In the late 1800s it was definitely an insult, by the mid-20th century it could be used as either an insult or a term of casual endearment. While west Coast surfers called each other dudes in normal conversation, when they referred to someone else, particularly from the East coast, it was not particularly complimentary. I predict that within the next 20 years "n****h", "dude", and "hey you" will all be interchangeable. At least I would hope so.
It's funny how words evolve and how their meanings change. If for example today you look at a girl and say "You're pretty.", she will likely smile and maybe even blush a little. The same two words uttered a few hundred years ago would earn you a slap across the face and possibly a sword duel at sunrise!
A thousand years ago if you called someone pretty it meant you were accusing them of deception. Technically it's still defined as a watered-down version of beautiful like you might hear from the stereotypical passive aggressive mid-western housewife but in common usage beautiful and pretty are interchangeable.
That is all well and good but it misses the point. Until the wounds of oppression are healed or reconciled, meaning socioeconomic racial equality....then there will continue to be issues like this. The issue really is not the word.....which most people don't seem to understand. The issue is the oppression of blacks by whites and the resulting socioeconomic inquaility that persist to this day, born from that oppression. Until that is reconciled there willl be a hell of a lot of things white folks cannot say and do.....without it being problematic for many black folks. This is why whites cannot utter the word.....because it was whites who oppressed us....not all white....but white society. There is nothing arbitrary about why blacks are offended when whites use the word.
Last edited by Indentured Servant; 02-18-2011 at 01:59 PM..
There's a book out there that compares black ghetto behavior and patois with white redneck behavior and patois.
Like there is a great similarity between the two and they are interrelated and based mostly on poor self esteem and a willful otherness. And they are products of our modern media to include our modes of entertainment.
I'll see if I can find the title and author...
But seriously, whether black, white, hispanic, asian, etal... American teenagers and young adults are really celebrating vulgarity, ignorance and anti-success these days... it goes with the tattoos better I guess.
That is all well and good but it misses the point. Until the wounds of oppression are healed or reconciled, meaning socioeconomic racial equality....then there will continue to be issues like this. The issue really is not the word.....which most people don't seem to understand. The issue is the oppression of blacks by whites and the resulting socioeconomic inquaility that persist to this day, born from that oppression. Until that is reconciled there willl be a hell of a lot of things white folks cannot say and do.....without it being problematic for many black folks. This is why whites cannot utter the word.....because it was whites who oppressed us....not all white....but white society. There is nothing arbitrary about why blacks are offended when whites use the word.
I disagree. The word has and still is used as a weapon. If you take away the teeth of the weapon it's one less thing to stand between Blacks and equality.
Never you mind what we pick. Black folks don't care about what terms white folks throw around to describe themselves, so keep your nose out of what we choose to say. Ignore it. Which is the only choice you have anyway.
Personally, I don't give a damn what you "black folks" (your term) use amongst yourselves. In a way, you have a good point (more on that later).
However, I am calling up short when it comes to your statement that others have no say in it and, further, have no choice. That statement seems challenging and arrogant...and I am going to take it up...
On the contrary, some of us (white folk) DO have a say in the matter under certain considerations and settings. For instance, I am a public school teacher and, for years, taught the behavior problem kids...and a disproportionate number were black. I did not allow them to use the so-called "N-word" in referring to one another when in the class. It had nothing to do with any shock over the use of the word, just that it was inappropriate for the classroom. What they did "on the streets" was their business. But it was MINE when they were under my control and care and profession.
Most kids saw the point. One kid challenged me on it, and it went to the wire. I won. One reason I did was because...wellll..this goes to this quote:
Quote:
My parents used it in front of me and i used it in front of my own son on occasion. Black kids need to be exposed to it so that they can understand the proper context and when and when not to use it. That doesn't mean that you have to use it in front of them, but you should at least explain the term to them. In most families, black kids aren't allowed to use that word anyway until they reach adulthood, and even then, you have to be careful about it's use around certain black folks. You don't use it around the old folks...that's for sure. That's why i say that white folks have no idea about the word, how it's used, when it's used, and who you can say it around. They think we all toss it around gratuitously. It aint like that...trust me.
You and I don't agree on much, but this one relates to my earlier passage. I wrote that kid up and took him to the office. His (the student's) complaint was that I was "picking" on him and etc, etc., so his mother and grandmother showed up for a meeting, later. When I laid out his history of disruption, it didn't really cause much of a stir. But when I mentioned his bopping use of calling other black kids "nig*ger" (and provocative towards me, because he had recieved warning before), his mother and grandmother almost went ballistic!
She said, grabbing him by the shirt, and I can almost quote "I will defend you on lots of stuff, boy, but not on this one." Hell, I thought she was going to beat him down on the spot! LOL
That is all well and good but it misses the point. Until the wounds of oppression are healed or reconciled, meaning socioeconomic racial equality....then there will continue to be issues like this. The issue really is not the word.....which most people don't seem to understand. The issue is the oppression of blacks by whites and the resulting socioeconomic inquaility that persist to this day, born from that oppression. Until that is reconciled there willl be a hell of a lot of things white folks cannot say and do.....without it being problematic for many black folks. This is why whites cannot utter the word.....because it was whites who oppressed us....not all white....but white society. There is nothing arbitrary about why blacks are offended when whites use the word.
Goodgawdamighty, Indentured Servant....what more do you want???
How many more decades, centuries, whatever, are needed to "heal" the "wounds" of oppression, inequality, etc, etc?? Surely you don't think it is because of lack of affirmative action programs, minority business assistance, etc, etc.
Do you not realize that this attitude/outlook is a lot of the reasons that this so called "healing" is not taking place???
Great prose. BUT? Spell it out. What, in your opinion, needs to be done to "heal" all these "wounds of oppression"? There is no nation on earth that has done more in this abstract regard toward reparations and healing than the very one you have contempt and hostility toward.
But yet? Not enough. So spell it out in concrete demands. What must be done to satisfy your notion of rectifying so-called historical injustices. Not a bunch of ambiguous malarky, but solid terms of unconditional surrender, I suppose...
Like or not the word lives on in rap songs. Think about it, rappers are getting paid to say the "n" word, as well as calling women the name "*****." Kids listen to the words and sing along with them. The irony is they are removing the word from classic Mark Twain books but keeping in rap music. Sounds like the black people are the cause of the problem.
That's like watching lions hunt down antelopes for centuries and then blaming the antelopes for their population's own decline.
I hate the N word, especially when blacks use it themselves. That word was used to dehumanize them, I wish they would stop and use another word for God's Sake. Out of all the words that could describe a person, they pick that one.
As a white guy I don't like hearing it by anyone, but I am not going to do a thing about it, when it is black on black, unless a black asks me and that isn't likey.
I see the blacks doing it as the first Euro Americans did getting labled Yankee. It meant about the same thing as that 'n' word did/does to blacks now.
We yanks put new words to a Brit tavern song which told the Brits what they could do with the word.
One odd thing is the word Yankee comes from the French telling Natives the word English, and taking on various Native accents, and ends up as Yunquish, and 1,001 other spellings.
As a white guy I don't like hearing it by anyone, but I am not going to do a thing about it, when it is black on black, unless a black asks me and that isn't likey.
I see the blacks doing it as the first Euro Americans did getting labled Yankee. It meant about the same thing as that 'n' word did/does to blacks now.
Nah.......the Brits didn't see their white American colonist cousins as less than human, as property, and codify that into their very laws. There is no comparison whatsoever.
Serious question here. If the term is no longer acceptable in modern day America, why does the UNCF still use the word in their title?
Quote:
Originally Posted by desertdetroiter
Because the term was obviously the term du jour when that organization was founded. I can understand that.
I'm just talking about in casual conversation. Most people know and understand that the term is outdated.
Thank you for your response.
Why would a progressive organization not update their name to reflect current interests do you think? Maybe rename it the UAACF then?
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