By: Kwebb

Kwebb — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 19:35:00 +0000

I never bought the argument that using the word as a term of endearment = reclaiming it and robs it of its power to hurt. The fact that the same people who use it can still be offended when a non-black person uses it proves that alleged attempts to recontextualize it have not robbed it of its negative power. Further, the same people who use it as a term of endearment also continue to invoke it in anger or to demean, diminish, or threaten other black folks (i.e., “n****, please,” “n****, what?,” “we gon’ get these n****s!,” “f them n****s!,” etc.). However, I’ve begun to think that maybe the mass marketing of the word by (mostly) young black men may ultimately result in the recontextualization of the word after all. Since it seems that many of us - including some of our most prominent “cultural ambassadors” - cannot or will not stop gratuitously using the word and eagerly selling it to the world, maybe the rest of us will come to the conclusion that the n**** genie is out of the bottle and our outrage is futile, or we just become numb to it. Another victory in the struggle! The ancestors would be proud!

By: Shady Grady

Shady Grady — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 12:13:00 +0000

Fair enough. But not every black person uses that word, is under 30 or listens to (c)rap music. So just because some ignorant black people use that word with abandon doesn’t give whites the “right” to use that word any more than the spate of women trying to reclaim “slut” as a positive word gives me the right to start throwing around that word against women. I am questioning the principle of “we” here as if all black people bear collective responsibility.

Comments on: REDUX: Our N-Word Conundrum

By: Kwebb

By: Shady Grady