Posted on 07/05/2004 9:38:05 AM PDT by leadpencil1
Hip-hop culture has embraced a racial insult, but does that make it any less insulting?
The first 30 seconds of Trio's documentary The N Word is a bit like the Reader's Digest version of those Mark Fuhrman tapes played at the O.J. Simpson trial: You hear the N word -- yeah, that one -- 42 times. Screamed, whispered, sneered, jeered, muttered, mumbled, crooned, barked, wailed -- in just about every tone of voice available to the human vocal cords.
And the 42nd repetition is just as shocking, embarrassing and ugly as the first.
That's the point of The N Word. This is one time when familiarity doesn't breed contempt. Nearly 400 years after it crept into the English language, the word is more powerful than ever.
Drawing from interviews with more than a dozen entertainers and academicians, as well as clips from film and TV and even readings from Mark Twain and Carl Sandburg, filmmakers Todd Williams and Helena Echegoyen have put together a thoughtful examination of the word's history, usage and impact.
The N Word. 8-9 tonight. Trio.
In particular, they trace attempts going back decades or more by black entertainers to de-fang the word. Comedians from Moms Mabley to Richard Pryor promiscuously threw it around, even embraced it, in an attempt to rob it of its power. In the end, though, they were no match for its hatefulness. ''It does have the meaning,'' admits record producer Quincy Jones. ``It is designed to be derogatory.''
The latest stratagem has been a flanking maneuver by rap artists, who have managed to take the word into common usage in the hip-hop world as an act of rebellion not just against the white world but the black bourgeoisie as well.
Yet their success, limited as it is, has created other problems -- particularly among white kids, the main consumers of hip-hop, who see no reason why they can't adopt the word along with gold chains, baggy shorts and the culture's other accouterments. One of The N Word's funniest moments is a tortured disquisition by a white teenager on how the word ''n - - - -r'' is offensive but ''n - - -a'' is affectionate.
Nobody in the black world is buying that explanation, even entertainers who use the word extensively in their own acts. Comedian Chris Rock riffs on the word in his stand-up routine (''there's black people, and there's n - - - - -s; the n - - - - -s have got to go'') but has no sympathy for whites who want to use it, no matter the context.
''This word, it's like the only thing white people can't do,'' Rock says. ``That's the only reason anybody writes about it or anything. White people can't believe there's a thing that exists they can't do.''
Not just white people; as hip-hop crosses borders, the cross-cultural clashes will increase. Critic and essayist Stanley Crouch describes meeting a Japanese businessman who greeted him with a cheery ''Hello, n- - -a!'', a phrase he picked up from music videos shown in Tokyo's ubiquitous karaoke bars. Adds playwright George C. Wolfe: 'People all over the world -- they listen to black music, they buy food at McDonald's, and they know the word `n- - - -r.' That's American culture.'' Crown our good with brotherhood indeed.
It's an ugly word, no matter whose mouth it comes out of or for what purpose.
It's one of many ugly words used to describe certain ethnicities but it gets ALL of the attention.
Why?
There's nothing ugly about a word.
niggardly?
I won't soil my mouth with that word.
True, but in an attempt to avoid that word, several similar sounding words have practically vanished from our language.
A story was posted a while back in which a teacher, in discussing a book the class was reading(I believe) used the word niggardly to describe a character, which means selfish. The class, needless to say had no clue and reacted instinctively by going ballistic. The parents , also apparently ignorant, went ballistic as well. The teacher wound up either getting suspended or fired, all for the use of a word whose meaning used to be commonly known.
The term 'black' to me is the same as the term 'white'. They're too inclusive. I grew up referring to black people as Negro, but that is too similar to 'the N word' for some people's taste. I've gotten some VERY hard looks before their brain kicks in and they realize what I've said.
There, thanks for letting me get that off my chest
I would agree that those two words take the cake!
As far as I can tell the word is an endearment when used by a black toward another black. It's akin to "Tu" in French, denoting familiarity and camaraderie. But it's hell to pay if anyone else does. This is the most powerful word in the English language, and this article seems to want to keep it that way.
The Jackson/Sharpton crowd gets plenty of mileage out of the outrage they can generate with it: anyone caught using it or even thinking it, regardless the context, can be ruined.
Overuse has weakened it, thus this conservation effort.
(Pronunciation Key)nig·ger Listen: [ ngr ]
n. Offensive Slang
a. Used as a disparaging term for a Black person: "You can only be destroyed by believing that you really are what the white world calls a nigger" (James Baldwin). b. Used as a disparaging term for a member of any dark-skinned people.
Used as a disparaging term for a member of any socially, economically, or politically deprived group of people: "Gun owners are the new niggers . . . of society" (John Aquilino).
Bill Cosby mentioned it and blacks laughed. If a white guy said the same word, he'd be lynched. I'd take blacks' claim its offensive a lot more seriously if they expurged it from THEIR vocabulary. An ugly word ought to be bleeped out of social conversation no matter the circumstances.
Oh I do agree. Those who bitch about the state of race relations are the same people who stir up racial animosity to further their own interests.
I agree with you 110%
A word cannot be powerful.
It is only the sentiment behind the use of the word that can be harmful.
I didn't notice that. Subtle but telling?
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