Sanders 5

Trinice Sanders

Mr. Mueller

English12

19 February 09

The Word on the Street: How America Went From "Nigger," to "Negro," to "Nigga," and Ended Up at "Nigga Please."

"I love being a Black American, but as a Black man in this country I think it's a shame / That every few years we get a change of name…/ as for those that came over here on those terrible boats, / They were called Nigga and slave / And told what to do and how to behave…/ Now, by and by, we were called Negroes, and after while, that name has vanished. / Anyway, Negro is just how you say "black" in Spanish. / Then, we were called colored, but shit, everybody's one color or another, / And I think it's a shame that we hold that against each other…/ But then, came the 1960s when we struggled and died to be called equal and Black, / And we walked with pride with our heads held high and our shoulders pushed back, / And Black was beautiful. / But, I guess that wasn't good enough, / 'Cause now here they come with some other stuff…/ Quit trying to change my identity. / I'm already who I was meant to be / I'm a Black American, born and raised…/ And if you think, that 'cause you think that being called African American set all Black people's mind at ease…/ Since we affectionately call each other "Nigga,"/ I affectionately say to you, "Nigga Please"…/ How come I didn't get the chance to vote on who I'd like to be? / Who gave you the right to make that decision for me? / I ain't under your rule or in your dominion and / I am entitled to my own opinion…/ We are the only people whose name is always a trend. / When is this shit gonna end? / Look at all the different colors of our skin- / Black is not our color. It's our core. / It's what we been livin' and fightin' and dyin' for."

-Smokey Robinson

The word "Nigger" is often tossed about with out caution, a word that is "of the wind"; "no one knows from whence it comes or where it blows." Foolish people attempt to capture it but, it is no use, an element as powerful as this cannot possibly be captured. All words are like elements, earth, wind, and fire, they can at once be one's foundation, blow one away, and set one on fire. No. They cannot be erased, captured, or oft times predicted. In the United States, the word "Nigger," often referred to as "The N-Word" has developed over time from a derogatory term to one of camaraderie, depending to whom it is said, from whom, and under what circumstance, and is a word that wields great power and influence and warrants a closer examination at its past and current life.

The history of a word is as important as its current definition, if the word is going to be appreciated for its true meaning. The word "Nigger" has a past deeply rooted in pain and as it blows through America it brings with it some of its past hostilities, strife, and struggles, as well as leaving some behind. It is derived from the Latin word "niger" meaning black and is often being substituted for the word "Negro" meaning "black person" or "black" in Spanish and Portuguese. Despite the origins of the word it was established as a derogatory term by the early 1800's. Though the word seems to be innocent enough as just a color or a river in Africa, the connotation of the word, in America and else where, has been so far removed from its original meaning that most people who use it on a regular basis cannot say from whence it comes. "Nigger" is a word that is pulled from a word of innocence and made into one of hatred as the word "Negro" has been made derogatory over time by those who use it and the situations in which it is used. "Nigger" is seen by many as being a "throw-back to slavery". To many it dredges up memories of America's sordid past. When the word "Nigger" blows into a conversation or confrontation it brings with it the faint scent of blood left over from "Master's beattin'", the cool dread seeping over Mama's skin as she tries to get her family to freedom after Papa is caught and lynched before her eyes, the feeling of entrapment when "Master" looks at the man and says "C'mere Nigger". The History surrounding a word so casually used is often deep and overlooked and the reality is that the past never goes away and though it evolves over time, the original meaning of a word is never erased.

The negativity accompanying the use of the term "Nigger", no matter the variation or the context, never changes though a lot of people, most frequently those who do not understand the true origin, try to capture the word and abolish it or use it to their own power. "Nigger" was the word most spoken by members of the notorious KKK, the word on the tip of every racist tongue during the Civil Rights Movement, the word dripping from the mouth of every man that ever lynched a Negro in the south. One of the most famous cases of lynching in America is the case of fourteen-year-old Emmitt Till. Till was visiting his uncle in Mississippi, having fun with a group of other boys, showing off pictures of his white "girlfriend" back home when one of his friends bet him he would not go talk to the white lady at the store counter. Well he did. The facts are not straight. Some say he whistled, some say he winked, and some say he was as bold as to say "Hey Baby" or "Bye Baby". No matter what he actually did, nothing justified two men, the lady's wife and brother, storming the uncle's house and driving off with little Emmitt Till into the dark of night. Till was found three days later in the Tallahatchie River with one eye gouged out, and his crushed-in head with a bullet in it. His water-logged body was identified first by his uncle and then sent home to his mother who examined the corpse to be sure it was her "baby" and insisted on an open casket funeral so that all the world can see what had been done. Sometime after the funeral she made this statement, "Have you ever sent a loved son on vacation and had him returned to you in a pine box, so horribly battered and water-logged that someone needs to tell you this sickening sight is your son -- lynched?" Even after countless African Americans put their lives and the lives of their families at risk by testifying against Till's murderers, the men were set free by an all white, Anglo-Saxon, jury who was told by the judge before deliberation, "Your fathers will turn over in their graves if [Milam and Bryant are found guilty] and I'm sure that every last Anglo-Saxon one of you has the courage to free these men in the face of that [outside] pressure." One should be obliged to wonder if the men who murdered Emmitt Till were calling him a "Nigger" as they gouged his eye out or shouting "Nigger" as they bashed his face in. As they threw him in the river did they say "Well now the world is free from one more 'Nigger'" Were the jury members sitting behind closed doors for an hour saying "Oh well just another 'Nigger'"? Till's friends surely weren't moping around saying, "I can't believe he's gone. Emmitt was my 'Nigga'". The people who use this word so freely must first stop and look at all of the implications and the history that comes as a complete package. One must stop and ask one's self, "If I watched someone brutally murder my mother while calling her a Bitch, would I walk around calling every woman I saw a Bitch?" If one is decides to use the word "Nigger" one must be prepared to equate himself with others who have used the word, such as the murderers of Emmitt Till.

One thing that is never overlooked or ignored is the question of who can use this word and who cannot. African Americans call each other the "n-word" frequently enough to be obnoxious and loud enough to make others think it is okay to use it as well. A common point of confusion, among Whites particularly, is why it is okay for Blacks to say but not anyone else. Caucasians all over the country are blogging and asking this question and are continually met with the response, "when we use it, it has a different meaning than when they [white people] do." This is and wide-ranging misconception for all involved. The use of this word as described above has negative effects that are all inclusive. The wind does not see color nor does it judge, the earth does not see history then behave accordingly, fire does not know nor is it to be bothered with whose life to destroy. Therefore no matter what the color you are, what your history is, or your personality, once this word is released it will unleash disorder on any being involved. Another frequent response to this question is, "everybody or nobody". This too is a questionable response, though it also has its merits. One questionable aspect of this is the ever present "what if". What if one were to ban the word from everything books included, does one burn said books. What if we ban it from everywhere except books, suddenly every one is an author. The "what ifs" can go on for days and this point could be negatively bashed all day, but let not the positives be excluded. This "everyone or no one" policy could effectively eliminate a lot of tension in a room of students reading a book containing the aforementioned word. It can also precipitously reduce tension between racial groups. Now, if one were to imagine a world with an "everyone or no one policy" on all words, they could either see world piece or world destruction.

Back in the real world there is no ban or an "everybody or nobody" policy, just overly excited users and abusers and completely confused and irritated swervers and observers. In this real world, there are teachers who spend most of their time in a volatile environment and for once find themselves either unwilling or unable to take action. One teacher reflects this conflict when she admits to being threatened after correcting students for use of the word; another says that she doesn't feel it is her place to intervene when the word is used, while others take the "my classroom is my home" approach and forbid the use of the "n-word" in their classroom and ignore it in the halls. All of the above teachers are white. Most of the white teachers interviewed said that they would not intervene. Why is intervention so difficult for white teachers? All, that is right, all of the Black and Mexican teachers interviewed decided to take the authoritative front and disallow the use of the word completely. A copious amount of the white teachers say that they feel that it is not their place to judge the students when they cannot possibly see life through the eyes of the students who use the word. These teachers feel that if they have no real experience with the word then they have no right to dictate who can say it and when. A solution to this problem was presented in an article from the Harvard Education Letter, wherefrom I attained my abovementioned information. The solution is this, generate a curriculum that allows white teachers to know what authority to claim and how to assert said authority. This curriculum is supposed to help teachers realize their expectations for the students, their emotions in certain situations, such as, the use of the "n-word", and help them understand how to intercede and hoe to be most effective in that intersession. The teachers of the world need to maintain power and their fear of this word takes that power away and gives it to the students.

Words are powerful; they wound, they heal, they provoke thought, and discourage it, they lift people up, and tear them down. One word can be worth a thousand more and a thousand more for each of those thousand because a picture is worth a thousand words and in the end that is what every word is--- a picture, a picture that at once shows both past and present and influences the future.