Get our most popular stories once a week!
Just Said...
Quote

i had enough- i have now endured over 13 months on this net being ignored or deleted by every..."

Posted by noblefuse in Jesus for President

oneofmany posted in Hip-Hop Elitism: Why Soulja Boy is More Hip Hop Than You

oneofmany posted in N-Word, Please.

jodijodijodi posted in Hip-Hop Elitism: Why Soulja Boy is More Hip Hop Than You

 
Register to Vote: Rock the Vote, powered by Credo Mobile
Racial Justice WireTap Racial Justice

Banning the N-Word

March 8, 2007

 
jadon_story

As NYC passes a symbolic ban on the 'n-word,' teens debate if it's ever ok to use it.

Issue: The "n word"
Why? Used as racial epithet
Action: Symbolic legislation passed in New York City and elsewhere.

--------------------------------------

On March 1, 2007, the New York City Council passed a symbolic resolution calling for a moratorium on the use of the 'n-word." The n-word has a controversial history. Once used as derogatory speech directed at slaves, and as an epithet used to intimidate individuals during the Civil Rights era, it has since been transformed into contemporary slang.

The resolution was drafted by Queens Councilman Leroy Comrie, a five-year veteran of City Council and the Deputy Majority Leader. He told youth journalists from Children's PressLine in a phone interview that the ban wasn't an attempt to limit people's expression but, "We want people to present themselves in a better light, because in this world, it's your presentation that affects how you're treated."

Comrie blamed "the artistic community" for making the word popular in order to "make money." He went on to say, "If you use an objectionable word as an exclamation point, or try to reformat it as a friendship word, it only shows that you're not working to better yourself or to understand the world around you, and you're not respecting the sensibilities of other people."

Other cities have passed measures similar to New York City's, and and the AbolishTheNword.com web site was launched last April. Stillman College, a historically black university in Alabama, recently held a four-day conference to discuss the epithet.

CPL interviewed students from High School for Law, Advocacy and Community Justice on the controversial word. The interviews were conducted by Catherine Guzman, 14; Nygel Jones, 8; Elizabeth Negron, 14; Dardell Numa, 9, Netsukadetty Numa, 7; Shiann Pepin, 9; Sundar Sampath, 10.

Grace Petit, 17

The n-word used to be derogatory, to represent a negative image of black people, but now it's become just a word, like "hey" and "yo." It doesn't mean much. I personally don't mind it; it really doesn't bother me. The context that African-Americans were living in back in the time when the word was an issue, is not the context we're living in now. So, I don't mind it being used lightly.

If you're trying to downgrade me, then it's an issue. I can tell by the context of your words whether you're trying to disrespect me. A bunch of friends of mine, we were hanging out in the park. The cops tried to tell us to leave; I guess the park was about to close. We waited until another twenty minutes and the cop was like, "Don't you all niggers have something better to do?"

Christina Grooms, 18

The n-word is really for black people, from my prospective. I see a lot of Spanish people using it, and it makes me feel like, "You don't really know what it is. So why use it?" I hate when Spanish kids call their friends that. I hate when they call us that, 'cause they don't know what the real meaning of it is.

Kuamel Stuart, 17

I'm aware of the history of my people. Slavery and segregation was a well-oiled machine and using the word "nigger" was one of the parts. When I hear the word being used, it definitely hurts. I really can't feel what my great-grandfather would feel if he heard the word. He went through the tribulation of not being viewed as a person but as an object. If he heard the word, it would be a greater impact on his psyche than mine.

I think the reason why [the n-word] is being used so frequently is that our generation doesn't really have an appreciation of the history of the word. It was used in a time where our ancestors were degraded and none of us can really relate to that. The word is currently being defined as a term of endearment. When people use the word "nigger" it's like "my brother" or "you my homie." The real definition of the word doesn't coincide with what we give it now. When people use it, they don't understand [that] they're only degrading themselves.

There's people that say, "We changed the definition of the word, we changed the spelling." I don't necessarily agree with that. Then, you have the others who frankly don't really care. That's due to ignorance, not knowing about the history of the word. I don't use the word. I believe in being an example.

Jadon Regis, 17

Right now, we're not allowed to say [the n-word] in school.

I hear the word used a lot. My mother uses it, I use it. A lot of kids in high school use it, mostly every day, every minute, every second. My mother says it to me. I don't like it when she calls me that, but I can't do nothing 'cause she's my mother. I brush it off my shoulder, just leave it alone.

Zakiyah Nicklette, 16

I can't say I never use [the n-word], but I don't use it to put anybody down or as a term of endearment. It's just a word that floats around. One day I just said it and it didn't make an impact on me, it didn't make an impact on anyone. So I didn't think too much of it. I have not yet to run into a person that hasn't used the word, whether it's been in a negative way, a positive way, a term of endearment, any way out... in 16 years I haven't run into anyone who hasn't ever used the word.

People say things without using that word but they can hurt just as much. I think there are more serious issues to take care of than the language that someone uses.

Children's PressLine is a journalism program for young people ages 8 to 18 in New York City.

 
Post a new comment Login Signup
View
Report this comment

The "N" word should be banned 4ever!

Posted by: d_tisdal on Mar 19, 2007 3:21 AM

It really shames me to hear young people use the n-word like its normal conversation. I listen to Sirius satellite and they use the n-word like its part of Webster's Dictionary! To put some perspective on the subject, when was the last time you heard white people say "hey my Cracker" or Latino say "hey my wetback"...I think you get my point. Black people appear to be confused about their use of a word that black leaders like Martin Luther King risked their lives to eliminate. I think the major reason young blacks use the word is to try and be "hard" and emulate what they hear from rap stars. Older blacks use the term because they want to be with the in-crowd and feel young. What ever the real reason is it further confuses other races on how to address blacks and why if they feel the n word is offensive why is it they can greet each other with the n-word and they can't. I feel that until a person can justify using the n-word in a sensible fashion, then they should strongly refrain from using this offensive term. I challenge anyone out there to justify why we should use the n-word.
 
Report this comment

The "N" word

Posted by: cthorn on Apr 10, 2007 5:08 AM

The issue over when or whether or not the N word SHOULD be used is really irrelevant: Making a law, ordinance, etc., that instructs people as to what they can and cannot say in public is a clear violation of Constitutional Law and is therefore an illegal law. I will not obey it if I'm ever in NY (not that I use the word) and I urge all who read these pages in NY to protest this violation of their rights by using the word freely untill the law is revoked.

Or will you lie down and accept it, and wait for the NEXT violation of your liberties?

Chip Thornton
Maryland
 
Report this comment

About Time

Posted by: VaniNY on Apr 24, 2007 8:40 PM

As a native New Yorker, this legislation is the best news I have heard in a long time. America's cultural patterns are quickly globalized, so that I have been called "n****r" by Russians on French web sites. Whenever I protest the use of this word - whites retort that Blacks use it more than anyone else. Truth is, only a limited and number of Black people consistently use that N-word. And then only under specific circumstances. Poor, and or uneducated Blacks often use the word. Blacks who are trading on the current glamour associated with Black males and rap music use the word. Criminality can also been associated with the use of the word. New York city is essentially a segregated city, and many blacks are forced to live in the same communities due to the reduced access to decent housing, Criminal dads live next to hard working dad, so that their children are raised together. External impacts on the black family is such that, it is very difficult to teach positive values to children whose lives are saturated by negativity coming from the community, school, as well as national and international culture. Since NY Blacks having different opinions about their own self image and self respect are all forced to raise their children together. Consequently, a neighbor who is a criminal, a self-hating black, or a drug dealer/user may have a strong impact on your child and pervert the wholesome values which you seek to transmit. This is why, legislation from our public leaders is so important. It sends a message that sets things right, protects the innocent and vulnerable, supports hard working, over-extended parents and above all, HONORS THE TRUTH. The truth is that the N word is a particularly heinous word which is rapidly gaining world wide acceptance. I currently reside overseas and I can assure you that the word is heavily used by unconscious white people in Portugal, Spain, France and Russia. These are also nations with very resistant forms of racism. Please, all who have a chance to read this not -do all that you can to stop this word before it become one of America's most shameful exports.
Vani Llebrag.
 
Report this comment

Convenience Purist

Posted by: VaniNY on Apr 24, 2007 8:52 PM

You are conveniently purist. When it comes to filthy words such as spick, kike etc, everyone agrees - zero tolerance. Yet the use of a word that denigrates blacks is tolerated. When legislation is passed to protect vulnerable Black families and children, hypocrites such as you hide behind principles. If everyone followed their principles as strictly as you do, many lives would be ruined. Principles without compassion or humanity is another way of saying hate.
 
Report this comment

Min. Les Barrett

Posted by: therev1 on Jul 29, 2007 2:53 PM

NEWSLETTER
Special Vol. Feb. 2007
Min. Les (Mailman) Barrett
The S.O.U.L. Ministry
Seekers Of Unlimited Life
Min.L.Barrett@comcast.net
BLACKS IN THE BIBLE

This being Black History Month, it seems appropriate to have a Newsletter exploring Blacks in the Bible. In Gen. 2:15 God placed the first man in the Garden to till it, making Adam a field worker. This would make him the world’s first “Nigger”, which is a derivative of the German word, Neggar, and means “plowman” (http://dalaspenn.com/weblog/?p=462). It is erroneous to think that the term comes from the Latin word Negro (black). It should also be realized that because of the hatred perpetrated by whites against blacks during slavery, the N-word has understandably taken on a derogatory meaning.

By objectively envisioning The Levitical Sacrifices (Offerings: Burnt, Meat, Peace, Sin, and Trespass - Lev. Chap. 1-5), one would have to conclude that they are holy barbeques! And we certainly know how brothers loves ribs; so much so that God made a Woman from one (Gen. 2:22), making her close to a brother’s heart. Some scholars believe a descendant of Cain (“a tiller of the field” - Gen. 4:2, whose “mark” they further believe was black skin Gen. 4:15) was the wife of Ham (the 2nd son of Noah). Ham (Hot), had a son name Cush (black) who was the father of Nimrod - the founder of Iraq. In the land of Ham (Mizraim, or Egypt) the Children of Israel intermarried (example: Moses marries an Ethiopian in Num. 12). Tamar was a Canaanite woman (descendant of Ham) who posed as a prostitute, and bore Pharez and Zara for her father-in-law Judah - whose lineage produced the Lord Jesus (Gen. 38:12-30; Mat. 1:3).

Whether the above paragraphs are true or not the reader should realize that in fact there is no pure race. Therefore, please understand that WE ARE ALL GOD’S CHILDREN! “Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city” - Rev. 22:14. What is the greatest commandment? “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, ‘thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself’. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets”- Mat. 22:36-40. I Jhn. 4:8 teaches us that God is love, and Rom. 13:10 informs us that “love worketh no ill to his neighbour; therefore LOVE is the fulfilling of the law”. In Acts 17:26, the Bible states, “and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation ”.

Finally, Rom. 8:14 says, “for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God”. The 6th Book of John in the 63rd verse lets us know that “it is the spirit that quickeneth (gives life); the flesh profited nothing”. Paul writes to the Galations, who most likely were Celtics which had descended from Noah’s son Japheth, “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ‘s, then are ye Abraham‘s seed (note in Gen. 17:5 how God “promoted” Abram by adding “ham” ), and heirs according to the promise ”. Our God says, “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing”; and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall ALL FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED.” - Gen. 12:2-3.
 
Report this comment

Min. Les Barrett - CORRECTION!

Posted by: therev1 on Aug 25, 2007 3:49 PM

To correct my statement about Tamar in my previous article on "Blacks In The Bible", let it be known that she is Jewish and NOT Black! Truly sorry.

Min. L. Barrett
 
Report this comment

THE "N" WORD and what it has become.

Posted by: DT on Sep 24, 2007 9:13 AM

The "N" word has become ever so popular in the music and in everyday life for many african americans. Im pretty sure the majority of all african americans that use the word are familiar with slavery and have watched many films such as: Rosewood, Mississippi Burning, Emmitt Till, and many other movies dealing with racism and the "N" word. But still with all that known, some still choosed to use the word and it still should continue to be there choice. In a sense the word has become part of the dialect that african americans speak to each other..and when we use it it is not to call each other a slave or be derogatory its just used as a deeper expression of boy or man. Times have changed and people have changed(some have) but overall times are different and words are just words and depending on how they are said can hurt. Whats the difference between call an african american the "n" word and an obese person "fat".....not much different because depending on the way a person uses the word or takes it it still can hurt..