The N Word

Guest post by David Scott Anderson.

Nigga!

Did I get your attention? I could Care Less about Paula Deen. Some folks want to make this about her using the word Nigger (Did that Shock You?), or telling an occasional insensitive joke. Much less focus has been put on her other antics, wanting an Ante Bellum wedding, including waiters dressed as slaves, or her other antics. Paula falls into that category of "Racist who dont really understand that they are racist."

But Ms. Deen is not the subject of this post. I want to talk about the N word, the black version of it. The one that is pronounced Ninja, Nigga, Niggah, etc. The one that blacks sometimes use as a so called "term of endearment." I don't know when Black folks started looking at this repugnant word as such, or why. Oh yeah I have heard the theories about how using the word disarms it. On this, I take great delight in calling Bull Shit. No matter how many times I hear people of my skin tone using the word, it still stings when a person of another race calls me that word. And no matter how many times I hear it in "friendly company," it remains a hateful word.

I do not tell people how to talk, unless their last name is Anderson, and they live under my roof. But I do not understand why so many Black people hold desperately onto this word, not only accept its use, but defend it. It is time to let go. Let go of this word. Stop using it. It is not some proud relic of our culture. It is not some anti establishment Mantra. Did Malcom X use this word as a term of endearment? Its Not funny, or it should not be, to anyone except people like Paula Deen. Give it up! Or stop bitching when Deen and others use it!