The Infamous N Word

This use of the word nigger and nigga, has been a hot button issue in the Black community as well as among scholars for a long time. I don't agree with ANYONE using the N word in ANY variation, shape, form, or fashion. The reasons are: 1.) It's degrading, 2.) It's not positive in any way no matter what anyone else tries to say, and 3.) it perpetuates and keeps the word's history of hate alive.

The history of the word nigger is often traced to the Latin word niger, meaning Black. This word became the noun, Negro (Black person) in English, and simply the color Black in Spanish and Portuguese. In early modern French, niger became negre and, later, negress (Black woman) was unmistakably a part of language history. One can compare to negre the derogatory nigger and earlier English substitutes such as negar, neegar, neger, and niggor that developed into its lexico-semantic true version in English. It is probable that nigger is a phonetic spelling of the White Southern mispronunciation of Negro.

No matter what its origins, by the early 1800s, it was firmly established as a derogative name. In the 21st century, it remains a principal term of White racism, regardless of who is using it. Social scientists agree that words like nigger, kike, spic, and wetback come from three categories: disparaging nicknames (chink, dago, nigger); explicit group devaluations ("Jew him down" or "niggering the land"); and irrelevant ethnic names used as a mild disparagement ("jewbird" for cuckoos having prominent beaks or "Irish confetti" for bricks thrown in a fight.)

Over time, racial slurs have victimized all racial and ethnic groups; but no American group has endured as many racial nicknames as Blacks: coon, tom, savage, pickaninny, mammy, buck, samba, jigaboo, and buckwheat are some. Many of these slurs became fully traditional pseudo-scientific, literary, cinematic, and everyday distortions of African Americans. These caricatures, whether spoken, written, or reproduced in media and material objects, reflect the extent, the vast network, of anti-Black prejudice.

The word, nigger, carries with it much of the hatred and disgust directed toward Black Africans and African Americans. Historically, nigger defined, limited, made fun of, and ridiculed all Blacks. It was a term of exclusion, a verbal reason for discrimination. Whether used as a noun, verb, or adjective, it strengthened the stereotype of the lazy, stupid, dirty, worthless nobody. No other American surname carries as much purposeful cruelty. The following list is important information on the word's use and meaning:

Naggers: Acting in a lazy and irresponsible manner.
Niggerlipping: wetting the end of a cigarette while smoking it.
Niggerlover: Derogatory term aimed at Whites lacking in the necessary loathing of Blacks. Nigger luck: Exceptionally, but undeserved good luck.
Nigger-flicker: A small knife or razor with one side heavily taped to preserve the user's fingers. Nigger heaven: Designated places, usually the balcony, where Blacks were forced to sit, for example, in an integrated movie theater or church.
Nigger knocker: Axe handle or weapon made from an axe handle.
Nigger rich: Deeply in debt but flamboyant.
Nigger shooter: A slingshot.
Nigger steak: A slice of liver or a cheap piece of meat.
Nigger stick: Police officer's baton.
Nigger tip: Leaving a small tip or no tip in a restaurant.
Nigger in the woodpile: A concealed motive or unknown factor affecting a situation in an adverse way.
Nigger work: Demeaning, menial tasks.
Nigger (as a word) is also used to describe a dark shade of color (nigger-brown, nigger-Black), the status of Whites that mix together with Blacks (nigger-breaker, dealer, driver, killer, stealer, worshipper, and looking), and anything belonging to or linked to African Americans (nigger-baby, boy, girl, mouth, feet, preacher, job, love, culture, college, music, etc).


Nigger is the ultimate American insult; it is used to offend other ethnic groups. Jews are called White-niggers; Arabs, sand-niggers; Japanese, yellow-niggers. Americans created a racial hierarchy with Whites at the top and Blacks at the bottom. In biology, heredity refers to the transference of biological characteristics from a parent organism to offspring. The word, nigger, speaks to the human heredity of Black people.

Defining which characteristics of a person are due to heredity and which are due to environmental influences is often a controversial discussion (the nature versus nurture debate), especially regarding intelligence and race.The hierarchy was set up by an ideology that justified the use of deceit, exploitation, and intimidation to keep Blacks "in their place." Every major societal establishment offered legitimacy to the racial hierarchy. Ministers preached that God was White and had condemned Blacks to be servants. Scientists measured Black skulls, brains, faces, and genitalia, seeking to prove that Whites were genetically superior to Blacks. White teachers, teaching only White students, taught that Blacks were less evolved cognitively, psychologically, socially, etc.

I believe that Blacks and African-Americans who use the word nigger, even as a term of endearment, are unknowingly helping to perpetuate all the negative and derogatory feelings that the word has carried with it for over 200 years. Think about it, Jews don't call themselves Beanies, nor do Hispanics refer to themselves as wetbacks, Asian musicians don't use the word Chink in their music, and Italians don't use the word WOP as a term of endearment for eachother. So my question is this: Why do we as African-Americans feel that we are so undeserving of respect that we use this word and help it thrive?

When Black rappers, singers, and other entertainers use this word and try to "legitimize" the word, they are not just saying it's okay for African-Americans to say nigga (no matter how you spell it, say it, or write it, it is still the same) they also make it okay for others to use the word as well. Hispanics, Asians, and Whites use the word now figuring that it is okay because of how embedded it is in American pop culture thanks to rap. How many times have you heard Hispanic rappers or people like Tila Tequila use nigga? A lot. I know, listen to music all the time. I am not trying to demonize anyone or call anyone outside of the Black race who uses nigga a racist, but I am just trying to make a point: others say it because WE say it! Early rap was both empowering and progressive. They saw the danger that lie in allowing nigga in. Groups like Sugar Hill Gang and Public Enemy both had songs trying to encourage Blacks not to fall for the, "let's take a word that has traditionally been used against us and use it for us" trick. Look at these lyrics by Public Enemy for example:

I Dont Wanna Be Called Yo Nigga

Yo! ho! yo nigga! yo nigga! no nigga!
Check it out
How can you say to me yo my nigga
Cursin' up a storm with your finger on a trigger
Feelin' all the girls like a big gold digger

Take a small problem Make a small problem bigger
Yo I ain't poor I got dough
Don't consider me your brother no more
Goddamn kilogram how do you figure
I don't want to be called yo nigga Yo nigga Hey Yo nigga
I try to make my statements Stick like flypaper
Judge says to me yo nigga sign these goddamn papers
My boss told me yo nigga you're fired
Yo nigga this, yo nigga that

I know you're a nigga now 'cause your head got fat Flava framalama
boy you won't figure
I don't wanna be called yo nigga Yo nigga
Break it down N.I.G.G.E.R.
Nigga
Everybody sayin' it Everybody playin' it rolling on the scales
'Cause everybody's weighin' it Toby say yo I be good nigga Let me get a shovel make a good digger I don't care how small or bigger I don't want to be called yo nigga Yo nigga...


Now, I have had the unfortunate luck of having a few White people who I thought were my good friends, get angry at me and call me a NIGGER to my face. That is a horrible experience, and to anyone who has never experienced that, I hope you never have to because it's soul crushing. I was of course very angry, saddened, and heartbroken that even in the new millennium with how far we have come as a society with regard to race relations and having a half Black President elected, that people could still secretly think that way and feel that to say such a thing is acceptable. But then after I cooled down and I sat down and thought about it, I said to myself, can you really say that it's all their fault? The word nigga is used so loosley that to make that jump from the -ga ending to the -er ending is really not that big of a deal. That is the part that I really hate.