Nigger In America

When they feel threatened, they attack with what they know will make you “remember your place”.

Never mentioned by its full name, like the word that shall not be named (Lord Voldamort much?) is making its way into conversations on deep rooted issues in white America and the underlying wound it still has on Black citizens.  

N-I-G- G-E-R

Or the “N” word, better addressed by many, is labeled as one of the most controversial in the English language due to its history of verbal enslavement towards black people. This word is now reappearing in public conversation with recent incidences, but has society really redefined its meaning? 

Nigger: Joke
Comedian Bill Maher tried and failed miserably at a joke using the controversial slur in his response towards guest Sen. Ben Sasse:

Sen. Ben: "Would you like to come work in the field with us?"

"Work in the fields?" said Maher. "Senator, I am a house nigger."

Source: Variety

The only thing that made his comment less offensive was the fact that he was referring to himself as the insult but the words origin is so deeply rooted, that it can never be made to be taken frivolously. Of course an apology was issued, but was it more offensive that he said niggER instead of niggA or that he thought it was okay to even use that word taken its history?

The problem is white people feeling entitled to use a word, knowing that it has a negative history for a particular group of individuals while claiming that it no longer holds the negative context, then turn around and use that same word to demean that very race. ​

Nigger: Hate
NBA star Lebron James recently fell victim less than a week ago, when his Los Angeles home was vandalized with the N-word. Spray-painted across the front gate to his house, was in no way anything other than a blatant hate crime.

​No matter your status, the word alone makes one feel reduced and rendered helpless at its derogatory connotation. 

​Lebron had a response that was all too real. A reality that black Americans can only nod in agreement too… 

"Hate in America especially for African American’s is living every day"

Nigger: Fear

Allison Butler, a Black woman from Colorado claimed she’s been receiving racist notes under the door of her apartment and the property managers will not allow her to break her lease, according to BET. She reported that someone knocked on her door and left a note that read: "Nigger Bitch" and previous notes that said: "Niggers don’t belong”

Despite the hate mail, When Butler took her issue to her leasing agent; she was told she can’t break her contract because they can’t control what happens in the hallways of the complex.

Since Buttler she is not able to break her lease, she is finding alternative options to help her deal with the harassment by going to school to become a therapist.

Guess it takes something psychically happening to her before people will wake up and take action. 

Between these three unrelated cases, the central commonality is of course the usage of the word that so many of us are still afraid to say. NIGGER. Whites have no problem using it to get a rise, or to make a joke, or to make one feel like an outcast. The word is not just a slur, it was and continues to be a tool suppress an entire race. We know that niggER (not niggA) still holds a hateful message but can that word too be reclaimed to no longer hold its hateful meaning? 

Source: New York School Talk