My “controversial” stance on the N word

Summary

The author, a black male, discusses the controversial nature of the N-word, suggesting that the black community may have inadvertently empowered the word as an offensive racial slur rather than disarming its impact by not reacting to it as a weapon.

Abstract

The author reflects on the etymology of the N-word, tracing its origins from the Latin word for black and its evolution into a derogatory term used against African Americans. He argues that the intense offense taken by the black community to the word may have done a disservice by allowing it to become a trigger and a weapon for racial provocation. The author posits that the word's power lies in the reaction it elicits, and he questions why being called black should be inherently offensive. He suggests that not being offended by the term could potentially diminish its negative connotations and reduce its power as a slur. The author also touches on the broader implications of racial slurs and the importance of not allowing words to have the power to trigger or offend to the point of inciting violence. He concludes by encouraging a shift in perspective where racial slurs, including the N-word, do not affect the self-worth or emotional state of the targeted individuals.

Opinions

The author believes that the black community has contributed to the N-word's offensive status by being deeply triggered by it.
He suggests that the word's linguistic origin as a term meaning "black" should not inherently be offensive.
The author implies that other racial groups do not react as strongly to their respective slurs, which may reduce the impact of those slurs.
He criticizes the idea that violence is an appropriate response to being called the N-word, advocating for a more measured reaction.
The author proposes that not being offended by the N-word could eventually strip it of its power as a slur.
He emphasizes the importance of self-love and confidence in one's identity to overcome the negative effects of racial slurs.
The author encourages an internal battle against the impact of the N-word rather than a physical or verbal one when encountering its use.

My “controversial” stance on the N word

OK, so for those who don’t already know, I am a black male. Surprise! So I already have a pass to use the N-word anyway. That’s just a little dry humor… but anyway, I want to talk about this whole thing. First, I want to run some things by you. The word Negro means black in Spanish. Then I found a quote online that says the following: “The most basic etymologic explanation for the word ni**er traces its origin to the Latin word ‘niger’, which means black.” There is a point to this that I want to touch on later.

Now, the article that I got that quote from then talked about how the word evolved to become the N-word that we all know and love today, used to denigrate and dehumanize black folks.

So here comes my controversial opinion about the N-word. Personally, I think that Black people have done ourselves a disservice by being so offended by the word and allowing it to trigger us to a point where it has become a fighting word in general. Now, don’t get it twisted, I’m not saying that all of a sudden people should now feel free to refer to us as the N-word all willy-nilly. The damage has already been done to a degree that, even if we get to the point of not being so offended by it anymore, it would probably take a good bit of time to get there and it would take all Black people in general being on the same page about it. As it stands, it is still seen as an extremely offensive word and a fighting word in the minds of a lot of people.

Now, the reason behind me pointing out those words in the beginning simply meaning “black” in different languages, is because it seems to me that the N-word is, at least linguistically, simply a derivative of the word black. And so, with it simply being a derivative of a word that means black, why should that be so offensive? Unless one thinks that being black in itself is offensive, it probably shouldn’t have been offensive to the degree that it has been made to be. In fact, if you call a white person a racial slur, they generally won’t get that offended. They’ll probably even find it funny. In addition, there are words used for other ethnic groups and even words used for various European populations, such as slurs against the Irish, the Italian, and the Jewish people.

However, the N-word seems to be at the top of the list for the most offensive racial slur and, obviously, some of that has to do with the most atrocious aspect of human history being put upon Black people through American slavery. Of course, you might have some white folks who, like clockwork, will come in and try to bring up some other incidents in history in a futile attempt to claim that American chattel slavery was no worse than other aspects of history, but trust me, it’s not true. That rhetoric is simply white fragility in action.

👆🏾 See, that’s that goofball shit I’m talking about.

Anyway, the point I’m trying to make in all of this is that if the N-word is simply a linguistic evolution of the word “black”, Black people have probably done ourselves a disservice by getting so offended over it and allowing the word to be used as a weapon to begin with. After all, it has been said that it’s not what they call you, it’s what you respond to. We’ve also done ourselves a disservice by giving some goofball white people (or whoever else) the power to think they can harm us to such a degree with words anyway. Like, why even care what they think? Who tf are they supposed to be? Some of them probably can’t fight their way out of a wet paper bag, yet we have allowed ourselves to be triggered by certain words or slurs from the racists who tend to be nobodies who have to use their race to prop themselves up for having no worthwhile accomplishments in their own lives anyway.

Now, I’m aware that people don’t like to be disrespected, particularly men. Many men want to resort to violence if they feel disrespected, at least by another man. So, just like being called a b***ch or whatever by another man may be a recipe for violence, it’s quite understandable for black men to want to take it there if a white man were to call them the n word, but even so, I still think that it’s not wise to allow words and things to trigger one to such a high degree. It also puts a lot of pressure on people. After all, if I’m out somewhere and some white guy who’s a lot bigger than me calls me that, am I automatically expected to just fight the guy because he used that word?

Ultimately, I think that we have allowed it to become a weakness, so to speak. And some how, some way, blacks need to get to a point where it’s really not as hurtful or as serious as people have made it out to be. For example, I occasionally get on this virtual reality headset known as the Oculus Quest 2.

Photo by Vinicius "amnx" Amano on Unsplash

Now granted, there are usually a lot of younger people that go on there and, as you no doubt have guessed, some prepubescent white boys who like to use the N-word as a trigger because, obviously, they can more get away with it there without getting into a physical altercation. And fortunately or unfortunately, when one hears me speak, I have a distinct black sound. So I have obviously got into some of those racial tips occasionally, but when come at me with the N-word stuff, I’m like “yeah, I’m that n***a, now piss off” or whatever. I may call them out on being some basement-dwelling white kid trying to be edgy and get attention because they hadn’t received enough hugs growing up or whatever. It just depends on my mood, but I still don’t like to waste too much time on them.

But the point is, it’s really not anything that we should have allowed ourselves to be so triggered over. Yes, the word has an ugly history and everything, but ultimately, one has to do what they can to ensure that they don’t empower other people to more of a degree than they should. A lot of people like to know that there’s something they can say or do to trigger you, even if it could escalate to violence at their own detriment, but I’m just not sure if we should have allowed that word to have that much power to begin with.

As a thought experiment, just imagine, how much more powerful would we be and how different do you think things would be if that word simply wasn’t offensive to us? In fact, how much more powerful would we be if racial, slurs, insults, etc. about us didn’t bother us at all? Imagine if we simply didn’t care what other groups thought about us because we really loved who we were, our unique appearance, and everything? Yes, there are real issues that we have to face when it comes to the systemic racism that takes place in the world, and there are real battles to be fault. That being said, I think that the fight with the N-word should be more of an internal battle that we have to win within ourselves so that we won’t be so easily triggered by, nor feel pressured to fight over it, if someone is ever bold enough to refer to us as that in person.

Share your thoughts and thank you so much for reading and commenting.