Term of endearment or racial slur
Yesterday on the news there was a story about a valley high school teacher calling a child “the N word” well when I heard that I was like OUTRAGED! I was like WTF!!?!?! This isn’t the 1950’s and that teacher needs to be FIRED! I was completely bent out of shape over it. Anyone who knows me will tell you, I do not LIKE that word! The “N” word, the word that is used to put down and degrade and hurt. so I wanted to see this story and get details on it and see what this RACIST looked like…So the white teacher prolly late 40’s or early 50’s. GOOFY looking mo-fo, looked like back in the day he was prolly that kid in school that always got picked on or wasn’t very bright with “street smarts” and just kept his nose in the books. So the Nerdy teacher was on the tv and explained that the kid was standing in the doorway and he told him to go sit down, and the kid says something like “nigga, im not even in this class” so he replies “well then get to class my niggah”.
Then they go to the kids side of the story and he says that he didn’t initiate the use of nigga and was upset that the teacher called him that. He also said that none of the other kids around heard him use the word first either, because he DIDN’T.
Then they go back to the teacher, the teacher says the kid DID use the word first and he used it back as he would have the word DUDE or BUDDIE. he then proceed to hold up two pieces of paper. One said “TWO DIFFERENT WORDS? (in black ink)” and the other said “NIGGER (in red) & NIGGA (in black)”
Later that night I was taken my sis and her friend to their cheerleading game and on the radio station we were listenin to mark gunn a black dj on B 96.5, JAMS was talking about the incident. He was saying a lot of things that were making sense but his ending point was….
“We (black folk) need to stopping using the word with each other as a term of endearment if we are going to get upset when another race uses it, (as a term of endearment). But because your different skin colors your gonna take it as a racial slur.”
WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ON IT?
I think that in todays slang nigga IS like the word dude, buddy, homey, or DOG…
I had a group of girls that I worked with at Providian and they use to call me their nigga, everytime I would go to this one girls desk she would say “what’s up my nigga?” and im like not much crackah! Lol which was pretty funny to us cause she was light skinned so I always told her she was half-a-crackah. hee hee we always had a good laugh at ourselves after that but anyway, we were cool like that and I had no problem calling her “my nigga”, she wouldn’t take offense to it because she WAS… she was really a GREAT friend! But who the hell goes around going “what is up my really great friend?” lol I mean of course there was OTHER words that we could have used to label “our camaraderie” but that is what we were comfortable with.
BUT would I ever use it to a black person that I wasn’t “tight” with? NO
would I ever use it to a black person to degrade them or try to hurt their feelings? HELL NO
do I think it was right what this teacher did? NO even if the kid DID use it first or not. I honestly don’t think that he meant any harm out of it, he even said that he uses other slang words with kids to “befriend” them… and apparently that is what he thought he was doing. Sorry you had to find out this way bub… but NO you weren’t! I don’t know it’s kinda of a touchy subject for real, and you never really KNOW who has KKK sheets in their closet. So im really curious as to what ya’ll think… especially Stephen! ;0)
BRING IT!
A~
posted by ~Manda @ 2:02 PM
16Whatcha Think:
The bottom line on this whole situation is..... That person is a teacher, they are in a responsible position for the well being of the kids in their room, no teacher should use any words like that regardless. I was watching The Boondocks last night, it's a cartoon on Adult Swim and it's really good but they were talking about "nigga moments". Funny shit but it's a cartoon about these two little black kids and their grandpa... anyway.. point is, it's ok for black people to call each other nigga but let a stranger do it and all hell breaks loose. It doesn't really make sense to me. But with the teacher thing, he should be fired just for being irresponsible if nothing else.
Lol its such a big issue there, while we call each other nigga's here. I mean me and my black friends. We be like ey nigga wus up :)
But i can understand with a history full of hatred and racism its not soo cool to use the word there. Just like we have with the jews and the nazi's
robyn: maybe it doesn't make sense to us white people because we have never been BLACK or we have never been called "nigger" and we have never been PUT DOWN just because the color of our skin... we have NEVER had to endure glares or strange looks because we are WHITE! but your right it's weird that black folk would choose a word that is regularly OFFENSIVE and turn it into a term of endearment... but if you think about it, maybe "BITCH" is the same... use to be bad to call a woman or girl a bitch but YOUR MY BITCH, right? LOL i guess it's the same sense. idunno, cause i have never been BLACK, but i HAVE been a BITCH! hee hee
Pieces: as of right now he has just been removed from classroom teaching, so he is prolly in the office or something until they review the situation and his back ground issues, if any. there was a protest at the school of a group of kids (black & white) that want him back in the class.
Papi: that's exactly the problem! HISTORY!
lol when you said nazi's that reminded me: my step mother is German and once when she and my lil brother were here visiting the youngest one (11) was wanting to do something and she kept tellin him no you can't and he was like WHY! and she said cause I SAID SO THAT"S WHY! and he yelled... CAUSE YOUR A NAZI that's why! lol i thought i was gonna BUST with laughter! :::::Shaking head::::
A~
yeah, it's a really complicated issue... i can't say i know how i feel about the whole thing in general, but i would say that regarding this case in particular, given the inflammatory nature of that word, a teacher really should have more sense than to use it in the classroom. no matter what the context.
HOWEVER, i also think it would be overly reactionary and unfair to fire him, given the fact that there *is* such a dispute about the context in which he used the word. give him a slap on the wrist, and move on. that's my opinion. it sounds like he has student support, which should also count for something.
whether it be the word Niggah, or Nigger--both are equally offensive. And, one is simply a euphemism used by those who are simply uneducated enough to justify the use of it as "reclaiming" it, and molding it into something else.
Yes, words and meanings change throughout time. And throughout time, the youth (us included) fail to remember the origin.
Case in point:
Fuck, derived from the root word Ficken, meaning to push one object into another with force, similiar to a nail and a hammer.
This is such a weird phenomenon. Did you see the movie 'crash'? The car jacker is going 'you don't hear white people callin each other "honkey this and honkey that" and that's totally true. Being white and somewhat liberal I've always found the word offensive but I'm desensitised to it now. My friends and I (black white asian, whatever) often say things like "MY nigga!" and "Nigga please." and nobody gets bent. I for one think it's funny to hear white people and especially asians pretend to be black because, let's face it y'all have always been way cooler than us LOL It wouldn't occur to me to use that term in a derogatory fashion per se. If I was pissed as could be at a black person I would likely call them a m*therf*cker. Insulting a person for the color of their skin is like insulting them for the color of their eyes. It makes no sense.
I can see why people take an offensive word for their own (such as queer or bitch for example) thereby robbing it of some of it's power to hurt but I dunno if that's so great. Context is all. There are some people out there who get pretty bent being referred to as "colored", another ridiculous expression. I'm pink. That makes ME colored. WTF?
Another term I find offensive is "African-American" I hear that kind crap all the time and it hacks me off. If you were born in America you're American folks. I could say I'm an Irish American but since I don't speak Gaelic that's pretty presumptuous. I don't think you can say you're African American unless you speak an African language. And no, "Ebonics" ain't cutting it.
That sort of political correctness makes me insane. One final thought on this rather long post: If that teacher didn't get jumped by the students and have the crap kicked out of him then probably he didn't mean it offensively. No? Them's fightin' words or so I have heard. Gah. Whateva! LOL
interesting comments, all. like p/y said: it's complicated. and to paraphrase andyt13: context is everything.
i say it. i was not taught to say it by my parents, both of whom grew up in segregation. i can count on one hand the number of times i've heard my mother say it, though she doesn't really even cuss. pops is a different story.
anyway, i'm of the personal opinion that i do have the right to re-appropriate a word that has been used in a negative manner towards my particular group of people, be it nigga/er, faggot, whatever. i also reserve the right to become upset and offended when someone from outside the group uses the word, without an understanding of the history or its more recent re-appropriation.
it's complicated.
but it's like a family joke. i might be able to talk with my brothers and sisters about how bad my mother's cooking is. but if you say it and you're not in the family, you will get bust in the mouth. that's fairly simple.
it's all about respect and position. any non-black american citizen, relatively educated in the cultural history of the united states, knows not to use that word to refer to black people without facing a serious consequence, up to and including violence.
i agree with the idea that those of us within the black community overuse the word, and as such, have licensed its use to people outside our community. i also feel, however, that as a community, we do not exercise sufficient control over our image in the various worldwide media that distribute the idea of black people as niggers. but inserting "nigga" every thirty seconds into a song doesn't help matters either.
i'll close this convoluted and incoherent comment (hee hee) by saying that though i may personally take into consideration your lack of social savvy and cultural intelligence if you use the word in a particular context (e.g. singing along with a song), i may not be so understanding should you choose to use the word in another instance, especially where i feel mocking is intended (as was possibly the case with the teacher). i also absolve myself of all responsibility should a not-so-understanding member of my community choose to react physically to the perceived cultural transgression that you chose to commit.
consider yourselves warned, as others may not be so inclined.
that is all.
thank you guys for all your comments and opinions on this. :) i wish i had more time to elaborate MINE! lol but i don't the boss man is being an AZZ! ;) NO ONLINE UNTIL LUNCH!!
yeah yeah whatever!
A~
I've been saying for a while now that you can't call each other nigga and then get mad if I say it. Every time people use it in a normal conversation as a substitute for dude, or friend, or whatever, you make the word less and less offensive and we all become desensitized to it. I'm not saying that's right, but if you can say it, I can say it and you shouldn't get mad.
I wouldn't believe any explanation this teacher gave. He has a record of inappropriate behavior:
http://tinyurl.com/e362u
We told you last week that Paul Dawson was suspended in 1994 for telling a student to put a sign on another students back that said "I am gay," well now we have obtained a stack of complaints against the teacher stemming back to the 1990s. [...]
In 1998, Dawson admitted calling two female students "hos.” He also admits to calling a student a "Pillsbury dough boy" in 1997 and admits pushing a student in 2005.
We also found an old article from the Courier-Journal stating that in 1990, Dawson was caught directing his students to cheat in the Governor’s Cup academic competition. According to the article, Dawson coached the team while he was a teacher at Fairdale High School. The principal from Fairdale was also quoted in the paper. She urged that Dawson be fired and said the violation was terribly unethical. [...]
Another complaint filed by a teacher who worked with Dawson said she'd talked with the reporter from the Courier-Journal who did the report about the foundation.
According to the teacher, the reporter told her “she was fearful of him since he had made some rather threatening -sounding phone calls to her. She was actually quite concerned about her safety.” [...]
Another teacher who worked with Dawson wrote this letter to the principal of Southern High School saying, “I am concerned and worried that Mr. Dawson is not in a stable state of mind. I am concerned that his teaching students in this state of mind and I am worried for the staff and faculty of Southern.”
So with all this, why didn't the district fire Paul Dawson after he called a student the n-word, instead of suspending him for 10 days?
Actually manda these kinda words are made popular by the rock bands and by movies, so i think that the a law should be passed to prohibit the use of such words :-)
okay... Im glad you brought this up... I have some authority here.
I went to a mostly black school... of my 8 best friends... 7 of them are african american. If you ever heard one of our convo's it would be nigga this and nigga that... it's worse than just dude... it's more like a period at the end of a sentence... as you said... what's up (nigga).
all that said... I still feel a little weirded out when I use it around them... even though I've earned some creds with them
now I hear ua when you and everyone else says they hate the "N" word... yeah we can agree that for years it was used as a derogatory put down... but lets face it... its not a crime punishable by death
spic... daggo... patty... frog... limey...
are these terms any less insulting?
I wish people could grow up in the diversity I grew up in... we dont get hung up on the N word... however... I will grant you this... if any of you came to my hood and used the N word... shit... you better have a gun... or at least a fast car.
all that said... I think you're sensibilities are spot on Manda... I mean for a white girl :)
oh... and my future sis in law
Hmm...reading this post immediately made me think of something which happened over here in Japan recently. An African-American was denied entry to a shop in Kyoto because, he says, of the colour of his skin. But despite the shop owner admitting in court that he disliked blacks the hearing was thrown out, much to the amazement of practically every foreigner in Japan. The reason? The American guy's Japanese was bad!
No matter what the extent of racial problems is in the US, it's probably still quite small compared to the prejudice which foreigners, especially blacks, have to face everyday in Japan. I think you have it pretty good in the states but I suppose wherever you go, you're always going to come across racial discrimination, whether intentional or not.
If you're interested to read a little about the case here in Japan, you can find it here:
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=17&ItemID=9677
I think The Bastard, is just being an ass.
I think that the professor who said those words to the student, basically was repeating the students words, and exemplifying the student's ignorance. His moral was missed.
Certain abusive words seem to have turned into what some see as cool slang words. People forget where they came from, which has a touch of irony.
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