BrownSuga's sweet spot: Not so sweet today
This will not be a regular length blog for one reason. There are too many things right now that have set my temper off and because this is not the right place to let off the steam I will just say a few things.
This can not be explained to your satisfaction so please let it go, but if you are NOT black then you do NOT get to use the N word. Of course people will claim that we've got to take the power out of the word or if it's ok for black people to use it why can't everyone.
There is still power in that word. And it coming from someone, anyone who is NOT black and that includes whites, hispanics, asians etc. is negative. Many groups of people like to compare their stuggle with blacks but I'm sorry there is no comparison. I've never heard of blacks trying to compare our struggle to anyone else's. It is our own. No matter what you have gone through you can't honestly know what it means to be black in this country. And vice versa. I won't claim to know how the Holocaust affects the Jewish regardless of if there are similarities.
As for blacks using the word. When the word is used by another black person the basic idea is that it is not used in a negative way. There is no power in it when it comes from a black person. Now I will admit there have been times when a black person has used it in the same way as a white racist. And that is when it becomes negatively powerful.
Simply put, if you are not black don't use the N word. You will not be able to defend your use of the word no matter what you say.
posted by Brown Suga @ 11:02 PM
2 Comments:
It's funny, that this should be a blogpoint for the week, as my friends and family were just discussing this over our Thanksgiving meal. While we agreed that the use of the word just doesn't sound right coming out of the mouths of people who are not black, we concluded that it was hypocritical in the extreme that the word could have so many different connotations, depending on the person speaking it and the intended target, especially if both people are black.
The "N" word has been used and abused by countless people of all different races, and there is no useful arguement that can be made that it has any positive connotation to it. For countless years, decades, centuries, it has been nothing more than a derogatory term, used to diminish one person or persons under anothers alleged and often incorrect superiority. Not even in these past few decades, when "integration" has become the "norm", so to speak, has the "N" word lost any of its perjorative context.
It stands to reason, then, that the only way the "N" word will ever lose its power is when ALL users cease using it, regardless of colour or heritage. It is a word so vile and loaded with hate that it cannot be possibly used in any edifying form.
True and the likelihood of that happening is slim to nil. I watching a news show today that reported Jesse Jackson and others calling for the word to be taken out of our language. And as wonderful as that would be for everyone, will it happen? I think not. My point is not to remove the word because I don't think it's really possible.
And because I don't think it's possible and the fact I'm continuely faced with people of other races questioning why it's supposedly ok for blacks to use the word and no one else, I explain it the only way I can. That there is no real explanation. There is no fairness in the use of the word. I can only explain the reasoning most blacks have. Does that reasoning make sense? Nope. Not to anyone who doesn't feel the same.
It's almost as if someone started talking about one of your family members. Now this is the family member you spend a lot of time talking about but it all changes when an "outsider" begins to do it. Usually that is not tolerated. No one can all my brothers bums to my face. But I can. It's basically from the same idea.
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