.......I implore ALL cultural backgrounds to refuse the positive use of this word.....
....Recently I posted the clip of the amazingly talented Actress CCH Pounder in a scene with a black kid who murdered a white man. He frequently uses the words and at one point says "You wanna those black bitches who uses the 'N' word aint ya".........
..........I use "The N Word"........... because it is a profanity.........an insult...... an abhorrence that was used to demonise and subjugate an entire race - indeed - entire generations of a race......
.....I do not believe this is a word that should be reclaimed.. I place it in the same box as the word "Queer" - as defined in the dictionary below...........
queer
adjective, -er, -est, verb, noun...I hate the Q word - it was used initially as a high insult to homosexual men and women.. It should have remained a bad word..... I am more comfortable with referring to myself as a Fag rather than Queer...
.......I am not bizarre or unusual...... Nor am I of a questionable nature....... I am simply homosexual...
...... I hate the modern "positive" use of Nigga/er/ah in the same vein....... but for one very different reason - it ignores by the nature of its' very use the ENTIRE HISTORY of slavery and the denigration of African Slaves and later - during the years of Segregation - those brave men and women who challenged the separation of white and black....
... Many people shrug and say "Well the rappers love it and I hear that nice young black man next door using it all the time and he isn't even in a gang"........ I don't care...... YOU SHOULD CARE THAT A NICE YOUNG MAN IS USING IT!!!
- Does the nice young man know where it comes from?
- Does he know how many people died because Niggers were considered less than human?
- Does the nice young man know that his own Constitution refers to him as "3 fifths of a man"? (I may not have that word perfect - but it's basically correct)
- Does the nice young man know that EVEN NOW black women are raped by white supremacists whilst being called by that "N Word"?
- As his rapper idols splatter their lyrics with the N Word, does the nice young man understand that even THEY use it as a derogatory label for other black men they don't like?
- Why is he not concerned that it seems WHITE PEOPLE don't like the modern use of the word and BLACK PEOPLE seem to be silent of it. PS We don't like it because of shame - but because - like the holocaust - it is supposed to remind us of a history that should NEVER Be allowed to happen again.....
Nigga
Use in language
In practice, its use and meaning are heavily dependent on context.[5] Presently, the word nigga is used more liberally among younger members[6] of all races and ethnicities in the United States, although its use by persons not of African descent is still widely viewed as unacceptable and hostile, even when used without intentional prejudice. In addition to African Americans, other ethnic groups[7][8] have adopted the term as part of their vernacular.
There is conflicting popular opinion on whether there is any meaningful difference between nigga and nigger as a spoken term.[9] Many people consider the terms to be equally pejorative, and the use of nigga both in and outside African American communities remains controversial.[10] H. Lewis Smith, author of Bury that Sucka: A Scandalous Affair with the N-word, believes that "replacing the 'er' with an 'a' changes nothing other than the pronunciation"[11] and the African American Registry notes, "Brother (Brotha) and Sister (Sistah or Sista) are terms of endearment. Nigger was and still is a word of disrespect."[12] The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a civil rights group, condemns use of both nigga and nigger.[9]
Some African-Americans express considerable offense when referred to as a nigga by Caucasian people, but not if they are called the same by other African-Americans, or by some other minority, as a term of endearment.[9] In this case, the term may be seen either as a symbol of brotherhood,[13] similar to the usage of the words dude and bro, and its use outside a defined social group an unwelcome cultural appropriation. Critics have derided this as a double standard.[7]
Non-rhotic English-speakers, such as speakers of many British dialects and African American Vernacular English, pronounce "nigger" and "nigga" identically, as their accents do not distinguish between these two words.
Cultural influence
The term "nigga, please", first used in the 1970s by comics such as Paul Mooney as "a funny punctuation in jokes about Blacks,"[14] is now heard routinely in comedy routines by African Americans. The growing use of the term is often attributed to its ubiquity in modern American hip hop music.[15][16] Examples include: hip-hop group Niggaz Wit' Attitude (N.W.A.), A Tribe Called Quest's "Sucka Nigga", Notorious B.I.G.'s song, "The Realest Niggaz", Jay-Z's "Jigga That Nigga" and Snoop Dogg's "For All My Niggaz and Bitches". Ol' Dirty Bastard uses the term 76 times in his Nigga Please album (not including repetitions in choruses).[16] This is reflected in the term's wide use in modern American gang culture. According to a Texas Monthly article about Houston gangs, many Hispanic street gang members call each other niggah.[17]
However, its use has spread beyond North America. The Portuguese comedy group, Gato Fedorento, uses the word nigga in an audio sketch, where the four individuals (all Caucasian) say they are niggas ("I'm nigga, nigga; are you nigga, nigga?"), and end up admitting that they do not know what nigga means, although "people say it's amazing" (since the word isn't familiar for most Portuguese people, and is seen in the sketch simply as a strange-sounding word). Da Weasel later sang a song named "Nigga" in Gato Fedorento's last episode of season 5.[citation needed]
Comedian Chris Rock's routine "Niggas vs. Black People" distinguishes a nigga, which he defined as a "low-expectation-having motherfucker", from a "black person". In contrast, Tupac Shakur distinguished between nigger and nigga: "Niggers was the ones on the rope, hanging off the thing; niggas is the ones with gold ropes, hanging out at clubs."[18] Tupac, who has been credited with legitimizing the term, said his song N.I.G.G.A. stood for "Never Ignorant Getting Goals Accomplished."[19]
Use in trademarks or brand names
The Lanham Act does not permit registration of trademarks containing terms that may disparage persons or bring them into disrepute.[20] Registration by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) of terms that are historically considered disparaging to groups of people has been allowed in some circumstances. Self-disparaging trademarks have been allowed in some cases where the applicant has shown that the mark as-used is not considered by the relevant group to be disparaging.[21]
In 1995, two Houston, Texas men filed a trademark application with the PTO for the words "Naturally Intelligent God Gifted Africans," and its acronym. The application was rejected, as were numerous subsequent applications for variations of the word nigga. Most recently, comedian Damon Wayans twice attempted to trademark a brand name called Nigga, "featuring clothing, books, music and general merchandise."[15] The PTO refused the application, stating "the very fact that debate is ongoing regarding in-[ethnic]-group usage, shows that a substantial composite of African Americans find the term 'nigga' to be offensive."[16]
.......Personally - I'm with the NAACP on this one....... it's a word that should be slapped out of peoples mouths - who should then be dragged into a history class and shown WHY this is a bad word that should only EVER be referred to as "The N Word".....
.......I know I'm going to get hate mail for this - but you know what, I think that there are some things that should just simply be right or wrong.....
...."Nigga" is wrong....... history is right......
Shalom and blessings...
D
.
OH!.........and yes - I realise the parallel of this opion of mine appearing ATOP a post called "White Trash Wednesday" ....... however there is a significant difference and to the person who ALREADY emailed me about WHITE TRASH being the white version of NIGGA/ER/AH I simply say this......................... "Are you out of your fucking mind????" - you want to compare the two??? Go read a book you ill-informed moron and THEN rethink your email....
Bloody hell............
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