Blog #13: "N-Word Book - Chapter One"

After reading chapter one of the N-Word book, I found the perspectives that Mr. Randall Kennedy offered to be of the same nature of my own for the most part. One in particular that I especially agreed with is found on page 41, and directly deals with this quote from Ice-Cube. “When we call each other [the N-Word] it means no harm. But if a white person uses it, it’s something different, it’s a racist word.” Kennedy then proceeds to question why it is that African-Americans are okay when they use the N-Word with each other, but not when a white person uses it. My question is if the African-American people who use the N-Word towards one another are offended when white people use it, why don’t they stop using it within themselves? All that accomplishes is spreading the wild fire that eventually reaches the whites, and says “we are okay if you use it, because we use it.” This gives whites who don’t have a lot of interaction the wrong message, that the N-Word is acceptable is society, when in reality, it is the complete opposite. I absolutely agree with Kennedy’s thinking on this argument. The whole “Be the change you want to see in the world” quote could take hold here. If the African-American population (the ones who use the N-Word with each other in a warm, comfort-type way) were to stop using the word in that way, then soon the white population would as well. It’s just that the whites are getting reinforcement for their actions from the African-Americans who use the N-Word towards one another.

Part of the confusion or chaos of the word, comes from the fact that because two different ethnic groups are using it for two different uses, it takes on two different meanings. The N-Word has been put into a variety of situations and can mean a variety of definitions. Some African-Americans use it as a comfort word, to reassure others, yet some white use it as a demeaning, ugly, evil word that it ultimately is. To eliminate it would solve all the problems associated with it, yet a practical solution cannot contain this step. Perhaps America will find a way to deal with this, but for now, it remains a certainly touchy subject.