Saturday, August 6, 2011
lately it seems as if this word...and questions pertaining to this word have come up pretty frequent the past few weeks. I guess it may be that i am starting to hang out with Mr. Adventure and with that comes with meeting his friends...and the questioning about why/when is it OK to be used.
Now i am sure you may be wondering what word i am talking about...and i am talking about a 6 letter word that has been used for years to refer to the African American (and once upon a time the African immigrants) of the USA.
The word i am talking about....
To be honest...i HATE this word.
Not for the reason that it was created and why it was used centuries ago...but for the simple fact that it is just an ugly word!
It is used to frequently in the African American culture today. I am sure you can not listen to a rap song without hearing it being used at least once. The hip hop/rap culture embrace it and use it very freely and openly. To be honest if i hear a song and i am singing/rapping along to it...i usually just don't say that word when it comes up in the song. Now this may be because i do that with other words that i don't like to hear or use (don't worry that list of words is not very long) but i do it because i don't ever want to start to use it and get comfortable using it.
I know that i have thrown myself into several situations where i am the "token black friend". And i have had my Caucasian friends ask me several times if it is OK to use this word...or when is it OK to actually use this word...and you know what i tell them...
I tell them that personally the word does not bother me or offend me. You are free to use it as you please but be aware that a lot of other ppl do not like that word being used. Out of respect most of my friends of other races don't use the word (and if they do use it they definitely do not use it around me!) Most (if not all) of my close friends that i talk to and hang out with on a regular basis do not use the word regularly...and if we do it is in a joking sense or we use it in a joke.
OK...I'm not gonna lie...i have heard some pretty good "Black" jokes...and to be honest i enjoy making a mockery of the word and being able to laugh about something that has such negative connotations. Me laughing and embracing racial jokes does not mean that i agree with racism and words related to it at all. I think it is a way to break down that barrier and to turn a negative situation (or word/sayings) to mean something different. Now I'm not saying that my Caucasian friends should go around telling random black ppl racial jokes, but there is a time and a place for the jokes and the fun. But i don't think there is ever the right time to just throw the "N" word around.
I feel that this word will truly never go away. Like with other things that are in our culture and our society this defiant word will be around forever. If i have kids they will not be allowed to use it...and i would hope that they will learn (as i did growing up) the respect aspect of not using the word and teach that to their friends so they do not use it either.
So until this word...and other racial words disappear....i guess the most important thing we can do is nothing?
0 ...CoMmEnTs...:
Post a Comment