No one denies that the word “nigger” has a most unsavory history. Again: No one denies that. But we must also be honest that words can change; and there have been significant changes with the word “nigger”. Here is a simple one. About a year ago, late at night, I heard one white male address his white male friend as follows: “What’s up my nigger”. The two are Syracuse University students; and the greeting between them took place across the street from where I live.
Well, during the era of the Old South or the Jim Crow era or even later, I am as confident as I am about anything that ne’er a white person ever addressed a white person as “nigger,” where this was meant as a friendly greeting. And then there is the term “wigger,” which of course is the term for white males who adopt the attitude and style of the “street nigger”.
What is more, the word “nigger” is now used more freely than it was ever used three or four decades ago. No one—I mean absolutely no one, black or whatever—could have said “What’s up my nigger?” Four decades ago the word “nigger” was primarily a derogatory term; and the simple truth of the matter is that the word “nigger” is no longer just a derogatory term.
In an important respect, the word “nigger” has evolved like the expression “mother fucker”. And so we have the late Bernie Mac doing one of the most comical skits ever involving the expression “mother fucker”.
One way of understanding Dr. Laura is that it is simply hypocritical not to acknowledge the evolution of the word “nigger” and to pretend, whenever it is convenient, that the word has none other than exactly the same force and usage that it had in the past. No one with half a brain could think that.
In none of this do I mean to deny that the word “nigger” still has derogatory connotations. But so does the word “queer”. Yet, just as the word “queer” also has come to have connotations that are clearly not negative the word “nigger” has come to have connotations that are clearly not negative. There is even “QueerbyChoice.Com”. Who can rule out “NiggerbyChoice.Com”?
Late in April, two white guys (in their late teens) in a SUV were driving along listening to a rap song replete with the word “nigger” here and there. I do not think that they were in the least bit phased that I saw them. And I, by contrast, was not in the least bit phased by the fact that they were two white guys listening to a rap sing replete with the word “nigger”. That scenario would not have even been imaginable some 30 years ago. Not at all.
So, whatever else is true, we cannot pretend that word “nigger” has not evolved. It has.
Accordingly, it is despicable for those who worship the god of political correctness to ignore the reality that the use of word “nigger” has unmistakably changed, even though there are still connotations. Those who bow to the god of political correctness go on as if the usage of the word “nigger” has been frozen in time and that any use of it is derogatory and, in particular, any use of by whites is derogatory.
Alas, usage is not determined theory, but by and only by the way in which people actually use words.
A positive example would be helpful. In the past, only women could say to one another “I love you”, where this was not an expression of familial affection, and not be suspected of being lesbians. 20-years ago, two men who said “I love you” were either deemed as gay or they had some psychological problem. But that is not true anymore. Men can verbally express affection; though, to be sure, there has to be a certain masculine style to it: “I love ya, man”. Recently, I put precisely those words at the end of a note that I wrote to a former student. And in turn I have had male students utter the words “I love ya, man” or “We love you” to me after lecture, and it would have been absolutely foolish for me to think that this was an expression of sexual affection for me on their part. Utterly foolish. One could insist that only gay men say “I love you” to one another, but one would simply be wrong.
Here is the deal: The word “nigger” is simply a much more complicated word than it used to be. While it clear has retained some of its negative connotations, usage has forcibly moved the word beyond just having negative connotations. This, of course, makes it possible for people to play with the ambiguity. Just so, it is simply unfair and implausible for those who bow to the god of political correctness to maintain that for whites the usage is only negative. I began this blog-entry with a very clear case to the contrary—a case where a white guy says to his white friend “What’s up my nigger?” Black people are more than a little insecure if they cannot acknowledge this reality. More precisely, it is malicious and disingenuous for blacks to see racism in every use of the word “nigger” by a white person.
Here is a simple truth: Black people do not own the word “nigger”. And if tomorrow all white people start using it to refer to a bad-ass white who brilliantly does sophisticated calculus, then the word will simply have that connotation. One will hear one white person saying about another “She is one mean nigger in that calculus class” and it will be a matter of paying that white student a very high intellectual compliment. Of course, one can insist that no such thing will ever happen. All I can say is the following: If 30 years ago one had told any black person that one day a well-off white college student would warmly address another well-off white student with the words “What’s up my nigger?,” the black person would have been convinced that one is in the throes of the effects of some kind of hallucinogenic drug. No one could have seen that usage coming. But usage did arrive. Quite simply, the guardians of political correctness need to get over it.
Laurence Thomas!
I’ve always considered you to be one of my mentors from my younger days. While your thoughts on race have always been extremely insightful and penetrating, you’ve missed the boat entirely on this issue with Dr. Laura. Yes, there is a double standard with respect to the use of the N-bomb and yes, the meaning of the word has changed over time, but those are side issues!
Dr. Laura was dead wrong not because of the way she used “nigger” or because she noted the double standard, but because she failed to recognize and acknowledge that the context in which it was used according to the Black female caller was absolutely inappropriate. To summarize: The Black caller to Dr Laura was complaining that her white husband’s friends and family used the word “nigger” as well as made additional inappropriate comments in the woman’s presence and the husband failed to do anything about it. This was NOT an instance of two friends (of whatever race) saying to each other “What’s up my nigger?” It sounded to me like the people were using the word with all of it’s old school negativity.
Dr. Laura appeared to be dead set on making her point regarding the double standard regardless of whether that was the relevant and appropriate time and place for such a discussion. She sounded like she had an axe to grind and ground it right into her caller’s head.
Let me state it another way: I can’t honestly imagine less than offensive circumstances where an adult (friend or family) would start using the word “nigger” in my wife’s presence. If it happened to my wife in my presence, punches are going to be thrown.
I realize that you are friends with Dr Laura and I absolutely accept your judgment that she is not racist, but I think she has utterly failed to appreciate the context of the use of the word and utterly failed to understand the perspective of this Black woman. A Black woman who, while surrounded by white people who used the word “nigger”, was told that she was being too sensitive.
It’s shameful that one is dismissed as being “too PC” if one objects to the word “nigger” in such circumtances.
I am unable to edit the above comment so I have to post an additional comment. I wanted to amplify and clarify my above comment: “I can’t honestly imagine less than offensive circumstances where an adult (friend or family) would start using the word “nigger” in my wife’s presence.”
I should have stated: “I can’t honestly imagine A REALISTIC SCENARIO where an adult (friend or family) would start using the word “nigger” in my wife’s presence that was not offensive.” It goes without saying that it’s POSSIBLE that someone might use the word in a non-offensive manner, but it seems unlikely that the word would be used period. Perhaps college kids say “nigger” or “mother fucker” freely in any social setting, but in the world where I reside, such words and phrases are used only in select company where everyone understands the context. This is not PC’ism. It’s simply a recognition that course language is not and does not have to be accepted any old time. Please please please do not dismiss this as PC’ism. That is nonsense.
If a new associate professor started dropping the N-bomb in staff meetings, would you accept Dr Laura’s explanation that you’re being too sensitive and that a double standard exists because black comedians use the word? Of course you wouldn’t. If you were married to a white woman and her white friends visited YOUR house and said “nigger” without first establishing with you the necessary level of trust and understanding, would your response simply be “Black people don’t own the word ‘nigger’ and, therefore, you are free to use the word in my presence”? If so, then perhaps I am confusing you with a different Laurence Thomas, Most Excellent Professor of Philosophy.
Why stop with the above 2 comments when I can make a 3rd?
Some additional points:
1. In my first comment, “course language” should be “coarse language”
2. Please note that the caller said she objected to ANYONE using the word “nigger” so the double standard issue is even MORE irrelevant.
3. Dr Laura’s “apology” was utterly insincere. She still claims the caller was hypersensitive. It’s not clear at all what she was apologizing for. Was she merely apologizing for saying the word “nigger”? But I thought that it should be o.k. to say it?