poet
Banned
http://www.salon.com/2013/10/30/no_white_people_you_cant_say_the_n_word/
".......So let’s settle this – considering the ubiquity of the word, the way it is so frequently used in popular music and on schoolyards, are there ever any occasions when it’s acceptable for a white person to use it? During a CNN discussion on the subject last summer, spurred by revelations of Paula Deen’s cheerfully nostalgic use of it, the consensus was a resounding no. But I would argue there are some exceptions. Just ask yourself a few questions first. Are you a journalist directly quoting another source, perhaps within a story about racism itself? Are you an actor, playing a vicious slave owner in a historical drama? Are you Louis C.K.? If the answer to any of these questions is “Ummm, no, I don’t think so,” stop yourself right there.
It doesn’t matter if Kanye gets to say it. It doesn’t matter if you claim you grew up in an era and an environment in which the word was commonly used. It doesn’t matter if you say you have a problem with conservative white males, or you just really love hip-hop, or – and this one’s the richest of all – that you’re talking about a particular kind of person who behaves in a certain way but surely not all persons of a certain color. Yeah, still no. Just a big, big, big no. What about if you put a letter A on it, instead of an “er”? Still no. There will always come a point in the Biggie lyrics where you are not permitted to rap along. And you can’t do blackface either, by the way.
It doesn’t matter that you grew up in the projects or you voted for Obama or you’re just doing a routine from “Blazing Saddles.” It’s a derogatory term that has been traditionally and is still frequently used by members of one race to insult and demean members of another race. The fact that it is now sometimes appropriated in different contexts does not change that, and it most especially doesn’t change it with regard to you as a white person applying it to black people. Are you bothered that this means African-Americans have cultural permission to do something that you can’t? You feel that’s unfair? Yes, let’s whine about unfairness; this will be fun. You talk about how you can’t say the N-word, and then I’ll point you to all of American history up to and including this very moment. You can’t use a single word? SO TOTALLY UNFAIR. Get over it. But if you need any further evidence that it’s not OK to say it, just look at the people who do: mor**s on Reddit and suspended schoolteachers."
Mary Elizabeth Williams is a staff writer for Salon and the author of "Gimme Shelter: My Three Years Searching for the American Dream." Follow her on Twitter: @embeedub.
Oops. And the author is a white journalist for Salon. I guess she read the usual suspects
".......So let’s settle this – considering the ubiquity of the word, the way it is so frequently used in popular music and on schoolyards, are there ever any occasions when it’s acceptable for a white person to use it? During a CNN discussion on the subject last summer, spurred by revelations of Paula Deen’s cheerfully nostalgic use of it, the consensus was a resounding no. But I would argue there are some exceptions. Just ask yourself a few questions first. Are you a journalist directly quoting another source, perhaps within a story about racism itself? Are you an actor, playing a vicious slave owner in a historical drama? Are you Louis C.K.? If the answer to any of these questions is “Ummm, no, I don’t think so,” stop yourself right there.
It doesn’t matter if Kanye gets to say it. It doesn’t matter if you claim you grew up in an era and an environment in which the word was commonly used. It doesn’t matter if you say you have a problem with conservative white males, or you just really love hip-hop, or – and this one’s the richest of all – that you’re talking about a particular kind of person who behaves in a certain way but surely not all persons of a certain color. Yeah, still no. Just a big, big, big no. What about if you put a letter A on it, instead of an “er”? Still no. There will always come a point in the Biggie lyrics where you are not permitted to rap along. And you can’t do blackface either, by the way.
It doesn’t matter that you grew up in the projects or you voted for Obama or you’re just doing a routine from “Blazing Saddles.” It’s a derogatory term that has been traditionally and is still frequently used by members of one race to insult and demean members of another race. The fact that it is now sometimes appropriated in different contexts does not change that, and it most especially doesn’t change it with regard to you as a white person applying it to black people. Are you bothered that this means African-Americans have cultural permission to do something that you can’t? You feel that’s unfair? Yes, let’s whine about unfairness; this will be fun. You talk about how you can’t say the N-word, and then I’ll point you to all of American history up to and including this very moment. You can’t use a single word? SO TOTALLY UNFAIR. Get over it. But if you need any further evidence that it’s not OK to say it, just look at the people who do: mor**s on Reddit and suspended schoolteachers."
Mary Elizabeth Williams is a staff writer for Salon and the author of "Gimme Shelter: My Three Years Searching for the American Dream." Follow her on Twitter: @embeedub.
Oops. And the author is a white journalist for Salon. I guess she read the usual suspects
