The Power of the 'N-Word'
WHO IS THE NIGGER?
The above video features Dustin Hoffman playing Lenny Bruce, John Lennon, Black caricatures from the 1940's, and James Baldwin speaking on the question, "Who is the Nigger?"
The 'N-Word' has been in the news of late. Riley Cooper, Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver, has been the object of scorn, ridicule, and much commentary since Crossingbroad.com released a video of him saying "I will jump that fence and fight every nigger here, bro" at a June 8th, 2013 Kenny Chesney concert at Lincoln Financial Field. Many pundits have weighed in on the matter, and I'm providing links to Stephen A. Smith's commentary on "First Take" and Jason Whitlock's article. Smith and Whitlock had views on the controversy that I appreciated, and I gave high praise to Smith for calling out Black athletes use and abuse of the 'N-Word' in locker room and mixed settings. On March 7, 2014 Jason Whitlock had a very educational and important discussion with Chris Carter and Dr. Harry Edwards {Begins at 14:20} mark on the subject of the N-Word in professional sports.
Def Poetry was one of my favorite shows on TV. Julian Curry's poem,
But I gotta go now, I gotta go now, I gotta go now./
I gotta get this poem in the hands of the artist formerly known as Prince now/
Because when it comes to talent, ain’t nobody’s bigger./
And maybe this poem can be the gun and his voice could be the trigger./
We could collaborate and figure a way to convince Jigga/
To help us write a new dream song or a new theme song and call it/
the people formerly known as Niggers.
On Using the N-Word:
Lee Daniels: It’s a word I used quite a bit, until Oprah sat me down and talked to me about its power.
Oprah Winfrey: You cannot be my friend and use that word around me. It shows my age, but I feel strongly about it. I was too young to participate in civil rights marches, but I am a student of black history. I grew up reciting Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech and Fannie Lou Hamer’s speeches. I grew up understanding where I’ve come from. When you fully get that, it’s hard to be loose-lipped with that word. I always think of the millions of people who heard that as their last word as they were hanging from a tree.
Forest Whitaker: I don’t use the word. Never did.
Daniels: So I put that toward the beginning of the film, and that’s the only time you will hear it from any black person.
Winfrey: Right. There’s a notable absence of the word. Because back in the ’60s, black people were not calling each other the N-word. They’d say, “Negro, please.”
Daniels: You’ve come out against its use in rap lyrics, Oprah.
Winfrey: Yes. With people like Jay Z—and I’ve had him on the show—we agree to disagree about it. You’re never going to bring me to the side of “The word is okay.”
Jason Whitlock, ESPN columnist, wrote an outstanding commentary (More than Sticks and Stones) on November 15, 2013 on the N-Word's popularity in today's culture. The following are a few quotes from Whitlock that resonated with me:
"It's impossible to pinpoint when the N-word became black America's most cherished possession. But that fact is now impossible to deny. This is what I was referring to last week when I wrote that black American culture has been turned upside down and corrupted by mass incarceration, the destruction of the traditional family unit and commercial hip-hop music. The impact of these corrosive forces can be seen in the values and perspective of African-Americans across economic and class lines. We have a new normal. As it relates to the N-word, Barkley and Wilbon, like many African-Americans, have adapted to the new normal. The N-word is a cherished possession."
"The N-word is a not a generational issue. The N-word was never a fad. It was a primary tool in the enslavement, disenfranchisement and cultural destruction of a race of people."
"My point is that the young people, from Jay Z to the kids in the Dolphins locker room to Matt Barnes, who think the N-word is a term of endearment or a word now devoid of its negative impact because of its popularity, are misguided in a way no previous American generation has been misguided."
"I object when anyone, regardless of color, uses the word around me. The N-word is like fast food or cigarettes. It's unhealthy. It is the foundational fertilizer at the root of the maladies plaguing black America. The word is more negatively powerful today than it was at its invention. It's a sign of the depth of our self-hatred. Its defenders cannot rationally explain its importance. They just know they can't live without it."
Brent Campbell, a senior at UNC Wilmington, recently wrote a letter to the school's chancellor, Gary Williams, after he was verbally assaulted with threats and racial epithets by a group of whites in a pickup truck.
"While training on the Intramural fields at around 3 p.m. in front of New Hanover gym a blue pickup truck with 5 white male students drove past me. As they slowed down for the speed bumps they began to yell threats and abuse: "Go home, you f---ing Nigger!" "If we see you here again we'll beat your f---ing nigger ass!" "What are you doing here, you f---ing coon?" They shouted threats and abuse as they drove past. I kept my composure and simply continued on with my workout. 5 minutes later the men came back, less 3 members. The driver and his passenger shouted more abuse for a while and ended with this statement: "My name is (removed) and if we see you here again we'll stomp your Nigger ass!"
Campbell's entire letter and Chancellor Williams' response to the incident is at the end of this blog. I was moved to write this blog because of Campbell's letter. I thought his suggestion of the action that should be taken against the perpetrators was admirable and worthy of being highlighted:
I was told that if the owner of the vehicle, this (removed), could be found he would be expelled. I write this letter for him too. (removed) and his friends aren't the problem here. I can't be angry at them. They are a product of their environment. Somewhere in their homes, in their schools, in their churches even, they were taught this. They were taught to hate. Expulsion would be the easy fix but it wouldn't be the solution. The problem is that they have never been in community with black people before. He has only ever seen me, he has never known me. If he knew me, truly knew me, he would have never done those things. I know he wouldn't. If he were found I would ask that his punishment be to get to know me. He should be forced to meet with me once a week for a month over lunch or dinner. That isn’t an empty suggestion to sound caring or altruistic. I mean that. I mean it down to my core. The reality is that knowledge and love have the power to change a heart more readily than discipline or punishment. If he could see my eagerness to forgive him, if he could come to know my struggles here at this school, if he could get a glimpse of the person that I am….he would find, in all of that, the solution. That is how you change a heart. That is how we could grow to become a unified campus. That is how UNCW could come to achieve authentic racial reconciliation.
Many people have debated how the Philadelphia Eagles organization, coaches, and teammates should deal with Riley Cooper as he integrates himself back into the team structure. Campbell's prescription of demonstrating love and providing education and knowledge are worthy of being championed, instead of thirsting for how much discipline or punishment should be meted out to Cooper. Cooper's use of the "N-Word" is shocking to those close to the Eagles because he has been around and exposed to many Black athletes during his high profile football career at the University of Florida and in the NFL. But exposure doesn't equal education and knowledge.
EDUCATION & KNOWLEDGE
I followed closely the 2nd degree murder trial of George Zimmerman for the killing of Trayvon Martin. I wrote a blog, The Zimmerman Verdict - My Immediate Thoughts, after the verdict was announced. I had another blog idea related to Trayvon Martin that I researched, but never wrote, Trayvon Martin - A Search for Our American Character - What James Baldwin Would Say. Talking about character in light of Riley Cooper's actions at the Chesney concert is appropriate. How do you define character? John Wooden famously said, "The true test of a man's character is what he does when no one is watching.”
Did George Zimmerman call Trayvon Martin the "N-Word?" Probably not, but contrary to the many who didn't view Zimmerman's action as racial profiling, one can conclude he was treated and viewed as a nigger by Zimmerman. Dr. Neal Hall wrote "Nigger for Life," a book of poetry that "reflects the painful, later life discovery of Hall, that in "unspoken America," race is the one thing on which he is "first" judged, by which he is "first" measured, "first", against which his life and accomplishments are metered diminished value, dignity and equality. All of which have everything to do with accessing choice, opportunity, power and freedom in America. 'Nigger For Life' reveals Dr. Hall's deep sense of betrayal combined with his fervent passion for life and equality for "all". Whether an ophthalmologist or poet, Dr. Hall's reality is clear-cut - in the eyes of "unspoken America", he is, a 'Nigger For Life'."
How do we, as a society, move past viewing Blacks in America as Niggers for Life? I'm going to rely on the collective wisdom of Studs Terkel, James Baldwin, and Anna Deveare Smith to assist me in answering this question. I first heard of Studs Terkel in 1993 when I attended Anna Deveare Smith's one-woman play, 'Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992' at the Mark Taper Theater. In 'Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992' Smith morphed into the real life individuals that she interviewed after the 1992 LA riots. Below is her rendition of Studs Terkel commenting on a "defining moment in American history" from a TED presentation, where she also gave a profound introduction on the significance of words: "My grandfather told me when I was a little girl that if you say a word often enough, it becomes you. Having grown up in a segregated city, Baltimore, Md, I sort of use that idea to go around America with a tape recorder to interview people, thinking that if I walk in their words that I could sort of absorb America. I was also inspired by Walt Whitman, who wanted to absorb American and have it absorb him."
Studs Terkel on Defining Moments in American History:
The human touch, it's disappearing. So you ask about a defining moment — ain’t no defining moment in American history for me. It’s an accretion of moments that add up to where we are now, where trivia becomes news. And more and more, less and less awareness of the pain of the other. I don't know if you can use this or not, but I was quoting Wright Morris, writer from Nebraska, who says, "We are more and more into communications and less and less into communication."
Terkel was a fixture on radio in Chicago since the 1940's. He had a syndicated program, but I had never heard him actually speak or interview anyone until this year, when I listened to his audiobook CD, "Studs Terkel-Voices of Our Time: The Original Live Interviews." Terkel was a brilliant interviewer, and his 1961 interview with author, James Baldwin is as relevant today as it was then. Below you will be able to listen to Baldwin being interviewed by Terkel about his books, "Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes Of A Native Son,"and "Another Country." Appreciate the wit, wisdom, and intelligence of both men and listen to what Baldwin has to say on racial attitudes in the 1960's that is still relevant in today's America, particularly in regards to issues surrounding the killing of Trayvon Martin.
Studs Terkel (Start at 8:00 Mark): "Nobody Knows My Name," why did you choose that title?
James Badwin: - At the risk of sounding pontifical - I suppose it's a fairly bitter title, but it's also meant as a kind of warning to my country. In the days when people called me boy, well - those days haven't passed, except I didn't answer then and I don't answer now. To be a Negro in this country, Ralph Ellison said it very well, really never to be looked at, to be invisible. What white people see when they look at you is what they have invested you with, and what they have invested you with is all the agony, and the pain, and the danger, and the passion, and the torment, sin, death, and hell which everyone in this country is terrified. You represent a level of experience, which Americans deny. And, I think you can see, in the life of the country, not only in the South, what a terrible price the country has paid for this effort to keep a distance between themselves and black people. In the same way for example that it is very difficult, it is hazardous, psychologically personally hazardous for a Negro in this country really to hate white people, because he is too involved with them, not only socially, but historically. And no matter who says what, in fact, Negroes and Whites in this country are related to each other. Half of the Black families in the South are related to the judges and lawyers in the White families of the South. They are cousins, and kissing cousins at that, at least kissing cousins. Now this is a terrible depth of involvement. It's easy for an African to hate the invader and drive him out of Africa, but it's very difficult for an American Negro - obviously you can't do this with white people, there's no place to drive them. This is the country which belongs equally to us both. and one's got to learn to live together here, or else there won't be any country. I'm not mad at this country anymore; I'm very worried about it. I'm not worried about the Negroes in the country, even, so much as I'm worried about the country. The country doesn't know what it's done to Negroes, but the country has no notion whatever, and this is disastrous, what it's done to itself. They have yet to assess the price they've paid, North & South for keeping a nigger in his place, and from my point of view, it shows in every single level of our lives, from the most public to the most private.
Terkel: Can you expand on this a bit Jim, what the country has done to itself.
Baldwin: One of the reasons, for example, why our youth are so badly educated. And it is inconceivably badly educated, is because education demands a certain daring, a certain independence of mind. You have to teach young people to think. In order to teach young people to think, you have to teach them to think about everything, it must not be something they can't think about. If there is one thing they can't think about, and very shortly, they can't think about anything. Now, there's always something in this country, of course, one can't think about - one can't think about the Negro. This may seem like a very subtle argument, but I don't think so. I think that really time will prove the connection between the level and the lives we lead and this extraordinary endeavor to avoid Black men. And I think it shows in our public life. When I was living in Europe it occurred to me what Americans in Europe didn't know about Europeans, is precisely what the didn't know about me. And what Americans today don't know about the rest of the world, like Cuba or Africa, is what they don't know about me. A totally incoherent foreign policy of this country is a reflection of the incoherence of the private lives here.
Terkel: So we don't even know our own names?
Baldwin: No we don't and that's the whole point. I suggest this - that in order to learn your name, you're going to have to learn mine. In a way the key to this country, the American Negro is the key figure in this country. If you don't face him, you'll never face anything.
Terkel: Thank You very much James Baldwin.
James Badwin: - At the risk of sounding pontifical - I suppose it's a fairly bitter title, but it's also meant as a kind of warning to my country. In the days when people called me boy, well - those days haven't passed, except I didn't answer then and I don't answer now. To be a Negro in this country, Ralph Ellison said it very well, really never to be looked at, to be invisible. What white people see when they look at you is what they have invested you with, and what they have invested you with is all the agony, and the pain, and the danger, and the passion, and the torment, sin, death, and hell which everyone in this country is terrified. You represent a level of experience, which Americans deny. And, I think you can see, in the life of the country, not only in the South, what a terrible price the country has paid for this effort to keep a distance between themselves and black people. In the same way for example that it is very difficult, it is hazardous, psychologically personally hazardous for a Negro in this country really to hate white people, because he is too involved with them, not only socially, but historically. And no matter who says what, in fact, Negroes and Whites in this country are related to each other. Half of the Black families in the South are related to the judges and lawyers in the White families of the South. They are cousins, and kissing cousins at that, at least kissing cousins. Now this is a terrible depth of involvement. It's easy for an African to hate the invader and drive him out of Africa, but it's very difficult for an American Negro - obviously you can't do this with white people, there's no place to drive them. This is the country which belongs equally to us both. and one's got to learn to live together here, or else there won't be any country. I'm not mad at this country anymore; I'm very worried about it. I'm not worried about the Negroes in the country, even, so much as I'm worried about the country. The country doesn't know what it's done to Negroes, but the country has no notion whatever, and this is disastrous, what it's done to itself. They have yet to assess the price they've paid, North & South for keeping a nigger in his place, and from my point of view, it shows in every single level of our lives, from the most public to the most private.
Terkel: Can you expand on this a bit Jim, what the country has done to itself.
Baldwin: One of the reasons, for example, why our youth are so badly educated. And it is inconceivably badly educated, is because education demands a certain daring, a certain independence of mind. You have to teach young people to think. In order to teach young people to think, you have to teach them to think about everything, it must not be something they can't think about. If there is one thing they can't think about, and very shortly, they can't think about anything. Now, there's always something in this country, of course, one can't think about - one can't think about the Negro. This may seem like a very subtle argument, but I don't think so. I think that really time will prove the connection between the level and the lives we lead and this extraordinary endeavor to avoid Black men. And I think it shows in our public life. When I was living in Europe it occurred to me what Americans in Europe didn't know about Europeans, is precisely what the didn't know about me. And what Americans today don't know about the rest of the world, like Cuba or Africa, is what they don't know about me. A totally incoherent foreign policy of this country is a reflection of the incoherence of the private lives here.
Terkel: So we don't even know our own names?
Baldwin: No we don't and that's the whole point. I suggest this - that in order to learn your name, you're going to have to learn mine. In a way the key to this country, the American Negro is the key figure in this country. If you don't face him, you'll never face anything.
Terkel: Thank You very much James Baldwin.
James Baldwin is an authentic voice in American literature and American History. Anna Deavere Smith wrote "Talk to Me: Listening Between the Lines," an authentic book that was mainly about her pursuit of finding authentic voices and language in Washington DC politics. "Speaking calls for risk, speaking calls for a sense of what one has to lose, not just what one has to gain. Speaking calls for heart."
The cause of the 1992 riots in Los Angeles were a direct result of the not guilty verdicts rendered for the cops after the 1992 trials in the Rodney King Case. Rodney King is also well known for the question he posed on the day the verdicts were rendered: "Can we all get along?" It's an eternal question that has stumped man since Adam and Eve. Yes, we can all get along better, but the price that is required is one that lots of people aren't willing to pay. At a minimum, to get along and understand one another better involves effort, patience and empathy. Lots of information to digest and I end this blog with the complete letters of Brent Campbell and UNCW chancellor Gary Williams.
2020 Update - I recently listened to a Tedx presentation by Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor, a history professor at Smith College. Elizabeth is the daughter of Richard Pryor. When Richard Pryor's daughter has something to say about the "N-Word," you listen. I loved her talk even before I found out she was Pryor's daughter. She wrote"Colored Travelers: Mobility and the Fight for Citizenship before the Civil War" In Chapter 1 she discusses the etymology of the N-Word. If interested, just click on this sentence & you can read my twitter thread (12 tweets) on her book.
Brent Campbell's Letter to Chancellor Gary Miller
Hello,My name is Brent Campbell and I am a rising senior here at UNCW. I am a Finance Major, a Captain of the Track team, Vice President of Intervarsity Christian Fellowship here on campus, a regular bible study leader and I am also black. I am writing to bring attention to something that happened to me on Monday, July 22, 2013. I emphasize the date because what I experienced is commonly thought to be a thing of the past. We breathe a sigh of relief as we think back on the days of open hate and bigotry that called the South home for so long and we thank God that they are a bad memory from a worse time; that we have entered a new age. We think that, at least, our campus is safe from such ignorance but the truth is that while we have come far, we still have far to go.
While training on the Intramural fields at around 3 p.m. in front of New Hanover gym a blue pickup truck with 5 white male students drove past me. As they slowed down for the speed bumps they began to yell threats and abuse: "Go home, you f---ing Nigger!" "If we see you here again we'll beat your f---ing nigger ass!" "What are you doing here, you f---ing coon?" They shouted threats and abuse as they drove past. I kept my composure and simply continued on with my workout. 5 minutes later the men came back, less 3 members. The driver and his passenger shouted more abuse for a while and ended with this statement: "My name is (removed) and if we see you here again we'll stomp your Nigger ass!"
I'd like to say that I was shocked, that I was surprised that I was so blatantly threatened but I wasn't. I am a black man going to a predominately white institution. I've heard this type of racist vitriol since I got here and I'll likely hear it again. What shocked me was that it still hurt me. You see, I've lived in Wilmington for almost 10 years. Racism, both covert and open, was one of the first things I got used to when I moved here. I have been desensitized by my years here. It's sad to say but it's the only way a black man can live here or go to this school and stay sane. You learn to live with the stares, the quietly racist remarks, the clutched purses, the automatic identification from teachers as an athlete because you are black (how else could I have gotten in?)….these things have been some of the biggest parts of my education here. I have learned to live with those things but something I haven’t learned to live with yet is the hurt. That hurt is the same hurt I felt 10 years ago when I got here. That hurt hasn’t ever gone away.
But, if I'm being honest, that isn't the whole story. The whole story is that not all of our students are bigots or hateful. The whole story is that our students are bright, compassionate and kind. I have met white people here who have loved me like a brother, like a son. Not all of the people here are so blind, not all are so ignorant. At the end of the day UNCW is my school and I am proud to call myself a Seahawk.
I have no fix-it-all plan or program or event to suggest. I don't write this letter in hopes of one being formed. I know that the Administration sees these incidents as a great injustice. I know that you are working hard to make this campus a safe place for students of every race but I also think that this is a moment to learn, to change and to grow. I wanted to write and make this story known because it could have been someone else. It's a blessing that it was me. My heart has grown tough in this city and at this school. I know who I am. I no longer seek the validation of my "betters", I no longer see "being white" as a goal to be attained. I cannot be easily goaded into violence or retaliation. Those were responses I faced and triumphed over a long time ago. I've grown strong here. But what if it wasn't me? What if it was one of my teammates, already having hard times adjusting to the racial climate here? Or a regular student? Worse, what if it was a woman? What if they had acted upon their threats? I write to make it plain that there is still so much work to do here.
I was told that if the owner of the vehicle, this (removed), could be found he would be expelled. I write this letter for him too. (removed) and his friends aren't the problem here. I can't be angry at them. They are a product of their environment. Somewhere in their homes, in their schools, in their churches even, they were taught this. They were taught to hate. Expulsion would be the easy fix but it wouldn't be the solution. The problem is that they have never been in community with black people before. He has only ever seen me, he has never known me. If he knew me, truly knew me, he would have never done those things. I know he wouldn't. If he were found I would ask that his punishment be to get to know me. He should be forced to meet with me once a week for a month over lunch or dinner. That isn’t an empty suggestion to sound caring or altruistic. I mean that. I mean it down to my core. The reality is that knowledge and love have the power to change a heart more readily than discipline or punishment. If he could see my eagerness to forgive him, if he could come to know my struggles here at this school, if he could get a glimpse of the person that I am….he would find, in all of that, the solution. That is how you change a heart. That is how we could grow to become a unified campus. That is how UNCW could come to achieve authentic racial reconciliation.
Sincerely,
Brent L. Campbell
Chancellor Gary Miller's Response
Dear Campus Community,Below you will see a statement my office is releasing regarding a regrettable incident that was reported on our campus yesterday afternoon. You will likely see media coverage of the incident this evening and beyond, and we hope such coverage will bring about continued dialogue on this and related issues. Hateful actions like the one reported yesterday will simply not be tolerated on this campus. I applaud UNCW student Brent Campbell for coming forward to share his experience and encourage all of you to do the same if ever you're faced with similarly vitriolic circumstances. In this environment where we so strongly promote diversity, respect and student safety and well-being, this is a very upsetting development indeed -- and one we're not taking lightly.
“I have been made aware of a deplorable racial incident that was reported on our campus this past Monday afternoon involving one of our African-American students. It came to our attention today that Brent Campbell, a rising senior and captain of the UNCW men’s track team, was training on the Intramural fields at around 3 p.m. in front of New Hanover gym when a blue pickup truck with 5 white male individuals drove past him several times and made derogatory racial comments. Simply put, UNCW will not tolerate incidents of this nature, by students, staff or visitors, and our police department is investigating accordingly. We have spoken to Brent to express our outrage that he endured this horrific experience. While it's unconscionable that such hatefulness exists anywhere, it's particularly upsetting that this occurred on the UNCW campus, where we strive to foster examination and action around diversity, respect, and issues of race and culture at every opportunity. This is just such an opportunity, and we are grateful that Brent has responded with such grace and openness so as to continue the important dialogue about race relations in Wilmington and beyond.”
Gary L. Miller
Chancellor
More James Baldwin
Who is the Nigger?
"Sorry, no. Nigga is never a term of endearment. Do you call your mom a nigga? Your grandmother? "Honey, dinner's ready!" "What nigga? I didn't hear you, grandmom."
"As long as there is a historical memory of the word nigger, you can NEVER redefine it. It's self-delusion to think so. Blacks can never "reclaim" a word that was never theirs in the first place... a word created to subjugate them... It's sad that we have a biracial president yet the word is still necessary to so many of us."
In the above 1969 video is an incredible Q & A session with James Baldwin that starts approximately at the 19 minute mark. Dick Gregory also speaks eloquently on issues of the time. The first question asked, "Why do you call a man Negro, why don't you just call him Black man, there is no country of the Negro?"
Question 2 - "How do you envision the Black Man's personality in 50 years?"
Comments
Post a Comment