by
Tacque
Kirksey
Who wants
It’s become a given in the black
community, especially amongst
the youth. Some might disap
prove of its use. Others will
uphold its use as a part of black life.
The question is: just how harmless is
the use of the word “nigga” in the
black community?
I’m not entirely sure of how
long black people have used the word
“nigga" as a term of endearment. As a
kid I can remember Richard Pryor
and Kddie Murphy using the term as
if it were the actual racial classifica
tion of black people. I remember
being amazed that these men would
use such a term, considering its his
torical connotation (of which I, even
at the age of 5, was aware.) Perhaps I
grew up sheltered, but I clearly
remember how my parents outlawed
the use of the word in the house.
To this day 1 am confused as
to why black Americans are the only
minority group in this country who
often address themselves with a term
long used to define their supposed
inferiority. I’ve never heard other
minority groups such as Asians,
Hispanics or Jews refer to themselves
using derrogatory language. Granted,
I don't know any Jewish, Asian or
Hispanic people well enough to have
any considerable knowledge of how
such minorities might refer to each
other when in their own exclusive cir
cles. Nonetheless, of all the products
of minority media that 1 have ever
heard or seen, barring black
American media (largely aimed at
youth), I have never heard terms syn-
onvmous with oppression and degra
dation used in an ever>'day and
innocuous manner.
WTiile I don’t per nally con
demn its usage, I still fail to under
stand how a people long oppressed
and denied respectful representation
can freely use a term to describe
themselves that only forty years ago
went hand-in-hand with a system
expressly designed to remove any
traces of articulate pride in that peo
ple. Wasn’t one of the foremost pur
poses of the Civil Rights Movement to
ensure that black people (as well as
all other minority groups in America)
have the right to be addressed as
human beings: Sir or Ma’am, instead
of“nigger”?
At this point, I assume that
many would cite the “black” usage of
the term as being proof of the reversal
of an unjust, oppressive system. As Q-
Tip said on Tribe’s “Midnight
Marauders” album, “See, nigga first
was used down in the Deep
South/Failin’ out between the dome
of the white man’s mouth/It means
that we will never grow, you know
the word dummy/Other niggas in the
community think it’s crummy/But I
don’t, neither does the youth cause
we em-brace adversity/It goes right
with the race. ”
As previously stated, perhaps
in an unforeseen sense, to use the
word “nigga” is a celebration of the
fact that Black Americans live in an
age when they are no longer forced to
tolerate negation, verbal or otherwise.
But even Richard Pryor, whose use of
the term in his stand-up routines has
been called “poetic”, ultimately came
to the conclusion in his “Live on
Sunset Strip” performance that he
would never use the term “nigga”
loosely and “harmlessly” again
because it had been historically used
to describe what he called “our own
wretchedness.” While the use of the
word “nigga” may not have the severe
and immediate repercussions that
other issues in the black community
such as lack of educational success or
teen pregnancy may have, is it possi
ble that in some way the use of term
promotes a kind of self-degradation, a
backward celebration of “our own
vwetchedness?”
I have no quarrel with those
who use the term freely and “harm
lessly”, but I ask you this: if our
ancestors, whom we as a people zeal
ously uphold in a kind of modem
hero-worship, were called “niggas” to
the tune of cracking whips, only to
have their descendants called the
same a hundred years later by police
men unleashing attack dogs and fire
hoses, is it right for us as their
descendants to use the term that has
meant so much hate and oppression
in a manner betokening affection? My
father was called “nigger” in school
often and I can’t imagine that he
would wish to relive those days. Thus
1 find it hard, in good conscience, to
license the use of a term that was
used to negate my father less than
fifty years ago, adversity or not.
Tacque Kirksey may be reached
at kirksey@email.unc.edu
13
Black Ink