“Who Should Be Allowed to Say the N-word?”

As you’ve probably already noticed, The Curly Flower is a digital publication divided into three major sections: The Curly Flower, where I (Giulia) share and write pieces on social justice and civic engagement; Fashion On The Beat, a space dedicated to both young (fashion) journalists and creatives who want to share, explore, and learn stories from creative industries and their peers; and then garden of curls, which focuses on health, wealth, and holism culture. As a creative myself, I thought that it was necessary to support all these three important areas of knowledge that sometimes creatives don’t get the chance to encounter in one single place.

It is true that on this part of the publication I don’t allow anyone else to write and share this thought unless they’re being interviewed by me. There’s a reason why I’m doing so. However, there’s a piece that one of our writers has submitted and I thought that sharing her words on this matter could be significative.

The “N-word”-crusade is a discourse that makes uncomfortable both Black and non-Black, especially White, people. Black people find it offensive and disheartening every time they need to explain why the usage of this word carries a stigma and racial trauma when pronounced by another person who’s not Black. On the other hand, non-Black people are still embarrassingly confused by the popularity of this word, which is still pronounced by Black people in certain contexts.

As a Black non-American person, the term has never carried a huge significance in my childhood nor in my culture. In Italian, there are other slurs that could be similar to the American “N-word”, but the term “nigger” is much denser and historically heavier compared to other labels Black people have been associated with in other countries. So maybe I’m not the best person to explain the meaning of the “N-word”, although I could, given both my personal and academic experience. But I’m going to let someone else do it, through Bianca’s words.

Although I believe that this term should be taught (including its History and usage) beyond the American classrooms, I think that Black people who are not American can still get confused and it’s not their fault if their native tongue or their social upbringing didn’t allow them to learn this word. Thankfully, not everyone is from the USA, there’s variety in the world. So there’s always gonna be the necessity to explain and explore this term, no matter how repetitive it may sound to English speakers.

I wanted to share Bianca’s article, titled “Who Should Be Allowed to Say the N-word?”. Bianca, a Haitian-American creative and staff writer at Fashion On The Beat, has given even me a deeper vision and additional material to look into on this topic. I hope you can all learn something new, just like I did.

Who Should Be Allowed to Say the N-Word?

by Bianca Eugene

The term “nigger” is a slur that has been used in reference to African/Black/dark-skinned people since, at least, the 19th century. The slur is derived from the Latin word, “niger” which means “black”. The offensive term is associated with White/Caucasian people because they are one of the first groups of people known to use the word.

According to lwfsm.com, “…nigger was created during slavery…to demean and dehumanize blacks.” It was “…falsely [perceived] that blacks were inferior, lazy, ugly, thieving, good-for-nothing clowns”. Because of its fiercely negative and traumatizing connotations, the slur is bound to invoke negative and even violent, reactions - justifiably so. With all this knowledge, the question remains - who should be allowed to say the dreadful n-word?

In the late 20th century, another form of “nigger”, (nigga), was used by Black people who took the word “back.” Ice Cube, an American rapper and actor, perfectly stated why it’s so offensive when a non-black person uses the word “nigga.” In response to Bill Maher, a comedian, who, supposedly, amusingly called himself “a house nigger”, Maher, of course faced backlash. Ice Cube, who went on the show, explained that “…it’s a word that’s been used against us…You can use it as a weapon or you can use it as a tool. It’s when you use it as a weapon against us, by white people. And we’re not going to let that happen again by nobody cause it’s not cool….but that’s our word now. That’s our word now, and you can’t have it back” (Reinstein). He went on to say that “…when I hear my homie say it, it don’t feel like venom. When I hear a white person say it, it feels like a knife stabbing you even if they don’t mean it” (Reinstein). His explanation speaks volumes and is self-explanatory.

Who should be allowed to say the n-word? Black people and Black people alone. I’ve always wondered why other races don’t adapt their own slurs - why do a lot of people say nigga when they’re not Black? What makes them think they have that right? It doesn’t matter where you grew up or who normalized it. When you get older, you should respect the fact that A LOT of Black people, yes, including myself, feel uncomfortable and disrespected when people with fair skin, without an ounce of Black in them, use the word nigga. If you don’t get the full Black experience - which includes getting “the talk” from your parent(s) about going out while Black, and have the fear of walking outside, facing racism because of your skin color, shut the entire fuck up. Nothing irks me more than hearing “nigga” and not seeing any Black people's insight. Who told you that was okay?

While I don’t tend to say “nigga” much because of its negative connotations, I wholeheartedly respect the Black people who decide to take the word and change it into something else; I feel like that’s what we do and that’s just one of many things we take the bad out of and reverse it into something positive.

The material Bianca used to write this piece are listed below:

“NPS Ethnography: African American Heritage & Ethnography.” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, https://www.nps.gov/ethnography/aah/aaheritage/intro_furthRdg1.htm.

Reinstein, Julia. “Ice Cube Schooled Bill Maher on Why He Shouldn't Use the n-Word.” BuzzFeed News, BuzzFeed News, 10 June 2017, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/juliareinstein/ice-cube-bill-maher.

“‘Nigger’ What Does This Word Mean to You?” Lwfsm.com, 14 Dec. 2013, https://lwfsm.com/index.php/2013/12/14/nigger-what-does-this-word-mean-to-you/.