Don't Get Angry...

When your argument falls on deaf ears it is often helpful to have a creative outlet - don't get mad, get writing. So this is me on my soap box.
Enjoy,
Chloe.xx

It is the ugliest of words when used in the wrong context; a signifier of hatred and degradation which has thankfully been exorcised from the vocabulary of the vast majority. Nigger may now be most readily associated with rap music and gangster culture but its origins are inextricably linked to the slave trade and the subjugation of black people, the effects of which still resonate within today’s society. The word which now is thrown around as a signifier of respect and kinship by a new black generation has a truly unpleasant legacy. Due to the recent attempt by many black contributors to media and popular culture to reappropriate the moniker as something positive, even endearing ,the issue of how acceptable it now may be to use the term has entered a post modern grey area; to ban the N word now would be to enforce a crackdown on the vast majority of artistic output by black people within the arena of popular culture, those artists such as Jay – Z, Nas and NWA who, over the years have exercised an awareness of the dark past of the word and brought it to the attention of the mainstream, to audiences of all races, ages and social class and altered its meaning within a newly positive context.

However, the black and white of the situation is that on the one hand you have an output of media which condones and even glorifies the use of the word and on the other hand the all too recent memories of the Californian and Brixton race riots of the late 80’s and early 90’s, the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993 and numerous racially aggravated attacks in the U.S of recent years. Memories which illustrate that the views which fuelled the use of the N word within its original usage; as the ugliest of terms to describe a black person born of a vile hatred which for most, thankfully, is difficult to imagine or understand, are definitely still alive.

It is with this in mind that one might feel some unease upon hearing “nigga” blasting out of a nearby stereo, or indeed in its full glory at top volume in a nightclub, as is the norm these days, made louder still by the 1000 or so white people singing along.

Because this music speaks to white people too – and why shouldn’t it?

As Dr King taught us the “dream” was for black people and white people to one day stand together and feel a sense of shared experience and it is testament to Jay – Z’s phenomenal success as an artist and hip hop as a genre and a cultural export that youths of all races will stand side by side, all musing on the assertion that “Aint no nigga like the one I got” and feel a connection, not only with each other but with the beats and vocal styling’s which are inspired by a generation of young blacks and which 50 years ago would have been compartmentalised and dismissed by the mainstream as “race music” fit for inferior black ears only. It is surely a “dream” come true that is it possible for these club goers to enter by the same door, drink at the same bar and sing, dance and even leave together without fear or prejudice.

It would be naive to claim that sacrifices have not been made for what is now considered the social norm and perhaps one of them is that now those of us who still take offense at the N word have to contend with the growing conviction that it is now ok to use it.

So is it ok to use it? The most satisfactory answer I have been able to conjure up (with the help of Chris Rock it must be said), is not really.

The noble cause pursued by the use of the word in popular culture is redefinition, the use of the word within a context which directly opposes its original meaning, if done often enough will cause it to take on this new definition, thus nigger has metamorphosed from a term used to degrade black people, often accompanied by the crack of a whip to “nigga” which is often preceded by “my” as a term of brotherhood and endearment and usually accompanied by the altogether more positive images of cars, jewellery and accommodating young ladies; the trappings, it would appear, of black success.

The justification of the saturation of this word within popular culture then is that society’s increasing familiarity with the term increases the speed of its evolution; the more we associate “nigga” with the positive the quicker it loses its old association as the weapon of the white oppressor and the black community reclaims nigger as its own. So far, so harmless.

What this cannot do however, is erase the associations that this word has for so many black people who cannot lay claim to its more positive connections and whose memories and disillusions with life within a white dominated culture. For an older generation hip hop culture is a voice which speaks to children and grandchildren in a language which is at times near impossible to understand, except for that all pervading term which leaps out of the music and out of context. I cannot justify any casual use of “nigga” to someone who endured nigger being muttered at them in the street while on their way from sub standard housing to a menial job, who lived under a government who saw nothing in claiming that “If you want a nigger for a neighbour, vote labour” who endured police harassment and brutality and who marched, sat in and boycotted so that I wouldn’t have to.

Because, let’s face it, nobody who uses that word today has any idea of what they are talking about.

The horror of slavery, the degradation of Jim Crow, the evil practice of lynching, all commonplace in years gone by cannot be described in real enough terms to a generation raised on Oprah, 50 Cent, Beyonce and, of course, Barack Obama. Again, this is what we wanted; great strides have been made towards the proverbial Promised Land, if we are not yet at the “mountain top” we are arguably well over half way up the slope, perhaps it is finally time to let it go. However, in letting it go we are also letting go of the legacy of racism and the memory of events which serve to remind us of what we can never allow to happen again; the Grandchildren of those forcibly labelled niggers now proudly refer to themselves as “niggas” - young black people who have set themselves free from the stigma of the word because they take example from the strong black role models which thankfully the more tolerant society in which we now live has granted them.

But in a time which is sadly not free from racial discrimination what are we claiming is the difference?

There is no denying that there are young people today who do possess a deep understanding of their roots and therefore the legacy of this word. I do claim to be one of them and as such would never, ever use that word in casual conversation and react angrily to anyone who would dare do so in my presence, regardless of their racial background. However, the bolder and arguably more ignorant of those with whom I have debated the power which the word has to offend have been quick to point out that it is ok to say “nigga” now – everybody’s doing it.

The irony should not be lost on you that once again I and other like – minded individuals find ourselves vainly challenging the dominant majority because we’d rather not be referred to as “niggas”.

Because it isn’t ok to use that word – not really,not if you aren’t black, not if you aren’t working class or considered “cool”, not in the company of anyone over the age of 40 – and certainly not in the company of those on whom the irony of ‘nigga’s’ new incarnation is lost – those who perceive this small rebellion on the part of those black people who stake a claim to dominant culture through the medium of popular music to be a “get out of offense free card”, a justification for flippant use of a term which for many holds painful memories and belongs in the past alongside them.

This isn’t overzealous political correctness; I am not mounting a protest over nursery school children singing ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’, nor am I likely to be contacting Jay-Z or Nas’s people with my complaints, nor for the most part will I allow my contention with this word to affect my enjoyment of the music,indeed the use of this word within the hip hop community is with the assumption that the artist is speaking to an audience of a similar social demographic to himself, that group which modern society has decided is allowed to use the N word. It is possible that Hip Hop has become a victim of its own success; the music probably did reclaim the word for those who had been most scarred by its legacy at one point, before commercial success installed the music and the black cultural influences behind it within the popular arena of the dominant (white) culture.

My argument is simply that when faced with the black and white of cultural boundaries it is impossible to redefine a word to suit the agenda of one social demographic while erasing the legacy placed upon it by another. To use the word “nigga” in a positive context would be to naively assume that there is nobody left who would choose to use nigger negatively - an assumption which sadly will always be false. To allow the use of this word without the risk of offence would mean enforcing boundaries for its use, boundaries drawn on the basis of race,thus taking us back to the last time it was deemed acceptable to call someone a nigger in polite company.

The word, like the sentiments which enforced its original use, whether used in the ugliest way possible or as a rebellion against and therefore an acknowledgment of the word’s original function simply has no place in a society modern enough to know better.