The N-Word

While I was reading the essay by Emily Bernard, Teaching the N-Word, several connections and thoughts came to mind. The most prominent of these thoughts was what I know and have heard regarding the word, "nigger". I am not a fan of the word, and I think I probably have similar thoughts to the people in Emily's African American Studies class.

One memory that came to mind immediately happened when Emily was talking about her husband's second cousin who used the word when he was a child. It seems to me that the word was used much more frequently in the past than it is used now. I know this because the only time I have ever heard a white person call someone a "nigger" was when my grandpa said it.

My grandpa is about 87 years old now, and he is your typical crotchety old man. He lived during the time period when it wasn't ok for black and white people to converse. It is obvious to me that he is racist, and it isn't just towards African Americans.

I remember a couple of years ago my brother was playing in an AAU basketball tournament in downtown Milwaukee. My brother was one of two white kids on his team, and about 95% of the players on all of the other teams at the tournament were black as well. For some unknown reason, my dad thought it would be a good idea to take my grandpa along to this tournament. It wasn't a good idea. Throughout every game, my grandpa was making comments about this "nigger" and that "nigger". The people sitting around us (mainly African American) were shooting my dad looks telling him to shut my grandpa up. This could have been an incredibly dangerous situation for us, but thankfully none of the people who heard my grandpa using this word did anything about it.

The other time I remember my grandpa using the word was last fall when Obama was running for president. My dad's siblings are split among Republicans and Democrats, and my grandpa was clearly on the Republican side. He used some choice words while having a discussion with my dad regarding Obama.

While I'm not fond of the word "nigger", I do realize that there are some people who still use the word today. Many of my brother's friends are black, and they say it to each other all the time. In the words of one of my brother's black friends, "It is ok for us to call each other nigger. I wouldn't mind if you called me nigger, because we're friends. But if some random white dude on the street called me a nigger, I would beat the shit out of him." Basically, this just affirms my thoughts on the use of the word, and how it generally isn't a word that you will hear come out of a white person's mouth.