The word nigger has been used to degrade and humiliate African-American people for hundreds of years.
The dictionary defines it as an offensive name for a person with dark skin or of African descent. There are no alternative meanings or uses.
It is a word that should have worked its way out of common usage, out of our society. Instead, it is alive and well and, regrettably, used most often by African Americans, the very people it was meant to degrade.
The word has morphed, by way of slang, into nigga. And African Americans use it as a term of endearment, and to signify friendship and familiarity. “What up, my nigga?” is a common phrase used daily on this campus. It can also be heard in African-American music and on TV shows. Next time you’re channel surfing, keep count of how many time someone uses this word, although most stations will block out almost all other derogatory and profane words.
Why is that? Why would people in charge of making television suitable for all viewers allow such a word to be used on TV? Maybe the question I should really ask is, “How can black people sit by and observe and accept the loose use of this word?
There is no reason any black person should refer to another black person as nigga or nigger. You don’t hear white people calling each other cracker. Each time a black person uses the word he or she is slowly eroding that which our ancestors so wanted for themselves and us – self-respect, self-worth.
The next time someone calls you nigger, correct him or her. As educated black people, we ought to know and do better. After all, we are the inheritors of a culture and tradition set down by the likes of Simon Green Atkins, whose life work was to see to our advancement. We have to set the bar very high – not low. Decide today to stop letting people use the word nigger to describe you, and you do the same.