Quote:
Reverend Jackson will meet with TV and film executives to discuss banning the use of derogatory expressions.
I know there's a whole family of tired arguments regarding this, such as the ol' "If they use it why can't I", 'It only has the power you give it' and the "if we ban this word let's ban 'cracker/*****/****/flip',etc" and others. That's not my point. While I personally espouse a ban on most racial terms (except on this forum, gringos), I don't think some black people will stop using it, the same way certain women insist on calling themselves ********
What worries me is the people who seem to have come out of the woodwork- Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian, etc., who can't seem to give up usage of the word or seem to think it has no power. I've come accross this often-people who harbor inherent prejudice (we all do to some point, it's in the culture), inherently dismissive of a shared history of humiliation, of what it is to be percieved as a caricature before you even open your mouth. They tell jokes with the n-word in them, refer to their friends as such, the whole time perpetuating a desensitization that to some, further empowers the hurt of it, and to others, robs it of hurt alltogether.
So, which one are you? Have you ever used it? Derogatively? Affectionately? Why?
If you're a ******* and just wanna be black so bad it hurts, please excuse yourself from this conversation.
Edited, Nov 28th 2006 10:20am by Atomicflea