At a certain point we need to stop having these infantile
conversations about the debate around the word NIGGER/NIGGA/NIGGAH(s)(z).
Every time something comes up where a white person says it,
there is this life-cycle
that occurs, you could set your watch by it.
1.
Outrage
2.
Swift reaction
3.
Public shaming and distancing
4.
Then the inevitable blaming of hip-hop/black
culture.
Recently both Morning Joe and Rush Limbaugh were outraged at
the double standard. Rush said something to the effect of "If Kanye West
had made the SAE chant it's be a top hit" and Morning Joe said the SAE
members were confused by listening to hip-hop (even though the members
themselves said they were taught the chant by other members). So I'm not even
going to get into the "poor innocent whites led astray by jazz” (I mean hip hop) argument, let's set that aside.
I want to deal with the notion that white people are
confused by the word nigger and the usage of such because of: their black
friends, their favorite movie, that one
rap song they like, their favorite rapper etc. etc. etc.
I've had white people and black folk try to tell me that the
"rules" were too confusing.. that music and culture had made it so
white folks "don’t understand" or are "confused" or "don’t get it". So
let me lay it out for you. If you are white, don’t say Nigger, nigga, niggah,
nigga (s) (z) or any form of the word plural, or singular.
“But my Black friend Tyrone gave me
permission…”
Your Black friend Tyrone is setting you up for
failure, because the temporary black card he gave you is only applicable with Tyrone
and will be honored nowhere else. It is accepted at choice locations. But Tyrone and his reckless handing out of black cards aside...
Here’s why I don’t accept that white people are “confused” about the word,
because I refuse to believe that white people don’t understand context.
I’ve seen how white people act in
bars versus how they act in funerals. How white people talk in libraries vs how
white people talk at rock concerts. White people understand context and I am
not going to infantize them because we happen to be talking about race. I am
not going to allow white people to pretend to collectively be Forrest Gump
because we are viewing context in a racial setting.
Context matters. White people know this even though many
pretend to be ignorant of that fact and bewildered
by the idea that context would matter in terms of racial terminology. It
matters in every other human setting, why wouldn't it matter here?
Let me give you a great example of
how context matters (if you still want to feign ignorance). Let’s pretend my
wife and I are walking down the street and my daughter says Daddy, I want to
sit on your lap. My wife will smile and grin. Now, let’s say we are out on the street and a
young woman comes up to me and says the same thing using the same words. I guarantee
the reaction would be different.. Why…?? BECAUSE CONTEXT! Context is important,
the: who, what, when, where and why are those words being spoken makes a lot of
difference. There are things my friends can say to me that strangers can’t say,
there are things my family can say that my friends can’t say, there are things
that my wife can say to me that my family can’t say. There are layers and
context and rules for human interaction and behavior and communication that we
observe every day.
They are complex and detailed and intricate,
and we observe them, but for some reason throw race in the mix and all of the
sudden political commentators who can tell you the difference between Shia and Sunni,
who can break down the issues between libertarian republicans and neocon
republicans, who know the differences between blue dogs and progressives, are
all of the sudden rendered infantile in their ability to assess and comprehend
racial terminology. I’m not buying it. It’s about time we stop letting white
people off the hook when it comes to race. I am not longer buying into the myth
of white ignorance. You shouldn’t either, these concepts are not hard, they are
not complicated and they are not complex, any more so than any other human communication
and interaction.
