Pardon me if these questionings are offensive in any way. That is not my intention. I am merely curious on the intricacies of the N-word and its uses.
It is commonly known, I think, that white people oughn't say it, something which doesn't extend to Black people. I wonder, though, if white people think of the word, in their head (assuming the person has some sort of inmer monologue). I would imagine thinking the word might increase one's propensity to utter the word aloud. Or perhaps not. Certainly further exposure to content that features said language must increase one's likelihood of using the term, no? Even if one never makes use of it aloud, surely the chances hypotetically increase, no?
Race is a social construct anyways, so what exactly are races? What defines a race? Is it from a 'Murican perspective? Asian is a race, innit? Is Latin American a race? If so, do white Latin Americans, or those with European descent, is that part of such race? How does the usage of the N-word apply to other races, assuming such thing?
Edit: I imagine race doesn't just boil down to skin colour, right? There's more to it than white = light skinned and Black = dark skinned, innit?
Edit 2: Maybe this was better for NoStupidQuestions. I may have mistankenly gone too soon for Ask Lemmy, seeing it is a question.
I'd like to add I am not questioning the N-word itself. I would not say it. I comprehend it is offensive. Seeing as it gets used by Black people, and it's not to be used by white people, I was merely wondering on how this goes exactly. Whether it boils down to Black vs. non-Black, and what exactly defines being Black. (And also the part about thinking the word)
To add, I am not 'Murican, so no need to assume that. English isn't even me first language.
Edit 3: to be very clear, I DO NOT WISH TO USE THE N-WORD. And I am not looking for some sort of loophole. I am merely trying to better understand things. I apologise if this is of any offense to Black people, as it is not my intention to harm anyone
Edit 4: mods, if needed be, you can safely delete this post. Not that you needed permission. I'd just like to let known if this is any problem, deletion is fine by me. I don't intent on causing issues
Don’t say it. That’s the rule.
You get a pass from a black friend? Cool. Still don’t say it.
Come up in a black neighborhood, only white kid, they say “it’s cool” because y’all grew up together? Don’t say it.
It’s about respect. If you’re not black, don’t say it.
For me, the only grey area where it might be acceptable for a white person to use it in any circumstances is if they're reading or quoting a very old work of literature. What if you're reading Huckleberry Finn aloud? You can say, "N-Word Jim," but that seems off. Or you be reading historical accounts. If there's some Jim Crow-era newspaper that just openly says the N word, censoring it may actually take away from the impact of the word.
But even in these cases, there's probably a better way to handle this than to just outright say the N word. I'm just not sure what that way is.
It might help to know that Mark Twain was satirically using that word to juxtapose its offensive nature with Jim being the ONLY good adult in the book. It wasn't simply "a product of it's time" or anything like that.
I'm not saying to belt it out loud and proud while reading the book, but at the very least Mark Twain was being deliberate on his usage of it and it wasn't to be malicious and was in fact to highlight the humanity of Jim in the face of his oppression. Some will say that Twain fumbled on his execution by making Jim a characature of stereotypes, but, at least it was just mindless racism, for what that's worth.
ETA: To actually answer your question though "n-word" gives all the context you need, no need to say the word, it's history is strong enough to be fully conveyed by "n-word" in almost all contexts when being spoken by a white person especially.
I'm glad you pointed out that this is in reference to old literature. Whenever I see a white person singing to a song and they say it "because it's just part of the song," hard cringe. Just didn't say it. Skip the word. It's easy.
A good example I can think of is that young white man at the DNC singing along with Not Like Us who was so joyous and animated and went viral. When it came to the n-word, he just skipped it. Just fist pumping and keeping the energy, and closing his mouth for one word. A lot of people noticed and were grateful that he was respectful in this way.
Yeah the only cases I would consider it even remotely conceivable to use the word would be when you're actually trying to capture its horror in a historical context. Like if you're reading some newspaper from 1910 Alabama as part of a history lesson on lynchings. I don't know if those just casually drop the N word, but it seems likely. Same reason you might show examples of Nazi-era anti-Jewish propaganda. Sometimes we have to look at the ugly parts of history.
But even then, actually saying it out loud probably isn't necessary. If I was having students read some Jim Crow era news clipping, I wouldn't cross the word out from the page itself. The students can still see and read it with their own eyes. But we also don't need to read it out loud. Hell I would probably just have a frank discussion about it at the start of the lesson. That would probably be a good learning experience in and of itself.
You self censored defeating your own point
Samuel Clemens would be proud. Read this comment in Mark Twain's voice, and it is absolute perfection. Bravo.
Nobody should say it imo and I mean nobody, some words can just be left in the past.
What if I'm singing along to a song written and performed by a black artist?
This might sound dumb, so bear with me.
I grew up in a super poor city, predominantly black. All my friends from there listened to hip hop where it was used a lot, they said it, their families said it, etc..
What I did was sub that word with another when I was singing. It became a habit. I thought that was a better idea than getting into the habit of singing it, where I might slip up and say it around them (since it was commonly used around there).
It’s a lot easier to create a new habit than break an old one, you know?
I use “brother” in my head when I’m listening to music.
I use "kitty". It amuses me when Straight Outta Compton becomes about kitties with attitude
Oh man, I can’t wait to listen to “Blast if I have to” by E A Ski using kitty! 😄
This sounds like a decent approach, although it might struggle in instances where the n word is key to a rhyme.
For example, in Nas' NY State of Mind, there's the sequence:
If I'm singing along to that, I now tend to leave a blank space rather than substitute another word. Especially because another word which rhymed could easily be mistaken for the real thing!
I would absolutely never use the word in casual speech, but there was a brief period in the past where I felt that it was more respectful to the artist/material to use the words exactly as written.
However I realised that I would only ever do that when I was alone - and thinking about why that was the case made me rethink what was really most important and stop doing even that.
Then don’t say it.
That is famously a bad idea.
Find better songs.
Plenty of superb songs use that word. Abandoning the songs altogether isn't the answer IMO. Not singing the word is a better approach than never listening to the music.
I tried to find this video not on tiktok but couldn't, sorry. But here's an example: https://www.tiktok.com/@donnarodgers492/video/7398470961059712299
Just don't say it. Just skip the word. And if you do it when singing privately,it should be an automatic habit when you do it around other people.
Pretty much it, I've been made an "honorary black man" twice, once for handling my self well at a black fraternity a former roommate was joining, and once... well, for the alleged size of my wedding tackle. I don't count that last one as a good reason, but I didn't say it.
Are you black? No? Don't say it. Don't sing it. Do your best to remove it from your mental vocabulary and thoughts as well. Its an ugly word from an ugly time, that a fear we're heading towards again, so... yeah. Just no.
Remember, race doesn't matter. This is class warfare. We are villagers trying to survive pillaging dragons, ending lives and hoarding wealth with no benefit to any sort of greater good.
This is a time of dragons, look to the dragon slayers of old for guidance.