Re: "NIGGER" NO MORE - WASH YOUR MOUTH WITH SYMBOLIC SOAP

“NIGGER” NO MORE
Wash Your Mouth
With Symbolic Soap
By Zain Deane

Just so you know, “nigger” is on the way out. And no, that’s not a racist remark. I mean, quite literally, that the word is now an official taboo. In March 2007, New York instituted a “symbolic” ban on the dreaded N-word. In May, nine council members in Baltimore proposed a similar prohibition. And last year, following Michael Richards (a.k.a. “Kramer” from Seinfeld) losing his mind, LA comedy club “The Laugh Factory” has forbidden its use by comics. But for now, let’s focus on New York, where the slanderous and sensitive expletive has been unwelcome for a few months.

Naturally, you might wonder, what misfortune will befall the miscreants who shout the slur on the streets of Manhattan? How will the powerful arm of righteous justice and equality come smashing down on those who continue to profane in the city that never bleeps? Actually, you can scream the insult from the top of the Empire State Building and nothing will happen to you. Hence the word, “symbolic”. But they really, really hope you stop doing it.

Hey, the ideology and the spirit behind this are just wonderful. The ban will really have teeth (baby ones) if it impacts—as many hope it will—the hip hop and rap culture that uses it so liberally and, sometimes, so poetically. Chris Rock said Nigger was “the nitroglycerine” of words, but he also said that icons like NWA, Richard Pryor, and Dave Chappelle have turned it into an art form. And that’s true. The most derogatory word in the English language (as some have labeled it) has also fueled the fire of potent lyrics, biting satire, and almost verbal vengeance on the people who spawned it. Has any word—in our history—become so exclusively the province of the minority it was meant to denigrate? Sure, white folks in the Deep South might still say Nigger, but no one uses it like the black community. Why? Because the word has power. Nitroglycerine, indeed.

Critics and equal rights activists protest that “nigger” has become a poor substitute for the word “black.” And that raises another interesting debate. Who is “black” these days? Did you know that Senator Barack Obama is not black? At least, not according to certain definitions of black. Author Debra Dickerson (and she’s not alone) takes some issue with the senator “adopting” black status. On “The Colbert Report” she contended that being “black” in the American political context has a very specific definition: the descendant of West African slaves brought to America. Obama, the son of a Kenyan man who had come to the United States to study, does not count. (Of course, his father’s marriage to white Ann Dunham in all likelihood dilutes his claim even further.)

But back to nigger. I’d like to say I’m all for it, but I’m not. Because it doesn’t mean anything. Removing the word doesn’t automatically eradicate the hate behind it. It’s a cosmetic band-aid over a deep wound. And do people really think that today’s young black men and women (those who are really black, of course) don’t know the roots of this word? You don’t think Pryor, Chappelle, and Rock knew what they were saying? (Just listen to Pryor’s “super-nigger” skit if you have any doubts.)

But let’s say that today’s youth don’t realize, or don’t care, that the word they bandy about is a term of hate. Even then, why ban a word? What does that accomplish? And what does it hold for the future? If you ban “nigger” today, what’s next? We call our national sports teams “Redskins” and “Braves” despite the Native American community taking offense to these monikers. Is that going to change? Will they outlaw the mimicked Indian war-cry that Atlanta Braves fans chant as a rallying cry for their team?

Who gets second priority after the African-American community is cleansed of this awful word? Or are we moved to action only by “nigger”? Is this a movement that will not rest until every offensive term to every minority is removed from speech? Or will we be satisfied with the removal of “nigger” from dialogue, rap songs, comedy reels and mainstream entertainment?

I don’t doubt that this is a noble endeavor, but, at the end of the day, I think it’s a misguided one. Rather than attempt to strip “nigger” off rap songs, how about a movement to have every rap artist donate $1 to a college fund for African-American kids for every use of the word? Call it a socially conscious, national swear jar. And how about the use of “bitch” and “whore” in these same songs? Is that less damaging, less demeaning to young women than nigger is to today’s black youth?

This argument could go on forever. The point is simple: banning a word for no other reason than the fact that we find it offensive violates our freedom of speech. Penalizing an artist for using it is a grossly subjective judgment call, especially if another artist can get away with “spic” or “fag”.

Want to get rid of “nigger”? Prove to the people who use the word that it no longer has any power. By prohibiting it, all we do is give it even more clout. Who wants that?
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