#nigger
As a black woman, it hurts me to hear when some people sling around “nigger” like it’s nothing. In reality, it is a filthy word, one that carries centuries’ worth of weight when used against the black community. When our ancestors were brought to America to be sold into slavery, this word was practically all they were referred to. It was originally a word to describe the inhabitants of Niger, but over time, it became associated with beatings, lynchings, and angry slavemasters. Black people were forced to work for no pay, and were met with violence when they didn’t comply. They had to live in small little shacks while the slavemasters lived in much bigger houses. Even in the 1940s, only a few decades ago, black people were being killed because they were thought of as subhuman “niggers”.
Eventually, a couple of black people decided they liked the N-word, and gradually, the African-American community adopted the word as their own in an effort to soften the impact of suffering through daily discrimination and oppression. This is why you often hear black people refer to each other by “nigga”. However, this does not give white people a right to say this word, because, due to the current power imbalance, in which white people use their privilege to keep putting the other races down, the word still holds a truckload of emotional baggage when you use it.
I often hear white people ask if they can at least sing the word when it’s in a song. Usually, I just ignore them. Trust me, it gets tiring to hear the same questions about racism over and over. However, I feel nice today, and, as much as it hurts to say it, I have reluctantly come up with a compromise I hope you white people will like.
You may sing along to songs with the N-word in it, but only when you’re absolutely alone, such as in the car or in the shower. I can’t control what you do inside your own house or your car. But whenever you’re in a public place, especially when POC may be around, I would find it very respectful of you to please skip over the word. It’s just one word, and you’re doing us all a favor by not using the word around us. It hurts us to hear it.