The Power of the N-Word

In August, Dr. Laura Schlessinger announced that she would be quitting her radio talk show. Her decision came after an African-American caller named Jade sought Schlessinger’s advice about her perceived racism from her white husband’s friends and family. Jade became outraged at Schlessinger’s use of the N-word. Schlessinger didn’t call Jade the name; she merely used it as an example, saying that if you watch black comedians on HBO, all you hear is “nigger, nigger, nigger.”

The mere use of the word offended Jade, and the story became a national media fiasco. I don’t condone the use of the N-word, but Schlessinger was using it as an example; she wasn’t directing the word toward anyone. But Jade became upset at the mere mention of the word, regardless of Dr. Laura's usage.

As a writer, editor and aficionado of linguistics, I’m interested in the power of words on culture and society. I agree that the N-word is offensive. It hearkens back to the days of slavery, and for anyone who’s black or has read Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, it leaves a bitter taste on the tongue.

However, rather than working to eradicate the word from American vernacular, black people have twisted the word into some kind of members-only cultural colloquialism. That is, it’s OK to say the N-word or call someone an N-word only if you both are black. Should someone of another race utter the N-word, we are racist assholes.

If the word is truly so offensive, then why retain it in your vocabulary at all? Rather than trying to make the word OK in the black culture, blacks should be making a conscious, concerted effort to eliminate it altogether. After all, you don't hear white people going around calling each other "honky" or "cracker." You don't hear Jewish people or people of certain ethnicities and nationalities calling each other derogatory nicknames.

I think I understand the intention of trying to take away a word’s power by using it as a friendly term of endearment, a la “nigga,” but if you’re truly going to transform the word’s meaning, then white people should be able to call each other the N-word, and they should be able to call anyone else — black, Asian, whatever — the N-word, too.

The problem is that it never caught on. The N-word started out a derogatory name for black people, and it will forever remain that. Thus, the black community needs to work to eradicate it from the English language.

That means, going back to Schlessinger’s point with Jade, that black comedians, rappers and others need to stop calling each other — and themselves — the N-word. The death of the N-word is well over 100 years overdue. If black people kill it among themselves, then the word will finally lose its power.