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Who’s Allowed to Use the N-Word
Is there a double standard on who gets to say it and who doesn’t?
The answer is a resounding Yes. There’s a double standard on use of the N-word.
So what.
Here’s why that double standard is something we all just need to live with. I can assure you that your white life will be OK if you bury the word like the NAACP tried do in a mock funeral in 2007.
I’ve been asked by white friends on more than one occasion why Black people can throw around the N-word and Black rappers can put it in songs, but the second white people use the word in the same manner, they’re all-of-a-sudden racist.
“It’s not fair,” they say.
As we all know by now, the N-word has been used as one of the most vicious insults against Black people for generations.
Yet it’s the same word that the descendants of slaves now use as a term of endearment, typically to mean “friend” or “bro.”
I’m going to set aside a discussion of use of “n — ger” versus “n — ga” since, while technically different, they aren’t different enough that we’d be OK with either in many contexts.
The history of the N-word dates to the 18th century.
