LZ Granderson has a reasonably new column worth checking out over at ESPN's Page 2.He explores his feelings about the n-word, the one that got Michael Richards in so much trouble a couple of weeks back. In the column, Granderson announces his intentions to try to expunge that word from the casual vocabulary of sports stars and - to a lesser extent since his bread is buttered by sports - rappers.
One quote from the article comes from a white public relations executive...
"On one hand it's just a word, but being raised in an environment where you're taught to never, ever use it because it's so painful, and then see the people who are supposed to be hurt by it use it with each other all of the time, I think sends a mixed message. I'm not using it, but nowadays you hear Latinos use it, young white kids use it. … It's ironic that as the world gets more and more politically correct, you hear that word more often, not less."And I fully understand and agree with those feelings. I was taught that the n-word was just about the worst word I could possibly use, right there with any swear word. But as my professional career has moved me into two schools that have African-Americans as the largest single ethnic group, I find myself in situations where it appears acceptable for certain people to use that word. The message that I get, then, is a very mixed one: the word is awful but acceptable.
If the word is to still hold power, if it is to still be viewed as a word that marks the user (in my case, it certainly would if I used it) as a racist person, then the word should not be used casually. It should be held in a vault, unreachable in all but the most dire and offensive of circumstances. Or it has to be used casually by everyone. This middle ground simply cannot hold.
By the end of the article, Grandseron vows to cut the n-word from his vocabulary and to ask influential black athletes to do the same.
It takes a brave person to discuss racial issues openly, and I applaud Granderson for being willing to take a good first step.
3 comments:
A few weeks back while the Michael Richards thing was still big and first in the news I heard Paul Mooney saying the same thing on NPR. (Paul Mooney in my mind is most notable from his work as "Negrodomas" on the Dave Chappelle Show) It was something he was asking other African American entertainers to do as well, prohibit the word from their vocabulary. He mentioned a lot of the same things from the article, that if you take away the word, you take away it's power. He said that he used that word in his act constantly, but he was just going to stop...he went on to tell jokes that had been argued to be funny because of the use of the word to prove they could still be funny with a less offensive term that meant the same thing. He, of course, was correct...jokes are in the delivery, not the vocabulary.
I wonder if this could actually catch on...I know I'd be happy to never hear the word again...
Here's a link to the NPR story that Calen mentioned in case anybody's curious about it...
Honest question here. In the NPR story, Mooney says that he wants to stop the use of the n-word. I'm familiar with what he means. He goes on to say that at the comedy club, they're fining people who use the n-word or the b-word. Would the b-word be the one that's a synonym for a female dog?
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