I 12: The N-Word

Here’s something to try. If you’re a certified Tube fiend like me, which what teenager isn’t by now, go to YouTube and search for Katt Williams Weed. And no, this is editorial is not about pushing for legalizing marijuana. Go to the fourth choice, get out a pencil and paper, and mark a tally every time he says the n word.

44 times he says the word, at one point saying it so many times in a row that the audience laughs. Laughs. And the sad part is that if say, Robin Williams were to do the same thing he’d lose his job, money, and reputation. Now I don’t have a PhD or doctrine in the English language but the word hypocrisy is never far from my mind when something like this comes up.

Most of my white friends look at me like I’m speaking in Shakespearean dialect when I say honkie. It’s a racial slur that used to be applied to white people, white males in particular but rarely does anyone my age know that. With the exception of the word “red neck” I hardly ever hear white people refer to themselves in derogatory terms. What would your reaction be if you were walking down the hallway and heard this:
“Matt, what’s going on honkie?”
“Nothing John, me and my honkies are gonna get together after school, wanna come?”
Would you have a WTF moment, would you laugh, would you shake your head at the stupidity and immaturity kids, or would you smile and tell your friend, “That’s my honkie” ?

Now put the n-word in place of honkie. Odds are you don’t even flinch when you hear it; you just keep walking. Some of my African American friends informed me that because they say it with an “a” at the end and not an “er” that it’s somehow acceptable. I always respond with this: whether it ends with an “a” or an “er” that doesn’t change the fact that at the end of the day it is still a slur, a racial slur that was used to belittle African Americans. Why some of today’s African American youth feel that changing the wording somehow changes the negative meaning, the roots of where the word comes from is something I’ll never really understand.

Once you generally agree that a word is negative through and through you tend to stop using it all together. It becomes a faded term that when used by anyone stirs up anger and offense. I often wonder if the n word would have met the same fate as honkie, had some African Americans not decided it could be turned into an empowering statement of rebellion. Is this the legacy of the Civil Rights movement? If it is I hope the founders can’t listen in because they’d be doing cartwheels in their graves.