The N-word: a Great Distractor From Real Issues
When I was in schools – from the
elementary to the graduate – the N-word was commonly used in the media, I read
it in textbooks, heard on TV.
But that was in a different country.
At least at that time, Russia
was very supportive of the fight of Black Americans for having the same rights
and social status as White Americans.
On one hand, Internationalism
was a key element of the Communist ideology.
On another hand (but that I realized much later) top USSR politicians
followed the old rule “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”.
When I moved to the U.S., for
a long time I did not know that using the N-word by whites was culturally not
allowed. And when I learned that fact I just shrugged it off – OK, whatever, every
country has its own rules.
Recent events involving black faces (or this one) and the use of N-word sparked a media wave which attracted my attention
to the matter.
I got curious about the
history of this cultural phenomenon.
Of course, I Googled it.
I've read several links on the
history of N-word (the top google searches)
The history of the word
itself is pretty straightforward, but the reading did not help me to learn when
and why the N-word has become forbidden for the whites.
I do understand the cultural effects
of the word, and the psychological reasons for African Americans to impose/demand
the sole usage of the word.
I just don’t think this helps
African Americans to win their fight for – well, whatever they want to win.
“You are white, and you
cannot use the N-word!”
That may sound powerful, and
may be even seen as a victory, because, kind of, you won the right for the sole
utilization of the word over your “enemies”.
But is it really a victory?
“We live in poverty, our schools
are underfunded, our people have no prospects of having a good job, but, man,
we can say the N-word, and they cannot! We won!” (this sentence represents a purposeful exaggeration).
To me this looks more like a quasi-victory,
a pretend victory, or a fake victory – not sure about the best term (yes, I may see things in a dark way, but my personal policy is "It's better be prepared for the worst-case scenario and be happy it didn't happen, than hope for the best and face the unexpected downturn).
It only makes people feel good about themselves, without actually making them living good.
It deflects energy, and
intellect, and efforts from things that are actually important for African American
community.
According to a definition, racism is actions guided to discriminate people of a certain race.
Some actions which excite a heated discussion, like painting a face, or dressing a certain way, have nothing to do with racism, but a lot with juvenile stupidity.
As I already mentioned, I would really like to know when and why this word has become the N-word in its current usage.
Some actions which excite a heated discussion, like painting a face, or dressing a certain way, have nothing to do with racism, but a lot with juvenile stupidity.
As I already mentioned, I would really like to know when and why this word has become the N-word in its current usage.
Some people believe that
crack-cocaine was used specifically to suppress Black American population.
I doubt the N-word has been selected
specifically to diverge the attention from important issues, but it sure seems to
me that it works exactly like that.
Russians say “You can call me
a kettle, but just don’t put me in an oven”.
Because people’s actions are much more telling than people’s words.
Or, people’s words are much
less important that people’s actions (Trump!).
Focusing on who can and
cannot use some words or outfits only seems important, but in realty those
actions make no positive difference for anyone in the African American
community.
And BTW: so far I have not
read or heard anyone in the media who would be advocating the same view as expressed
in this piece.
Also, read “The
Only Way To Defeat White Nationalism Is To Embrace “Black Nationalism”
Appendix
Slavery is bad, awful, inhumane. However, the human race has a very long history of slavery. Many wars ended up by bring slaves to the country of victors. Vikings were using slaves in their villages. For centuries Russia had a cast of slaves. Slaves, and then serfs existed in Russia until 1861 - almost the same year when ... you know. Those slaves were not brought from other countries, they were Russians. But their owners could do, and did, to the slaves whatever they wanted to do, even bad, awful, inhumane things. Everyone who thinks that African Americans were the only people suffering from slavery is simply wrong.
Slavery was (and somewhere still is) the most inhumane form of exploiting humans by other humans. However, even slavery has been removed from many societies, there are still other - less visible - forms of exploitation. Any event when one person uses another person as a tool for his/her individual purpose is a form of exploitation.
From the general point of view, there are only two forms of human interaction: exploitation of one person by another person; or collaboration between different persons. It's either - or. So, when choosing what politician to support, ask yourself, does this guy want to exploit you, or he/she wants to collaborate with you? And what would you do it the guy would be exploiting other people but no you? And judge by the actions, not by the words, because people who want to exploit others always lie. Always.
No comments:
Post a Comment