"NIGGER?" Your Way Forward?

     The idea of whether the “N” word is derogatory or not is not even a question any longer. Is it derogatory? Maybe. Maybe not. So an African American, a fellow African American can refer to you as “Nigger” but then if an individual of Caucasian or any other race or descent refers to you as Nigger, you get upset? Have you so quickly forgotten that they were the ones who named you in the first place? I still am trying to wrap my head around the rationale behind this flawed mentality.

      A bad word is a bad word. Bad has never been called good neither has good ever been called bad. The word “nigger” is as bad to me as every other slur in the lines of  “bitch,” “fuck,” “hoe” and so on. You either say it or you don’t. And if it is being said, EVERYBODY gets to use it, it is called freedom of speech in the United States of America. So why place restrictions on who can refer to you as the “N’ word as a justification of the fact that you are reclaiming the word? Unbeknownst to African Americans, the fact is that just because they were the ones being oppressed by this word does not give them the right, audacity or effrontery to place restrictions or choose who uses the word.

      It is Important to keep in mind that different types and races of people will view this issue from different ranges of perspectives, both on immediate knowledge, growth environment and psychological basis. Like I said in an earlier blog, I am not qualified to share in the history African Americans which is one of the reasons why I Identify as Nigerian American. Therefore, with my existing knowledge of the history behind the word, as well as anybody else’s that is in their right frame of mind, that finds themselves in my shoes, we will find it offensive.

      It is disheartening and hurtful that the “most offensive and inflammatory racial slur, a word expressive of racial hatred and bigotry” according to the excerpt “Pitfalls in fighting Nigger…,” is what African Americans choose to reclaim, something they choose to keep in possession with the full understanding that they were oppressed, hurt, enslaved and ruled over by this word. Do you want to keep remembering all of the trials and tribulations all the days of your life and even the generations that are yet to come? Wanting to gain possession or hold on to something after these long years of despondency is totally understandable, but this particular word? And redefining it? I am not sorry to say that I find it retarded, redundant and even regressive to want to reclaim a slur among other things that can be reclaimed. Reclaiming this word almost seems like African Americans want to keep being discriminated, like they want to hoard it like a valuable so as to keep being under the “racism spell”. The question I am posing to African Americans today is this: Is this your way forward?