Nigger

It may be hard to believe that someone as far to the left of the political compass as I am, (and as outspoken as possible,) would surround themselves with people that disagree wholeheartedly with almost everything I appreciate about the American way.  Homosexual rights, the female agenda, gun control, social services, and abortion are all topics that have been brought up in too many smoky garages, and around too many half-drunken bonfires.  Here in Burlington, my friends look for as many subjects to challenge me on as possible, knowing all too well that I can never shy away from an argument.  But the number one debate that I have been having over the past few months is one that I feel extremely passionate about, but will never be able to win amongst my associates here in town.  Can we move past the use of the word “nigger”?

It’s not that I’m uncomfortable around the word, especially after having heard it for close to 6 years now with the maturation of camo-clad bigotry.  I have no fear of being associated with hate-mongers and ending up with a baseball bat to the knee caps.  This is the kind of racist fear that is as damaging to the credibility of black America as any chew-slathered comment.  And my argument against the use of the term “nigger” is as simple as I could possibly make it – void of all references to differences in social upbringing or urbanity – and instead focusing on simple logic.  Allow me to give you a taste:

First we have to get past the frequent argument that “black people call each other niggers,” because it really doesn’t apply to the situation at hand.  If you had any sense, you would understand that it is a matter of desensitizing the word – taking away the hateful context and defeating it by creating a term of solidarity.  It, in essence, attempts to take away some of the punch of the word, and to suggest anything else would be stupid.  As an argument that this justifies white people calling black people niggers, it certainly falls flat on its face.  But so many of my neo-Nazi friends’ arguments do.

There has to be a consideration for the word itself.  It is unparalleled in weightiness of insult.  For a white person to call a black person a nigger is to take them back in time and insult generation after generation of African descendants.  It was a word created specifically for hateful intent, and this connotation will remain as such.  No other word in our language is such a direct rocket of hatred. 

So when the argument comes up, (as it usually does,) that there are two kinds of black people, “decent black people,” and “niggers,” I usually begin to sweat with anticipation for a verbal knockout.  We can easily split black people up into categories of people we admire as fellow citizens, and those of which we despise for their flaws, but we can easily do the same for whites.  There are white people that I enjoy and appreciate, and there are white people that deserve their share of criticism.  This applies to people of every race.  But the difference is that we have no word to apply to white people, (“crackers,” “wankstas,” “wiggers,” dumbasses,” etc.) that could ever compare to the term nigger.  There is not one.  For every “nigger” that is selling drugs, doing drugs, enacting violence, or committing crime, there is a white person that is doing the same, yet only one is the “nigger.”  The white guy is a “dumbass.”  They don’t even out.  And they never will.

There’s simply no reason to target the black population in this way, (and I know I am preaching to the choir.)  Now, I have come to terms that I have many, many racist friends – they have the right to believe anything they want, and call people nearly everything they want – but I in turn have the right to argue them down to exhaustion.  Furthermore, this usually works, with most people eventually just agreeing not to use the word in front of me, and to think before they speak.  But this isn’t what I’m fighting for.

I have been fortunate enough to be able to plead the First Amendment several times in my life.  My article a few years back about Randy Winegard’s unfortunate condition of penis envy gained me a few new readers, but no friends among community leaders.  (I lost a website for the stunt, but will stick by my original claim.)  We have this Amendment to protect the viewpoints of all citizens, whether they be through print, religion, or otherwise, with only minimal exception.  But I often wonder, where is it inside the human mind that allows for decency to be thrown out the window in exchange for capability.  You are legally capable of calling someone a nigger, but what possible explanation can be given as to why you would want to do so?  It’s the most loaded of words.  It’s the nuclear bomb of racial remarks.  So many are lucky to be in the sole environment of fellow bigots, or worse yet, friends that are too kind and quiet to challenge such behavior.  I have never been considered kind or quiet, and have no problem making a scene.  Eventually, the scene is going to be made in a place where the odds are not so favorable, and the consequences may be grim.

I make the simple request to treat people with similar respect, if possible.  When a friend makes a mistake, we call him a moron.  An idiot.  When a stranger does the same, he’s a dumbass – maybe worse.  But for some reason, when a black man acts in a way that we consider reprehensible, he becomes a nigger, and that just baffles me beyond belief.  There’s no way to kill it.  I certainly can’t do much more than fight my futile battles.  But for the love of God, (yes, the same God that so many of the right-wing foul-mouths claim to be their ever loving savior,) can we at least entertain the idea of equality for a while?  Maybe just for a moment, between slugs of Miller High Life, we could acknowledge the similarity of our shared flesh and blood, regardless of our color, and in spite of past concerns? 

Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream.  As usual, I have more of a complaint.