First We Must Educate Ourselves

Keli Goff hit the nail on the head:  We should be thanking Dr. Laura Schlessinger for her response to a caller asking how she ought to deal with her husband's frequent use of the "n-word."  Schlessinger's response:

"Black guys use it all the time. Turn on HBO and listen to a black comic, and all you hear is n****r, n****r, n****r. I don't get it. If anybody without enough melanin says it, it's a horrible thing. But when black people say it, it's affectionate. It's very confusing."

While I don't agree with Schlessinger's repeated use of the word to make a point, she has, in an ironic way, made a point. It seems that a vast part of society believes it arbitrarily acceptable for African Americans to use the word, but morally reprehensible for whites to do so. Maybe rage over the double-standard finally got to Dr. Laura. Maybe her break-down on-air was just proof that she's had enough. No one should say the n-word - black, white, or otherwise. Thank you Dr. Laura for going on your racist rant. You are bringing this issue to the mainstream once again, something that hasn't happened since 2007 when the NAACP staged a funeral for the n-word. That was their attempt to killing the use of the word once and for all. It didn't work. Rappers, comedians, and other celebrities claimed the word has "artistic merit" and refused to discontinue using it.

Here's what I think no one is asking: why should a white American worry about the use of the n-word? Most of us don't. We think that as long we aren't using it, its okay for black Americans to. I strongly disagree. As an undergraduate student, I attended a historically black university. Historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) were founded before the Civil Rights movement for the purpose of educating African-Americans. I am not African-American, and yet the school I attended had a nearly fifty percent white student population. These white students chose to attend what was commonly called a "black school" because the school provided quality education at an inexpensive tuition rate. Interestingly, the vast majority of students who lived on campus were people of color. As a freshman, I was one of only a handful of white students on campus ... and I loved it. The chance to experience an enriching culture as an "outsider" gave me a strong sense of self and helped me to understand people for who they are, not what I want them to be.

Attending a HBCU was not without its intricacies, however. The use of the n-word was prevalent on campus. It was never white students calling it to black students; it was always black students using it amongst themselves and, on several occasions, using it to refer to me. The rationale was that I was "one of them" and therefore had earned the right to be referred to by the n-word. The understanding, however, was that I was not allowed to use the word myself. The double-standard was again extended even among those "accepted" into the culture. Like Dr. Laura's rant, this reminds us how utterly useless and degrading the word really is.

So what can we do? Kanye West, Jay-Z, Dave Chappelle, even John Mayer have all used the n-word. They are not likely to stop. Until we educate ourselves that such a word is destructive, we're not likely to see any mainstream change. Our children of all races and ethnic backgrounds need to be taught from an early age that words like the n-word and like the f-word (the one used to refer to gay men) hurt not only our social consciousness, but damage our reputation.

Photo Credit: Dan Buczynski