Albany State fraternity wants to ban the "N" word
 

Albany State fraternity wants to ban the "N" word

January 25, 2007

Albany (GA) - - Former Seinfield star Michael Richards made national headlines last November when he used the "N" word during a comedy routine in Los Angeles.

It re-ignited the debate on whether the word is acceptable under any circumstances. Two African-American magazines, Jet and Ebony, are now banning the word from their publications and now students at Albany State University want to spread the same message on their campus.

In between classes, students shoot the breeze socializing, laughing, talking. Perhaps inadvertently, one word often makes its way out of students' mouths.

"The N word is used a lot, and it's like it bothers me, but I don't see people making a big deal about it," says Freshman Ronald Simmons.

One student organization on campus is making a big deal about it - - members of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. They're taking a stand on a word that originated as a derogatory expression toward African-Americans.

"Now it seems that were degrading ourselves, so we thought it to be very important that we start looking at ourselves better, and start talking to ourselves in a more mature and respectable manner," says Michael Scott of Alpha Phi Alpha.

They're organizing a campaign to get the whole campus to sign contracts that they will abolish the word form their vocabulary - - even for students who say they use the "N" word as a term of affection.

"I think we've used it as a crutch to make ourselves more comfortable with it, to make it ok but really its not and if you think about it before you say it you really know its not a good word," says Junior Jazzmine Randall.

Organizers say the only way to overcome the obstacle is to bring it to light and then vow to practice what you preach.

"I'm hoping that eyes are opened, minds are opened and that we start seeing the importance of respecting ourselves and treating each other as brothers and sisters," Scott says.

Some students feel it's a step in the right direction. "I don't think its going to happen overnight but it's a start," Simmons says.

A start to a message, these fraternity members, want to catch on nationwide.

Members of the fraternity also plan to wear T-shirts on campus that say abolish the "N" word and focus on being "scholars".

It seems sad to me that a particular group of people have to begin using a derogatory expression in order to make it okay. The N word for blacks, faggot for homosexuals...I think this is an excellent idea.

Yeay for 1984

I don't agree with abolishing words.

I don't believe words like that are used by a population to make themselves more comfortable with it.

I think it just evolves and becomes part of a group's vernacular.

Their genre is underwhelming!

The school wants to PC. ???

What idiots! The word with N is in History and their wanting to change is silly!;)

I actually agree with abolishing the word. If people want to use it among friends in private, fine. The word was never used in my home growing up (and my parents still don't use it). I don't use it and quite frankly, just because I'm Af-American I'm supposed to say it's ok? Don't think so. Re-appropriation is what groups of people do to take something negative, absorb it and try to turn it into something positive. Some things will work, like the mammy image. Black people who know the history, KNOW black women were more than that IMAGE. It's a difficult image but it was easier to turn it around and re-claim it and find strength in knowing the truth, which was not a negative thing. Ni**** has never had a positive connotation. EVER.


It's more that trying to make it okay, it's trying to put a band-aid on a 200 year old wound that no matter how hard we try, (and we do) will never heal.:(

I don't understand how you would abolish a word, and enforce it. I also don't understand why blacks use the word to refer to each other, but when a white person says it, its racist and derrogortory(sp?)?

This article is talking about trying to keep everyone from using the word. The APhiA chapter in question would appear to agree with you that it's not acceptable for black people to say it either.

I second the confusion about enforcement - how do you abolish a word? I can see how you could campaign against a word, discourage it, etc. --- but abolish it? I don't know how that would work, and I don't really even think that it would be a desirable way to approach the problem.

How would that word just 'evolve' into the vocabulary of black people? One day some white asshole is yelling it at them, the next day they wake up and start referring to each other with the same word?
The same goes for faggot and homosexuals. These words do not evolve...they're adopted into the vernacular of the groups the very word abuses in an attempt to bastardize its meaning to something more acceptable.
Can any African-americans help me out here? Adopt or evolve, how did the dreaded n-word become a part of your everyday vocabulary? (and I mean you in general, not you specifically).

I have not yet heard what I consider to be a reliable explanation for how nigger (the bad word) evolved into nigga (the term of endearment).

I do believe that the evolution did occur, but the stories I personally believe could very well be a myth.

However, other words have had similar paths....

Queer.....
Dyke.....
Bitch......

*shrug*

I believe in the power of intent.....if you intend to call me "black" as a negative, I would be more offended by the intent than the word. Same for nigga, queer, bitch, etc.

My boyfriend, a linguistics major, is actually taking a class in African-American English this semester. I asked him how the n-word came to be used by A-As (don't mind my abbrev.) and he said he'd look it up tomorrow, so I may or may not have a better explanation tomorrow.

The biggest misconception about the word is that the use of it among Blacks is something new or limited to recent generations. In reality every generation of Blacks in America have used the word, beginning with enslaved Africans. That's typically what happens when people are forced to learn a language- they use the words taught to them.

"Gangsta Parties"
 

Those parties were completey innocent:

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SA

It's difficult to prove intent but we can try to assess context and tone.

So I don't want any nonblacks using any derivative of the "N word" around me.

I'll deal with the black people who use that word in a different manner. Groups can use whatever words they want to around each other. It isn't the role of outsiders to judge that and wonder why they can't do the same. I used to hate hearing whites say "but why can't WE say it?" Why do you want to say it? Does it kill you not to be able to? I only tolerate nonblack linguists saying it for educational purposes and even these linguists need not get too comfortable and say it too often.

DSTCHAOS,

I think you have the right approach here.

In your post you speak about your personal tolerance for the use of the word when it is said within earshot, but say nothing about legislating people's right to say it aloud.

Making a rule to ban the word- or any word- is not only stupid but a violation of free speech.

The power the word carries is born out in the reaction it can inspire in certain circumstances, and those who utter it must face the freedom of expression and feeling of those who hear it and react in turn.

What is interesting is how the term Black has evolved. Now it is okay and even preferable to be called Black over sya Nego. We took the word and changed it into a positive.

The "n" word is a little different, since it was the derogatory slur of Negro.

I am also guilty of using the term in an affectionate way (with an "a" at the end,) but having my ire raised if I hear a non-Black use it. But I am also ticked off if I hear an African American use it in a derogatory manner at another Af Am. So I have decided to drop it from my vocabulary.

Ironically, I overheard two young Native Americans joking and laughing and one said to the other"you are my "n" (with an a.) They then bumped fist and hugged. So is it becoming an acceptable term among others as a term of affection?

I've seen this too. With white kids. I think some of them are just so young and/or improperly educated they don't have a clue what they're saying.

:confused:

Certain words can be banned from publications or discourse in certain arenas.

They can't be made "illegal" on a larger scale.

Or maybe they find it acceptable and ok to use because of the word's incessant use by blacks in mainstream pop-culture.

Okay...and...?

Actually...... I dunno.

That's it exactly.

When it comes to workplaces, internet forums and other arenas for public discourse that are funded by one or more persons- there is every right to determine what is acceptable in the combination of the best interests of the public and that organization's obligation to society.

But when it comes to anonymous encounters on the street as one man to another- it is an issue of freedom of speech pure and simple.

When a person uses the N-word in a combative sense, that person is being immature and intentionally creating an emotional argument where an intellectual argument could be in play. In such instances either the person saying it is incapable of putting forth a coherent intellectual race-based argument on the topic at hand or is using the term to cover for a lack of any intellectual argument (far more often the latter.)

But an excessive negative reaction to the use of the word- in other words an African-American reacting in an emotional or physical manner that breaks the law- is equally unacceptable.

In the long run, I think the fuss over the N-word is a bad thing. It gives the word an added value that allows the "bad guy" to use it as a weapon and incite a reaction from some African-Americans that will only do harm.

The political and power realities of today- led by the mass immigration from Mexico- creates legitimate concerns for African-Americans in this country that require serious consideration.

The legality, and the legally acceptable reactions to the use of, the N-word are an unnecessary and harmful distraction from some very real long term economic and opportunity issues that really matter!

Just my opinion as someone who is done with college; has lived, worked and hired in the real world; and knows a lot of very good people who I treasure and who do not fit the "Angry Black" stereotype perpetuated by the media and who share my hopes and dreams for our lives and our children.

Maybe!