This was recently debated on another listserv I'm on and the author's stance sums up my view on the word. The original article can be found at EURweb.com:
http://eurweb.com/articles/columns/0...3403232004.cfm
The author Morris O'Kelly can be reached at:
dark.gable@sbcglobal.net
"I'm NOT your -gga and you are NOT mine "
(Mar. 23, 2004) This has been on my heart for quite some time and on my mind for nearly as long. It's not by coincidence that I will broach this subject outside the parameters of Black History Month. This is not to be treated like a metaphorical Christmas ornament. This is not something to think about for 30 days and put away at the end of the season.
I will let you know up front, toes will be stepped on, sensibilities will be offended and hearts may be hardened. Names will be named and even fingers will be pointed. Yet at the same time, what I'm about to say will be expressed purely out of love, despite how it may wrongly be perceived. If you find that I'm
talking about you...good. If you find I'm talking about someone you know...good.
Either way, this open letter applies to you or someone in your life. It is necessary for all concerned to take a moment of pause.
Nigger:
A word loosely derived from the Latin word for 'Black'. That's no secret. There are historical references with an obsolete spelling of the word (Niger) dating back as far as 1574.
After the American Civil War it became the most common term in which to describe Black people. The negative connotative meaning grew out of White southern U.S. pronunciation. From an inability/ignorance/unwillingness to say `Negro`, it evolved into `Niggra`...`nigger`.
Somewhere in the 20th century, don't quote me when exactly...African-Americans pushed its evolution one step further. 'Nigga' was born.
Very recently, the NAACP won a decision for Merriam-Webster to revise its dictionaries in regards to the definition of -gger. That's all fine and good, but I'm more concerned about US stopping the use of the word in any of its forms or mutations.
Let me be clear. I am NOT your -gga and you are NOT mine.
Don't greet me with it, don't link me to it. When slavery was abolished in 1865, it assured that I wouldn't be anybody's -gger and I'm not interested in being anybody's -gga in 2004.
I am NOT your -gga and you are NOT mine.
My people, stop using the word. Stop greeting your friends with it. Stop using it in your comedy routines, stop using it in Hip-Hop and R&B. Stop qualifying its use. Stop using it, period.
Stop trying to justify its use by African-Americans while at the same time try to vilify its use by non-Blacks. Stop trying to argue how it's now a "term of endearment" and not a racial insult, simply because it came out of an African-American's mouth or because he/she ended the word with -gga instead of -gger. Stop making "positive" acronyms with its letters. Stop using it in your
usernames on Black-themed websites. Stop using it, period.
I am NOT your -gga and you are NOT mine.
You are not empowering our people; you are not championing any civil rights cause with its use. You are not emancipating anyone or disempowering the word ending in -gger. Black on Black crime is just as prevalent as ever and we're still socio-economically far from where we need to be as a people. -gga is not building bridges nor is it tearing down obstacles. If anything, a better argument can be made for the opposite being true. Actually, this shouldn't even be a topic of discussion. We of all people should know better.
I am NOT your -gga and you are NOT mine.
Just because I as an African-American man change the last few letters and say it with a smile to another African-American, it doesn't change its dreadful history or its continuing negative impact on my people, even today.
It does not matter how you spell it, or how lovingly it traipses off your lips. The etymology is the same. The history is the same. It is a hateful, derogatory, sinister and shameful word that has had a front row seat at every slave auction, lynching, rape and ever other unspeakable atrocity at the expense of our people. I can assure you it was there when James Byrd was drug to his death in Jasper, Texas. It was there when Rodney King was beat mercilessly and it even was there when OJ went free. Regardless of what you think of any of the aforementioned people, just know that when the word was uttered, they were talking about you
and I too. Changing a letter or two doesn't change these facts.
There is a reason why Mexicans don't greet each other with 'Wetback', or why they don't have long and involved debates on the merits of how 'Wetback' with a 'ck' is different from 'Wetbak' with just a 'k'. There is a reason Jews don't
greet each other with 'Kike' or debate the merits of similar forms of the word.
It's the same reason that Italians, Japanese or any other group of people on the face of this Earth don't trade intra-racial insults as greetings.
It's unequivocally ignorant...that's why.
If we can agree that ignorance and hatred are inextricably linked, then self-ignorance can only have one possible result.
Yet and still, I will invariably receive emails espousing the 'value' of the word.
Incredible.
We as a people have been here for more than 400 years, yet we are still the largest representative of the American underclass and underprivileged. -gga should be the last word in your vocabulary. It should be the last thing worth arguing to save. Because the reason why we lead the underclass is very closely
associated to the -gger mentality that brought us here and the -gga mentality that keeps us there.
Is it a coincidence that the people who've struggled the most in this country are the only people that greet and refer to each other with such insanity? I think not. There's probably some correlation. There is what keeps us down, but there is also how we keep ourselves down; and both need to be addressed. Our
priorities are ridiculously out of kilter and there is no better example than this right here.
If you want to fight for something, fight for better schools, better housing, just and equitable laws; not for the right to insult one another gleefully and whimsically. If you want to debate something, debate the propositions and measures on the ballot that affect your city or your neighborhood; or the politicians that plan to enact them. If you want to save something, save our
children; they've been in danger for decades. We've got it so unbelievably twisted, worried about the wrong things for the wrong reasons.
It's so bad now that non-African-Americans routinely greet each other with -gga.
That's adding insult to insult to insult...to injury. We've opened the door and not surprisingly other races have gladly walked through it. It has become passé and ordinary...to everyone. It sickens me and it should sicken you too. Its use is embarrassing, insulting with no excuse, qualifier or explanation worthy enough for it to be received in any other way.
Probably the worst part of all of it is that we as a people covet the word. We WANT the word, we LOVE the word and are PLEASED at its continued use. We even protect it and claim ownership of the word, saying that only WE have the right to use the hateful, sinister word, regardless of the spelling. White rappers, Puerto Rican pop singers, are not 'allowed' to use it, only WE are.
We covet the word.
We cling to the word and in turn, all of the ignorance it symbolizes; almost to the point of selfish jealousy. There's nothing positive, funny or beneficial by its use. Stop using it, period.
And therein lay the contradiction while simultaneously proving my point. Those who use the word will argue that they lessen the impact of the word overall, yet still bristle at the use of it by non-Blacks, regardless of spelling. The hateful history and negative connotations can't be denied and we shouldn't even try to deny them. In truth, we shouldn't EVER try to forget that portion of our
history. It SHOULD mean something each and every time it is uttered and there shouldn't be any misunderstanding as to what it means or how it was intended. It's not a word I EVER wish to be comfortable with or used to hearing. Too many of our people have died with it ringing in their ears.
It was ignorant of Jennifer Lopez to use it in her music and doubly ignorant of us to ignore R&B singer Chante´ Moore's use of it in her music during the same time period. There is no such thing as 'context' in terms of ignorance. The word has no purpose, no place in our hearts, our thoughts or in our mouths; but we've deluded ourselves collectively into thinking otherwise.
Stop using the word Eddie Griffin. Stop using the word Cedric the Entertainer. Stop using the word Quentin Tarantino for "dramatic effect". Stop using the word __________ (insert any rapper's name). And you too Martin Lawrence, don't think I forgot about you. Stop using the word my brothers, my sisters. Stop using the
word because it neither enhances you nor our people. There are better ways we can recognize and acknowledge each other as a people.
I'm not going to sit here and offer up substitutes or alternatives, that's not the point. There is no "diet" version, no nicotine patch for this. It doesn't need to be 'replaced'.
Just stop.
In the way that there's no need to espouse the "values" of nicotine addiction, obesity or alcoholism, there's no need to espouse the supposed "value" of -gga.
Let it go. Stop splitting hairs over who is allowed to say it or the intonation of the last two letters. Just stop.
It's unequivocally ignorant.
I'm NOT your -gga and you are NOT mine.
For in the end, there is nothing that we gain and assuredly much that we lose. We've lost a tremendous amount already, why willingly give away our dignity too?
Stop using the word.
Just what does the "N" word mean today?
Even those need to be coming from the right person or else they are null and void as well. 
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