Alabama college hosts n-word conference POSTED: 12:12 p.m. EST, February 24, 2007 Story Highlights• Four-day forum to address origin of epithet, whether variations are acceptable • City councils have joined nationwide effort to convince people to stop using slur • Professor: Whites using the word less frequently, but still thinking it • Web site co-founder: Striking word from use would set example for other races TUSCALOOSA, Alabama (AP) -- With a debate swirling nationwide over the n-word, a historically black college in Alabama has set aside four days to discuss the racial slur. Participants at the conference, which began Thursday and ends Sunday, discussed topics ranging from the origins of the epithet to whether juggling a few letters makes it socially acceptable at the "N" Surrection Conference at Stillman College. Organizers said the goal of the event is to challenge the use of the n-word "through the use of intelligent dialogue and a thorough examination of black history." Debate over the use of the word has escalated in recent months, with comedian Michael Richards' racial rant prompting black leaders such as the Rev. Jesse Jackson and California Congresswoman Maxine Waters to urge the public and the entertainment industry to stop using it. Clarence Sutton Sr., president of the Tuscaloosa chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said he's taken deep offense to the slur since a 1960 incident when a knife-wielding white youth slapped him and said "Nigger, you wanna fight?" "From that time on in my life, the word nigger was personal. I associated it with the hate and the very deep disdain that this gentleman had perpetrated on me at the time," he said. These days, Sutton said, it's mostly other blacks he finds using the word. "I'm fighting now because we have lost a generation of young people who don't know the history associated with that word," Sutton said. 'Nigga' is different, some say Others, like community activist Tim Robinson, said they don't have a problem using the word "nigga" because it's distinctly different and is considered a term of endearment when blacks say it to one another. "It was nigger which was the bad word, but you've got our people that just went and changed it up a bit," said Robinson. Some city councils, including ones in New York and New Jersey, have joined a nationwide effort to get people to stop using the word and the AbolishTheNword.com web site was launched last April. (View site) Andrew Hacker, a political science professor at Queens College and author of "Two Nations: Black and White, Separate, Hostile, Unequal," said just getting rid of the word wouldn't stamp out racism. "I really think that as far as white people are concerned, the word is almost on its way out," said Hacker, who is white. "That said, there are a lot of white people who still in the privacy of their own minds think the word even if they don't use it because they regard black people as genetically inferior and that word categorizes that." Others want all forms of n-word banished Kovan Flowers, co-founder of AbolishTheNWord.com, said striking the word from use would help set an example for other races. "We can't say anything to Hispanics, or whites or whoever unless we stop using it ourselves," he said. "It's the root of the mind-set that's affecting why people are low, from housing to jobs to education." Stillman senior Maurice Williams said he organized the conference hoping to educate his peers about the history of the word. The event includes a community fair, charity basketball game, unity march and discussions ranging from the word's origin to its use among various ethnic groups. "I had to understand that a lot of the images that we portray in television, in the media, in the hip-hop environment -- all of those things have the same connotations as the n-word itself, so therefore it's the n-word personified," Williams said. "Where do you see another culture portraying some of these same images?" Rapper Tupac Shakur was credited with legitimizing the term "nigga" when he came out with the song "N.I.G.G.A.," which he said stood for "Never Ignorant Getting Goals Accomplished." Stillman English professor Alisea McLeod said she doesn't buy it. "It's hogwash. What this is really indicative of is a heart problem," she said. "What is coming out of mouths is what is coming out of souls. These are not words that are uplifting and I think (they) point to a bigger problem -- a lack of self-love." Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
You have to ask yourself what made it a slur in the first place? 1. love 2. hate Which was it? So when the term changed to Colored so as not to offend and that became a slur. What made it a slur? 1 or 2? So when the term Black is "offensive" to some what makes it so? 1 or 2? The African people are still slaves slaves to their own hate. It is the tool used on the modern plantation these days to whip them into order and do what they are supposed to. That is feel sorry, feel like they are not a part of the fabric of our society, and to put their angry faces on and go to the polls to do their duty against the other team evil whitey.
here we have such a hard time deciding on a term. i was successful at teaching my children that we're all the same, no matter what, we're all human. then he entered kindergarten and on came 2 months of black history month.. he had no idea about any difference between people at all except that we all look different. which is the best way? to drill it in their heads at 5 or let them draw their own conclusions and teach them about history when they're older?
The "N" word, or any other offensive word for that matter, only lives as long as it has power. If African Americans would simply stop being offended by the word, the word would disappear. To ban it, criminalize it, or any of the like is the equivalent of glorifying the word, and ensure that it will live on. "Nigger" is just a stupid word used by backwards, uneducated people. The sooner people ignore it, the soon it disapppears. I was called a "cracker" by the "Negroes" (70's remember) all the time in school. It never offended me, as was the intent. "Cracker" meant nothing to me or anybody else I knew. We ignored it. I haven't heard the term used in 20 years.
;D We had to do a report for bhm for my son's first grade class. We did it on ray charles. He didnt know ray charles was black till I printed pictures for his report. That was funny. "Dad, I didnt know he was chocolate" (that is what he calls his black friends at school, his chocolate milk friends) I retorted, "Does it matter" "No" "Does it matter that he was blind?" "He was blind too? How did he know how to play the piano" "Lots of practice and determination" And then we listened to a bunch of his songs, including, of course, "Georgia on my mind" and his unbelievably great, "America the Beautiful". So now when ever we get in my crappy little honda he wants me to put the USB thumb drive have with my MP3s on it so Ray Charles can play.....I tell ya, innocence is cool.
no kidding. you should have seen the kids at my son's magician party yesterday. they were totally mesmerized. and i have to admit, it was pretty damn cool. about the bhm thing.. i just think that if we introduced that page in history after children have developed their social skills then we might have a better chance at a change. hammering it into their heads when they're already in the name-calling stage of their life is just asking for trouble.
I agree. You take someone who has no idea of the 'difference' and introduce them to it. I guess living in the south makes the entitlement atmosphere higher than in other locations, at least I hope it isnt the same way all over the U.S., but we are force fed that some people are 'heroes' simply because of their race. James Brown was a dope fiend, however, here in Augusta they have built a shrine to him and they want to turn his two tone green 70s ranch style house into a 'graceland'. Local police had to shoot the tires off of his truck because he failed to stop when police tried to pull him over. (Remember the whole 'free james brown' crap) but now they are talking about having a james brown day, his annual birthday party has become a thing of mythical status, with local cronies trying to pick the bones of his still not yet buried bodied.
The fact that phatboy’s son didn’t know Ray Charles was black does not dishonor the race, but I think shows progress. If I told my kids that both head coaches in the Super Bowl were black they’d ask, “So?” Not out of disrespect but because they wouldn’t understand how that would make a difference. The fact that people don’t take note of things like that means that we’re moving beyond race being an issue. We should never forget where we’ve come from but if we continually tear off the scabs, the wounds will not heal. Pay homage to the scar, but allow the lesion to close. Is that a visceral enough analogy? As far as the ‘N” word, some people that call for this word’s abolishment are the same ones who drape themselves in the First Amendment. Certainly, it is a word of hate, but so could any word be if he who utters it intends hate. If the “N” word did not exist, there would be another in its place (I’m from Alabama. Believe me, I can rattle off a dozen variations – but I digress). Black people use the “N” to take ownership of it and remove its power from the haters who would otherwise wield it for their purposes. That’s why they can say it and we can’t (I say “we” as I am a cracker, too). I see less racial division in the military because we’re bound together for a common goal. Still, we don’t pretend to be the same, but rather respect our differences. At the end of the day, we need to modify our hearts more than our vocabulary.
Criminal activities aside, James Brown had a tremendous impact on music. Maybe he wasn't a role model but Elvis was bat-shit crazy at his end, too.
Would you put James and Elvis on similar standing as far as global impact and the impact they had on their respective industries? Not being from the era that James was at his peak of popularity kind of leaves me at a disadvantage to some of our older members.
Most of what I know of James Brown is from Eddie Murphy's "James Brown Celebrity Hot Tub" skit. Actually, I just thought he had cool hair.
