That Persistent N-Word

Interestingly, the NAACP today held a funeral today for the word racially-charged "n-word". According to the AP:

Hundreds of onlookers cheered Monday afternoon as the NAACP put to rest a long-standing expression of racism by holding a public burial for the N-word during its annual convention.

If it were only so easy. No matter how well-intentioned this symbolic event was, it most assuredly will not put that expression of racism to rest.

 

Ironically, part of the reason it won't is because many blacks - rappers, gang members and others - have adopted the word as a term of endearment or comaraderie. As long as blacks use the term, no matter the context, bigoted whites will feel liberated to continue their use of the terms as well.

 

If the word is so vile it needs buried, perhaps black entertainers and others who use the term will listen to Kurtis Blow:

Minister and rap icon Kurtis Blow called for people, especially young people, to stop buying music by artists who use offensive language.

"They wouldn't make rap songs if you didn't buy them. Stop supporting the stuff you don't want to hear," said Blow, who is credited with helping create the genre's popularity in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

"I've never used the N-word and I've recorded over 150 rap songs. I've never used profanity. It's possible you can use hip-hop and not offend anyone."

Tiffany Twilley, a resident of Detroit, said about the burial ceremony:

"This is a great start. `We need to continue to change the mentality of our people. It may take a generation, but it's definitely the movement we have to take."

I think the real challenge that will lead to positive change is to neuter terms like the "n-word". Only then will those words not have the potency that makes racially-charged terms powerful. Insulating one's self from the realities in society - such as the reality that the n-word will never go away - is a fool's errand.