My friends and I got asked "why can black people say the N word but white people can't"

This is interesting... I find that strange as well. Not because I want to be allowed to use the word. lol but more because I don't understand how it can be a term of endearment and also slanderous/racist at the same time?

I suppose that's a similar argument, though, to women calling each other "bitches" as a term of endearment, which I also completely don't understand... lol

 

Huh, interesting. I can't say I disagree with that. Insightful Thanks for expanding on the reason behind it.

In some ways, I think it can have the opposite effect. I mean, I don't have many black friends, so I'm not really super familiar with that particular debate, but I think in general, using negative words in a positive way can kind of... desensitize the word, in a way? Which, in the way you described, I suppose can be a positive thing, but it can also be negative, especially across cultures or generations that might not understand the endearment.

But that's a really interesting thought to ponder... I've always believed words have a lot of power, but I've never really pondered the statement "People give words power." That's totally true! You've kinda blown my mind. haha that's one for the quote books, for sure. Thanks for the brain food

 

Yeah, I have heard his before. I don't buy it, frankly. When you speak a word, how are people supposed to know how it is spelled when it sounds identical. I could call you a nigger and when challenged I could say it was with an 'a', not an 'er'.

 

That's just semantics. Personally, I would never call anyone a nigger/nigga! Here's another: Your skin is brown, right? So, why is it wrong to say you are coloured, when it is cool to talk about "people of colour"? It's just semantics!

 

I remember South Park said something about this. If I'm not mistaken the final conclusion is that not black people will never understand why black people get offended if people of other faces call them like that. I agree with that, I cant fully understand why they get offended, but maybe I need to spend one day on their shoes to start getting it.

Some black dudes have called me "their nigga", and that's funny because I take it as a compliment, like if they accept me in their social circle. Its also funny 'cause Im pale AF.

 

That's me

 

I didnt know that guy, he's hillarious.
Here's a clip with Bill Burr:

 

I accept the notion that in time, a hurtful word can become innocuous or even a term of endearment. And I can accept the notion that <i>how</i> a word is used makes a huge difference. Lots of words we use today, that seem pretty innocuous, were once insulting terms. "Cops" comes to mind, although I don't know for sure that that term was ever derogatory. I've heard people use terms like "mick" and "kraut" to describe themselves, not others; and as a Catholic, I know many fellow Catholics who are happy to apply terms like "Mackerel snappers," "papists" and "Romanism" to themselves, even though they were meant as derogatory.

But that's not quite the same as saying that the rules are different purely because of race: that your skin color determines whether you get to say a word or not. I think that's bogus.

For one reason, what does "race" even mean? I happen to know my genealogy, so it's fair to say I'm quite white, based on my known ancestors. But for all I do know about my family history, there is plenty I don't know. My great-grandmother is a mystery. If she was black, or half-black (who knows), that makes me at least a little black. And most people really don't know that much about their history even that far back. If it turned out I was, say, 1/8 or 1/16 black, does that give me permission to use the n-word, say 12% of the time? President Obama, as we all know, is half white; does he only get to use the n-word half the time?

Above all, a rule like this divides people. Yes, there are real divisions in our world, and we do need to address them. But there is a world of difference between devoting energy to breaking those divisions down, versus working to sustain and defend those divisions. We might recall that when Dr. Martin Luther King said: "I dream of a day when my four children will be judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin," there were both whites and blacks who didn't like the implications of that. And it's still true today.

 

Funny story. I play basketball with a bunch of black guys, a few white guys, and a bunch of Asians. The white kids and the Asians freely use the word the way blacks use it (as a term of endearment) It's generally accepted in our small basketball circle. Well, one day one of the white guys - who is a total wigger - just throws it in casually in conversation in front of 4 or 5 of the brothas. And they just stare at him, looking like they were about to kick his ass. Then they realized he was a wigger (loved rap, spoke ebonics, thought he was "down with tha hood") and just sort of laughed.

 

Because of the huge agenda to upset culture, promote blacks over everyone else (while simultaneously degrading them), ...and to create double standards that fuel endless racial strife.

My honest answer. There is no real reason. It just is.

 

I think for a white person to call a black person nigger or nigga is just childish just as you don't call a white person a cracka or whatever the fuck they call it just respect people for who they are not for how they look.

 

Humans are virtually the same genetically, regardless of skin color. Many, myself included, believe the term "race" is an obsolete word. It exists as nothing more than to divide us.