Transcript
BROOKE GLADSTONE:
Probably the most profoundly ugly word in the history of racial strife in America is the N-word, and this fall it was invoked repeatedly by comedian Michael Richards during an on-stage flameout witnessed by the world via YouTube. Reverend Jesse Jackson called for a ban on a word, and comedian Damon Wayans was fined after using it more than 15 times in his act. He told the audience, "I'll be damned if the white man uses that word last."
WNYC radio rookie reporter Veralyn Williams offers this examination of the word. And, be warned, you'll hear it several times throughout her story.
VERALYN WILLIAMS:
It never fails. About three times a week I'm trying to read on the train, and a bunch of rowdy teens get on and mess with my concentration.
[TRAIN HUBBUB/TEENS]
What bothers me is not the fact that they're loud, because the train is always loud during rush hour, it's the fact that they're cursing up a storm and throwing the N-word around like it's nothing.
YOUNG MALE:
This nigga' was always pointing down at your feet--
VERALYN WILLIAMS:
My parents were raised in Sierra Leone and were stricter than a lot of Bronx parents. I never got those 200-dollar Jordan sneakers everyone was wearing, even though I begged for them. I'm not sure what goes on in other black families, but growing up in my house the N-word just wasn't used. Here's my mom:
VERALYN'S MOM:
You know, I can't even think of...it's not even part of my vocabulary. I can't think of a situation where I'd have to use that word. I can't. Even if I'm angry, and I'm cursing somebody out, that's not part of one of the words I would use. I would use other words but not that word. [VERALYN LAUGHING]
VERALYN WILLIAMS:
Last summer I was a counselor at a camp for kids who, like me, were born in West Africa.
BALU:
My name is Balu Fafanna.
VERALYN WILLIAMS:
This girl is basically me at her age.
BALU:
I'm seven years old!
VERALYN WILLIAMS:
And I'm gonna ask you a question, okay? Do you know the N-word?
BALU
No.
VERALYN WILLIAMS:
Do you know what I'm talkin' about when I say the N-word?
BALU
N--no.
VERALYN WILLIAMS:
All right, if I say the word--this is the only time you can use it, okay? [LAUGHS] Do you know the word "nigger"?
BALU
Yes.
VERALYN WILLIAMS:
Where do you hear this word?
BALU:
I hear it around the street and from gangsters.
VERALYN WILLIAMS:
Describe what a gangster is.
BALU:
A gangsta, to me, is a man or boy who puts their pants down and shows their boxers and, and smokes, and then they get crazy, and then...they start stealing.
VERALYN WILLIAMS:
I used to feel the same exact way. But then, I entered the real world, where not everyone grew up in my house. My ex-boyfriend uses the word all the time.
DAVID (ON TAPE):
My name is David.
[VERALYN LAUGHING]
My friends call me Scrooge.
VERALYN WILLIAMS:
I recently came across this old interview of him I did for another story.
DAVID (ON TAPE):
A shout out to all the drunk niggers out there--
[VERALYN LAUGHS]
VERALYN WILLIAMS (ON TAPE):
All right, so--
VERALYN WILLIAMS:
I was not surprised to hear him say the word. But I was shocked to hear what came on the tape.
VERALYN WILLIAMS (ON TAPE):
Is it okay--well, if you had a daughter, would you let her go out with a older nigga' or go out with a guy--
VERALYN WILLIAMS:
There it was. I said the word "nigger." And I knew he'd get what I meant by saying it: a guy you wouldn't want your daughter to go out with. I know I used to say the word from time to time, but realizing I said it on tape, that's embarrassing.
To me, whether it's nig-ga or nig-ger, it represents hatred and makes me think of a person who is uneducated, lazy and basically good for nothing. Yet, I still said it. I was in a comfort zone, talking to David, and it just slipped out. And I am not the only one who says the word without thinking.
MAN ON STREET:
It's a messed up word. It shouldn't be used. It shouldn't be used by nobody.
VERALYN WILLIAMS:
Do you use the word?
MAN ON STREET:
Sometime, yeah. I ain't gonna lie.
VERALYN WILLIAMS:
Why do you use the word?
MAN ON STREET:
I don't know, you know, just--niggers use it in the hood all the time. Nigga, what's up? You know what I mean?
VERALYN WILLIAMS:
Not everyone is conflicted though. I went to Harlem to ask people if they use the word. And most of them they had no problem with it because they feel the meaning has changed.
MAN ON STREET:
Hello, can I offer you a dental cleaning today?
VERALYN WILLIAMS:
[LAUGHING] I was stopped by this guy, trying to give me a free teeth cleaning in one of those dental vans. Can I interview you on the N-word?
MAN:
On the N-word?
VERALYN WILLIAMS:
Yes.
MAN:
Okay. Sure.
VERALYN WILLIAMS:
Do you use the N-word?
MAN:
All the time, nigga! No, I'm--
[LAUGHTER]
I think it's just something that black people ought to be able to say, because we use it, not to bring each other down, but to let each other know how far we came and where we came from and what we went through!
VERALYN WILLIAMS:
Another guy actually said he'd be mad if someone told him he couldn't use the word.
Why would you be mad at that?
MAN
'Cause I'm a nigga myself.
VERALYN WILLIAMS:
You identify yourself as a nigger?
MAN
Yes.
VERALYN WILLIAMS:
Why?
MAN
'Cause I'm a nigga. Can't help it.
VERALYN WILLIAMS:
So give me some characteristics of a nigger? Like, what do you think a nigger is?
MAN
People that rob people.
VERALYN WILLIAMS:
So you identify yourself as a--somebody that robs somebody?
MAN
Something like that.
VERALYN WILLIAMS:
I couldn't believe it, 2006 and he's taking pride in a word that even to him means being a criminal? Maybe he's thinking, you can't hurt me by calling me that, if I already did it myself. But I think he's just giving himself a free pass to be ignorant.
I was talking to my friend Dre Obe. He's the editor of the Shield Magazine at my school, Hunter College. We were discussing how words can dehumanize, and he quoted a friend who used to be in a gang.
DRE OBE:
He was saying it took more energy--like when you're saying, okay, I'm gonna kill this nigga, I'm gonna kill this nigga, like you didn't think anything about it. It was like "nigga" became that negative thing. He said, but when you started to think about it, he said, if I was gonna say I'm gonna kill my brother, I'm gonna kill that brother, they would have thought more about it.
VERALYN WILLIAMS:
To me, that logic is one of the reasons slavery existed in this country for so long. Black people weren't considered human beings; they were niggers, and that made it a lot easier to treat them like animals.
One thing almost everyone I talked to said is that it's never acceptable for white people to use the N-word.
MAN:
I think that word has no power, unless you use it in a derogatory way.
VERALYN WILLIAMS:
I was talking to this guy near Wall Street.
MAN:
I'm white, and I have no problem saying, oh come on, you know you're my--you know you're my nigger, just like that! I've said it before, and I'll continue to say it. If somebody African American has a problem with it, they don't obviously live where I live and they don't know who my friends are, who I date. Words can only hurt if you let them. It's cliche-ish and corny, but it's true.
VERALYN WILLIAMS:
Not when a word has history. I did feel way more offended hearing a white guy say the word and disregard that history. But playing devil's advocate, you cannot blame him if growing up he heard "nigger" being thrown around in the music he listened to and from his friends yelling on the subway.
We can't have it both ways. Either we're honoring the history, or we're not. As for me, I'm trying not to use the word at all anymore. For WNYC, I'm Rookie Reporter Veralyn Williams.
[MUSIC]
BROOKE GLADSTONE:
Veralyn Williams reported this piece as one of WNYC's Radio Rookies, a program that teaches teenagers how to report for the radio. To learn more, go to WNYC.org.
BOB GARFIELD:
Coming up, how Charlie Brown, Rudolph and the Grinch Stole Christmas--TV.
BROOKE GLADSTONE:
This is On the Media, from NPR.