Nigga, Please!

Since word has gotten out that the Rev. Jesse Jackson not only verbalized his wish to emasculate Senator Barack Obama but also used the n-word, there's been a big to-do about who can and who can't use the n-word. I'm going to make my point about who can and can't use the word, and you should be able to follow.

First off, no, white people rarely if ever have a good reason to use the word. I don't care if you're singing along to your favorite rap artist. It's a no-no. If you wanna use it in the privacy of your own home and/or car, help yourself. No one can stop you. Otherwise, you cannot use the word. Period. Exclamation point.

And I hear you crying "Wah, wah! It's not fair, no1kstate! It's not fair that I can't use the word just because of the color of my skin." Wah, wah, wah! Take it to your founding fathers. The history behind the word makes it impossible for white people to use it in an "okay" manner. That's just the truth. Your cries of double standard are accurate but futile. Of course there's a double standard. African Americans aren't the ones who used the n-word to subjugate and dehumanize an entire race of people. So what if you don't like it?

But if that's still disagreeable to you, let me put it to you like this. I'm sure you have siblings and/or cousins you tease but will protect from being teased by anyone else? The same idea of a family dynamic is also at work.

Here's my other point, Rev. Jackson notwithstanding, black people don't go around all the time calling each other "nigga." Most African Americans probably don't even use the word. Those who do use it in private, just like I'm telling white people to use it if they must.

So what's the hoopla really about? I'll tell you. It's about the fact that white Americans are so privileged that the notion that they can't use a word, and especially because they're white, just doesn't sit well. In our homes and neighborhoods, a good number of African Americans do speak Ebonic, which some linguist suggest is a language apart from English. But we can't speak Ebonic in the public sphere, otherwise we'll be assumed not as smart as others. Even though Ebonic offers a superior way of using verbs to express precisely what a person is doing and when. Even though mainstream American routinely takes and steals from Ebonic those phrases and terms it likes and rejects the rest as inferior. Even though it seems to me that if you can't tell the difference between, "She (is) talking" and, "She be talking," the lack of intellect would seem to be on your part, not the speaker's.

And you're crying about a single word that most black folk don't use anyway?

So, who uses this n-word so pervasively? Well, it's the "low class" of our community who use the word most often. Our "low class" is equivalent to white America's "white trash" - the term cuts across economic groups. And even though they use the word publicly, this "public" space is usually all-black, which lends itself to a sense of privacy. Meaning a good number of "low class" blacks know not to use it in the presence of other ethnic groups. Mostly because these other ethnic groups will want to use it, too.

Yes, rappers use it. But they mostly use it to sell albums, 80% of which are purchased by white boys, or rather, young white males. (And I won't even get into why white teenage boys are drawn to rap.) They use it in the same way network TV uses violence and sex. Watching CSI: doesn't giving you license to kill. Listening to rap (as opposed to hip hop) doesn't give you license to use the n-word.

Morevoer the debate itself is based on a false premise: the notion that African Americans use the n-word on an hourly basis. Like I said, most black people don't use the word. Our "low class" members use the word. Our teenage children in certain economically depressed neighborhoods use the word. The community at large doesn't use the word. The notion that it's okay when a black person uses the word is mostly myth. Most black adults will chastise most black children for using the word. And with the exception of rappers, black folks don't use the word in earshot of white people.

So, this myth is based upon the actions of a relative few, and the "lowest" few at that. That's racist in and of itself. Do you know of any other group whose popularly known culture is defined by its adolescent males? And by "popular," I mean widely accepted as "truth"; not "popular" as it Justin Timberlake. With the possible exception of Latinos, every other group's popular culture is defined by its adult males. (Yes, that does highlight pervasive sexism as well as racism.) And not the worst of its adult males, but the best. I mean, do you know of anyone who's swearing never again to vote a white man for president because W Bush has been such a disaster? No. Millions won't vote for McCain because he supports many of Bush's policies, not because he's a white male and Bush has ruined it for all white men. What white man has been denied opportunity because of Rush Limbaugh or Bill Bennet or Pat Buchanan, one of which has a drug problem, all of which are demonstrably racist and well employed?

In essense, this argument boils down to a Buchanan type wanting to same "privileges" as the rappers he so decries. Ironic, isn't it?

So, no, random white person, you don't get to use the n-word. And rest assured, I don't, either.

The whole ordeal is Fox's shameful way of attacking and undermining Rev. Jackson's truthtelling, however an imperfect vessel he may be.