Arielle Ketchum ‘20
Non-black people should not say the n-word. As a black person, it hurts me to hear the n-word coming out of other people’s mouths, because of what the word means and represents. Many people know that it is wrong for non-black people to say the n-word because this is what they have been taught. However, many of these same people don’t understand why. Last month, a non-black student used the n-word on social media. Following the student’s expulsion, discussions in some of my classes raised the question of “Why is the n-word such a big deal?”
The word has a complex history. For centuries, black people were often referred to as negroes. However, during slavery, “negro” transformed into the n-word. The name was purposefully pejorative, becoming a verbally abusive term for black slaves. To this day, it is used to shame people and remains a constant reminder of the history of slavery long after it was abolished. When people use the n-word, the treatment that African Americans suffered during slavery, including whipping, sexual abuse, mutilation, and branding, is once again thrust upon people whose families endured such pain. Even after the end of slavery in 1863, racism persisted during the Reconstruction and Jim Crow eras.
The Civil Rights Movement of 1965 sparked a great societal change in the treatment of black people. However, it failed to squelch racism entirely as discrimination endures even today while true equality is still in its infancy. The n-word is a painful reminder of the hundreds of years of slavery and maltreatment of African American people.
African American people have defused the power of the n-word by using it themselves, altering the spelling with an “a” instead of an “er”, and changing its meaning to become a term of endearment synonymous to “friend,” explaining why it is present in the lyrics of popular rap songs. It is difficult for some people to understand why black people can say this word, yet everyone else cannot. Ta-Nehisi Coates, cultural critic and reporter at Atlantic Monthly, believes that white people are brought up believing that “everything belongs to you.” However, some fail to see that black people go through life knowing that they do not have the same privilege due to the prejudice and racism still ingrained in this country. For example, black people cannot live without the fear of policemen or apply for a job without the fear that their name alone will prevent a call back.
“For white people, I think…not being able to use the [n-word] will be very insightful,” noted Coates in a recent interview. “This will give you just a little peek into the world of what it means to be black. Because to be black is to walk through the world and watch people doing things that you cannot do.”
Coates is explaining that even though black people have taken some power out of the n-word, it can never lose the violent and brutal history attached to it.
Non-black people using the n-word, especially white people, brings that pain to light.
So what are we as a community supposed to do in light of the recent incident that occurred here? On the surface, not much action seems to have been taken. “The n-word is said around the school much more often than teachers would like to think, and nothing effective has been done about it,” a non-black student of color told me recently.
Ayinde Tate, EA’s Director of Diversity and Inclusion, is doing a lot to bring about change. He is, for example, working with faculty, Black Student Union (BSU), and Vestry to educate the EA community across all three divisions on this word and other racial epithets. Although this is occurring, we must also educate ourselves. Posing sensitive questions to friends we feel comfortable with and researching online are both effective ways to educate ourselves on unfamiliar topics of diversity. Another action we can take is confronting racism, which is admittedly difficult but will help everyone in the end. Recent EA alumna Cerena Robertson ‘19 says, “I was afraid that being a black girl and checking people involved in racist situations would cause me to seem violent and rude because I feel kids at EA aren’t used to having their language checked.” As uncomfortable as it may be to confront racism directly or report it to a faculty member when it happens, doing so has the potential to positively change the EA community as a whole.