CHAT: A real education was Re: CHAT: Re: Ebonic Christmas

On Thu, 13 Jan 2000, Ajin-Kwai wrote:

>First of all, it ain't 'nigger' (which is what non-blacks use to denigrate
>blacks), but 'nigga'.  And it really depends how it's used.  It can be
>just as offensive coming from a stuck-up, out-of-touch black as it can be
>from a white.  Or it could be a term of endearment on anybody's part.
Well, nigga is just a phonetic spelling of nigger. But I must say this
zone of the thread has been quite the education for me! I don't know
what to say - you all actually call each other niggers? JHC, I know
I'm probably as out of touch as anybody can be for living around DC;
but now that I am in touch, I think the experience is a dimming one.

I was listening to the radio last night when there was a segment on
the flying of the CSA's battle flag over South Carolina's Statehouse,
most curiously only since 1962.  This is seen by many American blacks
as a symbol par excellence of racism in the US. One caller (I think he
was black, but I don't know for sure) said, seriously, that blacks
ought to coopt this flag as their own symbol - hopefully with the
effect that the whites will give up flying it. On the surface this
seemed like a damned clever idea - but on a little deeper reflection
it seems stupid.

Same with using nigger. It's a dirty word, and the mouth that speaks
it (apart from illustratively) is dirty. Term of endearment? No
thanks.

Padraic.

>.yasmin.