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A New Term to Replace the "N-Word"

By Kai Beasley
Black College Wire

Kai Beasley

One of the best ideas I’ve heard for fighting racism in America came from the small Texas town of Brazoria.

It was Mayor Ken Corley who decided to take a bold step toward achieving racial equality by proposing to make the N-word illegal. Not surprisingly, this proposal was met with a great deal of protest and eventually was withdrawn. Attendance at the Brazoria town hall meeting was so huge that it had to be moved outside for a more inclusive discussion.

The arguments against outlawing the word were pretty routine. There was the argument for free speech, and the typical, “If we can’t call them nigger, then they can’t call us cracker, or honky or Republican (the last one being the most offensive)!”

I saw the report on CNN and was amazed at how using the N-word actually brought black and white Brazoria together.

There were white people who thought that outlawing the N-word was simply unfair. That’s understandable, right? I mean, if they can’t call black people by the N-word, then they would have to go through months of research, laboratory hours and red tape to find a new word to insult us with.

And then, of course, some black people objected to making the word illegal. And that’s understandable, right? I mean, of course one could see that if . . . WHAT?!?!? (cue record- scratch sound effect). Black people objected to making the N-word illegal? Why? This word has been used for hundreds of years to demean, embarrass and dehumanize. It has been the cornerstone of the house that lynching, racial violence and prejudice built. It was often the last thing heard between the short drop and the quick stop. Hold your Doritos here. Maybe I’m just not seeing this whole thing right.

Brian C. Browley/the Meter

You know what? Now that I think about it, I am beginning to understand why African Americans would object to getting rid of arguably the worst word in the English language. Allow me to, as the kids say these days, “break it down for you.”

African Americans have struggled, and fought and in many cases been victorious over racism, prejudice and a system that has been set up specifically for nonwhites to fail. And now Mayor Corley of Brazoria, Texas, wants to outlaw the N-word? Who would do such a thing? Is he thinking that we put in all this hard work and pain so that we would not be discriminated against at all? Does he think that we want to be completely successful in stomping out racist sentiments in America? Well, if you think that, Mayor Corley, you’re wrong — dead wrong.

Now does that argument sound stupid? 'Course it does!

Some of Brazoria’s black folks raised the argument that, “I use the word, so if you’re going to outlaw it, then I’m gonna be the first one you arrest.” My opinion? You should be arrested for allowing your face to be associated with that comment on national television. Another argument sounded like, “These young kids out here, they use it as slang, it’s cool, it doesn’t mean anything.” My opinion? Tell me that it doesn’t mean anything the next time a white person calls you nigger. There was another argument, but it came from a guy with a torch in one hand and a pitchfork in the other. He was yelling something about having to kill a beast that lives in some castle on the hillside (I think he was at the wrong meeting).

But I ask you, should we really be the ones going on record in protest of outlawing such a potent tool of racism? Are we looking for an excuse to keep racism alive? I mean, in this instance the system was giving us a freebie. It never does that!

Anyway, I’m just one man. I could be wrong. Maybe we need to hold on to words whose sole purpose is to dehumanize an entire race of people. I mean if we were to get rid of words like that, we would just have one less thing to worry about right? Apparently, according to some residents of Brazoria, that’s no good.

So if we are in need of such words, at least look at the situation logically. The N-word has gained a lot of bad press lately — gee, it’s been about what, 400 years or so, give or take? Because the media have joined in giving the N-word such a bad rap (mainly Paula Zahn . . . what was she thinking?) we should let the N-word go, and find another one. I think that’s a good idea. OK, what can we use?

Let’s see, it should probably be something that rolls off the tongue quite nicely. Like, umm . . . floopa? Let’s try it. “What’s up, my floopa!?” No, I don’t like that.

What about “juba?” Let’s try that. “Juba, please!” I think that works, it’s not as bad because it has no history, and on top of that, if we use “juba” in place of the N-word, we can completely do away with the N-word. Of course this is all preliminary, and if anyone else has any suggestions, I am completely open to them.

Kai Beasley is a senior at Emory University who writes a weekly column for the Villanovan at Villanova University. To comment, e-mail [email protected]

Posted March 5, 2007