The "N" word is probably the most controversial word of our time and may even possibly have the most connotations of any other "label". The word has been deconstructed and reconstructed, has been silenced by some and has been voiced loudly by others, while prohibited to some, yet acceptable to others.
Writer Maya Angleou is offended by the word and any other pejorative term that has to do with dehumanizing or demeaning another human being. In an interview with the Academy of Achievement she said: "I will not sit in a group of black friends and hear racial pejoratives against whites. I will not hear "honky." I will not hear "Jap." I will not hear "kike." I will not hear "greaser." I will not hear "dago." I will not hear it. As soon as I hear it, I say, "Excuse me, I have to leave. Sorry." Or if it's in my home, I say, "You have to leave. I can't have that." And continues: "I know there are blacks who say, "I can use the N-word because I mean it endearingly." I don't believe that. I believe it is vulgar and dangerous, given from any mouth to any ear. I know that if poison is in a vial which says P-O-I-S-O-N and has a skull and the cross bones, that it is poison. But if you pour the same thing into Bavarian crystal it is still poison. So I think racism is vulgar any way you cut it."
Oprah is also known to vocally share this same perspective and challenged JayZ's use of it in his music. "When I hear the N-word, I still think about every black man who was lynched--and the N-word was the last thing he heard. So we'll just have to disagree about this," she told Jay-Z.
Jay-Z defended the use of the word in rap lyrics by saying: "It's just become part of the way we communicate. My generation hasn't had the same experience with that word that generations of people before us had. We weren't so close to the pain. So in our way, we disarmed the word. We took the fire pin out of the grenade."
Recently, though, the controversy of the word has been reignited when Mark Twain scholar and editor Alan Gribbin announced that a new version of Mark Twain's Huck Finn would omit the word 'nigger'. Gribbins defended his decision: "After a number of talks, I was sought out by local teachers, and to a person they said we would love to teach ('Tom Sawyer') and 'Huckleberry Finn,' but we feel we can't do it anymore. In the new classroom, it's really not acceptable." The word 'nigger', all 213 times, will be replaced by the word slave.
How do you feel about this? Should the book be changed? The language of the original text? Or should schools change their stance on banning the book? Listen to Whoopi Goldbergs thoughts on the issue.
