2008 Woodie Awards
Can you handle the "N" word challenge?
Issue date: 2/2/05 Section: Letters to the Editor
- Page 1 of 1
At the time this letter is being read it will be the beginning of Black History Month. I would like to issue a challenge to every person here on this "hill" we call Prairie View. The challenge is to go the whole month without using the word "nigger."
Unfortunately, I do have nothing to offer those who take up this challenge. Some may wonder why I have issued this statement. Simply put I hate this word. It seems that I hear it everywhere I go on campus, be it in the classroom, the hallways, or the MSC. What I do not understand is why so many black people continue to use this word. Some blacks use the excuse that we took the word from white people and made it our own, thus it is OK to say. This is not true!
Regardless of whether you say nigger or nigga it is still a racial slur. African Americans are the only group of people to take a racial slur and try to turn it into something positive. This confuses and upsets me a great deal. It seems that most blacks either do not understand the history behind this word, or worse- they do not care. When our parents and grandparents, as well as some of the faculty and staff here, were called this word it was not meant in a friendly way. When the slaves that worked the land that this campus is built on were called this word it was not a term of endearment, it was their name. In closing, I wish to say that this word should be done away with, and perhaps in some small way it will help to improve the black community.
Simon Williams
Unfortunately, I do have nothing to offer those who take up this challenge. Some may wonder why I have issued this statement. Simply put I hate this word. It seems that I hear it everywhere I go on campus, be it in the classroom, the hallways, or the MSC. What I do not understand is why so many black people continue to use this word. Some blacks use the excuse that we took the word from white people and made it our own, thus it is OK to say. This is not true!
Regardless of whether you say nigger or nigga it is still a racial slur. African Americans are the only group of people to take a racial slur and try to turn it into something positive. This confuses and upsets me a great deal. It seems that most blacks either do not understand the history behind this word, or worse- they do not care. When our parents and grandparents, as well as some of the faculty and staff here, were called this word it was not meant in a friendly way. When the slaves that worked the land that this campus is built on were called this word it was not a term of endearment, it was their name. In closing, I wish to say that this word should be done away with, and perhaps in some small way it will help to improve the black community.