ANOTHER ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN THE ‘N’ WORD
A few nights ago after the Clippers and Thunder NBA basketball game, in a fit of anger Clipper forward Matt Barnes sent out a tweet using the “N” word, which instantly rocked the media world. Once again the dreaded “N” word had been dropped. So let me explain again about that word.
In my novel THE DAUGHTERS OF JOE STUBBS, a black pastor, who conducts weekly poetry and rap music workshops for young people in his church, says when speaking of the “N” word: “When a black mother calls her children to come in for dinner, and says, ‘You little n…ers march upstairs and wash your hands before sitting down at the table,’ the term is said with love and tenderness. When a young black woman says about a black man she finds attractive, ‘That's one good-looking n…er,’ it's a remark of aesthetic approval. When a black member of the audience says to his friend sitting next to him, ‘That funny little n…er up there really cracks me up!’ he's bestowing praise on the black comic up on the stage. And when two black men square off in anger and one says, ‘N…er, you better get out of my face!’ this signifies a danger that these two men are about to fight. The same word, with a hundred different meanings. But over history when a white person uses that word, there’s only one meaning, and we all know what that meaning is. And I think most decent white people realize this. Thus the "N" word.”
Will Gibson, Novelist
http://www.amazon.com/Will-Gibson/e/B008TE5ZR2/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1