Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Compare and Contrast
The situation my friend was in is similar to Richard Wright's ' "The Ethics of Living Jim Crow". My friend was jumped by a bunch of black people for saying the word nigger on the streets. There is no more segregation, so what is the whole point of acting hostile now? Before, if they even acted with hostility towards the white folks who used the word nigger, they would be lynched. An example of where they didn't do anything when they heard the word would be: "Nigger, don't yuh like it?" He couldn't do anything because he was scared he would die. But if you were to look down the streets, you would see them use the word themselves. Now, if they feel such hostility towards somebody using the word, why do they use the word themselves? My friend used the word and got jumped by them, but when they use the word themselves, they're giving each other pounds. So it's a mystery where the hostility comes from. I understand that in the past there was segregation of whites and blacks. In that time period it is very easy to see where the hostility came from and towards whom. The only reason that they could not do anything is because of fear. If this is all stored up hostility, why was it not released when segregation finally ended? All this pent up anger keeps them going in and out of hostility problems. This leads into problems with racism and so forth. The stereotypes are still going on and more are getting added to them. Maybe they should have just forgotten about what happened to them with slavery and all that so the stereotypes would have not begun. It seems that each possible road that they could have taken would have had different results. More than likely the stereotypes would have still come. But it seems as if they have better results for now. The issue between my friend and the people who jumped him is different than what happened in the past. The white people were the ones who used nigger all the time. That is what makes this different; the issues involved two different groups. The issue of the past involved whites and blacks. The situation involving my friend was between blacks and Puerto Ricans. This means that since the situation of the past since segregation ended, the blacks have been angered. I'm not going to go rant more about the difference. If you wish to include the rant above, just reread it again.
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2 comments:
Name callings have differnet connotations and it depends the context in which you use a strong hurtful word. THis creates more violence and offence to many people even if it isnt ment to hurt someone
Good work Quilvio. So you feel that the difference between the situation with the word "nigger" now is different from 50 years ago because black people use that word with each other? This is an interesting argument, and one that has been ongoing for a number of years. What do you think of the fact that many black people use the word "nigga" as a way of reclaiming and redefining a term that has been made to degrade them? Or as a way of accepting themselves as the people they know they are, regardless of what others think of them?
The hard thing about this is that other groups of people, and not just white people, feel that they can also use the term now because black people use it. But for many black folk, the term "nigga" is for their use only... because it's a part of their experience, and no one else's.
What do you think of this? Do you think that the word "nigga" is the same as "nigger?" Do you think that word should lose its power to cause anger and violence because it's used by black people, without the same effects?
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