Humanity is made of people and that should be it, but it’s not. It is further dissected into many parts, such as race, religion, etcetera. The reason is for easy profiling. The police can easily catch a criminal if an adequate description is given. Disbursing a detailed information on the skin colour, accent, and cultural background to the relevant authorities will narrow the search party than just saying a human being committed a crime. Also, it can be argued that class segregation was thrown into the mix so resources are shared amongst a few. Whatever the motive is, we might never get it so we just live with it.
When people are bound together by historical similarities, they tend to stick to their ‘kind’ even if they will still relate with a much larger group. The gift of trust is first given to those we effectively communicate with before it’s carefully extended to whoever proves themselves worthy. When we are comfortable with someone, we don’t have to think critically about what we say because there’s little bother about being misunderstood. More so, with someone with a different background, one has to pick words masterfully, hence they risk a conflict.
The profiling of those with African linage as being aggressive might be due to a constant reminder of how history was unfair to them and how they had to pick pieces of cotton in the fields. Bygones are never 100 per cent if a lurking scar still tells a story. However, all that is in the past and everyone tries to move on or at least pretends to, else, the past gets the better of the present and future.
The N-Word has been a subject of debate and those without African heritage really think it’s a double standard for those with African ancestry to have the n-word exclusively to themselves. Feeling left out is quite understood but unfounded. Furthermore, if we go back to where it all started, we’ll realise that the word isn’t a complimentary word when it was invented by the masters of the slave trade. The n-word was uttered to make a slave feel small. But as time went on, the freeborn reinvented the word to ease the pain and memory associated with a word created to demean their race. And that makes the word off limits to anyone who doesn’t share such historical background.
To paint a clearer picture, let us assume a stranger calling someone they have nothing in common with an endearing name; weird, right? A mother can call her grown child a pet name, such as ‘honey’ and the child, albeit an adult may have no reason to react. But it will surely have a different taste when it comes from someone else’s mouth especially one with a history of conflict and oppression. The point to always note is that N-Word was coined from the word Negro. And by all means, it’s a racial slur—a tool of oppression. When said by any member of a member of African origin, it doesn’t carry the meaning or the memory it will come with if said by any other race, especially the race that fabricated it.
It is also imperative to state that not all from African roots use the word. It’s not a prize but a choice word earned through oppression, and its exclusivity lies with the victim of old who can also choose to discard it if they want. So to those feeling left out on what they feel is an urban word, the advice is to leave the word alone. Whether it ends with an ‘er’ or an ‘a’. There are so many words to explore so why use a word that will likely be consequential? The easiest way to warm up to someone is by understanding their struggles and sharing their pain. There is still a lot of racial discrimination in the workplace or racial profiling in society, and police brutality in multicultural cities to mention a few. The addressing of such antecedents should be the priorities of every race. If everyone can stand against racism and reduce it to its barest form, maybe the black community would give up the exclusive rights to the n-word. So till mentioning the n-word becomes oxygen to every race, all rights are still duly reserved.