[wordup] Niggers, Old and New

[Adam Shand]

on the way home from work yesterday i was listing to "all things
considered" on npr and they were interview a man who wrote a book on the
history of the word nigger.  i love these little moments of
syncronicity.

Via: rebecca <rebecca at wetafx.co.nz>
From: http://www.citypaper.com/current/feature2.html

Niggers, Old and New

Did Sept. 11 Make Being Black Any Different?

By Keith A. Owens
So are Arabs the new niggers?

Here's why I'm asking. A few weeks ago I was in this club way out in the
Detroit suburbs. As is often the case, my bandmates and I were the only
black faces in the whole place. During a break some of us were sitting
at a table together, running our mouths about whatever, when this guy
walks up with a big smile and invites himself into the conversation.
After introducing himself, he says he likes the music. We all smile and
tell him thanks. Pretty soon he sits down and we get to talking about
this and that, just making conversation.

Then the small talk comes to an end. The guy leans forward just a bit
across the table, smile still in place, and asks us this question. He
wants to know if we as black folks feel more relieved and less under the
gun after the Sept. 11 tragedy because now the pressure is off us and on
the Arabs. In other words, are Arabs the new niggers?

I suppose the implied follow-up question was whether or not black folks
feel more like full-fledged Americans now that we can all wrap ourselves
in the stars and stripes with everyone else. Since the new niggers are
in town, we have been promoted up the ladder to more-favored-resident
status.

Before I try to tackle that question--because I'm not so sure any of us
gave the man a really honest answer that evening--let me deal briefly
with my use of the word "nigger." It's not that I don't know the word is
loaded. At a couple of newspapers where I used to work it nearly
required an act of Congress for the word to be allowed to appear on the
page. "Racial slur" was the preferred term. I think that was because the
editors figured everyone would know what slur was being referred to and
that was good enough. I can understand that, and I know firsthand, as
all black people do, how hurtful and rage-inspiring the word can be. But
I also know that it doesn't make any sense to run and hide under a table
every time a bad word is uttered. The only way to deal with words is to
deal with them up close and personal. Besides, nobody has ever called me
a racial slur, but I've been called nigger plenty of times by both
blacks and whites alike.

Now back to the question. Most people know that black folks were the
first ones to be called niggers in America by ignorant whites. More than
200 years later the word still has power, but it has been co-opted by
some blacks to use among themselves. There's a school of thought that
says when black folks call each other nigger it takes the sting out of
it, but not everyone attended that school.

There's another way of thinking that says that the members of whichever
racial and/or ethnic group is currently most despised in America are the
niggers. When you broaden the scope of the term like that, then just
about every immigrant who ever believed the Statue of Liberty really was
beckoning to him or her has been a nigger at some time or another. Call
it Uncle Sam's initiation fee. However, I think it's safe to say that no
other group has had the perverse privilege of being saddled with the
term longer than African-Americans. Maybe that's because the word was
developed as something special just for us.

Gee.

Anyway, since a particular group of Arabs are responsible for what
happened on Sept. 11, they are all now on the receiving end of some
pretty rough treatment here in America. In November the Justice
Department announced plans to interview 5,000 young male foreigners from
the Middle East and countries where terrorists are known to operate.
Federal agents were told to work with local and state law-enforcement
agencies to find people for questioning. Arab-Americans were "invited"
to show up for interviews. Anti-Arab and anti-Muslim sentiment in
America has shot up like a fever. To be an Arab in America today is to
be under suspicion.

But are Arabs the new niggers?

I remember during Thanksgiving dinner when my brother-in-law, who owns
his own construction company, joked about how nice white folks are to
him now when he gets on an elevator. White women don't clutch their
purses and men want to shake his hand. "They know I'm not going to blow
anything up," he said.

In other words, they were no longer worried about him because suddenly
he was an American just like them. All it took was a war against another
group of dark-skinned people who have issues with America. That my
brother-in-law is one of the most respected business people in the city
in which he lives never mattered to the folks who only judged him by his
skin color. But after the attack, all that mattered was that he wasn't
wearing a turban.

If he didn't know any better my brother-in-law would have made the
mistake of thinking that he had finally arrived. He was now on the good
list. Screw those Arabs. Hell, they don't like black folks anyway. After
all this time of being given the nigger treatment, isn't it good to see
someone else catch a few licks? And don't they deserve it?

But here's the thing: If the Arabs are the new niggers, then are we
crazy enough to believe that America is now a better place to live for
the "former niggers"? And who will the next niggers be? Is this how to
move ahead in America? Just keep waiting for the next group of despised
folks to arrive so the formerly despised can use their necks as a step
up toward the American dream? Just how ridiculous is this going to get?

No. The Arabs aren't the new niggers because the former niggers were
never niggers to begin with.

Game over. Turn the page.

--
Keith A. Owens is a Detroit-area freelance writer and musician. This
piece initially appeared in the Detroit alternative newsweekly Metro
Times.