The N-Word Is Not What’s Up

By Aisha Al-Muslim

Walking on the train station platform, as I passed a group of four young Hispanic males, all I could hear coming out their mouths was “nigga, nigga, nigga.” This prompted me to turn around to look at them, and to censure the angry words that were about to spill out my own mouth. I wanted to express how insensitive and insulting I felt they were.

I was shocked when I first heard the N-word used by blacks in America. But hearing it from my fellow Hispanics, I felt extremely insulted. I have always described myself as black by race, but Hispanic according to my birthplace, Panama, and my native language, Spanish.

What bothers me the most is that many dark-skinned Hispanics in the United States do not consider themselves black, because they feel that blacks are inferior to them.

Yet they use the word “nigga” so freely, as if they have a right to use it. Not even people who call themselves black should be using that powerful slur. I feel that Hispanics should know that the N-word is off-limits, because it is truly offensive. The term “nigger” is a racial slur used to refer to dark-skinned people of African ancestry.

Some people think that there is a meaningful difference between nigga and nigger because of their slight different spelling and pronunciation. To me there is no difference.

The pronunciation of a word does not change its historical meaning. Although nigger seems like a cognate of the Spanish word “negro,” meaning black, these two words do not mean the same thing.

Some Hispanics that use the N-word do not even know the history of the word and the history of blacks in the United States. Their excuse for the use of the word nigga is that it is unintentional prejudice. Maybe those Hispanics who use the word regularly think that they are not offending anyone, but they are offending people like me who feel disgusted by the use of the word.

Some blacks use the word as a term of endearment and familiarity, but they feel offended when they are referred to as a nigga by Caucasian people and other minorities. The Hispanic youth in New York City uses the word often. I hear it all the time. They use the word because they think that it is all right, since hip hop songs are filled with it.

Some critics believe that there is a double standard when blacks use the N-word and don’t allow others to use it. I agree. While some might argue that this word is not a racial slur when used by blacks, the fact that it becomes an insult when others use it — that’s what makes it a double-standard!

No one should used the N-word, period.

The fact is that Hispanics do not use racial terms to greet each other. Spic, an ethnic slur used to offend people of Latino or Hispanic descent, is a term that was first used by whites during the 1904 United States takeover of the Panama Canal. Migger is another term that is used to refer to Mexicans and Hispanics who “act” black.

Yet, Hispanics not only use the N-word to talk to each other, they also have Spanish words to negatively describe blacks such as prieto, chombo and chango, meaning monkey.

Ethnic slurs like the N-word should not be used by anyone because we live in a time when tolerance and respect are supposed to be universal.

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Originally published Spring 2008