{"id":8318,"date":"2023-05-18T12:49:43","date_gmt":"2023-05-18T12:49:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=8318"},"modified":"2023-05-18T12:49:43","modified_gmt":"2023-05-18T12:49:43","slug":"a-word-about-our-friend-the-n-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2023\/05\/18\/a-word-about-our-friend-the-n-word\/","title":{"rendered":"A Word about Our Friend \u2026 the \u201cN\u201d Word"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Lafe Tolliver<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Lafe Tolliver, Esq<\/strong><\/em>
\nGuest Column<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Yeah, yeah. I played the Twitter excerpt of the Oakland A\u2019s baseball color announcer using the \u201cN\u201d word when he was gushing about going to the Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Kansas.<\/p>\n

Truth be told, the announcer was quite smooth and suave when that \u201cN\u201d word rolled off his tongue as honey touching a hot spoon. No delay. No premeditation. No pursed lips\u2026just,\u00a0\u201cN\u201d!<\/p>\n

And what makes this clip even more tragic is that his co-anchor kept bopping to the sound of the \u201cN\u201d word and did not so much as miss an eye blink when his best bud said it.<\/p>\n

It was as if everyone were entirely at ease with swinging the \u201cN\u201d word about as a batter would be with an inside fast ball. Americana as blueberry pie. As easy as saying, \u201cWe are going to \u201cDisneyland!\u201d<\/p>\n

No effort to conceal. No attempt to say, \u201cNegro.\u201d Just an unabashed joy of uttering the \u201cN\u201d word with full, unbridled freedom of speech to say what is in your heart of hearts.<\/p>\n

Of course, the now embarrassed sports announcer made a belated public apology and was almost willing to wear a hair shirt and thorns in his pants if that what it took to convey his\u00a0shame and sorrow of uttering the \u201cN\u201d word.<\/p>\n

I am thinking that the now mortified sportscaster was so flummoxed in describing his visit to the museum that he got tongue tied in describing the trip that he unintentionally (?) allowed the \u201cN\u201d word to substitute for the word, Negro.<\/p>\n

Lest we forget, America was steeped and boiled and drenched and marinated in using derogatory words describing Black people going back hundreds of years; and so to ask someone to deny their native upbringing and to eschew the twisted and denigrated history of Black people specifically formulated and approved by White society, is a big ask.<\/p>\n

We still get regular media stories of White people caught using the \u201cN\u201d word because they grew up with it like eating Cream of Wheat or Aunt Jemima pancakes or Uncle Ben\u2019s Rice.<\/p>\n

Some things are just soooo good that it is hard to leave them alone!<\/p>\n

The \u201cN\u201d word is a diehard word for White America. It invokes pleasant memories of Mammies tending spoiled White kids. It tells stories of brave White men lynching Black people because they simply imagined that they were up to no good.<\/p>\n

The \u201cN\u201d word is an astute and stern historian. It gathers stories, real or imagined about the manner and means by which White people, with total freedom, could with a single word assign death or life to Black people\u2026and to top it off, you said \u201cN!\u201d when you wanted to place an exclamation point on the alleged depravity of Black people.<\/p>\n

Need a shorthand word for a Black man accused of being a thief or being lazy or being dirty or being a criminal? Simple. Just say \u201cN!\u201d loud and hard, and all is understood. No need for long explanations of what happened or why it happened.<\/p>\n

Just say, the \u201cN\u201d did it and all will be right with the world. You have vanquished that dark dangerous foe and you have exalted yourself and have restored equilibrium to society.<\/p>\n

The \u201cN\u201d word is nigh encyclopedic in that you can find almost anything you want when you\u00a0use it. Just by using it with a certain tone, swagger, sneer or a hostile eye glance, the \u201cN\u201d word will not fail you.<\/p>\n

Even if you are a bumbler of using the King\u2019s English and cannot articulate what is what, when all is lost, simply say, \u201cN!\u201d and what is missing in your explanation will be quickly filled in by the listener and you have just made a linkage with the past and the present.<\/p>\n

What a powerful word! Just one word, simple in pronunciation, has defined an entire population of people whose only \u201csin\u201d is that they were longingly kissed by the sun.<\/p>\n

But. Let\u2019s be real for a moment.<\/p>\n

When Black people toss around the \u201cN\u201d word as if it is a Frisbee or casually say it in public to another Black person and in earshot of White people, don\u2019t think for a minute that such an exchange is not being recorded in their minds as: \u201cHey, if they don\u2019t mind it, why should I be held to account for using it?\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cN\u201d word has no uncles, nieces, sisters, or brothers. It is a family pariah who steals from Grandma\u2019s secret cookie jar of money as well as punches and brutalize a man or a woman for no more than just, \u201cbeing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t lapse into some fakery that somehow the \u201cN\u201d word tripping off the lips of a Black person makes it antiseptic, cool, or hip.<\/p>\n

The \u201cN\u201d word is just as biting, cutting, harmful, belittling and degenerate coming from the tongue of a Black person or a White person.<\/p>\n

For those who extol rappers, thugs, or miscreants who use the \u201cN\u201d word as a means of<\/p>\n

conversation in song, verse, or rap as if it is a heroic word, they are wrong. They are \u201cN***a\u201d wrong! They are not cultural warriors or astute poets or bards telling a meaningful story.<\/p>\n

When people say, \u201cThat\u2019s my N***a\u201d or \u201cN***a\u201d be cool or \u201cN\u201d this or \u201cN\u201d that, they are not your friend. They are either woefully ignorant of the history of the word or they have a very low opinion of you and of themselves.<\/p>\n

No. You cannot rehabilitate the word, \u201cN.\u201d It is beyond redemption both in this life and the life to come. Nothing good or productive can come from its usage except division, irritation or anger.<\/p>\n

How do you restore salt that has lost it saltiness? How do you unprick a balloon? How do you call back a speeding bullet?<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t. You can\u2019t.<\/p>\n

People who are unrepentant when using the \u201cN\u201d word, need to know their transgression and if they continue, you need to leave the premises. Your character is more important than being\u00a0around people who diss you when they use the \u201cN\u201d word or worse yet, call you a \u201cN!\u201d<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t let your spirit be polluted with such vileness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Contact Lafe Tolliver at tolliver@juno.com<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lafe Tolliver, Esq Guest Column Yeah, yeah. I played the Twitter excerpt of the Oakland A\u2019s baseball color announcer using the \u201cN\u201d word when he was gushing about going to the Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Kansas. Truth be told, the announcer was quite smooth and suave when that \u201cN\u201d word rolled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,18],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[175],"class_list":["post-8318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial-opinion","category-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8318"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8319,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8318\/revisions\/8319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8318"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=8318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}