N-word is not relative

Normally, I like Samuel L. Jackson. He appears to be a very hard-working actor in an industry that rewards sloth and zany antics. However, in an interview with Mean magazine's Eric Spitznagel, Jackson demonstrates that black America is as much to blame -- if not more -- for any racial divide that still exists in this country.

Said Jackson:

I use the word nigger every day, especially when I'm with my friends. We refer to each other that way; it's part of our culture. I grew up with that word, so I understand when they're just using it. ... Quentin Tarantino had a line in Pulp Fiction, "Does this look like dead nigger storage?" I told him, when you say nigger, N-I-G-G-E-R [at this point Jackson shudders and grimaces] it's like fingernails on a blackboard to black people. ... If you say nigga, N-I-G-G-A, it's a word we say all the time. It's a familiar, nonderogative term. But when I was a kid growing up in the South, I remember hearing white people use words like nigra, which is almost like negro. They used that word when they were trying to be proper and inoffensive. But nigra sounds just as bad as saying nigger.

What a load of cow manure!

There are so many things wrong with what Jackson said here, but I want to concentrate on two of them, dealing with his last comment first.
Jackson said he did not like the word nigra because it "sounds just as bad as saying nigger." It is this same kind of logic that back in 1999 cost a white mayoral staff member in Washington, D.C., David Howard, his job because he uttered the word niggardly in a private staff meeting. The word niggardly, by the way, has no etymological connection with the word nigger. It does not derive from the same root, nor does it mean anything at all relating to race. The word, according to Webster's New World Dictionary Third College Edition, means "stingy, miserly." The word has been used since the 1500s and has nothing to do with race. The only problem was, that some blacks, like Jackson, did not like the sound of the word niggardly.

I can't help but wonder if Mr. Howard would have been forced to resign for using a perfectly acceptable word if he were black. The point is, that was racial intolerance that went too far.

Clearly, Mr. Howard did not intend demean or offend anyone with his remarks. Much like the white folks that Jackson recalls who were using the word nigra as way, as Jackson admitted, "to be proper and inoffensive." Jackson's objection of the word nigra, then, is hypocritical. He sees no problems with blacks using the word because he knows they don't mean harm by it. Yet, when white folks use the word in a nonoffensive way, or even any word that sounds remotely like it, whether it is related or not, then Jackson is offended.

This is similar to the Don Imus affair. Had a black man used the term "nappy-headed hos," nobody would have given it a second thought. Heck, just listen to any rap song. These songs utter racial slur after racial slur (not to mention all the references to killing white people) and blacks are OK with it.

How strange.

If we are ever to tear down the racial wall dividing this country, then blacks will have to meet whites halfway. Blacks can't behave in a racially intolerant way and expect to be treated in a different manner. Nor can blacks use racial slurs in their everyday language and then be offended when whites think they can use the same words, even if it is with the same intent and manner as blacks use them.

We must use common sense.