So I'm pretty sure that everyone in general universally thinks the following:
- White people using the n-word is knowingly offensive
- Black people are allowed to use the n-word in whatever context they want and it is knowingly not offensive (I'm generalizing)
...in any normal social context, a white person using the n-word is knowingly using a word that is offensive to black people. It isn't a suppression of free speech that these social contracts exist around this word. You are free to say whatever word you like. But if you're white and you use that word in public, you MUST know that you're breaching these generally accepted facts of society. You cannot act surprised or upset if people get upset with you or offended.
Now here's a grey area that I don't think there's been any generally accepted conclusion:
- White people singing the n-word in a song
...I think contextually, it's understood that the word being regurgitated as part of a song isn't intended to really offend anyone, but IS a breach of the universally understood "white people using the n-word is offensive" thing above.
I'm genuinely interested in what black people think about this. Like if a white person is in their home or their car singing along to the lyrics, would that person be expected to censor themselves in private? Would you care if you knew that every single white person was in their home singing these lyrics which included the n-word?
...and if you don't care about them doing it in private, do you now care if they're doing it in public?
I think based on the reactions we see, the answer is at the VERY LEAST: yes, SOME people get offended.
If this is the case, than white people in general should either just censor themselves in public by default unless explicitly cleared to go ahead and sing it. That's the safest route to go. If you don't really know your audience and their views on this, it's best to just be cautious.
Being in a very public setting around strangers is not the time to test the waters on this.
I don't think any of these social contract things are inherently racist. Of course white people are ALLOWED to say the n-word. Someone who's saying "white people can't say the n-word" isn't literally saying that it's a criminal offense for white people to say the n-word. They're more saying "if white people say the n-word, it will offend me".
I understand this woman in the crowd probably didn't have time to really think all this through. There was a ton of emotion and social pressure in that situation, I can understand why she wouldn't be thinking clearly in this scenario, and would be too embarrassed to either attempt to censor herself or ask for permission. Of all the shit to get upset about, I don't think this ranks super high.
If Kendrick was being a bit more understanding, he'd let it all go and then make some little joke at the end like "that was great...but don't let me hear you saying that n-word anymore now that you're done!" and everyone would go about their lives.
...I've officially wrote way to fucking much about this.
