For clarification, I'm white. Not that I think that should matter.
I get the conversation around the word is controversial and deeply seeded into some absolutely horrifying history of slavery and racism.
But isn't the fact an entire "race" of people is completely discluded from the discussion of if it's okay to say the word in fact just... and I hate saying this - exactly what racism is? Excluding people from the conversation because of the color of their skin. The word is either okay to say, or it's not okay to say it.
The color of your skin really, REALLY, shouldn't matter, since teh entire point is to eliminate racism on teh whole - and you can't do that if you'r still using someone's skin color to frame a conversation around a term. IMHO, it's simply not okay for anyone to say it. Period. Regardless of the reasoning it was adopted.
If it's not okay for a person of x skin color to say it, it's honestly not okay for anyone to say it all. Isn't this is the entire point of trying to get rid of racism? You can't fight racism by then segmenting people by the color of their skin when it comes to a conversation.
Dunno, just my two cents. I am sure I will get roasted for this. And then of course we're expected to have the youth understand because it they hear it all the time at school from some people who think it's okay to toss it around because of their skin color. I am expected to have my kids understand when I explain why it's wrong and yada yada, and then try to explain tot hem why it's okay for them without trying to make it look like some racist stuff.
Rock and a hard place. The term should be banished from everyone's vocabulary.
Which race was working systematically to suppress votes by niggers in the 1800s?
Which race was hanging niggers from trees?
Which race was treating them like subhuman shit because those niggers weren't human?
Which race was telling those niggers to sit at the back of the bus?
Which race still has millions of people wearing white hoods because they got an issue with the niggers that exist today?
Which race still has law enforcement shooting those niggers because they don't think of them as equals?
Which race was robbing those niggers of their agency as individuals who deserved equal rights and to be treated like human beings, but is now asking to be involved in the conversation of how a word that was used to describe them as filth is now used?
We don't live in a world where black people are treated as equals. You don't get a say in how they use that term. You get a say in how
you use that term. And if you're a decent person, you won't.
The meaningful voice you get in this conversation is to tell people you know who aren't black to not use that term if they do it in your presence, to educate them, because there are centuries of history behind that word, and while black people aren't getting hung from trees or sitting on the back of the bus, there are still very clear systemic and social prejudices that exist today. And that is a meaningful voice should you decide to exercise it, if you want to be part of the conversation in a way that you can be.
And if it makes you uncomfortable that I'm putting that on you, then consider how there are millions of white people who I see that have no problem on putting issues relating to black people (or the new whipping boys in Muslims) on the entirety of those people. And it's not just on the street, but in the media, and plastered across a bunch of newspapers on a regular basis.
Note that you complain that it's difficult for you to explain to your kids and have them understand. If that's difficult for you, then what exactly are you trying to accomplish by having this conversation? You cannot and will not eliminate racism when you're afraid to acknowledge its existence because it makes you uncomfortable.
If something that simple cannot be accomplished by you with people who you have complete control over, and the ability to guide them into being decent adults when the time comes; if you cannot even exert that small amount of influence, then what is this entire post of yours? You want to give your opinion on the usage of this word in society, but can't even be bothered to do that much because it's some momentous task?
Black people have a right to do as they please with that word. And even they will be careful of the context of its use, but ultimately, that's their agency and their right.
You own your own shit.
_/¯
