Fleeing black residents from Colfax, Louisiana heard this slur. Greenwood residents from Tulsa heard this slur. Emmett Till heard this slur. Thousands of black folks lynched and murdered heard this slur. The last words these murdered people heard were “niggers”. For generations, that slur has been a fighting word for our race. That slur couldn’t be used to describe ourselves or our friends or family. People have beaten, and rightfully so, for uttering the word “nigger”. Now, there’s a debate whether that word should still exist in our language.

The history of the word “nigger” came from slavery days. A scientific word Negroid described a darker-skinned person originally from a warm weather climate. Negroids possessed thicker, coarse hair, defined bone structure and darker complextion. After the Civil War, black freedmen embraced the term “Negroes”. They began holding minor, political seats in the Republican government. The Old South remained Democrat and opposed black Republicans in every election. During Reconstruction, thousands were killed or exiled by Klu Klux Klan and other white terror groups to keep white supremacy intact.

Another story surrounding the “n-word” was the creation of Jim Crow. Jim Crow was a minstrel during the legendary, Vaudeville shows. He had a smiling face with his chin covered in white makeup. He wore extra-black makeup and donned on a black tuxedo. He entertained for white people. He belittled himself for white people. His job was to humiliate himself for white people. Jim Crow became a sign of inferiority for Negroes. Soon, the word “nigger” carried a more scathing term. Nigger meant someone was inferior, no good and not worthy. Negro had a similar meaning. Negroes were blacks who aspired to be equal to whites. Both niggers and negroes lived in second-class citizenship in America.

Civil rights martyrs like Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. fought and died to overcome the racism associated with being Negroes. As the era changed, a generation of African-American rose up thanks to the efforts Evers, Malcolm and Dr. King. Activists such as H. Rap Brown, Eldridge Cleaver, Langston Hughes and Nikki Giovanni contributed in the uplifting of the African-American race.

Brown, Cleaver and Giovanni used the term “nigger” in their pro-Black writings. However, their essays and poetry reflected the political times. In today’s world, comedians like Chris Rock and Dave Chapelle injected “nigger” in their HBO and Def Jam Comedy material. Hip-hop musicians embraced a variation to the word nigger. “Nigga”, which described a black man, was used in rap lyrics along with “bitches”, “hoes”, “skanks” and “crackers”. Women’s group and the NAACP protested these insensitive words being used in music. Parental Advisory stickers were put on albums, CDs and DVDs. In 2007, the NAACP staged a fake funeral for the “n-word” and buried it in a ceremony. Celebrities followed suits. Enemiem and Chelsea Hander refused to use the “n-word” in their stand-up acts. Most in our generation are dropping the “n-word” from their vocabulary. The word was demeaning to past generations. It served little good to take the word and make it our own. I never referred to another black man as my “nigga”. I never seen depicted “nigga” as what a “man” truly is. When racists called blacks “niggers”, they weren’t using the word as a term of endearment. I’ve heard young, white males call each other “niggas”. Sometimes, I got physically ill witnessing those exchanges. The word went from being hurtful to be comedy. In either case, it would always be offending and should be removed from mankind’s vocabulary.