More troubling than the Rev. Jesse Jackson getting caught
on tape using the “N-word” is his insistence that you and I excise it from our
vocabulary. I hope by now we know Jackson is
a hypocrite who often talks out of both sides of his mouth. But rather than
give in to the rather colonial notion that all language has to be for all
people, I’d rather him stand up and call it like it is: every culture has idioms. Some are self-deprecating and others
were once slurs, now turned on
their back. Some have rich,
historical etymology. But no one has the right to tell you how to self-identify
or what you and can’t say.
I use the “n-word” every day, several times a day: I live it, I I love it. And in
all likelihood, so does Jesse Jackson. I use it a lot when I blog on my personal site, in my
essay-writing, although don’t use it when I’m on the radio—except for once,
while I was stuck doing a hillbilly talk show in Kentucky, much to the consternation of local
yokels and my boss at the time—but I don’t regret it. The “n-word” is a
part of my life and connects me to the experience and the black people I know
best in this country. I know nothing of Negros or Coloreds, I’m hazy on Afro
and/or African Americans. But from the board room to the classroom to the
pool-room and the barber-shop, I know plenty of n---gas. Some white people are saddened
and outraged that black people can use a word that they will be vilified for
using. There are some white folks out there slinging it around, and I’m ok with
that, as long as they are not surprised when someone cashes that check with their
teeth. Not everyone should use the word because not everyone knows how to use
it. And no, I’ll not teach you.
There’s a time and place for everything, and Jackson messed
up. That’s Ok.
Even with all his
flaws and foibles, Jesse Jackson’s still my … well, YOU know.
