The N-Word

The N-word , originally used by Whites to degrade the black race, is now used by blacks as a term of endearment like, "You my nigga!", and a term used to greet like, "What up my nigga!", or "How are you my nigga!". Modern African-Americans claim they took a negative word and gave it positive meaning. However, they fail to comprehend that every word has an origin, and its origin gives it a root meaning in which no man can change. In the "Isis Paper"Francis Cress Whelsing, a black psychologist and a Howard alumnus, indirectly discusses the origin of the N-word. She developed a theory called the "Color-Confrontation Theory". In her theory she states that when whites first came in contact with non-whites they noticed that these people possessed diverse amounts of pigment . In addition, they saw the abundance of people that acquired such pigment. The whites soon came to realize they were genetically unable to produce such diversity and they realized they were minority. Thus, they were psychologically infected with genetic color inferiority and numerical inferiority. Consciously or subconsciously they began to develop psychological defense mechanisms because of their color and numerical inadequacy. One of the defense mechanisms she discusses is reaction formation. This is a defense mechanism one uses when he or she desires something that they know is unattainable. Therefore, he or she discredits and degrades those who obtain what they so eagerly desire. Hence, one display of reaction formation was the word "nigger", which means ignorant or because of the time period in which the word was established it can take the literally meaning, which is, of unequal intelligence to whites. Accordingly, the root meaning of the word was used to make the black race inferior. It was a form of segregation and a way of humiliation. However, modern blacks claim they have transformed the meaning of the word, but that is not the case. They have only transformed the words surface from "nigger" to "nigga", and the root still remains. Thus, when a black man says "What up my nigga", he is proclaiming that their brother is ignorant,he is proclaiming that his brother is unable to be just as articulate as whites, he is proclaiming that his brother is inferior to whites, and lastly, he is segregating his brother, not only from whites, but he is segregating his brother from intelligence. How long will we let this psychological black on black crime persist?