Emmanuel Acho made the following video. Emmanuel is a former National Football League linebacker and is currently working as a Fox Sports 1 analyst. He played college football at the University of Texas.
In 2012, Emmanuel was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the NFL Draft. He also played for the Philadelphia Eagles.
The video is the first of several ongoing videos by Emmanuel, where he responds to questions his white friends have asked him. I feel this, and his other videos are great for the family viewing and have discussions about the subjects raised.
Beginning at 6:07, Emmanuel talks about the use of the “N” word. White people have raised the question of why it is okay for black people to call each other the name. Yet white people are forbidden to use the word.
The Roots
The word Nigger is derived from the Latin word for the color black, niger. According to the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, it didn’t start as a slur but, over time, took on a derogatory feeling. Nigger and other words related to it were spelled in a variety of ways, including niggah, nigguh, niggur, and niggar.
Today, some people insist upon distinguishing nigger – which they see as exclusively an insult – from nigga, which they view as a term of friendly salutation or endearment. No one knows precisely when or how niger turned contemptuously into nigger and attained a derogatory meaning.
However, we do know that by the end of the first third of the nineteenth century, nigger had already become a familiar and influential insult.
My Experience
I can’t remember the first time I was called the “N” word. However, I do remember the last time I was called it. I was crossing a parking lot to enter a store. Evidently, I wasn’t moving fast enough for a truck I was passing in front of.
After crossing in front of the truck, I heard the driver yell, “Nigger” as he sped off. It totally caught me off guard. Especially considering I was living in Silicon Valley at the time one of the most ethnically diverse places in the US, and we were well into the 21st Century.
When I first heard the word in a rap song, I was struck with how comfortably the rapper could use the “N” word. Especially when considering the hundreds of years of negativity surrounding the use of the word. Regardless of the race of the person using the name, it brings memories of oppression, feelings of being less than and unworthiness.
To now use the “N” word casually as a term of “endearment” disregards or makes light of the history and suffering of people of color who were forced to endure being called the “N” word.
I wonder what white people must think when they hear us call each other that. Perhaps that we [African-Americans] have a self-destructive disregard and lack of respect for each other after all, how could we call each other the name described as the most offensive word in the English language?
What do you think? Please share your thoughts in the Comments. Thank you.
