The Way I See It:
Readers Respond: “N” (As In National) Opinions On The “N” Word

When you’ve written a general interest opinion column for 16 years plus, you usually know when you’ve struck a nerve with your biased position, hopefully sound argument or out-of-this-world guesswork. You typically have a gut feeling as you’re writing and researching as to whether your opinion will cause a reader or two to agree or disagree.

At the end of the day, however, it’s not necessarily about converting and transforming readers, although that can happen. It’s about expressing your opinion in an intelligent, informed, maybe entertaining and ideally a thought-provoking way. It’s important to engage readers, incite dialogue and stimulate conversation if you’re worth your pay.

I did just that last week when I lamented about the continued use of the dreaded “N” word, and how it just won’t die. I waxed sadly at the implications of the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. being caught by a live microphone using the word during a cable TV appearance. I offered to kill the word, take it out of its misery. All I needed was a green light from those who use it with reckless abandon.

That column was distributed nationally last week by Knight Ridder/Tribune and once readers of newspapers around the country got wind of it in The Olympian in Washington, Belleville News-Democrat in downstate Illinois; Rome News Tribune in Georgia, Fresno Bee in California, The News & Observer out of Raleigh-Durham, N.C., the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Rochester Post-Bulletin in Minnesota, among others, they had something to say… starting with an irate and incredulous Chuck Bekos from Milwaukee, whose e-mail is mostly unedited to demonstrate his, um, passion:

WHY IS THE WORD “NIGGER” ENTITLED TO ONE LETTER – N – WHILE DAGO, MICK, GREASEBALL, SCHMUCK, HEBE, SPICK AND OTHERS GET THE FULL TREATMENT???????? EACH ONE OF THOSE NAMES IS EQUALLY AS DISGUSTING AS NIGGER AND PERHAPS EVEN MORESO. WE ARE ALWAYS DEMANDING THAT WE BE FAIR AND BALANCED IN VERYTHING WE DO. “N” IS NOT AND NEITHER IS DERRICK BAKER.

Len Trower, Philadelphia: Generations and their culturally transforming trends creep over the land like silent tsunamis, washing away much of what was trendy yesterday. Nothing seems capable of stopping or transforming them. Thus is the case of the n word. I have no idea how old you are and I mention this because age and the extent to which one was immersed in one's generation means a great deal. I am 60 -- a young 60 that still plays ball -- and was intimately involved in the Black Power Movement. Most of the people with whom I was involved were highly educated, committed Black folk. Nevertheless, we discreetly applied the n word amongst ourselves because we defined it as a black person in color only, one who possessed no perception of self in any black sense, and who would sell out his own people for a mere pittance. In today's world, I would imagine Clarence Thomas, Ward Connerly and all those homicidal thugs who kill just to buy bling would fit our definition. Unfortunately, civil rights and black power advocates comprised a mere 2 percent of the 22 million black folk back in the ‘60s, which meant that 21 million evolved or devolved in whatever haphazard manner that life came and was personally managed. It is certainly from this 21 million and their offspring that the modern version of the n word emerged. The value of the word is dependent (upon) the consciousness of the people and how they choose to define it.

Saly A. Glassma: “Thank you for an insightful and candid editorial on a subject that is so basic and critical to our country’s race relations, and in fact, our human relations. Our only hope for not going in the direction of the dinosaurs is to learn to accept each other with tolerance and understanding, and work together as a species. My grandmother always told me to “wear clean underwear in case you are in an accident.” She was not just talking about driving! One’s self-talk and private talk should be of the same integrity as one’s public persona. It is disappointing when a high-profile person misses an opportunity to lead by example and at the very least just show good manners. It somehow makes me feel better when I can read the remarks of someone else who “get it.”

Michiel DeVito: “Thank you for this column, as a white 49-year-old woman from a Midwestern family where I was taught the significance and damning meaning of this word; having spent a number of years in the South as brave people fought against everything negative that word stands for, I am reduced to tears to hear this word used as it is today. The fact that Jesse Jackson uses this word to express his opinion about Sen. Obama seems to be the most depressing commentary on our current racial situation. I'm sorry to say that as a champion of civil rights I expected more from him. I'm not sure how we can expect ignorant people of all races and colors to act in a civilized manner when our icons don't. There are now a whole lot of stupid bigots that got their batteries recharged.