The 'N' Word

 What does nigger mean to you?

Merriem-Webster defines it as an insulting and contemptuous term for a Black person

OR an insulting and contemptuous term for a member of any dark-skinned race

OR  a member of a class or group of people who are systematically subjected to discrimination and unfair treatment.

Since there are no black-owned dictionaries just yet, I guess we'll go with that.

So, what does nigger mean to you?

For me, nigger is a trigger.

As a young black kid, you learn that nigger has several meanings, some of which juxtapose.

And as a proud, black kid, you learn to never let anyone call you a nigger, especially someone you don't know.

But what happens when you move to a town where your selectwoman is rumored to be part of the KKK....shout out to Bethany, CT

What happens when your 7th grade English teacher permits kids to use nigger because 'it's literature'...but you're the only black kid in the class...shout out to Mrs. Gamble.

And then in high school when the only time the popular kids would speak to you was to scream 'nigger' and laugh...Shout out to Amity.

Or on your first winter break home from college, a 6 foot 5 Israeli guy is chanting nigger all night long and when you ask him to stop he tells you to 'chill nigger' so you accidentally spill a drink in his face...oops. He then tries to charge at you, says a quick sorry when his friends calm him down but shortly after sexual assaults you when you fall asleep on the couch....what happens then?

Shout out to Shlomi Davidi....

If you've never experienced the full weight of the word nigger in a moment of terror, why would you use it in a moment of joy?

If you've never been scared for the safety of your sister who is forced to continue working after a white male stranger screams nigger to her face, why would you use it in jest?

If you've never shed a tear for ancestors who heard the word nigger right before the tree branched snapped from the weight of America's picnics, then why the fuck are you using the word.

I don't know if this is a poem or a vent session I'm forcing you all to listen to but I'm so s sick and tired of hearing non-black people use that word.

To my Hispanics who are not and have never identified as Afro-Latino, stop.

To my Asians who are not blended with the mixture of Jhene, Kimora, Naomi, or Kaeruche, stop.

To my whites who love black music but not black people, stop.

Yes, some black people do not care if you use the word just like some gays do not care about the 'F' word or Asians the 'C' word, or Jews the 'K' word, or Mexicans, the 'W' word....but others...others will make that word the last word you ever did say.

Because... they were triggered.