If using the "N" word is so offensive to black people, why do they say it to each other and use it in songs?

Question

Im not racist at all and i NEVER EVER use the N word, but i was just listening to a rap song and basically every line contained it, so it made me think, and after i thought about it, i realised they do it all the time, ive heard it in 100s of rap songs and also on tv, hear black people say it to each other and it never causes offense, so why do they do it? i wouldnt go round my friends house and call her a piece of **** or something else just as offensive..

Answer 1

maybe for them, between friends it's oki,to call each other like that. but between white ppl and black ppl it's not as they might not b so close, and bcos d white ppl may intend it as offensive, but the black person wouldnt mean it badly to the other black person.

Answer 2

Because some people are ignorant (like reading some of these messages above). You should really ask a black person and not someone who thinks they can speak for a black person. Some people in my race use it in their everyday language because they don't know any better. They learn from music videos and television and consider it acceptable.

For other such as myself, I think it is offensive. I don't see any other race demeaning themselves like mine. You can call it a shizzle-nizzle, ****@, nigalet, whatever, it is still an offensive word. In my race a lot of people don't care. Which is why I understand why some other races think that my race is at the bottom.

We went from praising Martin Luther King Jr. to Snoop Dogg?!?! Me personally, with the ignorance around my community, I see us as a dying race. That's sad.  

Answer 3

Because they're not white and they're allowed to say it without being offensive.

Its the same thing as 'bro' or 'dude' but in Black Speak.

When the white man says it to the african american though, it crosses the line because of history and black oppression.

That's basically it, although if you're a wigger and have black friends, you can pull it off.

Answer 4

it's a double standard, plain and simple.

i think we non-black people should start using the n-word casually again and see what happens.

it's just as racist to say that only certain people of a certain color can use the n-word and get away with it, because then the prejudice goes the other way, from black to non-black.

funny, that doesn't sound color-blind to me at all.

(btw, i'm asian...)