Is it okay for black people to use the N-word and nobody else can?

Question

In my opinion, everyone should stop saying that word. All it mean is hate.

Answer 1

Exactly. Derogatory word. Simple as.

Edit - Ms.6  You are so right. If people looked into what that word meant and how it come about. It was taken and twisted into something demeaning and to put down black people.

Answer 2

I am black and I myself think that nobody at all should be using the N word. I am going to make people understand something however. If a black person calls a white person white trash I am quite sure a white person would be angry at that yet still if a white person calls another person white trash it doesn't have the same level of effect. It is the same thing with the N word in the black community. If a black person calls me the N word I wont be as offensive as if a white person calls me that. Just to restate what I have said before I don't think anybody should use the N word whether black or white I am however just here to make persons understand why black people calling other black persons the N word has a different effect than when a white person uses it.

Answer 3

I think the meaning of the word is changing. First it was just a way to describe the color of the Africans skin, (which I don't know anyone that dark, mostly chocolate but not black!) in Spanish and French its N  e  gro. Its just a variation of that word to describe a persons skin color. Then it became a derogatory slang word and now I think it is moving in the direction of Low-class citizen. I think pretty soon you could call anyone a N. It will no longer mean a black person it will just mean someone with no or low class.  

Also anyone can use the word (I don't know why you would want to but to each their own), just be prepared for people to judge you for using it if you do.

Think about the word g*y in the 1920's it meant Happy now it means Homosexual.

Answer 4

It's a hateful word to begin with.  It came from the slavery days.  I can't understand  black people using "it" to refer to themselves.

Answer 5

To quote Bill O'Reilly... and I know there are a lot of people out there who hate him... but he said... "If it does not lead to anything GOOD, then just DON'T DO IT!"  So, if it's an insult, it's an insult... period.

Furthermore, if blacks wish "everyone" would stop using it, then shouldn't THEY take the LEAD, setting an example, by NOT using it?  This is why there is such confusion. There are "mixed signals" coming out of the black community.  Instead of a no-nonsense, no tolerance policy... "NO one uses it!" we get "well, it's OKAY for SOME of us to use it but NOT for others!"  

If the black community wishes to TRULY have a "color-less" society, then they, too, should be LEADERS in promoting the ideal of the COLORLESS society.

Whites shouldn't have organizations such as, "National Organization for the Advancement of White People," then blacks shouldn't have organizations such as, "National Organization for the Advancement of BLACK People."  How about, rather, a "National Organization for the Advancement of PEOPLE"???

Have a polite day.

Answer 6

I have black friends and would never call them this. However, if I get into it with a dark american (because lets face it, your not african american if you weren't born in africa) I will publicly use the ni**er word, fo sho!

Answer 7

In my opinion yes. From the words of the great Tupac himself:

"N*ggers was the ones on the rope, hanging off the thing; n*ggas is the ones with gold ropes, hanging out at clubs."

In the UK the word f*ggot refers to a cigarette, because middle-class American culture finds it an offensive derogatory term against homosexuals should they stop using it? The same goes for working class Americans and soldiers who use it everyday just like the word *sswhole, to them it doesn't refer to homosexuals, just feminine men.

Answer 8

No one should use it.

Black people always flip out if a white person uses it, but they do.  Rappers use it.

It's a vulgar word.

I'm white, non racist, and I would never use that word.

Answer 9

Everyone shoudl stop saying that word it's a hateful word. Not to compare the two, but I also dislike it when girls call each other the b-word or the s-word even affectionately. Those are all hateful words (I concede, the N-word is much more toxic given it's violent origin) that people should stop saying, period , full stop.

Answer 10

It is wrong to use the word to be derogatory to all black folks.  There can be some minor applications, as in comic humor.  Many black comics use the word.

Answer 11

It's okay with me if black people want to use it.  I choose not to use it because I'm white and I know it to be offensive to black people for me to say it.  

I can only decide for myself and no one else.

Answer 12

this is a very controversial subject - one that will never have a right or wrong answer - mainly b/c everyone has an opinion on whats right/wrong....

Answer 13

It does annoy me when black people call each other that!!! Cause I am white and if I said it I would be a racist!! Yeah I agree with you nobody should say it!!! And I bet that it annoys black people to hear other black people saying it.