The N-word, n*gger or n*gga, should not be written from history, but black people should be educated on the word today. N*gger is what white people not only called slaves to make them less human, but still call blacks to be offensive until this day. Black people should understand this word and its history, and stop using it today, because it is stupidity to oppress ourselves.

In Gloria Naylor’s essay “The Meanings of a Word”, Naylor tells the reader of different times, context, and meanings she has heard “n*gger”. Although she is never directly clear on her stance, she leaves the reader to infer that it is only acceptable to say “n*gger” as a term of endearment. I do agree that a word has different meaning given its context, for an example if a white man stops and yells at a black man, “hey n*gger boy”, I’m sure there would be an issue, versus two black men greeting each other, “what’s up my n*gger”, which would be acceptable for those two men. The word “n*gger” should be eliminated from today’s vocabulary, but not from history.

A publisher from Montgomery, Alabama, replaces the word “n*gger” with “slave” in order for school districts to feel comfortable with Huckleberry Finn, and place the historical text back on their reading lists. He does this, because he not only feels guilty for calling blacks “n*gger”, which he stated, but also because he feels that it is too offensive for use today. I do not agree with removing “n*gger”, “slave” does not have the same offense and power as “nigger”. Blacks are still called “n*gger” in 2016, not slaves. “N*gger” causes a sting on black ears, hearts, and minds, which is why whites prefer to use it abundantly more than using slave, telling blacks to “go back to Africa”, or calling black people monkeys and apes.

N*gger is just and only a word, but that word still cuts a wound that never healed, racism in the United States of America. No one, black or white, should use the word today. Blacks should not use oppressive words gayly. I, personally, have never seen Asians calling each other “chinks”, Hispanics saying “wetback”, nor whites believing that “cave dweller” is acceptable. We should be educated in history, but we should never call ourselves a “n*gger”. That is feeble minded and slave mentality. Willie Lynch Syndrome, ongoing polarizing sociological issues within the African-American.