in the right ituations.
"There are 101 ituations in
which I would never u th
word," said Robert Steptoe, 48, a
Yale University English profes­
sor.
"But I've got my friends, my
hom boys, and wh I'm around
them, I use the ord. And I don't
tliinkI� inned.·
Still, the word· hardly uni­
versal among Blacks. For years,
many have never dreamed of'us­
ing it. And these da�, Blacks
who casually drop tbS word in
conversation are more likely
than ever to get a dirty 100 or a
rebuke.
"The use of the word (by
Blacks) ... has a dehumanizing
effect," said the Rev. Jesse Jack­
son. "In a time when African­
American males are seen as 1
than worthy, the use of the word
... only maximjz that condi­
tion."
EVEN - eonsid-
of t rat offend
by people who dislike the word
- are speaking out against it.
Public Enemy, one of rap's most
respected and popular groups,
included a song on its third al­
bum called "I Don't Wanna Be
By JESSE WASHINGTON
A •• ocl.t.d Pr ••• Writ.r
Mothers use it to call their
children, and rappers wield it
like a weapon or bestow it like a
title. It seems the right to call
Black people "nigger" is one of
few privileges reserved exclu­
sively for Blacks.
The word has been used for
centuries as a racist term to de­
scribe Blacks as property. These
days it thrives among many
Blacks as an expression of affec­
tion and familiarity - despite
efforts to purge it from the Black
vocabulary,
When whites say it - empha­
sizing the 'er' - the effect is less
than friendly. But when 17-
year-old Marcus Driscoll says
"That's my nigga," he's usually
describing his best friend.
"There ain't really nothing
wrong with slang, and that's all
it i," id D . 0011, aDroit
high ecbool stud . "Th 'e a
right time and a wrong time to.
use it. When you're just hangin'
with your friends, it's OK"
THE WORD IS so ingrained
in Black speech that even many
older Blacks feel it is acceptable
Called Yo' Nigga." The them :
Don't call me nigger - specially
if you're Black. ,
The song hit home for rap fan
Mtu Pugh, a 22-year-old chemi­
cal engineer with Procter &
Gamble Co. in Cincinnati.
"U ing that word is like op-
p ing myself. Why do I need
to do that?" Pugh said.
"White folks have done a�'
enoughjobofopp ingmypeo­
pIe. The last thing I'm going to
do is help them. I'm sure they
love it when they hear Black peo­
ple using that word. Then, they
think they've got us trained to
denigrate ourselves." The most
common argument against
BI use of the word is that
whites who hear it may think
they too can use it the way
Blacks do.
That' apparently what hap­
pened at Central Michigan U ni­
versity, where a white
baa 1 in
Ap after telling mo 1y
Black , ·We n eel ome
more Diggers on this team."
THE COACH Keith Dam­
brot, said he used the word to
desaibe toughn and tenacity
and that his players gave him
Who was Malcolm X? What did he tand for? On Wed" day, J nuary 26 from 8 to 10:30
p.m. ET (check loe.1 lI.tlngs), The Americ n Experi nce, the rd-wlnning hi torical
dccumem ry serie on PBS, will pre ent alcolm X: Make It Plain, n in-d pth film portr it
that goe tr ight to the h art, the mind, and the me ag of on of the mod rn er ' mo
compl�� figur� : Political philo opher nd visionary, hu band and fath r, dynamic or tor
and militant mini ter, Icolm X wa both lov d nd d pi ed, rever d and feared - until
n ssassin' bullet cut him down In 1965.
permission to the word
they did.
All the players agreed Dam­
brot isn't a raci t, and most
weren't offended by the incident.
In fact, nine of t 11 Black play­
ers on last season's team joined
Dambrot' la uit agai t the
school, although four later
dropped out. A federal judge dis­
missed the suit last month.
Dambrot' lawyer, Robert
Sedler, said the coach's use of the
word in that situation was ac­
ceptable.
"The language of Black Amer­
ica is not the language of Amer­
ica. The word has a number of
meanings for Blacks," said
-Sedler, who is hite.
"We're not going to apologize
for what happened." Ten that to
Tommy Williams, a 23-year-old
part-time supermarket worker.
• THERE 'T A white
J)el'sonali thattbinb edon't
care if they can us nigger," il­
Iiams . d btl aitin& for a
pickup game at a Detroit basket­
ball court.
"The way we say it, it' clear
it's a Black thing," he said. "As
much as we say it down here, if
a white boy was down here and
said it, he'd leave with a couple
. less teeth. •
For years, the word has
sparked debate in the Black
community.
When northern Blacks began
to forget a new cultural identity
during Bar ReD8ll·I88.D09
. of tb 192 ,many Black intel-
lectuals horrifi by the
celebration of ords and ima
that had never been vailable to
a white audience.
In 1965, ctivist-comedian
Dick Gregory titled his autobiog­
raphy "Nigger. " It ends with the
words ·When we're through,
Momma, there won' be any Dig­
gers no more."
are moving into mainstream
America.
Rap groups like the now-dis­
banded N.W.A., short for Niggas
Wit' Attitude, top the pop music
charts. Blac urban clothing
styl appear in suburbia and
high-fashion magazines. Qual­
ity movies about Black ghetto
dwellers rake in dollars and gar­
ner critical praise from whites.
The culture of being poor and
y
By DAVID BEARD
A •• ocl.ttHI Pr ••• Wrlt.r
ST. A DREW.PARISH, JA·
CA (AP) ..- In a mountainside
mansion overlooking the slums
where Bob Marley grew up,' his
younges son has begun a re-
cording career that repla th
trademar Marley regga with
rap.
Damian Marley even discards
his famous last name for per­
formances, going by his disc
jockey moniker of Junior Gong.
"I prefer not to use it, "h says
of hi I t name. "Wh n i com
o the music id of it, I wan to
be known for m ."
Only 15, Dami n lready
carv ou a nich for him If
mong the ggae I nd' 11
tal n offspring. His fi t in-
gl , "DJ ," has
spectful revi w
Ki ton criti .
ruary.
His tyl
tional pref hall,
See REGGAE, 88
"The use of the wo d 'nigga'
(by Blacks) .:.has a
dehumanizing effect. "
v. J ckeon
IN THE 1970 t comedian Black is becoming a grudgingly
Richard Pryor's liberal use of the accepted, even celebrated �
word pro outra along' of ri And although' • of
with laughter. Yet even the ·nigger- is b no means oonftned
unchy Pryor denounced t to t i' he
word after returning from a trip it thri
� A�ca: :There ain't no niggers ·It's just part of the language
In Africa. and the culture of being Black, •
The use of the word "nigger" said Williams, the supermarket
is "entirely opposite what people worker.
are trying to do in perpetuating
the heritage of Africa," said
Vivian Buffington, director of
raoe relations for the civic or­
ganization New Detroit I
But even as Afrocentric
awareness increases, images
and products of Black ghetto life
"WHITE FOLKS USED to
figure it was an honor if they
called you 'nigger' or 'boy.' They
hought at least they were talk­
ing to you," said Leo Jackson, a
See BLACK, 88