Word of Discord: What's wrong with "n-word"

Scandal with the participation of designer Ulyana Sergeenko and the founder of the Buro 24/7 website, Miroslava Duma, once again raised the issue of using the “word for the letter n” in public space.

Discussions about whether it is possible or impossible to say "n *****" if the speaker does not imply an insult on racial grounds, but simply imitates Americans with African roots (or quotes Kanye West with Jay-Z), this is not the first year in the United States. - and even there the detailed explanations of "why the n-word should be avoided" do not save from new and new objections about the trampled freedom of speech. What can we say about Russia, where the racial question is not so acute as in America, and the racist background of the ill-fated word is not read and taken to heart. Let's try to figure out what's wrong with n-word.

N-word and insults

Since its inception, the word "n *****" (derived from the adjective "black" in Spanish, Portuguese and French) has been used to refer to enslaved Africans and their descendants. Historically, it is used as a humiliating reminder of the past of people with African roots, who for several centuries were considered second-rate people, whose “inferiority” was explained by pseudo-scientific theories.

The word-ethical norm of how African-Americans can be called, without affecting their feelings, has changed since the end of the 19th century. In 1897, the American Negro Academy appeared - the first organization whose mission was to support Americans with African roots who want to get an education. It took another thirty years before the word "Negro" (with a capital letter) stuck in American dictionaries as the norm - as opposed to the term "colored" ("colored"), which was considered inappropriate.

In the early 60s, with the filing of African American rights activists (first of all Malcolm Ix), “Negro” began to be replaced with “black people” - and in the public lexicon, the second option gradually replaced the first one. In the course of further controversy, it was decided to proceed from the principle of "people first" (man is primary and his human rights, not race or outward signs) - "African Americans" became the new politically correct norm. However, at any stage of the evolution of the social language n-word (a euphemism appeared in print in 1995 during the hearings on the case of Jay Simpson - in the testimony of the key witness in the process, the word "n *****" was repeated often, so the reporters had to find a replacement ) was definitely considered offensive.

Why one can, and the other can not

Strictly speaking, the same question is being asked in the States, and even African Americans themselves. The ubiquity of using n-word in their environment is exaggerated, and opinions about whether people of African descent can use the word "n *****" publicly differ widely. Even in American rap, where the n-word is almost the most usable, the debate about whether it would be better to forget the offensive term does not subside.

It may seem that when Jay-Z rolls the word "n *****" in his songs, he legitimizes it for millions of listeners. However, not everyone agrees with this. For example, in 2014, Chuck Dee from the Public Enemy grouping called on his colleagues from the lexicon: “What do you think would happen to a festival where anti-Semitic expressions would be in the order of things ... or racist insults from the lips of non-black people? Why need this double standard? "

Others insist on "appropriating" (or "reclaiming") words with which the historical memory of oppression is racially related: there is an opinion that by constantly inserting n-word into speech, African Americans create a new context for it, clear the word of degrading connotations . One can argue about the effectiveness of this approach, but in any case it remains an internal affair of a particular group of people.

Racism and xenophobia in different countries

It is necessary to separate racism, institutional and racism, everyday. Yes, at the level of public institutions, Russia has never been precisely racist, in the strict sense of the word. At the same time, at the household level it remains a rather xenophobic country, where many issues of interethnic and inter-ethnic relations are still not resolved. But if no one seems to need to explain how, say, the word “h ****” humiliates the inhabitants of the Caucasus, and “f **” to Jews, then with regard to n-word, internal hearing fails. Alas, insults on racial grounds in Russia are not as rare as I would like to think: to take at least monkey hoaxes to players who can still be heard in stadiums.

In addition, we should not forget that benevolent racism is just as harmful as benevolent sexism, which is usually attributed to unwelcome care of the "weak field": do not confuse friendliness with offensive familiarity.

Why Sergeenko and Duma apologize

Whether or not to use insults among friends (even jokingly) - like, for example, telling politically incorrect jokes - is everyone’s business, and you need to proceed from the status quo of your company; another question is that sometimes those who are hurt by such words are afraid to say so. At the same time, the development of social networks has led to the fact that the border between private and public has become completely transparent. This is illustrated by the situation with Miroslav Duma and Ulyana Sergeenko (do not get the ill-fated picture on Instagram-Story - there wouldn’t be a scandal) or a recent post on Twitter from Spartak Moscow, where players of African descent were called "chocolates" (an internal joke, The network, instantly provoked an international scandal, and this is a gross miscalculation of the club SMM-service).

What to do next

Same as with other words that are not quite suitable for voice acting in specific circumstances - replace. We have learned how to substitute obscene or just rude words with euphemisms, although from an early age we can guess that in most cases the term “horseradish” means not at all an herbaceous plant of the cabbage family. Likewise, those who know the lyrics, and so will guess what you had in mind.

Empathy and respect for one's neighbor begins with the language in which we speak with each other. And this, among other things, means that you should not once again throw words with pronounced (albeit arisen in a foreign culture) offensive connotations.