Stop the n word and all words like it

Inspired while listening to a local radio show about the use of the N word, as well as seeing positive images during Black History month yet hearing negative lyrics in songs we experienced conflict, frustration and an overwhelming sense to "do something".   We are using the billboard effect of t-shirts, the internet and the contract idea to pass on information and strengthen the commitment to this movement.

As a small group of Brooklynites who grew up during the original old school era of hip hop, we remember when rap songs never used the "N" word or profanity for that matter. We remember referring to our friends as homeboy and home girl. And we were still cool. We remember the airing of "Roots" and the sting of hearing the "N" word on national television for the first time. Now we ask ourselves what happened. What happened in our community that the "N" word is tossed around freely in everyday language? When the use of it makes you cool, down, accepted.

Our community has come full circle as we extend an invitation to others to call us the word as well and we answer with a smile. Our ancestors must be rocking in their graves. The word is not a term of endearment. It cannot be reapropriated. We cannot redefine the word or re-spell it to make it positive. Racism is so subtle, we now think that we can embrace the  word and take away its power. However, not enough time has passed for this concept to be effective. The word is viewed as a racial slur at large, it will continue to be so until it is put away for a generation, and then maybe it can be embraced at such time in a historical context.

Until the pain of this word no longer lingers in society for any of us, we cannot continue to use the  word. Every time we use the word it is a slap in the face of our elders and a blatant disrespect to our ancestors. We have not only lost our minds, but we lost consciousness.

The dependency of this word as a greeting, to complete sentences and start conversations is a total disregard for every movement that gave us the many freedoms we enjoy today. This site is our answer to a call to duty. We now challenge you to make a personal commitment and join us in the movement to abolish the word.  bring awareness of the historically negative effects the word has had in society to those who have forgotten and to those who never knew.

There seems to be a few different origins of the "N" word.   The term is taken from the Latin word Niger or the French word Negre' both meaning black.   When used as a noun it means black person.   We can only assume that it was used as a label to refer to the darker skin people of the society.   The first time the word "slave" was recorded in use was in 1680 Virginia.   Initially the term Niger was probably used during the same time to refer to the slaves at the very beginning of the slave trade.   As the term Niger was used, the pronunciation as well as the definition changed.   Dr. David Pilgrim and Dr. Phillip Middleton, Professors at Ferris State University noted in their paper on the origins of the "N" word, that the mispronunciation of the word Niger by Southern Slave Masters probably gave way to the word Nigger.  

At the same time the Slave Masters' feelings of superiority over the Africans they deemed their cattle grew into contempt and thus the "N" word was born.   Birthed from the phonetically misspelling Slave Master and his hate, the "N" word was documented as first being used in 1786.   The term was probably in use way before then.  

The "N" word was used to refer to slaves throughout the 1700's and 1800's.   Previous to this time the label "Moor" was given to men & women of color.   By the early 1900's the word "Black" began to appear in print in reference to African Americans.   The term was rejected by the community because of its negative connotations and in 1906 Booker T Washington endorsed the term "Negro".   The "N" word, once a common label used for African American people official becomes a derogatory racial epithet.

African Americans started using the "N" word to refer to themselves in the 1920's taking the e r off of the end of the word and adding the letter a, "Nigga".   Although in use in the Black community it was still a pejorative and at some point depending on the social circles denoted class difference.

The definition of the "N" word was a lazy person with no self respect, no regard for family, ignorant, stupid, slow moving, did not speak proper English and had childlike qualities.   The caricatures of Black people in the early 1900's encapsulated this definition.   The age of the Harlem Renaissance challenged this idea.   Alain Leroy Locke, the first Black Rhode Scholar, is credited as the founder of the Harlem Renaissance.   He encouraged Artist, Writers, Poets and Musicians to fully express their African pride by aligning with their rich West African History.   This era brought about the "New Negro".

As the late 1960's approached so did a surge of racial pride and the term "Black" was taken on by the African American community as positive.   The Black Power Movement proclaimed "Black is Beautiful".   The followers of this movement called each other "Brother and Sister" denouncing the use of the "N" word.

The euphemism "The N- Word" came into use during the O.J. Simpson trial.   Newspaper reporters started using "The N-word" or "The N-bomb" in their reports so as not to inflame an already tense trial.  

Today the African American community still differs in its use of the word Nigger.   As some use a neo revisionist attitude in an attempt to redefine the word, still others do not use the word in their vocabulary at all.   In 2003, the NAACP successfully influenced Merriam-Webster Lexicographers to change the definition of the word Nigger in the dictionary so that it would no longer mean African Americans.    

On Monday, July 9, 2007, during its 98th Annual National Convention in Detroit, Michigan, the NAACP will conduct a mock funeral to bury the N-Word. Delegates and supporters of America%u2019s largest, most respected, oldest, and most effective civil rights organization will convene at Cobo Hall for a march led by the casket containing the N-Word to Hart Plaza where there will be a funeral service for the most vicious of all racist insults  the N-Word!

Just as in 1944, when Jim Crow was put to rest in the city of Detroit, we%u2019ve come back 63 years later again in Detroit at this time to bury and put to rest once and for all the N-Word. This will be the major kickoff event of our convention.

The mock funeral is a part of the NAACP Campaign an initiative of the NAACP Youth & College Division that seeks to the demeaning images of African Americans in the media, particularly with respect to the portrayal of African American women.  These images are also reflected in songs and music videos that show half-dressed women being objectified by men.  The NAACP, through its STOP Campaign calls on those outside and especially those within the Black community to Stop Defaming our Women, Degrading our Community, and Denigrating our History. No word defames, degrades and denigrates like the N-Word and we want to STOP it!

We are inviting artists from the Hip Hop and Rap communities, recording and movie industry executives, and African American community thought leaders to join us in Detroit when we symbolically bury this vile insult to our past, present and future. There is international interest in this powerful and symbolic action and we are calling on others of goodwill to march with us against this word that hurts and diminishes us everyday.

The march begins at 10:00 a.m. in front of Cobo Hall and the funeral program follows at 11:00 a.m. at Hart Plaza. The funeral service will be over at 12:30 p.m. There will be no tears, except tears of joy, as we gather to say goodbye and good riddance to this unwanted and unwelcome interloper in our community. The N-Word is the most well known example of racist language by others and self hatred by African Americans. The NAACP believes the time has come to celebrate the end of its wretched, destructive life, today!