Parasitic

thescarletrose:

bedbugsbiting:

To be fair, her post wasn’t about how she can’t say the n-word, but she said that black people didn’t have the right to get angry about other people using that word because black people sometimes use that word with each other.

But that is exactly what racist people say when they get huffy about not being “allowed” to use it.

Also, she’s trying to police an oppressed minority’s language, and that’s fucked up. Mind your damn business, and…

I’m a little confused at this whole situation, as it seems that her original post has gotten taken out of context. Here’s what it was:

okay, just because your black doesn’t give you a free pass to use the word “nigger” and think it’s okay. cause pretty sure it’s never okay to be racist.

Which, I agree with. As a black woman, I agree that no one should use the term nigger. I think it’s offensive, and regardless of who’s saying it, it’s racist. I get that some people feel that it’s ‘reclaiming’ the word. But, in my personal experience, I’ve never seen it really used in a positive way, or in a way that another word that isn’t a racial slur can be used.

But, I’m getting off topic. I think the point is that she wasn’t trying to be racist, nor was she saying

that black people didn’t have the right to get angry about other people using that word because black people sometimes use that word with each other.

What I think her original point was that it’s a word that no one should be saying, black or white or whatever. It had nothing to do with it being generally unacceptable for white people to say it. It had everything to do with it being an offensive term, and how it’s not okay for anyone to say it.

I don’t think that she was trying to police an oppressed community’s speech. It was more that she was simply saying “Hey, this is a racial term. Doesn’t matter if you’re a member of that race. Saying it is just not right.” Like, just because I’m a woman, doesn’t give me the right to start calling women ‘bitches’ (No. I’m not saying that all women are bitches, I’m just using that as a reference of a word that people take offense to that’s generally used to refer to one specific group.)

In summation. This was blown WAY out of proportion. While, as a minority, I appreciate the opinions of both sides

• tal-vashoth’s point that the N words is offensive, racist, and shouldn’t be said.
• bedbugsbiting’s point that people have a right to say whatever they want, and a minority group’s speech shouldn’t be policed.
  

I think it went a bit too far, and seemed like someone was just trying to fly the Racism Crusade Flag in a place where it wasn’t needed. This wasn’t some racist attack. Quite the opposite, actually.

I wasn’t saying that people have a right to say whatever they want. I was saying that a white woman shouldn’t tell an oppressed minority what words they use in their own circles. I also didn’t misinterpret her message —you left off the part where she responded to me personally and said that other people can’t use the word, so black people shouldn’t either.

Direct quote, in response to me telling her that “it didn’t work like that” when she called black people “racist” for using the n-word: “No no, it DOES work like that.. If people in the black community DO NOT LIKE when asians/hispanics/latinos/mexicans/white people/anyone else uses the term, They shouldn’t use it either,  The very fact that they use it makes it seem OKAY for anyone else to use it and it’s NOT.” [bolding mine]

I realize she wasn’t advocating for white people (including herself) to use the word, but she was policing language AND using a common argument associated with white people who think it’s okay to toss that word around. She WAS in fact saying black people shouldn’t get mad about other people using the word if they use it themselves. THAT’S WHAT SHE ACTUALLY SAID and that’s what I was responding to after my first message. I wasn’t flying any “Racism Crusade Flag.” It was more of a “STFU about things you don’t understand” flag. When I kindly told her it was inappropriate, she lashed out with that crap. I stand by my initial assessment of racism.