Meagan Claire

There’s this nameless, faceless politician from a middle no-name state – Wait, scratch that. There’s this guy who is lobbying for Obama’s senator seat. With my limited knowledge of this guy, I assumed he was dead and this was a joke, because he’s listed his qualifications on his mausoleum. Morbid. Nevertheless, among the things listed are statements like, “First African-American attorney general.”

Since when is your race a qualification?

Since when does the color of your skin make you good at something?

Or better yet, worthy of the position you’re vying for?

Of course, those questions, and even I, may be hypocritical because I believe there are inherent differences among the races. But the difference between my thinking and racism is that the conclusions I draw do not make one person less or more than another.

I don’t care one way or another if our president is black. However, I’m disappointed that it’s a big deal that he’s the first black president. I was disappointed that Halle Berry was the first black woman to win Best Actress. It’s also reasonable to assume that I’m disappointed Burris lists a fair qualification as “First African-American…” It’s a shame that this matters to some, and that it’s a big deal.

That’s part 1. Part 2, is as follows.

From what I’ve heard, the ladies on The View have been discussing racial slurs. Elizabeth spoke out and said calling someone a nigger is bad. To my surprise (or not really), Whoopi and the other black woman said it’s perfectly acceptable for black people to use that term among themselves.

I suppose not to your surprise, I have a few things to say about that.

1) What?

2) I am under the impression that America, nigh even the world, is trying to squelch the negativity of one race toward another. While the use of the word “nigger” among a group of blacks does not involve another race, it is excluding other races and thus racist. (Does that make sense?)

3) As we good Christians have been taught, words in themselves are not inherently bad. The ways in which they have become used are what make them unacceptable. And, the acceptability of their nature varies by generation.

My great grandmother and a neighbor grew up in a time where black people were called niggers both as a simple description (like “black”) and a derogatory term (like “idiot”). As the treatment of blacks improved, these women grew to a ripe old age and continued to refer to black people as niggers only because that is what they knew. No malice was incurred, it was simply what they were.

However, there are many black people who are not involved in the hip hop and rap community who are offended by the term. It reminds them of what was, what all has been done to overcome it, where they are now, and where they could be now. I can imagine that black youth’s flippant use of the word makes their parents and grandparents feel like they’ve been set back.

4) Dictionary.com refers to “nigger” as an “extremely disparaging and offensive” word. It defines the word as “a victim of prejudice”, or “any race regarded as contemptible or inferior”. When anyone – black, white, brown, red – uses the word “nigger” to refer to anyone else, whether said in jest, for fun, or between friends, automatically places the recipient in a lower place. Shouldn’t we be trying to avoid that?

I wish for racism and discrimination to go away, or for the word to lose its negative meaning and reflect the fact that there are natural and benign differences among the races. I wrote an article several years ago about becoming an American and then whining because you aren’t afforded any special privileges (of course, today, you are – which is… racism). Stop flaunting your ethnicity and then whining about mistreatment. I don’t think any word more perfectly illustrates this phenomenon than “nigger”. Of course, the fact that I’m a white female may discredit my opinion. I don’t think that it should, but in this day and age of passive racism, it seems reasonable to assume that Burris would be put off by my words.

When I am the first African-American attorney general, then it’s something to put on my resume.