Black History I             Paris White  block 4b 

In the "N-word" lesson, we explored various aspects of the infamous word, including the origin, etymology, multiple uses and the purpose of using the word. According to linguists and anthropologists, the N-word was being used as early as the beginning of the 16th century. When you physically deconstruct the word and study the prefix and suffix individually, their respective meanings develop the essence of the term. Any word beginning with "N", followed by a vowel, means "negative" or "nothing". The meaning "person who is or does" is produced by adding "er" to the end of any word. By combining "Ni" and "er", you get "a person who does or is nothing". By bestowing this identity upon a specific group of people, you get dehumanization. And when used for slavery, this dehumanization reaches a legal and social scale, for the sole purpose of profit.

Soon after European people began to use the N-word to oppress people of African descent, African people began to use the word fraternally. As society advances, the word evolves and new uses arise. The N-word can be used today in many different ways. Derogatorily from a white person to a black person, fraternally between two black people, and derogatorily between two black people. Also, due to hip hop culture, the word is used in a fraternal manor from a person who is NOT black to another person. The fraternal uses of the word were developed to dull the severity and power exerted from the N-word. However, this is just an addition to the force of personalized and institutional racism. In fact, the N-word and the B-word are very similar in this sense. One used to enforce racism, and one used to enforce sexism. Nonetheless, both used to exert oppression on the "inferior" group.