NFL Bans “The N-Word”–Good Idea Or Waste Of Time?

If you have not heard, the National Football League is trying to change our society.  They want to ban the N-word, and penalize any players that are heard saying it during a game 15 yards for a version of “unsportsmanlike conduct”.

In case you are totally clueless, or have been in some kind of time pod for the last 30 years, the N-word is jargon for a specific word.  It’s a word no one dares say anymore.  No one can even mutter it anymore, for the last 30 years or more, for fear of being labeled a bacist.  All anyone can say is “the N-word”.  

Well the beauty of writing for one’s own website is that I don’t work for anybody.  I don’t answer to anybody.  No one can fire me.  I am not going to be arrested…at least, not yet, for saying whatever I want, and taking advantage of that silly amendment of free speech.

The word no one can bring themselves to say is…..NIGGER.

Now yes, it is an ugly word.  I understand that.  The origins of that word go way back to the Civil War days, slavery in the south, and oppression of blacks in our country’s history.  

It is not a pleasant word.  There are many negative connotations to it.  I understand that.

The thing is, there may not be a single word in our society that has morphed more in the last hundred years than “nigger”.

If the only meaning to the word was what it was a hundred years ago, then obviously, I can see the NFL, the US government, local governments, TV shows, every other professional sports league, and every possible organization doing whatever they can to ban that word forever.

Here is the funny thing though….there is a HUGE difference between “nigger” and “nigga”. 

It is all in the context.

A white person who is pissed off because some well meaning black man who works for the airport, scuffed their hundred dollar suitcase, calls the man a nigger.  That is incredibly offensive and in bad taste and damn well racist.

A black man who sees his best friend at the local convenience store and says with excitement, “Hey nigga, what you be up to, yo?”  That is NOT racially motivated in any way, and in fact, often used as a “term if endearment.

The NFL is planning on penalizing any player an official hears saying that word to another player 15 yards.  If it is a white player saying that word in an antagonistic fashion to a black player, I can buy that penalty.  If it is a black player who is defending a black wide receiver and says after an incompleted pass, “Yo nigga, that was one mad go route yo.  You a bad nigga”, then I believe it is a bad penalty and a waste of time–not in the spirit of the rule.

What is the NFL trying to do anyways with this rule?  Are they trying to affect society?  Do they have the “God complex” so much that they feel if they can stop anyone saying that word in the league, then everyone in society will follow suit?  If so, then they are wasting their time.

The word “Nigger” is still a derogatory term, when a white person says it to a black person.  The word “nigga”, when said by a black person to another black person, is usually a term of ultimate endearment.  It’s similar to white people using the word “dude”.

Think I have no idea what I am talking about?  Well, being blind, I had to take the #4 bus to work for 6 years.  

The 4 bus is highly black.  I was often the ONLY white person on the bus…either going downtown, or going away from downtown.  Almost every time I was on that bus, I heard that word.  I heard the context of that word, and I can assure you, it was NOT derogatory.

It’s all perception.  If you are white, you should just never use that word.  If you are black, hey, do what you want, but just know it is a very uncomfortable word for white people to hear, even if you are using it to each other.

I will share a brief story with you.  My wife was recently in a Hess Mart, standing in line.  She 

walked up to that line with just a refilled Coke.  A young black man saw this and had a half dozen items and told her, “Ma’am, you can go ahead of me”.  

At that point, a white woman who looked a tad “trailer park trashy” standing at the ATM, heard the interplay and said to the black man, “well, look at that…there are still a few good niggers in the world”.  

My wife was flabbergasted, and understandably so.  The poor, nice man who was allowing her to cut in front of him acted non-plused, but embarrassed.  He sheepishly said to the woman, “well yes, there are a few of us left”, and smiled at her uncomfortably.  After my wife had paid for her drink, and turned to leave the line, the woman, now getting in line, passed the black man and once again said to him out loud, “You’re a good nigger!”.  

Like I said, it’s all perception.  That woman probably thought she was being “cool” and “hip”.  That black man probably felt uncomfortable at the time, then told his buddies later and they all had a good laugh about it.  My wife, and any other white people in the store at the time probably felt beyond uncomfortable, and told everyone they know how some uncouth white woman insulted a black man at the Hess mart.

Who’s right?  Who’s wrong?  I don’t know, but to me, you can’t legislate it when it comes to a word like this.  Would everyone be better off to have that word gone forever from our lexicon and dictionary?  Yes, of course.  But to assume so and attempt to regulate who can say it and who can’t is almost being racist in an unintentional way, isn’t it?