The Case Of the Infamous N!gger: Part 2

  If I were to ask my grandfather when or if it is ever appropriate to use the word nigger or it's derivatives he would look at me in the face and slap me with all of the wrath of a former slave. Not simply former slaves from Africa and its diaspora, but the first slaves ever...women. My grandfather always tells me this story of the Watts riots. 

  One afternoon in 1965 he was on his porch holding my mom who was not a year old yet.  The National Guard rolled through the hood. One of the Guards said to my grandfather "Nigger get back in your house!"  My grandfather responded with "this is my house!" The guard then responded "get back in the house Nigger or I will blow you away."  My grandfather obviously not concerned with his or my mother's safety stood his ground.  The guy cocked his weapon and my grandmother screamed and begged him back into the house.  That's what the word Nigger means to him.

  When my father was a kid he saw police officers beat the shit outta a man while all the black people watched helplessly.  As my dad walked closer to get a better look the officer yelled to my father, "One more step and I'll blow your head off little nigger!"  Safe to say my dad didn't walk another step.  These are the stories from our parents and grandparents generation. A generation that is still alive and living with the horrors of being subhuman. We often fight over generational issues and the issue with black Americans is the use of the word nigger or its derivatives. Yet, if it causes so much anguish to our parents why do we continue to use the word?