Is it acceptable for non-black people to say the n-word while quoting??

[Paleophyte]

My history professor just got suspended for saying it out loud while quoting Abraham Lincoln. Was she rightfully suspended?

Not unless there were other circumstances. If you can't use the same language that historical figures used then you can't meaningfully convey their sentiments or thoughts, which you'd think would be a little vital to the understanding of history. That said, a smart teacher will want to preface a statement like that so that nobody misinterprets it as support for those sentiments. All of that said, I would be very uncomfortable using that particular word. Too many horrid white people used it to say too many hateful things. Words have social and historical context, and this one's is not one that I'd care to be associated with.

[Paleophyte]

In the US there've been several controversies involving the
misunderstanding of the word niggardly, an adjective meaning
"stingy" or "miserly", because of its phonetic similarity to nigger,
an ethnic slur used against black people.

Although the two words are etymologically unrelated, niggardly
is nonetheless often replaced with a synonym(!).   People have
sometimes faced backlash for using the word.

Niggardly, arising in the Middle Ages, long predates nigger, which
arose in the 18th century.

  —Pilgrim, David (September 2001). "Nigger and Caricatures".

It's an archaic term with lots of more acceptable synonyms that will likely convey your meaning more effectively than using a word that sounds like you're being a racist until you stop and explain the etymology and origins of the terms to what you may now rightly expect to be a hostile audience. There's also an exceptional chance that, due to the similarities, horrid white bastards have employed it in all of the worst ways, lending it new and unpleasant connotations.

[pattylt]

When I lived in the south age 7-12, besides the N word being very common, there were also a lot of people that used Nigra…not quite negro and not quite N word. For some reason, this was thought to be less demeaning than the N word. It really wasn’t, but they patted themselves on the back for not being explicit with N word.

[mordant]

When I lived in the south age 7-12, besides the N word being very common, there were also a lot of people that used Nigra…not quite negro and not quite N word. For some reason, this was thought to be less demeaning than the N word.  It really wasn’t, but they patted themselves on the back for not being explicit with N word.

Yeah I remember George Wallace using this with the emphasis on the first syllable, NIG-rah with a slight pause so that you expected to hear the N word and then at the last moment it was (sort of) "rescued". But you knew what he meant. It was really just a way to get away with saying it without exactly saying it. My guess is that it was roughly how the N-word was sometimes pronounced naturally in the South anyway.

[SYZ]

There's also the medical term "linea nigra" (Latin for "black line"),
the dark vertical line that appears on the skin of the stomach during
pregnancy.

[Vorpal]

I'm not sure that Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn are "kid's books". They're books about kids, but the social commentary in them is much more than reading your five-year-old to sleep at night. After reading Finn in particular, I thought to myself that Twain used the slurs precisely to contrast the social view of Jim against Huck's view of Jim as a human who helped him through jams.

In other words, I think Twain's liberal use of the slur was not just reflecting American racism, but criticizing it by way of contrast to the characters he wrote about.

Tom Sawyer really is for children but can be enjoyed by adults.  Huckleberry Finn is a satire for adults that can be enjoyed by kids.  Tom has the n-wotd four times. Huck has it 200 and some odd times.  Your interpretation of Huck is fine.

[Alan V]

Is it acceptable for non-black people to say the n-word while quoting??

I wouldn't do it.

[epronovost]

My history professor just got suspended for saying it out loud while quoting Abraham Lincoln. Was she rightfully suspended?

As a fellow history teacher I would say that the use of slurs, including racial slurs like the famous n word, is acceptable under some condition. The first one is in the context of art like a movie or theatre play set during a period where such word was commonly used; especially if the the theatre play or movie is about the condition of black people. The second is for it's use in an academic context like while quoting or reading historical figures or discussing the word itself, it's usage and place in culture. Thus, I think that you're history professor was in the right and you're faculty did you a disservice in suspending her for basically doing her job. Had she used it outside of an academic lecture/discussion or, even worst, used it as an insult towards a student, then the suspension if not job termination would have been warranted.

When I teach my class on the transatlantic slavery, I do preface to my students that we will read people using racial slurs to describe black slaves and I also give a short class on the usage of these terms to avoid ruffling feathers and making students uncomfortable. Content warnings are important when discussing touchy subjects with touchy language. I do the same when discussing antisemitism in Europe or the history of the feminist revolution.

On a side note; the University of Ottawa got into hot water after suspending a literature teacher who was giving a lecture in Canadian political literature of the 60's and one of the most famous pamphlet of the era is a book by Quebec separatist and Marxist revolutionary Pierre Vallières. A student protested the usage of the term famous n word which is in the title of the book itself. In said book the author compares the social and economical condition of French Canadian proletariat class of the 50's with that of African American and the need for a similar movement for civic rights and, ultimately, Marxist revolution. When the story of her suspension broke out in the newspaper, the university faced a severe backlash for censoring their own teacher for talking and presenting a piece of literature that, by all account, must be discussed in a class on 20th century political literature. Surprisingly, the book itself didn't have such a bad reception within the black Canadian community. The famous poet Aimé Césaire would say in the 80's (and I'm translating at the best of my ability here):"I smiled at the exaggeration; but I told myself. Well, this author, despite exaggerating a bit, did understood negritude".

[Szuchow]

Why it wouldn't be acceptable? Back then racists saw black people as niggers and nothing can be done to change the past. Books about Shoah don't censor themselves by avoiding word subhuman or whatever else slur was used against Jews. Why it should be any different with other words now rightly seen as slurs? If we're talking about past we should use language that was used back then, otherwise we're just falsifying history by pretending that it was sunshine and rainbows all the time. If someone is uncomfortable then tough shit - history with all horrible crimes and attitudes of times long past should make people uncomfortable (not that it was all gloom and doom but that's beside the point).

[Thumpalumpacus]

[...] history with all horrible crimes and attitudes of times long past should make people uncomfortable [...]

Goddamned straight. Pussyfooting through it only makes it harder to identify when it (inevitably) crops up again.

[SYZ]

In June 2015, Barack Obama invoked the most
charged racial slur in American society during an
interview published that month, as part of an
argument that while the US has made great strides
toward equality, racism still pervades the nation.

“Racism, we are not cured of it. And it’s not just a
matter of it not being polite to say nigger in public.
That’s not the measure of whether racism still exists
or not", Obama said.

Asked later if the president regretted using the slur,
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said: Obama’s
use of the word was "entirely consistent" with how the
president has spoken about racism in the past, and
that it appeared in his memoir several times.

—As an aside, I'm bemused by the fact that Americans
seem to find the phrase "the N-word" perfectly acceptable
despite it being, more than obviously, a polite woke
substitute for the purported to be racial slur "nigger".    

    Hypocrisy anyone?    

[brewerb]

If the president is allowed to say it in a teachable moment with no repercussions then certainly a teacher................(you know the rest of the argument).

[Vorpal]

If the presiedent is allowed to say it in a teachable moment with no repercussions then certainly a teacher................(you know the rest of the argument).

That does not follow because last time I checked Barack is bipoc.

[SYZ]

If the presiedent is allowed to say it in a teachable moment with no repercussions then certainly a teacher................(you know the rest of the argument).

That does not follow because last time I checked Barack is bipoc.

    ?   ?   ?

[Dānu]

I think it's a case of community standards. In some groups, the rules surrounding the word's use are different than in others. Thus a president using the word may be operating in a different context that has different standards than others. I recall a bit from a Youtube video in which there was rather open racism on display. When the interviewer remarked that they don't even try to hide it, the Trump voter responded, "You're at a Trump rally, bro!" I became the subject of a kerfuffle at another forum for using the word humorously in the chatroom of another forum. Given the general liberal leaning of the membership, my use of the word crossed a line with that community that it might not in a different community. All the same, in communities that discourage its use in all contexts, there is a curious tension with ideas about free speech which more liberal-leaning communities are more concerned with, contrary to conservative communities where such restriction might be considered "woke," or "PC," and therefore bad.

[Vorpal]

That does not follow because last time I checked Barack is bipoc.

    ?   ?   ?

How in the world  is that comment confusing to you and brewerb?

[Thumpalumpacus]

Because they don't speak textspeak?

[Vorpal]

Because they don't speak textspeak?

oh?!

BIPOC stands for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. It's a term used to refer to groups that are not white and are often harmed by white supremacy. BIPOC is pronounced "bye-pock". 



BIPOC is intended to: 

• Center the experiences of Black and Indigenous groups 
  
  
  
• Demonstrate solidarity between communities of color
  

I actually hate acronyms unless ultra obvious.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Because they don't speak textspeak?

oh?!

BIPOC stands for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. It's a term used to refer to groups that are not white and are often harmed by white supremacy. BIPOC is pronounced "bye-pock". 



BIPOC is intended to: 

• Center the experiences of Black and Indigenous groups 
  
  
  
• Demonstrate solidarity between communities of color
  

I actually hate acronyms unless ultra obvious.

I've never heard of it myself. I sorta figured it meant "bi-racial person of color", but why get snippy with them when you're the one using the more-obscure term?

Communication is in large part about clarity. It greases the skids and eases the process.

[Vorpal]

oh?!

BIPOC stands for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. It's a term used to refer to groups that are not white and are often harmed by white supremacy. BIPOC is pronounced "bye-pock". 



BIPOC is intended to: 

• Center the experiences of Black and Indigenous groups 
  
  
  
• Demonstrate solidarity between communities of color
  

I actually hate acronyms unless ultra obvious.

I've never heard of it myself. I sorta figured it meant "bi-racial person of color", but why get snippy with them when you're the one using the more-obscure term?

Communication is in large part about clarity. It greases the skids and eases the process.

SYZ is a master at using the Google. He provides sources, quotes,  and specifics on issues more than anyone in this forum  -- unprompted and quite spontaneously. It is one of his most endearing qualities. I honestly thought something else must be confusing him or he is busting balls.

[Thumpalumpacus]

<shrug>

[brewerb]

    ?   ?   ?

How in the world  is that comment confusing to you and brewerb?

I understood it, not confusing, but felt that it didn't rise to a level that needed to be responded to.