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

[Jarsa]

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

[Vorpal]

Suspension seems harsh. Some corrective action does seem prudent. Times have changed. Language is a living thing. What is proper or not changes with time. If this was an innocent slip -- like she was just reading the words on the page unthinkingly and the n-word popped out of her mouth-- That's one thing. It's possible but not plausible. Many people are up at arms about their n-word priviledges being revoked. Change is hard. Being told what to do seems intolerable. If your teacher uttered the word to make a stand or political point, that is not cool.

[jerry mcmasters]

She should not have, but I would hope she had the sense to prep the class to what was coming. Students are there to be educated, and that means explaining what you are doing and why you are doing it. Both CYA and good method.

[Rhythmcs]

I personally think that we're getting things wrong for the right reasons when we decide that it's a current college professors job to sanitize the language of a dead racist who is remembered, chiefly, by reference the the legend of the great emancipator. He used the word, he made racist jokes, he endlessly asserted and reasserted his white supremacy and his plans for a white supremacist government in language that would get you fired from a wendy's, today. OTOH, he could get his job back with the republicans np.

[SYZ]

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

Definitely and unequivocally NOT!

    This is "woke" gone crazy!

I presume that this is Lincoln's questionable quote?



What race is your professor, and what race was the
complainant?

[Dānu]

Two wrongs don't make a right.

[jerry mcmasters]

Jarsa what is your opinion of the professor up to this point? Do you think her intention was to use the word in the course of giving a well-rounded view of the whole man or was she just pushing the lazy Evil Racist Lincoln narrative?

[c172]

I'll echo XYZ's question. What were the races of the prof and the complainant? At least in America, a black person calling themselves or another black person a nigger is usually a different thing than a white person using that word on them.

[Minimalist]

Let Chris Rock explain it to you.

[Minimalist]

Let Chris Rock explain it to you.   [  NSFW ]  *










* Unless you work for the republiKKKunt Party or the Klan.

[Thumpalumpacus]

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

If you're quoting history, no, the suspension is not fair. Context matters.

[Jarsa]

She is white, but she definitely wasn't trying to be racist. I don't know who exactly reported her.

[brewerb]

Does the school have a 'Zero Tolerance' policy? Some of ours do an they tend to lose rational thought when applying it.

[pattylt]

While I agree that as a white person, I can’t say the N word, I also don’t think we should be censoring older literature that uses it. Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn should not be censored. It’s enough to put a disclaimer at the beginning that the word was used (and used commonly). It’s no different than reading older literature that uses the word Midget…a no no word for the Dwarf community, or Kike for Jews and many other unacceptable words for today. Just give a warning but leave the literature complete.

[Vorpal]

While I agree that as a white person, I can’t say the N word, I also don’t think we should be censoring older literature that uses it.  Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn should not be censored.  It’s enough to put a disclaimer at the beginning that the word was used (and used commonly).  It’s no different than reading older literature that uses the word Midget…a no no word for the Dwarf community, or Kike for Jews and many other unacceptable words for today. Just give a warning but leave the literature complete.

I disagree when it comes to children's books. Tom Sawyer is for children, and modern editions use slave instead of the n-word and that seems prudent.

[Minimalist]

Then don't claim that Mark Twain wrote it when you put it up for sale.

[pattylt]

While I agree that as a white person, I can’t say the N word, I also don’t think we should be censoring older literature that uses it.  Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn should not be censored.  It’s enough to put a disclaimer at the beginning that the word was used (and used commonly).  It’s no different than reading older literature that uses the word Midget…a no no word for the Dwarf community, or Kike for Jews and many other unacceptable words for today. Just give a warning but leave the literature complete.

I disagree when it comes to children's books. Tom Sawyer is for children, and modern editions use slave instead of the n-word and that seems prudent.

I feel that any child old enough to read these books are old enough to understand how the word was used commonly then and not appropriate now.  I don’t like over protecting children…they’re quite smart.

[Vorpal]

At least half of those little rug rats are punks with a smart mouth. They will lead to the book being banned outright. Save the unabridged for high schoolers and beyond.

[Thumpalumpacus]

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.

[airportkid]

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.

One of the most moving passages in Huckleberry Finn is Huck's struggling to reason out his dilemma of helping Jim escape, which in his world is a crime not just in law but against god, that will condemn him to hell.  His compassion for Jim prevails - but he has to work hard to get it settled in his heart.  None of Mark Twain's writing is "children's" stories, although they are accessible to young minds not able to recognize their deeper themes, and are therefore among the miracles of great literature that rereading brings new discovery at all ages.

[Thumpalumpacus]

One of the most moving passages in Huckleberry Finn is Huck's struggling to reason out his dilemma of helping Jim escape, which in his world is a crime not just in law but against god, that will condemn him to hell.  His compassion for Jim prevails - but he has to work hard to get it settled in his heart. 

Exactly. The protagonist sees -- and finds -- in Nigger Jim his own humanity. Especially in that era, it's a powerful and yet controversial message.

[Rhythmcs]

Maybe. Maybe twains use as an author was condemning and criticising (pro tip, it wasnt...clemens was also a racist). Lincolns use as a politician was permissive. Abraham Lincoln was a fire breathing full on white supremacist.

Fact.

If you're paying someone money to tell you about the period...I think they literally owe it to you to mention that.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Maybe.  Maybe twains use as an author was condemning and criticising (pro tip, it wasnt...clemens was also a racist).  Lincolns use as a politician was permissive.  Abraham Lincoln was a fire breathing full on white supremacist.

Fact.

If you're paying someone money to tell you about the period...I think they literally owe it to you to mention that.

Twain was racist too, sure. I think he was a little more conflicted -- how much, who's to say -- than your average white dude of the time, who just thought "I'm white and I'm right".

My dad was a bona-fide racist even as he knew it was bullshit. There's inner conflict in here.

[SYZ]

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".

[Rhythmcs]

No one in the us is confused as to the terms use.