The word nigger carries with it much of the hatred and repulsion directed toward Africans and African Americans. Historically, nigger defined, limited, and mocked African Americans. It was a term of exclusion, a verbal justification for discrimination. Whether used as a noun, verb, or adjective, it reinforced the stereotype of the lazy, stupid, dirty, worthless parasite. No other American ethnophaulism carried so much purposeful venom, as the following representative list suggests: •Nigger, v. To wear out, spoil or destroy. •Niggerish, adj. Acting in an indolent and irresponsible manner. •Niggerlipping, v. Wetting the end of a cigarette while smoking it. •Niggerlover, n. Derogatory term aimed at whites lacking in the necessary loathing of blacks. •Nigger luck, n. Exceptionally good luck, emphasis on undeserved. •Nigger-flicker, n. A small knife or razor with one side heavily taped to preserve the users fingers. •Nigger heaven, n. a designated place, usually the balcony, where blacks were forced to sit, for example, in an integrated movie theater or church. •Nigger knocker, n. axe handle or weapon made from an axe handle. •Nigger rich, adj, Deeply in debt but ostentatious. •Nigger shooter, n. A slingshot. •Nigger steak, n. a slice of liver or a cheap piece of meat. •Nigger stick, n. police officers baton. •Nigger tip, n. leaving a small tip or no tip in a restaurant. •Nigger in the woodpile, n. a concealed motive or unknown factor affecting a situation in an adverse way. •Nigger work, n. Demeaning, menial tasks.(Green, 1984, p. 190) Nigger has been used to describe a dark shade of color (nigger-brown, nigger-black), the status of whites who interacted with blacks (nigger-breaker, -dealer, -driver, -killer, -stealer, -worshipper, and -looking), and anything belonging to or associated with African Americans (nigger-baby, -boy, -girl, -mouth, -feet, -preacher, -job, -love, -culture, -college, -music, and so forth).4 Nigger is the ultimate American insult; it is used to offend other ethnic groups, as when Jews are called white-niggers; Arabs, sandniggers; or Japanese, yellow-niggers. Americans created a racial hierarchy with whites at the top and blacks at the bottom. The hierarchy was undergirded by an ideology which justified the use of deceit, manipulation, and coercion to keep blacks in their place. Every major societal institution offered legitimacy to the racial hierarchy. Ministers preached that God had condemned blacks to be servants. Scientists measured black heads, brains, faces, and genitalia, seeking to prove that whites were genetically superior to blacks. White teachers, teaching only white students, taught that blacks were less evolved cognitively, psychologically, and socially. The entertainment media, from vaudeville to television, portrayed blacks as docile servants, happy-go-lucky idiots, and dangerous thugs. The criminal justice system sanctioned a double standard of justice, including its tacit approval of mob violence against blacks.
Posted on: Tue, 05 Nov 2013 16:15:51 +0000
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