The life of the officials themselves did not become sweeter. Having adopted the most formal of all historical resolutions, they cannot utter 'nigger' even to comment on their decision, and a number of media outlets refuse to write this word. However, new food for debate and news has appeared for a while. Now many have to talk about the word without voicing it, and write about it without using it, like in the children's game 'say yes and no – do not speak.' But officials and journalists are far from children.
The ban on the word 'nigger' is justified by the fact that it may sound insulting to the city's black population. Since the 1780s, slaveholders used this word to denote living goods, whom they did not treat as people. However, slaves were called 'niggers' not because of their status or contempt for them. Black people were originally denoted by the Spanish-Portuguese 'negros' ('blacks'). The fact that it was this word, rather than the English one, that took root in English is explained by the fact that the Spanish and Portuguese were the first Europeans to bring black people to America. Americans seem to see nothing wrong with the word 'black.' Even now, they consider it perfectly correct to call an African American a 'black man' as opposed to a white man. This does not demean one relative to the other. A completely different matter is the word 'colored' – it seems to imply that someone is normal, while someone else has been painted.
The Spanish-Portuguese 'Negro' can be found in any English-Russian dictionary, where it is given exclusively with a capital letter. It is translated as the ordinary 'negro,' and next to it there is no note 'rude' as next to the word 'nigger,' which is often translated into Russian as 'blackie.' When words denote the same object but contain different emotions towards it, they are said to have the same cognitive but different emotive meanings. The case with 'negro' in English is unique. Different emotive meanings were acquired not by two different words denoting something, but by two dialectal variants of one word. This is the trace left in English by the difference in lifestyle and morality between the northern and southern states before the Civil War.
In the dialect of the southern states – the slaveholding ones – the word 'Negro' over time came to be pronounced as 'nigra,' and this variant in turn transformed into 'nigger.' The word 'nigger' itself, tracing back to 'Negro,' referred to nothing other than skin color. The southerners' attitude towards blacks was crude and contemptuous, not the word they used to denote them by their color. Southerners could have come up with calling 'blacks' the word 'blacks' – it just didn't happen historically. And then instead of the n-word, some b-word would have become the hero of news and discussions. And if Americans in the 21st century can somehow live without the distorted Spanish word, they would have a harder time without their English one.
So, even if in the mouths of slaveholding southerners 'nigger' was not a curse word but simply a word, they used it to call black people precisely when they were forcing them to be slaves. This word offends the historical memory of African Americans because it is associated with the atrocities of slaveholders. Similarly, the brilliant music of Wagner is not usually performed in Israel – there is nothing wrong with the music itself, but the Nazis once burned Jews in ovens to it, and too many Israelis associate it with the murder of their relatives.
A white American, if he uses the word 'nigger' in relation to black people, can be accused of identifying with slaveholding southerners, and therefore with racists, and this would be a terrible accusation. But how can one accuse African Americans themselves of racism, many of whom (especially street youth) use the word 'nigger' in reference to themselves and those like them?
It is enough to recall the film 'Don't Be a Menace to South Central,' which comically describes life in criminalized black neighborhoods. The n-word is used in it more often than any other words, and it seems – even more often than the f-word. The word 'nigger' is rife in the lyrics of 'black' rap groups expressing social protest against the 'white' American world. Having become full-fledged citizens of the United States, African Americans from the lower classes were often inclined to blame 'whites' for social disarray. They were convinced that 'whites' owed them a lot for decades of slavery and discrimination. Perhaps that is why they were in no hurry to get rid of the word that sounds offensive to some black people. They did not want to get rid of the memory of their ancestors' humiliations, because for them it is a historical justification for their lifestyle and their claims against 'whites.' Eagerly opposing themselves to 'whites,' guys from 'black' neighborhoods are proud that they are 'niggers.'
Something similar happened to them as to Mowgli. Some animals mockingly called him a 'man-cub,' making him feel inferior. When Mowgli grew up and became strong, he reminded those who had mocked him that he was a human, and made it clear that this was his strength.
The New York authorities do not hide their hope that the symbolic ban on the word 'nigger' will force rappers, showmen, and artists to gradually stop using it. So it turns out that the ban on the word 'nigger' is addressed primarily to black performers, since whites already avoid this word, not wanting to be accused of racism.
African American performers do not intend to give up the word 'nigger.' Representatives of the Grammys immediately stated that it is unlikely that any of the 11,000 voting Academy members would support a measure that censors performance texts. Black comedian Chris Rock, who jokes mainly on racial topics, promises that 'nigger' will not disappear from his monologues.
In some ways, the New York City Council can be understood. Not all black Americans love the atmosphere of Harlem and the word nigger. The main thing is that the word nigger has become too popularized. Opponents of the ban on its use pointed to this very fact, explaining that if this word finally 'settles' in the language, everyone will forget its former meaning, which has already receded into the background. On the other hand, if white youth forget the history of this word and begin to use it too often, there will be a threat of social conflict. If 'whites' again call black people niggers, African Americans might not like it.
Interestingly, the New York City Council resolution also bans 'various derivatives' of the word nigger. First and foremost, this refers to the words nigga and niggah (as the word nigger can be heard pronounced), as well as nigguh and even nikuh, imitating the pronunciation of some people. Also banned were variants of words invented to avoid the word nigger but to make it clear what is meant: jigger and more original ones: nookah, nukka and nagger.
The fate of the word Negro, which was used among well-meaning Northerners, remains complicated. It was clearly discredited by its kinship with the scandalous nigger, and Americans try not to use it in reference to black people. But it will not be possible to abandon it and especially its derivatives, no matter how much one might want to. Some anthropologists will still call the equatorial race Australo-Negroid, and within it, besides others, distinguish such small races as the Negro, Negrillo, and Negrito races. Moreover, Americans call Montenegro 'Montenegro', the governor of California is Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the director of national intelligence is John Negroponte.
Maxim Malkosh.
IA Rosbalt