Meaning of a Word Nigger - Essay Example

TOPIC NO.2 Language is one of the greatest sources of communication while interacting with the other individuals and groups of people. It has been an essential part of all cultures since ancient past and has contained significant place in all the human societies for centuries in respect of not only conveying one’s message, but also receiving others’ points of view. It is nearly impossible to apprehend the meanings only through expressions or symbols without the help of words. John Zerzan has defined the importance of language in these words: “Language may be properly considered the fundamental ideology, perhaps as deep a separation from the natural world as self-existent time.  And if timelessness resolves the split between spontaneity and consciousness, languagelessness may be equally necessary.” (John Zerzan: Language: Origin and Meanings, quoted in Primitivism). Although language is the most popular way of exchanging views among the individuals, yet such words and slang terms are used in different societies, against some typical community or group, which are not only condemnable, sorrowful and insulting, but also humiliating and pinching for the community that is the special target of such specific word full of hatred. These hateful and annoying remarks are abhorred and avoided by all the cultured people and civilized nations all over the globe. And also they try to remove and eliminate them from the daily usage. Same is the case with the word “nigger”. Nigger is the most offensive word in respect of racial discrimination and is often referred by the white community in a sense of hatred against the African ancestry. Nigger is derived from the word “Negro”, used by the white European conqueror states to define and describe the black African people. The Africans regard it the word of great shame and are irritated by it. Malcolm-X, the renowned leader for the cause of the African ancestry, and founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity had also pointed out and alluded to the same word, in his book, as one of the most offensive comment faced by the community in its every day life. The famous American novelist and scholar Gloria Naylor has also viewed in her famous essay, “The Meanings of A Word” that how she was puzzled by hearing the word “nigger” from the mouth of her class fellow when she was a small child and the student of Grade III. In her words: “I remember the first time I heard the word nigger. In my third grade class, our math tests were being passed down the rows, and as I handed the paper to a little boy in back of me, I remarked that once again he had received a much lower mark than I did. He snatched his test from me and spit out that word.” (Gloria Naylor, The Meanings of a Word, quoted in Aaron: 252) Her statement reveals the very fact that how such remarks could tell upon the delicate nerves of a small child of third grade who was even unaware of the true meanings of the word. Also, so many years could not delete the word from her innocent memory for the future years to come. The African people and their innocent children had to undergo various trials of many kinds while living with the white Americans and South Africans. With the passage of time, the scenario started taking drastic change, and general public stood up to strive against the racial prejudice prevailing in America. In the same way, the social reformers girded up their loins to remove the word nigger and others from dictionaries and common usage of daily life that could create biasness and inequality. Some of the people state that the term “nigger” also derives the positive and distinguished meanings e.g. to mention the strength or feelings of love or friendship, as well as due to internationalization of racism. But Naylor does not agree with it. She states: I don’t agree with the argument that use of the word nigger at this social stratum of the black community was an internationalization of racism. The dynamics were the exact opposite: the people in my grandmother’s living room took a word that whites used to signify worthlessness or degradation and rendered it impotent.” The African leaders, novelists, writers and reformers took active part in making it a slang word not to be addressed and referred to the oppressed black community. The pioneers include Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Margaret Drabble, Nelson Mandela, Malcolm X and others spent their whole lives for the uplift of their ancestry race and worked day in and day out to get the racial prejudice perish away from the very face of the earth. The world is turning into a big global village, and only those nations and states would exist, survive and make progress which are above from all the racial, religious, communal, social and regional biasness. Also there exist some words, which are the sign of hatred and degradation too, and must be removed from the dictionaries and common usage to protect the people from hearing the comments that may tell upon their mind and nerves, and may cause disturbance and troubles while living in a multicultural society. In the long list of such irritating words, there also exists the word “keling”, which is used by the northern Malaysians to refer to the Indians. The word creates fuss for the Indian community, and they get extremely annoyed when one refers to this word. In the same way, the word “Jew” had been termed as alluding to a mean or miser man since the times of Marlowe and even before. Same is the case with the words "cripple", “blacks”, “girl”, “homosexual” and “transsexual” etc. Cripple is aptly used for a special (or disabled in the real sense) member of society, and is not only annoying, but shameful and disrespectful too. Imagine how painful would it be for the person against whom the word is used! Also when a lady is called “girl” as a sex symbol or sex object by the filthy people, it must also sound very bad and non-sense, although it is not racial, but expresses the feelings of gender discrimination. The term “homosexual” is implemented by the normal/straight people, upon the members of the society interested in the people of the same sex. They also call them “perverts”, “queer”, “gay”, “lesbians” and others. “Ebonics”, “Jive”, “Monkey bots”, “Yellow-race”, “boongs”, “gins”, “slops”, “dikes”, “googs” etc are also insulting and jerking terms and are denoted to discrimination of various types, especially racism. All the words of such kind must be delineated from the dictionaries to protect the masses from being the prey to detestation and abhorrence. Many movements were started and crusades were launched to delete such terms from society, though these could not win the complete triumph altogether. It is the need of the hour that all such words must be destroyed and vanished from common use, dictionaries as well as from the minds of the people to make and create a beautiful, magnificent and exemplary society full of peace and integrity. We must have to negate all these discriminations based on caste, creed, class, sect, race, gender, region, religion, culture and society to reach the climax of successfulness, politeness, humility, truthfulness, justice, integrity and social equality. REFERENCES 1. John Zerzan, 2004: Language: Origin and Meaning 2. Gloria Naylor, 2004: 251-254 The Meanings of a Word, compiled by Jane E. Aaron 40 Model Essays A Portable Anthology, Bedford, St.Martin’s Publishers. Read More