We talked about Michael Richards a bit on the site, so I thought I'd offer a bit of NYT roundup. It's a good article and treatment of how this thing is playing out.
And just for the record, I think it's silly to try to try and declare a moratorium on words, and to get hung up on the word itself, since it's not just the word, but the context and intent that is most important. Hence, the silliness of saying "Well, if black people should say it, white people should be able to!" Again, language isn't just about making sounds with one's mouth; since "nigger" is very much a racial word, used in an explicitly racialized context by definition, the race of the speaker matters. Duh.
I'm actually surprised that Mooney is part of this moratorium, especially since it seems like such a Jesse Jackson way of doing things. I don't use the word, and I'd like to see it not being bandied about and people calling people "nigger" like a name. Yet in certain contexts, it feels appropriate and funny, and I feel definitely has a place in comedy. When Mooney uses it, it's always funny. And he always has a point. Note this brief video I had up a few posts back, but is worth watching again:
A white man using the word, in its original context and in its original meaning – well, come on, it ain't the "50 years ago" that Richards pointed to, but 2006. And unless you're leading a mini-Klan rally under cover of anonymity, I don't think you could hear the word used this way any more. Unless...
From what I've seen Asian American men in California seem to use the word more than black people. What's up with this appropriation of imagined construction of masculinity? Why are the Asian frats on campuses so self-consciously "black"? The first time I walked across the Berkeley campus and heard an Asian guy in a black coat with Greek letters on it yell in my direction, Whassup, nigga?!" I didn't know whether to laugh or punch the guy in the face. Since I also didn't know the guy, I was also perplexed at why he seemed to be talking to me. I quickly realized he was addressing his friend coming up behind me, which caused me to be even more perplexed.
The two friends greeted each other all "black" and used more "niggas" than I think I had used in 20 years.
Ahh, California. Who gets that place, anyway?
