The Word That Is the Very Definition of Unspeakable

[Sapphire Blue]

The Word That Is the Very Definition of Unspeakable
Black Entertainer Endorses Moratorium on Slur

By Darryl Fears
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 2, 2006; Page C01

Paul Mooney is a popular black comedian with a foul mouth who's used a nasty racial epithet as part of his shtick for decades. But when his friend Michael Richards, who's white, spewed that same epithet during a gig at a Los Angeles comedy club, Mooney said it "freaked me out" and "filled me with disgust."

Mooney joined the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) this week in calling for a moratorium by entertainers who use the n-word, the nation's ugliest black pejorative. The proposal, spurred by Richards's racist rant last month, initiated the latest round of a long-standing debate about the term. Black people have fought over the word for years. And nonblack hip-hop and rap music lovers now ask, "If black people can use it, why can't I?"

(snip)

But over centuries, it underwent a sort of Jekyll and Hyde mutation, particularly in black communities. "Like so many words, it does mean different things in different contexts," Kennedy said. "It can be used right now to terrorize and demean people. It can also be used to say you're my man, to show solidarity, to satirize racists and put them down."

Which is how Mooney used it in his comedy -- far too much, he said: "I was having a romance with the word, and I was married to it." But now, Mooney said, "I'm free of it. I won't be using that word onstage, and I won't be using the b-word. We're asking the rappers and all the people on Earth to stop using the word."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/01/AR2006120101700.html

And if you missed this thread, here's a link...

"After all, it’s just a word, right?" http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=2797271

[uppityperson]

1. Intention matters, and I'd be happy to not use these words at all.

is it a slap or a friendly pat?

[pansypoo53219]

2. it's in the dictionary

but not poontang, which seems to be the 'worst' word.

just an observation.