By Alyssa Shepard Moore
During their 98th Annual Convention in Detroit, Michigan, the NAACP symbolically buried the “N” word, complete with an obituary and funeral services. (http://www.naacp.org/pdfs/Obituary I wondered if the, African American co-worker at my office, I’ll call her Shirley, was aware of this memorial or even cared.
If she were in her 20’s I might have been inclined to write off what I perceived as her indifference to the “N” word as a generation gap issue. But she is my age; born in the 60’s. Her roots are embedded in the midst of the Watts riots. Her family’s migration from Texas to California was similar to my own. Our grandparents arrived in Los Angeles in 1948 shedding themselves, so they thought of oppressive Jim Crow laws. Yet they found themselves relegated to Central Avenue, which was a Mecca for Black talent, wealth and community. Baldwin Hills, at that time, was strictly off limits to Blacks.
Being called the “N” word in 1948 was something Black families endured. By 1978 Blacks were empowered to fight anyone that called them the “N” word. My Dad sat my brother, sister and I in the living room to explain how hateful the word was. Books like Before the Mayflower, Soul on Ice and the Black American Encyclopedia edited by Lerone Bennett, Jr. were read to us as bedtime stories.
In 2007, we find Blacks that claim to own the “N” word while they endearingly refer to their friends and family as “N’s.” At the same time, they taunt, bait and challenge non-Blacks to say the word, that is if they don’t mind a beat down.
At least that is how it appears when Shirley playful laughed with a fellow African American co-worker “ Nigga please,” while at the same time cutting a dirty look at nonwhites in the office on Wilshire Blvd. When she said it, the workers of European descent stood with their mouths a gasp, stunned as if they wanted to say, “but I thought we weren’t supposed to say that word.” Telepathically Shirley answered you CAN’T, BUT I CAN.
Willis Edwards, Vice President of the Beverly Hills/ Hollywood Branch of the NAACP and NAACP National Board Member says “This kind of double standard is the very reason we chose to bury the “N” word on July 9. This and all hurtful words should be stricken from our language as acceptable for polite conversation.”
According to Dr. Earl Ofari Hutchnson, syndicated columnist, political analyst and author of nine books on race – still need to speak with him.
Even though Shirley and I differ when it comes to using the “N” word, I am hoping that she and other Blacks will down load the “N” word obituary and take an oath to strike that and all other hateful, demeaning words from their vocabulary and leave that kind of talk to the recesses of back alleys or the Howard Stern Show where that kind of trash talk belongs.
It is time that we as people clean up our image. If you are sharing office space with the “N” word, then it is time to send an eviction notice. The “N” word is not your coworker or a friend.
Alyssa Shepherd Moore is a charter member and Parliamentarian for Secure Women Investment Club, which was established in 1996, sits on the board for the Black Journalists Association of Southern California and is Health Coordinator for the CME Ninth Episcopal District.
