The NAACP buries the "N" word

[Grenadier]

Looks like they finally stepped up to the plate, and finally saying that rappers shouldn't use the term, either.

I'm not sure how much of an effect it will have, though.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-04-30-n-word-funeral_N.htm?csp=34

DETROIT (AP) — The NAACP held a symbolic funeral in Detroit 63 years ago for Jim Crow.

The civil rights organization will do the same this summer for the "N" word, the Rev. Wendell Anthony said Sunday.

Anthony, president of the civil rights organization's Detroit branch, said members and supporters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People will conduct services and a "eulogy" for the racial slur. The mock funeral will be held during the NAACP national convention July 7-12 in Detroit, he said.

"We are committed to ending hate — word and talk," Anthony said. "It doesn't do anyone any good, whether it's a journalist on TV or a rapper on the radio."

 

[HKphooey]

I doubt it will have much impact on the music and movie industry.

 

[exile]

It may not have a direct effect. But read it as a sign of a change in the wind. It may mean that, as one African-American columnist put it, the African-American community is finally getting tired of having its discourse dominated by prison culture. So as far as I can see, it's a very hopeful development, regardless of how effective it is in the short run...

 

[MA-Caver]

I doubt it will have much impact on the music and movie industry.

Probably not... at least not in our life time. Music and movies reflect cultural times. Blacks are still using the N word out on the streets in their (predominately black) neighborhoods and elsewhere. But as now that I see it with my association with blacks (at my job and other places) it's a reflection of the level of education and personal self-esteem and mutual respect (or lack thereof) of each other.
Several of my friends and acquaintances have realized (told to me in conversations on the subject) that it doesn't make sense that if they're offended by the word when spoken by a white person that they wouldn't be offended if a black person says the same thing. I find these revelations heartening because it shows a maturity in our society that is growing in the right direction.
At work jokingly I will say to a black co-worker "hey! What's up my cracker?" they'll laugh and reply back "what's up my "n-word" ? " We say "now that's reverse prejudice!" and have a good laugh.

They've also have seemed to fallen away from the self-moniker of "African-American" and use "black" to describe themselves. That's fine with me because I'd find it tiring to be calling myself an "Irish-American" for the sake of being politically correct.

 

[CoryKS]

A deeply meaningful symbolic gesture? Of course! That will solve everything. Now nobody will use that word ever again. Yay!

 

[exile]

A deeply meaningful symbolic gesture? Of course! That will solve everything. Now nobody will use that word ever again. Yay!

But that's in a sense the point: as a cause of anything, something like the NAACP statement is insignificant. But if you think of it as an effect, it's probably a pointer to a developing backlash in the mainstream African-American middle class against the gangsta rap value system that's dominated popular culture (certainly in Black communities) for the past fifteen years or more. As time goes on, that kind of pressure could well become much harder- edged, leading to changes in the movie/music business and in public discussion. The fact that the NAACP is finally breaking its long silence on this stuff is what's important, as a sign of things to come, rather than the (negligable) impact that anything they say will have.

 

[MA-Caver]

Well basically and ideally for the word to be "phased out" young black americans today need to have positive role models to emulate. It's appearing here and there but still not often enough. Yet one example I can think of is a scene from a Samuel L. Jackson movie Coach Carter "******" is a derogatory term used to insult our ancestors. See, if a white man used it, you'd be ready to fight. Your using it teaches him to use it.You're saying it's cool.
Well, it's not cool. And when you're around me, I don't wanna hear that ****."
Thus teaching the youth today will make better adults tomorrow... but that's applicable to damn near anything.

 

[zDom]

We'll see if there is ANY response to the next rapper who uses it.

I bet not.

We all know there will be the same old response (condemnation from Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, demands for public apology after which they will STILL not be satisfied until the offender's career is declared over) the next time a (famous) white person says it.