Read Nigger: The Strange Career Of A Troublesome Word Online
Authors: Randall Kennedy
Nigger: The Strange Career Of A Troublesome Word (23 page)
62.
Lawrence,“If He Hollers Let Him Go,”433.
63.
Ibid.,
432
.
64.
Ibid.,
433
.
65.
Ibid.,
434
.
66.
Henry Louis Gates Jr., “War of Words: Critical Race Theory and the First Amendment,” in
Speaking of Race, Speaking of Sex: Hate Speech, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties
(1994),
42
.
67.
Lawrence, “If He Hollers Let Him Go,”451.
68.
See S. Douglas Murray, “The Demise of Campus Speech Codes,”
Western State University Law Review
24
(
1997
):
247
,
266
n.
158
. See also Handoff,“Chilling Codes,”
Washington Post
, March
25
,
1995
.
69.
Lawrence, “If He Hollers Let Him Go,”448.
70.
Gates, “War of Words,”47.
71.
See Strossen, “Regulating Racist Speech on Campus,”484.
72.
West Virginia State Bd. of Educ. v. Barnette
,
319
U.S.
624
,
642
(
1943
). See also
Chicago Police Dept. v. Mosey
,
406
U.S.
92
, (
1972
) (Justice Marshall: “Above all else, the First Amendment means that government has no power to restrict expression because of its message, its ideas, its subject matter, or its content”).
73.
See William Lee Miller,
Arguing about Slavery: The Great Battle in the United States Congress
(1996); Harry Kalven Jr.,
The Negro and the First Amendment
(
1965
); Michael Kent Curtis, “The Curious History of Attempts to Suppress Antislavery Speech, Press, and Petitions in
1835
–
37
,”
Northwestern University Law Review
89
(
1995
):
785
.
74.
Delgado, “Words That Wound,”
180
. Note, though, that Del-gado adds yet another complication: if
nigger
“was intended and understood as demeaning, minority plaintiffs could sue other members of the same or another minority group” (ibid.). He does not broach the question of whether it would be permissible under any circumstances—e.g., if done with affection—for a white person to call a black person “nigger.”
75.
Matsuda, “Public Response to Racist Speech,”
2364
.
76.
Ibid.
77.
Langston Hughes,
The Big Sea
(1940),
268
.
78.
Lucius Harper, managing editor of the Chicago
Defender
, observed in
1939
that
nigger “is
a common expression among the ordinary Negroes and is used frequently in conversation between them. It carries no odium or sting when used by themselves, but they object keenly to whites using it because it conveys the spirit of hate, discrimination and prejudice” (quoted in Mencken,
The American Language
, supplement
1
,
626
).
79.
Halford H. Fairchild, “N-Word Should Be Odious from Anyone,”
Los Angeles Times
, September
16
,
1987
.
80.
Ron Nelson, “The Word ‘Nigga’ Is Only for Slaves and Sambo,”
Journal of Blacks in Higher Education
, autumn
1998
.
81.
E. R. Shipp, “N-Word Just as Vile When Uttered by Blacks,”
New York Daily News
, January
21
,
1998
. See also idem, “There's No Excuse for N-Word, Now or Ever,”
New York Daily News
, March
11
,
2001
; Mary A. Mitchell, “N-Word OK for Blacks but Not for Whites?,”
Chicago Sun-Times
, December
28
,
1997
.
82.
Quoted in Laura A. Randolph, “Life after the
Cosby Show,” Ebony
, May
1994
.
83.
See Melvin Patrick Ely,
“The Adventures of Amos 'n’ Andy”: A Social History of an American Phenomenon
(1991).
84.
Ibid.,
9
.
85.
Ibid.,
171
–
73
.
86.
Ibid.,
173
–
74
. See also the photograph following page
82
.
87.
Ibid.,
215
–
16
.
88.
I have focused in the text that follows on black defenders of
Amos 'n Andy
, but the show also had countless white fans and a number of white champions, some of whom were undoubtedly profoundly racist. In August
1931
, the editor of the
Sterling City
(Texas)
New Record
, for example, denounced Negro critics of
Amos 'n’ Andy
as “a lot of fool Niggers” and opined that the series brought out “nigger characteristics true to Nigger nature just as it is among the denizens of the colored race in large cities” (quoted in Ely,
“The Adventures of Amos 'n'Andy”
1
85
).
89.
Quoted ibid.,
171
.
90.
Ibid.,
181
.
91.
Quoted ibid.,
182
.
92.
Quoted ibid.
4. How Are We Doing with93.
Ibid.,
222
.
Nigger?
1.
Susan Schmidt, “Sen. Byrd Apologizes for Racial Remarks,”
Washington Post
, March
5
,
2001
.
2.
See Annie Nakao, “N Word Use Increasing, Not Without Protest; Use of the Racial Slur Among all Ethnicities Elicits a Variety of Emotions,”
San Francisco Chronicle
, July 29, 2001.
3.
For a biting critique of Tucker's humor, including his use of
nigger
, see Justin Driver, “The Mirth of a Nation: Black Comedy's Reactionary Hipness,”
New Republic
, June
11, 2001
.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSI would like to thank Gerhard Casper, who, during his tenure as president of Stanford University, invited me to give the Tanner Lectures at his great institution in the spring of
1999
. Those lectures, “Who Can Say ‘Nigger’?… and Other Related Questions,” provided the initial impetus for this book. I would similarly like to thank Professor Richard McAdams, who made it possible for me to deliver
“Nigger!
As a Problem in the Law,” the fall
2000
Davis C. Baum Lecture at the University of Illinois at Champaign School of Law.Harvard Law School is a wonderful setting within which I have been privileged to work. Dean Robert C. Clark, an enthusiastic friend of scholarship, offers constant encouragement, while colleagues and students offer productive criticism. As always, the staff at the Harvard Law School Library provided invaluable assistance. Especially helpful were the reference librarians, Deanna Bar-makian, Amy Brower, Joan Duckett, Michael Jimenez, Janet C. Katz, Josh Kantor, Naomi Ronen, and Terry L. Swanlund. Particularly noteworthy among Harvard Law School students and professors
who have offered helpful comments are Eve Madison, Mathew Tollin, David Solet, Justin Driver, Zachary Price, Sapna Sadarangani, Richard Fallon, Duncan Kennedy, Todd Rakoff, Lloyd Weinreb, and David Wilkins.Other colleagues who have given me much-appreciated encouragement, information, and advice include Yvedt Matory, Sanford Levinson, Kathleen Sullivan, Stephen Schulhofer, Joshua Dressler, Glenn C. Loury, Jennifer Hochschild, Fred Schauer, R. Richard Banks, Kevin Mumford, Richard Ford, George Packer, Anita Allen, Eric Foner, and Vicki Schultz.
Mr. Benjamin Sears carefully typed the manuscript and buoyed many a workday with his good cheer. Altie Karper managed the copyediting with her usual grace.
My literary agents, Andrew Wylie and Sarah Chalfant, and my editor, Erroll McDonald, teamed up to make sure that procrastination did not stall publication. I am grateful for their efforts on my behalf.
Finally, I want to acknowledge again the people to whom this book is dedicated, folks who have surrounded me with love throughout my life: the men and women who constitute the Spann Clan's Board, led by its Chairman for Life, Gary E. Bell.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material.
H
YPERION:
Excerpt from
Rock This!
by Chris Rock. Copyright ©
1997
by Chris Rock. Reprinted by permission of Hyperion.
R
ICHARD
P
RYOR:
Excerpt from the album
That Nigger's Crazy
by Richard Pryor. Reprinted by permission.
U
NIVERSAL-
S
ONGS OF
P
OLYGRAM
I
NTERNATIONAL,
I
NC. AND
H
AL
L
EONARD
C
ORPORATION:
Excerpt from “Gangsta's Paradise,” words and music by Doug Rasheed, Artis Ivey Jr., Larry Sanders, and Stevie Wonder. Copyright ©
1995
by Jobete Music Co., Inc., Black Bull Music, Universal-Songs of Polygram International, Inc. (BMI), Madcastle Muzic,T-Boy Music Publishing, Inc., Boo-Daddy Music,
2
Fargone Music, and Large Variety Music. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Contains elements of “Pastime Paradise” by Stevie Wonder/Jobete Music Co., Inc. and Black Bull Music c/o EMI April Music Inc. Reprinted by permission of Universal-Songs of Polygram International, Inc. and Hal Leonard Corporation.
W
ARNER
B
ROS.
P
UBLICATIONS
I
NC.:
Excerpt from “Ride
4
My” by Roosevelt Harrell and Dwight Grant. Copyright ©
2000
by W.B.M. Music Corp. (SESAC), One Shot Deal Muzak (SESAC), Hitco South Publishing Co. (ASCAP), Shakur Al-Din Music (ASCAP). All rights o/b/o One Shot Deal Muzak administered by W.B.M. Music Corp. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Warner Bros. Publications Inc.
Copyright © 2002, 2003 by Randall Kennedy
Vintage and colophon are registered trademarks of
Random House, Inc.
Kennedy, Randall,
1954
–
Nigger / Randall Kennedy.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1
. United States—Race relations—Psychological aspects.
2
. African Americans—Social conditions.
3
. African
Americans—Race identity.
4
. Racism in language.
5
. Racism—United States—Psychological aspects.
6
. English language—United States—Slang—Social aspects.
7
. English language—United States—Slang—Psychological aspects.
8
. Invective—United States—Psychological aspects.
9
. Invective—United States—History—Anecdotes. I. Title.
E
185.625
.K
46 2002 305.896’073
—dc
21 2001036442
eISBN: 978-0-307-53891-8
v3.0