Deconstructing the N-word

NIGGER: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word

By Randall Kennedy (Pantheon, In his latest book, Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word, Harvard University law professor Randall Kennedy is at his best when he writes as a lawyer. This usually occurs when he decides to take a position on some aspect of the word's current role in society. Like when he argues against Michael Eric Dyson's assertion that whites cannot ever use the word "nigger": "[T]here is nothing necessarily wrong with a white person saying word 'nigger'" Kennedy states, "just as there is nothing necessarily wrong with a black person saying it."

As Kennedy asserts over and over throughout Nigger, what matters most is the "context" in which the word is uttered. "To condemn whites who use the N-word without regard to context is simply to the make fetish of nigger."

Yet despite Kennedy's efforts here, there is hardly anything new or profound about the book. He begins his examination with a long section entitled "The Protean N-Word," where he mixes jokes, historical narrative, revolutionary poetry, hip-hop culture and references to American literature to begin what can easily be described as his opening argument. It is a credible piece of writing reminiscent of Herman Melville's abstracts at the beginning of Moby Dick. By the end of the opening chapter, you know what the book is about and you want to read it.

That section is followed by "Nigger in Court," where Kennedy summarizes the word's presence in the legal world. "Like every other significant feature of American life," Kennedy writes, "including cigarettes, guns, pornography, drugs, stock trading, sex, religion and money nigger is thoroughly enmeshed in litigation." This is true in both the civil context (tort claims) and in criminal cases, where Black defendants have contended that because someone called them a "nigger," they were provoked to such an extent that their crimes should be considered differently by the court. Of course, this defense has rarely been successful.

Society also has frowned upon lawyers, juries or judges who have used the word, because it clearly suggests some level of racial bias that may have affected the outcome of some cases. Particularly interesting in this discussion is the story of Jerry Spivey, an elected district attorney from North Carolina who was eventually removed from office specifically because of his use of the word. However, use of the word is protected legally in America in all but a few instances.

The book weakens considerably in the third section, "Pitfalls in Fighting Nigger." Bill Cosby and his eradicationist camp is mentioned here (they want to get rid of the word altogether, maintaining that all uses of "nigger" are wrong, hurtful and "ought to be condemned by dint of public opinion") as are law professors Richard Delgado and Mari Matsuda, who have been successful in getting the word banned as "hate speech" at some colleges and universities (Kennedy calls this crew "regulationists"). However, Cosby's view and the speech code warriors are old news. Kennedy's position on speech codes is what is more important.

In his view, speech codes are not useful. Proponents of this approach to the word, according to Kennedy, have "typically failed to establish persuasively the asserted predicate for their campaign." He adds, "[i]t is likely, moreover, that especially on a college campus, antiblack polemics that are polite, skillful and conventionally garbed - think of The Bell Curve - will be far more hurtful to African-Americans than nigger, coon, jigaboo or other racial insults."

What Kennedy, whose previous book is Race, Crime and the Law, is saying probably goes back to the discussion of Jerry Spivey. Spivey used the word and was punished for his use, but there was no indication that he had ever acted with racial bias in his duties. In other words, saying the word doesn't mean you are necessarily working against the interests of Black people and not saying it doesn't mean you are working in the interests of Blacks. You may be against the use of the word but oppose anything that will help Blacks in America live well.

Despite the inherent weaknesses of the book, Randall Kennedy has probably started a worthwhile discussion that is long overdue. It has much more to do with character than with hate speech, and it will likely cause us all to pause for at least a moment and think of our own positions. Or to ponder the question Kennedy asks at the beginning: "How should nigger be defined?"

Brian Gilmore is a Washington, D.C.based poet and attorney. His latest book is Jungle Nights and Soda Fountain Rags: Poem for Duke Ellington (Karibu Books, 2000).

Copyright Crisis Publishing Company, Incorporated Jan/Feb 2002
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved