When is it okay to use the N-word in music, conversation, etc?

Question

I don't think there is ever a good reason to use it but obviously not everyone feels the same. Some black people (especially rappers) argue it's another term for brother, friend, etc....but when and why is it okay?

Answer 1

Where I work this white guy says to a black lady, "So how come it's okay for black people to use the "n" word and not white people?"

He was fired. Good riddance, the idiot. (Not the first time he said something stupid like that.) It would be nice if he learned something but somehow I doubt it.

Once my 80+ year old dad accidentally used what was once a common name for a brazil nut ("n"-toe) in front of this very nice black lady. When he realized what he had said, he was extremely embarrased. How do you apologize for something like that?

You are never going to catch me using that word. It makes me wince when I hear it no matter who says it. In one way of thinking it is just a word, but I don't like it one bit.

Answer 2

A friend's brother got out of prison and the friend called him Bro. The brother said don't ever call me that again.
Apparently terms used in and from prison should be left there
It's easy. If people of color don't want pale folks to use certain terms, then don't use them. No big deal.
I work with and have a lot of friends of color and we just leave it alone. I'll never be a person of color and no matter how tight we get it will always be that way. I had a friend of color that I went from K - 11 grade with and I never felt I could call him the N word even in horseplay. He used it occasionally with others
It's called Respect

Answer 3

A great big old southern black woman told me as a child that N......... is a bad bad word, to be used only when describing someone as evil as the devil and that anyone can be a N........, no matter the color of their skin.
She said it should almost never be said, especially out loud, unless you are sure they really are and you really mean it.

Answer 4

There's such a double standard when it comes to that word.

When white people say it, we're being racist... when black people say it, it's OK because it has a different meaning all of a sudden ("brother, friend, etc.").

What gives??

Answer 5

If you black no one but other black people (usually old) will yell at you. If you latino (Fat Joe) no one will yell at you, but not like it. Asians and middle easterns might get away with it, but whites never will. Since whites used to call slaves the dreaded n word. Ironically whites used to call other whites (prisoners of war slaves) the n word before it was racially motivated to africans.

Answer 6

I guess that is up to a person, as for me it is a word I never use. I believe the word is mint to degrade another human being, and a black person using it is only degrading himself and his ethnic back round.

Answer 7

Never.
And for the black people (and I AM black) who think it is okay to use with friends and in music, you're only making a word degrading your ethnicity acceptable.

Answer 8

I agree, I think it's just a mean word. I know I'm not black, but even I feel uncomfortable when I hear it used.

Answer 9

the more rappers use it the less power the haters have when they use it cause it will be watered down, just like cursing on tv.. unheard of decades ago, common practice in these times

Answer 10

When ur black I guess.. if I was white I wouldn't use it.. unless I wanted to wear black eyes as a uniform..