By Ashari Cain
The Reflector News
Jackson HS
1st Place Division 3, News Writing
Editorial
JUDGING CRITERIA
- Topic relevant to interests and/or welfare of school or students
- Wins reader interest with impelling lead
- Presents evidence/interpretation in logical sequence
- States issue; uses effective examples, facts, and comparisons to clarify
- Deals with specific issue: avoids preaching, rhetoric, and cliches
- Shows sufficient thought and research
- Sentences, paragraphs of varied length; written clearly, concisely and vividly
- Proper diction/grammar
Often, it bounces off dull walls and rings louder than passing time bells. Like chocolate milk, it is spilled across the surface of lunch tables filled with smiles and careless tongues. Often, it is echoed within the workplace leaving an unsettling atmosphere to be engulfed in. It stalks students in classrooms, bus rides and even on the walk home. Some can only escape when their minds are met with exhaustion, but even then, it whispers its way into sub consciousness. From the mouths of slave traders and slave masters, the word has trickled into the 21st century and leaks from the seams of our society.
Regardless of the context, the N-word is a form of racism and hate speech attached to a long line of history which reaps oppression. Often, the excuse is made that the term is attached to events that happened “so long ago”; however, this statement conveys absolute contradiction. Millions of black people still suffer today; the only difference is we are immersed in a digital era. Technology has made it possible for dated textbooks to not be the only source accessible to our minds. Yet, the severity of racial tension still resides as a central issue that lacks proper coverage on news channels, in court buildings, and even in educational spaces.
The N-word stems from the Latin term spelled ´Niger´, meaning the color black. Since the 15th century, slave traders and slave masters have adopted the term to refer to black people. Their use of the term carries a negative and deadly connotation; it is used in despisement to degrade and express deep hatred for the specific race. The word has accompanied countless fatalities and is utilized as a tactic to keep blacks restrained in the chains of slavery. However, many don’t understand that slavery is far beyond shackles around wrists; enslavement is a physical, mental, and emotional restriction of freedom.
Slavery is not like a cold which comes with symptoms and fades with time. It is a relentless and infectious agent which spreads rapidly and grows more impatient as time progresses. Inhumane acts and hate speech like the N-word, only feed its motive to hold African Americans in captivity. To distort the world’s perspective of such diverse walks of life. To discredit their contributions and make a black child feel small. To make us feel impotent.
Each and every day, black people are victims of verbal and discriminatory abuse. A large handful walk the same halls we do. One Jackson High junior attended a predominantly white private Catholic school in Florida.
“The kids were mostly white and we had to wear uniforms… I accidentally stepped on this white boy’s shoe in the hallway, and he said “Watch out n*****!¨ “I didn’t say anything, I just looked at him and kept walking.”
Another Viking junior said, “When I went to East Jackson, I was in class and there was a white boy next to me who was joking and saying, “Cough, n*****.” ¨I was really hyped up and got in trouble, because I started yelling. They sent me to the office and the teacher said I was lying.”
A Viking senior said, “When I went to Michigan center, a white boy said, “I don’t like n******.”
“I was so mad and felt it was so disrespectful,” the student said.
¨The teacher came over and claimed the white male student didn’t mean it in that context and the white male agreed; he said he wasn’t talking about me, and that N***** are people who are ignorant… I wanted to go back to Parkside so bad. Now I’m at Jackson High, and I think it’s better here, but white people still use it.”
Today, many black people have taken the negative connotation of the N-word and changed it to a positive within their community.
“The word is not for all minorities or for whites to use as a form of hatred against us,” a student said. “We blacks have taken it back as a word of empowerment, we took the pain and transformed it, we own it.”
Despite this, various Americans still deny and defy the prevalent racism which is responsible for millions of deaths today. Not only does the use of hate speech encourage and continue the repetition of oppressive tactics, but it prods the digression of equality.
Words don’t just hurt, they kill. How many lives will you cost?