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Using the ‘N’ Word

Forgive me for using the phrase “the ‘N’ word.” Besides, you know exactly what I mean. “Neighbor,” right? Oh, I know, you probably thought I was going to call you something else.

Like “numbskull.”

Or maybe some other word.

Like this one in Yiddish — nudnik, which by the way has nothing to do with being nude. You can be fully clothed and a nudnik and fit into the working definition. That would be, to quote my well-used, dog-eared Funk and Wagnells: a “pestiferous and annoying person.”

Here’s another one of those pestiferous types for you: any person who insists on using the phrase, “the ‘N’ word.”

What is “N”? Is this English or algebra?

Is it “nuclear”?

“Notable”?

“Nothing”?

Because if you mean to say “nigger,” you should speak up.

Media types in California have been having a field day with the phrase “N-word” ever since our dear Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, the highest ranking Latino official in the state, was caught in a “Billy Budd” moment.

English majors will recall Budd was a young sailor, a fictional character of Herman Melville, one of the lesser mammals in the author’s portfolio. Known for his stammering and stuttering, Budd had a problem saying what he meant.

Bustamante turned Budd at a recent Black History function in Oakland. The Lt. Governor was listing off names of organizations that purposefully use the anachronistic word “Negro.” It’s a reminder of how far we’ve come in recognition of African Americans.

But somehow Bustamante stumbled on one of the “Negroes,” and he blurted ….

Well, that’s the subject of the essay.

Most of the media called it the “N” word, as did a few non-media types.

But here’s my question: When we wrap up and cloak a word and make it unmentionable, don’t we make it even more special?

By not saying the word “nigger,” aren’t we only summoning up, in the deep recesses of our unconscious, the very term we mean to silence and forget?

We all know the word is “nigger.”

So why can’t anyone just say it?

We may never say it in our own lives. But it occurs in the news. And then we are caught in a “What would William Safire say?” dilemma (as if he were a role model). Remember the O.J. trial testimony of former Los Angeles policeman Mark Fuhrman?

My position was the same then. He did say the actual word. He didn’t say “the ‘N’ word.”

Accuracy and truth still count for something.

The fact that reporters refused to mention it brought up a new issue — self-censorship.

Uttering a word again in a news story shouldn’t make you an honorary KKK member.

The fact is, “nigger” is just a word. One can attach sentimental meaning that turns the word into an abomination. Or you can understand that by reporting the truth, a news organization is not condoning the context of malice and racist intent in the word.

If reputable news organizations can’t repeat Bustamante’s blunder, what else are they keeping from us?

If it’s a matter of taste, thanks, but I’ll take my truth straight.

But if the object is to protect our ultra-sensitive sensibilities, then why not do all the news in code?

For example, if “the ‘N’ word” is acceptable, there’s probably a good argument to eliminate just about any word, phrase or name imaginable. I’m sure the Republican Party could make a claim that excessive use of the name Governor Gray Davis unfairly fosters his popularity. So why not call him “G-word D-word.”

No one likes the idea of an energy crisis. We can call that the “E-word
C-word.”

And the state’s bailout of the power companies is even more reviled by consumers. Call that the “B-word.”

So how’s this for a headline: “G-word D-word to B-word E-word C-word. Consumers to D-word: F-word.”

You know that doesn’t stand for “friend.”

So if Bustamante says “nigger,” it must be reported in detail, just to get to the truth. Why he said it, only his psychiatrist and Freud’s ghost know for sure. But he said it, he’s apologized, and we should all be prepared to move on.

But we won’t, which is why race is still a very real issue in America.

I’ve said in the past, if “the ‘N’ word” must be codified, I’d sure hope people were more sensitive to the words and phrases that could bring pain to Asian Americans.

Please, when it’s cold, refrain from using the phrase: “There’s a nip in the air.”

A flying Japanese person?

Or when you want to indicate someone’s personal failings, don’t say that person has “a chink in his armor.” Was that in King Arthur Wong’s court?

And being a Filipino American, I ask you, please don’t compare two ideas by transitioning with “on the flip side.”

If equal protection is to prevail, just say what you mean, be truthful. Otherwise, as in the case of the word “nigger,” we’ve replaced racism with censorship. And where does that put us in the land of the free?

EXTRA: The FBI got another spy. Took them 15 years, but they got their man. And it’s one of them. Think how fast they would have moved if it were an Asian American like Wen Ho Lee. Was Robert Hanssen beyond suspicion for so long because he was white? I hear they make the best spies.