Is there room for the 'N' word in our schools
The use of the ‘N’ word has become a hot topic in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion workshops and facilitations in schools in South Africa. Our teachers are seeking tools and resources to help them facilitate the difficult and sensitive conversations in their classrooms. Not only has this been made more difficult with the study of prescribed texts in the FET curriculum but also the constant debate around the use of the ‘N’ word in Hip Hop music with the young adolescents.
The ‘N’ word has its historical contexts dating to the enslavement era. The Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus in Systema Naturae categorised humans for the first time in history. His categories were linked to the 4 main continents namely, Europe, America, Asia, and Africa with his work corresponding to the age of slavery and colonialism. It is in the 10th Edition of Systema Naturae that he adds ‘moral character’ to the identified categories, defining Africans as “black, phlegmatic and lazy”. A racist stereotype that persists today. The term Negro was used initially as a prefix to distinguish a slave who shared the same name as a white person in the United States of America. The epithet gained popularity in the 1700’s with the first liberation of slaves.
The use of the ‘N’ word in America remains complex. It is used affectionately, but most problematically as an abusive slur. Whilst Hip Hop music culture has attempted to reclaim the word, it continues to be used derogatively. Allen Francis’ article “The ‘N’ word: It just slips out”, argues the value of reclaiming the word when he noted the following:
“It makes us feel good to have become the users of the word and not the victims of it”.
Black intellectuals such as Ta-Nehisi Coates have been supportive of this notion. In Coates’ article, “In Defence of a loaded word” (published in the New York Sunday Times); he discusses the use of the word with respect to the relationship in context.
“Right names depend on right relationships, a fact so basic to human speech that without it, human language might well collapse”
On the other hand, advocates such as Wendy Kaminer (advocate of freedom of speech) believes that if all people say it, the word will eventually lose its power.
Whilst Phat Joe (American Hip Hop artist) in 2011 spoke of the validity of white rappers using the ‘N’ word, where he was very clear in his declaration that Hip Hop belongs to all and therefore how can one police the word across the different demographics. In 2013 Kendrick Lamar is said to have called out a white fan he had invited on to the stage to sing with him when she sang the ‘N’ word in his lyrics. He used this teaching moment to highlight the inappropriateness of a white person using the word even when part of musical lyrics.
Elizabeth Donaldson (educator and journalist, 2021) speaks of the problematic use of the word regardless of race. For African Americans the use of this word is often seen as taking back power and control and ‘owning’ the word. It has become accepted for African Americans to use the term. However, if the word is offensive, surely it is offensive to all? The origins of Hip Hop and Rap speak to the agony of discrimination, poverty and the victimisation of African Americans in a post slavery/colonial world. The depiction of black people and women in this style of music reflects the abuse, hate and harm that white America inflicted on African Americans. No-one should hide these scars and yes, we should all celebrate the strength and courage evident in the survival and growth of a people so brutalised. She goes on to argue that perpetuating the hate and cruelty innate in those words should end. There can be no place anymore where these words are permitted.
So, regardless of the numerous debates that continue to rage on the use of the word, one thing is clear that within the classroom, the use of the ‘N’ word remains problematic as it has a profound effect on the space it is used. There exist many variants within the classroom that include, but not limited to, the texts we read in class. When black students are the minorities in class, they often feel the gaze that comes with participating and reading problematic texts especially if these are done out loud. The emotional stress experienced by a black student when a white teacher says the ‘N’ word whilst reading the text or a white character uttering the word should never be underestimated. In the same breath, does that then give black teachers carte blanche to do the same?
Elizabeth Storteur Pryor speaks to the use of the ‘N’ word in the classroom in her TedX talk. As a Race studies teacher she discusses how using the euphemism also raises questions of the validity of one’s scholastic qualifications. In her talk she deliberates the different thoughts of its use. As a Race Studies teacher she has had countless ‘points of encounter’ as she has termed them; with the word during her classes and highlights the importance of teachers to be equipped to facilitate such discussions as classrooms are the most common space students will come across this word.
Mark Twain’s famous classic tale of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has the ‘N’ word repeated 219 times. Recently the New South Book published a 2nd edition which has been sanitised and the word replaced with ‘slave’. The debate rages with those who believe that to fully teach and provide the context of the times the book needs to be taught in its original capacity. Others feel that it is too painful a past and better to sacrifice academic rigor to save black students from pain. For those teachers who are bound by the curriculum and do not have the liberty of choice, it is good to remember that there is value in the teaching of problematic texts. Problematic texts allow the teacher to teach the students where the problem in the text is and to highlight the context in which the book was written as well as the authors’ background. It would be important to analyse with the students, the resources that would have been available to the author at that time. It is important to identify the ‘isms’ for what they are. It is of great value to teach through critical lenses offering the different narratives on the context of the book. Teachers need to create a space of enquiry to probe students on the effect the book has on readers and why. Books are an author’s canvas. Through storytelling, an author will exhibit his writing skills and whilst the content may be problematic, it is important that the teacher highlights the examples of outstanding writing in the author’s craft.
To teach problematic texts to students, teachers need to ensure that they are well-informed on the matter at hand. It is vital that rules of engagement are created within the class before commencing such texts and that parents have been made aware of the problematic text and possibly how the teacher will aim to facilitate the conversations during the lessons. Black students should possibly be spoken to separately beforehand to alleviate any fear that the discussion and the exploration of the ‘N’ word does not equate to approval nor does it give it validity to be used outside the classroom. Without the above scaffolding or providing context, trust among the students and between student and teacher can be broken because of the poison the ‘N’ word can emit in a classroom. Most importantly is that it must be made clear that the ‘N’ word is never read out aloud nor used in conversation within or outside the classroom. This includes the singing out aloud along to music lyrics. Whilst an artist can claim creative license and freedom of expression, such a word should never be uttered in the school space. This word, after many centuries continues to sum up the bitter years of insult and struggle of black people. It is a word that has for years reminded people of colour of their dehumanised experience.
So as the debates continues to rage, it is important to remember that the “N” word, similarly the “K” are colonial oppressive structures, and their use must be terminated.
“Used rightly or wrongly, ironically or seriously, of necessity for the sake of realism, or impishly for the sake of comedy, it doesn't matter. Negroes do not like it in any book or play whatsoever, be the book or play ever so sympathetic in its treatment of the basic problems of the race. Even though the book or play is written by a Negro, they still do not like it. The ‘N’ word, you see, sums up for us who are colored all the bitter years of insult and struggle in America. Langston Hughes in The Big Sea (New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 1940).