Racism

If One More White Person Tells Me About The Use-Mention Distinction To Justify Saying The N-Word, I'm Going To Vomit

I Don't Use The N-Word, But I Can Mention It, And You Probably Can't.

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Pretty much every black person at some point.

The use-mention distinction, a concept I hadn’t thought much about since I audited a philosophy class sophomore year and decided to take God of Abraham history instead, is suddenly all over my goddamn feed. It has become a rallying cry of sorts for a certain kind of white intellectual who, for reasons passing all understanding, feel the need to defend the right of some white people to say the n-word in certain contexts without becoming a professional and social pariahs.

If you’re Chris Rock, laying out the specific circumstances and context under which a white person can say the n-word and “get away with it,” is a funny joke. If you are white person on Twitter, the effort is rude, pathetic, and makes me question how you were raised. I do not know all black people and I do not speak for all black people, but I promise you that no black person I’ve spoken to gives ONE FUCK about when white intellectuals think it’s “okay” for them to say n***er. As a seal might say: “I DON’T GIVE A DAMN THAT THE WHITE BEAR IS HUNGRY! I HOPE ALL THE STUPID ICE MELTS!”

For my part, I do not use the n-word. I CAN. But I don’t. And I know that the forces of whiteness desperately want to drag me into a debate about why I can and they can’t. Telling a white person they cannot do something oppressive and awful to non-white Americans is, for some reason, A DEBATE TOPIC. Is it a double standard? Sure. Do you want to talk about all the double standards that operate against black people? What? I can’t hear you. IS IT THAT HARD TO TALK WITH MY FOOT LODGED IN YOUR ASS?

America: Black people, you’re only going to be legally equal from about 1964, but we’re going to judge you like you’ve been allowed to earn and grow wealth since 1776.
Black People: Got it.
America: Socially, it’s going to take a lot longer.
Black People: You don’t say.
America: Yeah, so I wouldn’t, like, apply for a loan or try to buy a house and expect equal treatment to whites or anything.
Black People: Can I at least drive with the freedom and safety of others?
America: Haha. NO. Here are some special rules for you.
White People: Don’t get uppity and try to run for office or anything, either. Even if you win we will punish you with racism you won’t hardly believe.
America: Right. Anyway, white people, I’m going to need you to stop saying one particular word that black people can still say.
White People: WHAT!!! What kind of vile form of racist double standards is this? THE WAY TO STOP DISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF RACE IS TO STOP DISCRIMINATING ON THE BASIS OF RACE!

I can say it, you can’t, fuck you if that bothers you.

But I don’t use it because it’s an ugly word. My parents invested way too much money in SAT flash cards for me to be unable to get my point across without using the n-word. I never use it around white people because… well when one of these white assholes uses it on me, I want the full embrace of the moral high-ground as I start punching his face. But I also don’t use it in all-black environments because I can’t really “pull it off.” I’m more Two-Fer from 30 Rock than Tracey Morgan. I find other ways to signify my “blackness” to other black people.

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I do, occasionally, mention it. When it comes up in a song or a story, and there are no children around, I will occasionally access my black prerogative and mention the word, give or take a few drinks.

It’s this public mention that some white intellectuals are striving so hard for. Now, I suspect that these white people who want so desperately to mention the n-word, in public, are the very same ones who enjoy using the n-word, in private. I can’t prove that, because those white people have not hired Omarosa, but I react to a public mention of the n-word the way I react to a mouse in my house: if there’s one I can see there’s a whole litter than I can’t. But rest assured, if you are a white person who lets the n-word slip in public, then I DO NOT BELIEVE YOU when you say it’s the only time you’ve used the word. I’M NOT STUPID.

I’m not stupid, but there are a whole bunch of white intellectuals who either think I’m stupid, or who don’t have a problem sounding stupid in public. Because every time some white person says the n-word in public, they are greeted by a raft of defenders who want the world to be safe for white people mentioning the n-word.

Case in point, earlier this week we wrote about an Emory Law professor who “mentioned” the n-word in freaking class. He claims he was just repeating language used in a case they were studying (SPOILER: the word was not used in the case at issue).

Did we get a bunch of emails defending the professor as “not a racist” even though he said a patently racist word in class? OF COURSE WE DID. This is late Republic America, after all. Here’s my favorite, at least as it pertains to this post:

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I know – as you do not – that [Emory Professor Zwier] hasn’t a racist bone in his body, and would NEVER use the N-word in any context unless it was for appropriate pedagogical purposes.

Who makes the rules for what is “for appropriate pedagogical purposes”? DO BLACK PEOPLE GET MORE THAT A 3/5ths VOTE? Do ALL black people get a vote, or only Clarence Thomas?

This goes to a deeper problem I have with White America ™. White America thinks they are in charge of telling black people which whites are racist. THEY ARE NOT. In fact, if there is one single thing white people DO NOT and SHOULD NOT control in this country, it’s telling me how to fucking identify racism, when I see it. That is MY CALL as black person, NOT YOURS. For forty years I’ve lived as a black person in America, my own counsel will I keep on who is to be called racist.

“Oh, if you use ‘racist’ too much, that word will lose all meaning [for white people].” Fuck you. “Calling a person racist is no way to change hearts and minds [of white people who are racist].” Fuck you. “Just because a person [says and does all the things a racist would say and do] doesn’t make him a racist.” Fuck you. “A foundational premise of philosophical argument is to distinguish between white people who use the n-word versus white people who merely mention it.” Fuuuuuuck Yoooooooou.

See, I get to mention the n-word, and white people don’t, because when I mention it, nearly all the other black people know why I said it. I can mention it with the confidence that most black people in the room will understand why I said it, most black people not in the room will understand if they hear about it later, and, worst case scenario, even if you take my mention completely out of context, most black people will say “whatever, he can say it.”

And on this issue, black voices are the ONLY VOICES THAT MATTER. That’s the real “double standard.” It only matters if black people think my use OR mention of the word is justified, because black people are the only ones who know what we’re talking about when it comes to this particular word. We’ve PAID for that knowledge in BLOOD AND DEATH. A thousand white people could write me “I don’t like how you mentioned the n-word in your story” and I wouldn’t care. But ONE black person could write me and, you know, I’d at least consider the argument. I’d ask other black people I know and trust for their opinions. African-Americans have special knowledge of this issue simply by dint of living in this racist country.

Ultimately, that’s what bothers the use-mention crowd of white intellectuals. They’re dealing with something they cannot understand, but instead of simply admitting the LIMITS of their knowledge they try to make something up they can understand. Instead of… LISTENING TO BLACK PEOPLE, they try to IMPOSE their way of thinking UPON black people. These are the kind of people who would correct a Roman’s pronunciation of Latin, if Cicero time-traveled into their Classics class.

If you are white, and you use, mention, say, articulate, or moan out the n-word, you take your professional and social life into your own hands. Maybe that seems unfair to you, but if you want to be “safe” I suggest you ERASE that word from your lexicon. FIND A DIFFERENT WORD.

Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.

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