The History of the N- Word Rev. Queen Mack

I am posting this because I had a Latino man call me a n*****r today as I stood in line to get my food. I accidentally stepped in front of him on the line to pick up my juice I left behind. The venom in the use of the n- word didn't go unnoticed either.

The most basic etymologic explanation for the word nigger traces its origin to the Latin word "niger", which means black. As the world evolved so did the word "niger" which was used as the noun "negro", which is used to describe a black person of African, Caribbean and African American descent, just to name a few. It is simply the same, as the color Black "in Spanish and Portuguese as how Black is used in English today.

In Early Modern French, niger eventually became negre and, later, negress for a black woman. If one listens to an actual pronunciation of the French word "negre" and the derogatory nigger – and earlier English variants such as negar, neegar, which also evolved in English, it is easy to surmise that nigger is a phonetic spelling of the Southern mispronunciation of the word Negro.

Whatever its origins, by the early 1800s it was firmly established as a denigrative epithet. Almost two centuries later, it remains a chief symbol of racism, anywhere in the world, but most specifically in the United States.

There is no question that the words of etymologic lineage, to the actual word nigger, were bastardized over time to degrade black people. For more than 400 years every opportunity to degrade, insult and punish Black people for just being Black was attempted, and the use of the word nigger was a part of the process.

To this day it is the most controversial and dangerous slur, both figuratively and literally, that anyone can use against another person, but most specifically, a person of color.

The fact that this Brown man who is also of African descent thought calling me that word was okay almost made me go off on him.

Instead.. I apologize for any misunderstanding, smiled and shook my head...poor thing.

The white supremacy ideology and war on all of us is winning because far too many people are ignorant and denying their desire to be accepted into the white fold.

To those who continue to use this word as an endearment...it's not endearing!

Please try to show love in a different way....

~ Reverend Queen Corine Mack - Charlotte NAACP President