I, as a black man, get this question quite often around my circle of white friends at my university, and although the usage of the word in etymology is historically offensive, I find it very difficult to have some of my friends understand the cultural climate of why African-Americans use the word. According to professor Eric Dyson the usage of the "N-Word" is as follows:
"N-i-g-g-e-r — 'nigger' — is a term coined by white supremacists and slavemasters who intended to harm the psychology and the social standing of black slaves," says Michael Eric Dyson, who teaches African-American studies at DePaul University and is the author of Holler If You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur. "N-i-g-g-a, n-i-g-g-u-h, n-i-g-g-a-z — 'niggaz' — are terms generated within hip-hop culture... attempts of black people to wrest control over how they will be viewed, or at least termed, by the dominant society."
According to some scholars the usage of the word represents an effort by black people to take over the word for themselves, stripping it of the hateful and degrading meaning historically given to it by whites. According to Patricia Williams of Columbia Law school, "in beginning to accept the new usage of the word, mainstream culture is unfairly ignoring the objections of black Americans like Bunny Plaskett who remember the pain of life in the United States before civil rights. "Words have histories embedded in them that don't ever quite go away," says Williams, "even though it feels like this is the word of the minute."
Can whites use the word?
Hip-Hop and the many white consumers of this particular music genre are overexposed to the usage of the word "nigga" as I've put in quotations marks highlighting the difference between saying "nigga" and "nigger" as the former is seen as a term of endearment and the latter having historical significance of superimposing a derogatory psychological term that was used against African-Americans. As I mentioned before, in California and in many black communities in America, blacks do not refer to themselves or each other as "nigger" as this term is historically derogatory, rather changing one letter "er" with an "a" and creating an entirely new meaning. The same argument can be said by women referring to each other as "bitches." Although the term is originally derogatory, often times women greet each other using that term as a term of endearment.
Should whites use the term "nigger?"
Resoundingly no.
It is an offensive term and its usage in this hypersensitive society especially noting the historical significance of the word's usage, and as Eric Dyson stated from a cultural standpoint, American white culture or european culture period has monopolized many facets of society and has changed the dynamics of how human beings perceive beauty, race, skin color, and physical features and so for once can African-Americans at least have one thing to call their own? In that I have to agree.
