LIFTOFF
saturation
Don’t say it.
TEXT BY
Nicole Anike Dorgu Contributor profile on page 6 ILLUSTRATION BY
John Pel Bañares
1775 According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it is the year the N-word was first used in a derogatory and hostile manner.
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The English language is made up of several thousand words—171,476 words if we’re being exact—all of which have a backstory, all of which originated from something. We have 171,476 words at our disposal (more, if we bring Hiligaynon and Filipino into the equation) and yet many of us choose to use the wrong ones—words that degrade, words that isolate, words that showcase one’s xenophobia. The “n-word” is one of those words. Roots, n. From the Latin for black “niger,” the word evolved to become the noun “negro” which merely referred to a black person in English and simply meant the color black in Spanish and Portuguese. But no matter its origins, by the early 1800s, the word “nigger” was firmly established as a derogatory term and up to today, in the 21st century, remains a principal term for segregation, regardless of time, place, and the person using it. Throughout history, racial slurs have branded ethnic groups. But no group has endured as many racial nicknames as the blacks: coon, tom, savage, pickaninny, mammy, buck, samba, jigaboo, and buckwheat are some. Many of these slurs became fully-traditional, pseudo-scientific, literary, cinematic, and everyday distortions of African Americans. Caricatures, music, politics, propaganda, and many other forms of media reflect the extent and vast network of colored prejudice throughout history. The “n-word” carries with it much of the hatred and disgust toward African Americans and the black community. Historically, it defined, limited, made fun of, and ridiculed all blacks. It was a term of exclusion, verbal discrimination—invisible chains that continue to weigh down the people who have suffered years of segregation. Whether used as a noun, an adjective, or a verb, it strengthened the stereotype of the lazy, stupid, dirty, and worthless nobody. Rooted, adj. I’ve lived in the Philippines for nine years. But before I moved here, my mom would always tell me about her motherland—about the scrumptious food, the sights to see, and the respectful people. THE
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