No, Jackson didn't say "the N-word," he actually said "nigger" in off-air comments earlier this month. The story now comes out (click for more). This, of course, on the heels of Jackson's comment that he wanted to "cut out" Barack Obama's testicles, thereby mutilating and, possibly, causing Mr. Obama to bleed to death.
Why the hell do we call it "the N-word," anyway? As I walk down the mean streets of Chicago, I hear it all the time. Here in Rogers Park, for example, I hear young women address their boyfriends as "nigga" (a variant of the word "nigger"), and it's not unusual to witness folks call "hey nigger!" across the street or down the block - in an attempt to get the attention of an acquaintance. When quoting a public figure such as Jackson, who says "nigger," it is inaccurate to report that the person said "the N-word." It dilutes the meaning, it softens the punch. That, undoubtedly, is the intention of the writers or editors who do this. So a reader whose first language is not English, for example, may wonder what the heck is being referred to: "Neighbor?" "Nutjob?" "Necromancer?" What?
The homosexual community did a smart thing decades ago by defusing words that had been used (still are, sadly) against them. Words such as "queer," "fag," "dyke," and so on were actually embraced by the "Gay" community. The appropriation of the word "gay" was a similar move which worked. Overwhelmingly, the average American today refers to homosexuals as "gay," which sound much, well, happier.
Back to the word "nigger," an ugly word to be sure. It should be made extinct, and in an ideal world it would be. Unfortunately, we are stuck with it for now. The Black Community is divided on its merits. Some embrace it, but those who do so are more often than not are gangsters or gangsterphiles. The fact that most socially sensitive people today say "the N-word" rather than actually saying "nigger" shows that most of us recognize the hateful connotations that the word carries for most of us. The Reviled Jesse Jackson must surely know and understand this. He has repeatedly asked fellow Blacks to not use the word "nigger."
Then again, Jackson was telling people to be faithful to their spouses even as he was having an extramarital affair, which resulted in a daughter being born to the woman he was seeing on the side. The "H-word" comes to mind.
