The N-Word

I'm posting a draft of a complaint letter that I wrote in response to a situation that occured last summer where Jesse Jackson used the "n-word" when he thought that his microphone was turned off during an interview.

If you need a refresher, here's the story:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss5lYtVvZ9w

The story sparked a debate about who could use the n-word and I was responding to the media discussion. Remember that this is also pre-President Obama.

I am thrilled that the complex rules on who can and who can not say the n-word has come back to the attention of the people's consciousness. As an Undergraduate student, I specialized in African American and Southern History. Had you asked me then who could use the n-word, I would have said that it would be social outrage for whites to use the term, but a means for regaining power for blacks to use the word. We see this movement of reclaiming language of former oppression as a powerful part of identity such as "queer" among gays and lesbians--an instance where the word becomes socially acceptable, though predominately for the victimized group to use.

I accepted this view in college, but once I found myself teaching in both rural and urban middle and high schools, I found that few actually understood the historic power of reclaiming a word, but that folks used the word vainly without true comprehension of history. Use of the word created confusion for both kids and school staff about when and if someone should be punished for such language. For example, the white students were no longer using the word as an insult, but were simply quoting the rap lyrics that they enjoy just as much as their black, latino and Asian counterparts.

Thankfully other venues of experience saved me from seeing only the academic or cultural issues that stem from this controversy. My on-the-side learning comes from both my studies and my social activism around race and urban America. I found that my own identity as a Christian had more to do with the pressing issues of racial reconciliation that I could ever imagine. Given that Rev. Jackson's own perspective comes from the angle of Christianity and Civil Rights, I will also use this medium for my discussion.

The secular model of offering regret over the nation's sins is usually understood as remorse for former sins in the past rather than perpetual and present sin. This model utilizes the legislative process to prevent oppression based on a person's identity. Another manifestation of the model are attempts to ameliorate the effects that oppression can have on certain groups for generations such as affirmative action or in the case of Japanese Americans on the West Coast in the form of monetary reparations.

Realistically, sin is not so easily fixed by human authority and ingenuinity (not saying that some of these ideas aren't creative or earnestly repentant for the past). We're cheating those who experience injustice if we boil the problems down to something mere mortals could fix. How does a nation repent of something like overt and institutionalized racism, slavery and genocide?

The idea behind the secular modes of restoration or restorative justice as they call it involves giving power to those who had at one point or throughout history have been denied power. Balancing out the power struggle won't truly take away years of pent up anger, hurt and resentment. The idea behind the secular modes of restoration or restorative justice as they say involves giving power to those who had at one point or throughout history have been the rendered powerless.

The fulcrum of this tipping scale of power is the secular use to enact both justice and oppression. It will therefore always be in a state of imbalance where there is a constant back and forth and arguments about who holds power and who has a right to it. The Christian model of reconciliation shows us that we really need to remove the fulcrum. A state of equilibrium is what is needed for true balance. This fulcrum is what creates the "dividing walls of hostility" that the Bible says must fall away. These walls are representing in the book of Galatians as a state of sin. Once we repent of our sins, we are then reconciled to God. The penalty of sin that once separated us from God is now removed in repentance and in the work of Christ on the cross so that a relationship with God can truly begin. Out of this relationship comes a commitment tot he reconciling of all things in Christ Jesus as we are ambassadors and ministers of reconciliation.

Regarding the use of the n-word in light of this theology, it is clear that personal and social transformation is part of what it means to be a Christ follwer. As a white person who is barred from saying the word in this culture (and trust me I feel incredibly offended when whites use this word) to the unassuming like my students--the word becomes yet another power struggle. The word has once (and is at times still used) to advocate animosity against blacks. However, according to our secular methods of "sin-managment" the upper hand is given to those who can say the word.

Please do not confuse what I am trying to say. The restrictions of who can and cannot use the word is a question of power and does not resolve the animosity or hostility that continues to divide the races. However, it is not an act of discrimination on par with the historic realities endured by black Americans. Drawing lines of who can and who can't say a powerful word produces inequality rather than justice, equality and mercy.

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Thoughts a year later...

I think one of the notions that I had in mind while writing this essay or sorts is that when people of color use the n-word, it reminds us whites of the sin of our people. It is not forgiveness, but rather it is a continual reminder that we are sinner's (a true statement), yet it is never allowed to be forgiven. Shame has no place in forgiveness and that is what I at least feel when people of color use the word. The issue of the "who cans" and "who can'ts" creates real problems for multiethnic churches such as mine where we confess our sins before one another, forgive and break bread together. The secular distinctions have a way of attempting to undo the work of the cross that allows shame and guilt to be healed.