TaNehisi Coates defends use of the n-word (NYTimes)

[ValleyOfDecision]

This may be corny, but on the night that Barack Obama became president for the first time, I vowed to stop using that word. I just didn't feel right using it anymore - it's vile & disrespectful & loaded with hundreds of years of history. I've slipped up from time to time since then, but I've caught myself and apologized (either out loud or to myself). So in general, I do not use the word.

Well, I don't use it in public or in private. It's a degrading word with a vile history and nothing anyone says about makes it any less disgusting. That word alone has been used to dehumanize our people for hundreds of years and for me it has no other meaning but to be derogatory. There's no sugarcoating it and no softening it - no matter how you use it, spell it or pronounce it, it's a word that I won't use.

[straightnochaser]

I've been called the N word lots of times by whites and immigrants from Asian countries. There's no mistaking the meaning in that. When blacks refer to me by that word, I feel that they agree with its original meaning, like I am worthless or of no account.

I hate hearing rappers, comedians, actors or people on the street spouting the word like its just another word.

I do get the idea that by using it so much, it de-stigmatizes it. People often think that you're supposed to shrink away becsause they pulled it out of their arsenal of hatred.

It also confuses people who don't know any better.

An acquaintance of mine was visiting Eygypt. The local people referred to her by the N word. They thought it was okay, since they hear black people use it so often.