N words

I�m really interested in this whole hate speech thing and yesterday was the day for the word �Negro� and �Negroes� to come up over and over again.

I was reading Hemmingway�s Islands in the Stream and they refer to

�people of African descent� (POAD) as Negroes. That started the wheels in my head turning about the perennial controversy surrounding � that word� and the other words that begin with �n� used to describe or talk about POAD. I know that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and the other great works by Mark Twain. Those words are offensive and I understand why � but what about that context?

I say POAD because in Islands in the Stream the people aren�t African Americans or any other euphemism I�m comfortable with. But those Euphemisms! They all look the same to me, especially on white paper. They�re all crap. They aren�t black and I�m not white.

Does this offend people? Why? Why not? I don�t know what to think, that�s why I ask.

I�m not just an English Teacher I�m a History Teacher and I find so much value in those books and their language choices. I think it helps teach people�s attitudes in different time periods. Today�s feeling and spoken sentiments on race are different than they were even ten years ago and they�re different regionally. For instance, it is no acceptable for someone in Nebraska to say an �N� word but if you�re the Senator from West Virginia you can say �Nigger� on the FLOOR OF THE SENATE and criticize Senator Lott with the same mouth. I�m not excusing Senator Lott I�m accusing everyone.

I�m not a POAD, I�m a German Jew whose family moved to America during the (first) Roosevelt Administration or they were refugees before the Second World War. I�m whiter than rice. I don�t know what a POAD would think about these things. I don�t know what another demographic would think either.

I will tell you this it�s okay for people to use to portray an ignorant or antediluvian viewpoint. It is not okay to have these views. It is not okay for musicians or performers of today to use those words like they were compliments or terms of endearment.

I�ve seen two movies lately that refer to POAD as Negroes. One was showing a period attitude. I think they did it with a purpose. What�s the purpose of using it now?

Oh well, I want to find out what other people think too. Please take the survey (in my surveys in my profile).

Questions in the Survey�

What do you think about the use of the words negro and nigger in literature?

What do you think about the use of those words in other art forms, in general?

What do you think it reflects when a Twain or Hemmingway character uses that term?

Does protagonist or antagonist status change this idea for you?

What would it do to the literary or artistic value of an artifact to take this language out of existing artifacts?

Should these books be available to children in schools?

Should teachers teach them to children?

What is your ethnicity?

How is it different when contemporary artists/authors use the word?

What about comedians and musicians?