| Like a decrepit antebellum plantation that hid its wicked past of slavery through the thick overgrown brush of time, the 'N' Word, used as an oppressive word by slave masters to rob their African American slaves of their dignity and their lives, is used casually in modern times in part because people can't see its sordid past. And while you can fix up an antebellum home, it still is the place where slaves were beaten and oppressed. Nothing can change that. And no matter how lightly the 'N' Word is used today, it can never be separated from its wicked past. It will always degrade African Americans overtly or subtly. On October 21, a bus load of members of the East High School Black Student Alliance and their parents went to Beloit to participate in The Black Star Project's all day effort to say "Death to the 'N' Word." The day was filled with motivational speeches, musical performances, dramatic reenactments, and old time church preaching to drive home the point that the 'N' Word will always be derogatory and needs to be buried in the past so that African Americans can face the future with self-pride and dignity. The East High Students came back with a new understanding of the 'N' Word and African American history. The following are some of their observations: "I didn't think it was going to be as powerful as it was. The motivational speakers made a lot of sense to me. That made things start clicking in my head. 'Maybe this isn't what we should be doing, calling each other the 'N' Word. It's bringing us down rather than bringing us up.' When I got back to school with my friends, maybe it slipped it out a couple of times, but we thought about it. We said 'No, don't say that. What did we learn?' We've been catching other people saying it and we've been telling them it means more than 'Hey, what's up?" -- Makayla Allen, president of the Black Student Alliance |
| "I felt good about Saturday. It was nice to know that we were all coming together to do something positive as African Americans. I used to say the 'N' Word quite a bit. I didn't really know what the 'N' Word meant. But the explanations they gave made me realize that it isn't something that needs to be said. They said it was a word about death. So basically when I say it, I'm talking about death. And I really didn't like that. It made me want to stop using the word." -- Maya Williams "Saturday made me think a lot about the different ways that racism happens and the way they broke the word down. I never analyzed it like that. People changed the word around now to make it seem as if it is all right. We call each other the 'N' Word because we're best friends. What we're really doing is breaking each other down and we're doing exactly what they wanted us to do. They wanted us to feel like animals. I thought 'Wow!' I'm still processing. It's almost second nature to use it like it's imbedded in you. I'm going to try my best not to use it because the word is dead and buried." -- Nate Pharmer-Eden "I felt good that the 'N' Word is being buried. I don't think it is a good word to have people using. It's such a derogatory term. I learned a lot on Saturday. I learned where it came from. I knew that it was used during slavery, but I didn't really know where it came from. It helped me want to get rid of it. Some kids just use it out of habit. I hope we can change people's minds. There will always be people who are going to use it regardless of what we say. But hopefully, if we can get people not using it, then other people will follow. We want people to know it isn't cool." --/ Jasmine Bradley-Wilson The Black Student Alliance is making plans to spread the word about the 'N' Word to the rest of the East High School student body. While their numbers may initially be small, the force of their truth may carry the day at EastHigh School and raise the level of self-respect among the African American students at EastHigh School. |
| Beloit's The Black Star Project hosts "Death to the 'N' Word" Putting the 'Massa's language' to rest By Jonathan Gramling |
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