Nigger is defined as "a black person, a member of any dark skinned people, a person of any race or origin regarded as contemptible people, inferior, ignorant, etc." Nigger is also defined as "a victim of prejudice similar to that suffered by blacks; a person who is economically, politically or socially disenfranchised." While nigga, on the other hand, is defined as "an extremely offensive name for a Black person; only a Black can call a Black a nigga." The latter of the definition is what we "black folks" have attempted to institute into doctrine. We’ve attempted to do it by stating that "nigga" is not the same as "nigger." Instead, "nigga" is a word of endearment according to many of us. And we've indoctrinated it into our culture simply by substituting the 'er' in the word nigger with an 'a' as if that changes the definition. One of my favorite rappers of all time, Mr. Tupac Shakur is credited for creating the acronym for NIGGA, which stands
for "never ignorant getting goals accomplished." With all due respect to Mr. Shakur and his family, how is that definition applicable to our people and our community?! I never for conversation purposes, use the "N" word. I'm so self-conscious about ni**er and n**ga that even when writing it, I 'sometimes' self-censor it, adding asterisks; as if that makes a bit of difference.
The reason for my discomfort? Words like nigger, and hate speech, in general, have an added dimension of meaning, a historical intent to cause harm, communicate a threat or symbolize a power dynamic. There's a saying that goes, "It ain't what you call me, it's what I answer to." In the not-too-distant past, black folks had no control over what others called us, and reflexively, we co-opted the "N" word, fashioning myriad alternative meanings and usages of it in an attempt to take the sting out of it. That's why the "N" word is so unique among hate speech it's now used most frequently by the very people it was meant to oppress.
We have all heard the argument, if not participated in it ourselves, "I said nigga with an 'a' not the 'er'." I ask, what’s the difference? If you honestly consider the African American vernacular, which by the way, reference books have been created for translation and application, most of our words that end in 'er' we substitute with an 'a'. And of course, this obviously changes the spelling of the word, but purposely the meaning of the word stays in tact. For example, gangster is now pronounced and written as gangsta, but is it defined differently? We’ve seen the word murder pronounced and written as murda, but again do the definition of the original word change? There are a slew of words that this is applicable to, for the sake of space, I’ll just print a few. You may not be able to find our pronunciation of these words in a standard dictionary, but nevertheless we use them.
