April 20, 2003 at 12:00 am #34415
Carina
Participant
‘Nigga’ is more of a slang word these days. It’s like calling someone ‘dude’ or ‘homeboy’. But some people use it to hurt – I guess ‘nigga’ to them is a put-down because it reminds us of the slavery years and how we were less than human back then. But by using that term toward each other in a joking way, we diffuse it a little. It becomes less hurtful, and hopefully one day it can lose all hurtful intentions.