I am wondering this myself. If it is so offensive for anyone except black people to use the word 'nigger' or 'nigga' or whatever the choice of the day is, then why do black people say it? I understand that when its your own race it's okay for you to say things, but you hear so many rappers using the 'n' work so freely, but white people do listen to this music. That just adds on to the problem. I think if we're going to unite as one, (which we should do) we need to elimidate everything that degrades our race. We should be seen as americans, not as a black person, or a white person.
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Name : michelle, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Asian, City : willmar, State : MN Country : United States, Social class : Upper class, Okay, as to what I've heard about why a black person is called a nigger is that the word itself means ignorant. Young black people today may be continuing on the tradition of the sixties.What I mean by this is, back in the days of the black panthers, they would take the word nigger, and in return call eachother the word so as to make it less painful. (This way it would seem to be less harmful for white people to use.) This is only what I have heard and by no means do I have any proof, it is just an observation.
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Name : Rachel, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Religion : Christian, Age : 18, City : minneapolis, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : student, Social class : Upper middle class, The 'N word' was used in the past to degrade african americans because the 'N word' is another word for dirt, trash, and a few other foul things. Today it's used all the time. It's rare that I hear a white person say it, but I hear black people say it to each other all the time. I think that's wrong. Anyone who uses has no sence of history and is trash for using it. I don't care what race you are. White, black, mexican, chinese, whatever. It's wrong.
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Name : Rene, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 16, City : Sarasota, State : FL Country : United States, Social class : Upper middle class, It's seems as if there is no explanation for this term that 'people', in which a majority of the time, African Americans use this word towards each other and feel this is an ok thing to do. I don't know if there will ever be an explanation but I do know that it is up to our generation to stop this asap.
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Name : Cutiepie, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Methodist, Age : 17, City : Minneapolis, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Child Care Superviser, Education level : Less than High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class, IF YOU HAVE EVER TAKEN SPANISH YOU WILL UNDERSTAND THIS. OUR LANGUAGE(ENGLISH) HAS EVOLVED FROM A LOT OF DIFFERENT LANGUAGES. THE NEGRO COMES FROM THE SPANISH WORD BLACK. SO WHITE PEOPLE DEFORMED IT AND START REFERING US TO THAT NAME. AND THE REASON WE USE THE WORD NOW BECAUSE WE HAVE GROWNED TO THE CUSTOM OF WHAT WHITE PEOPLE CALLED US. THAT IS ALSO THE REASON MOST BLACK FAMILY WHIP THEIR CHILDREN WHEN THEY ARE DOING SOMETING BAD. ITS KINDA LIKE A TRADITION, A BAD ONE BUT A TRADITION.
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Name : Bradlety, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Baptist, Age : 18, City : whistler, State : AL Country : United States, Education level : Less than High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class, White people just wanted a word to degrate black people with, because they wanted to think of themselves to be better than us. What I really think is white people were just as niggers than we were. They didn't know the term of the word. 'Fools is what they are and will always be'.
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Name : Risha, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Age : 21, City : Phoenix, State : AZ Country : United States, Occupation : pregnant mother of 1, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Upper class, Back in the days of slavery the word nigga was used to degrade the people of africa. People who were culturally different from European whites. Who life style was different, who's food and clothing were different, who's religion was different. Today's youth, even tho they view the word also degrading coming from a white person, when a black person saids it to another black, they see it as a word of love, as friendship, it took on a whole new meaning. Yes it isn't a pleasant word, but it is a word that has been in and around for hundreds of years. See when one black person saids 'nigga' it may mean more than what the dictionary says it means Like 'nigga please' in otherwords 'come on now', or 'what's hapening nigga', 'what's happening Dude','that's my nigga', 'that's my man', see what I mean. But in the black community we have a saying 'a white man can call me negro, but if he ever saids the word 'right' 'NIGGA', he has as ass whipping coming. That's just my way of explaining why we call each other that.
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Name : Belinda Waterman, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Baptist, Age : 49, City : Sunrise, State : FL Country : United Kingdom, Occupation : State worker, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Lower middle class, The term nigger evolved during slavery. Nigger means ignorance. White people began calling their slaves nigger. They considered slaves to be ignorant because they were not formally educated.
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Name : Shanea28076, City : Chattanooga, State : TN Country : United States, The word 'nigger' originated from uneducated white folks straining to say the word 'negro'. It then became the infamous word we all know. If we really evaluate this word it really speaks to the white community and is only a reflection of the lack of education in the past in that community.
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Name : Megan, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 26, City : Burke, State : VA Country : United States, Occupation : marketing rep, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, Nigger is not a term for degrading black people. The 'white cops' used to call my grandfather nigger because he was Itallian (sicillian) but I forgot blacks were the only group discriminated against in this country.
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Name : Patrick Davis, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 25, City : Kansas City, State : MO Country : United States, Occupation : Software Engineer, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, I agree that the word 'nigger' is 'thrown around too freely in the world today. In my high school we have a group of people referred to as 'wiggers', or whit people who dress and act in a stereotypical black manor. This group of peopl use this term very frequently as a brotherhood reference as some african-americans do. I also have a good friend who thinks it is funny to say 'nigger' because i tell her not to do it and it upsets me. She says she isnt really serious about it, she just says it the way that she would say 'fag' or 'retard', not actually dirsecting it as a dirogatory term. I think that the word 'nigger' should not be taken as lightly as it is along with 'fag' and 'retard' and people should think sabout the whole group of people they are degrading when they say this word.
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Name : Jessica, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, City : Mentor, State : OH Country : United States, The word 'nigger' was never a word to begin with, but slang made to put down the black slaves. It has evolved into something that people use freely because some feel that by using the word themselvs in a different manner it will not only change the meaning of the word, but to actually take power away from the word itself.
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Name : Hannahlore, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, Age : 17, City : St. Louis, State : MO Country : United States, Social class : Lower middle class, I'm not 100 percent sure, but I think it was used to degrade in that being called a 'nigger' implied that you were only 1/3 human being. As of it's use today, only the black race are allowed to use it, (which is racists). It is my hope that one day the black population will rise above this word and not allow it to 'push their button'. The reason I say this is that whomever uses this word today to degrade, it can't be degrading if the black person won't allow it to degrade. The only way to respond would be to laugh at the white person and ignore it, and go on about your business. Getting mad is what the white person wants if he uses the word. So if the black person gets mad, the white person wins.
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Name : Luann22608, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 45, City : Jasper, State : AL Country : United States, Occupation : CPA, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, The word nigger probably comes frome the word Niggardly which means: Meanly small; scanty or meager: left the waiter a niggardly tip. The plantationars called the black people Niggers because they were(compared to them) little(not as important). Today, slavery no longeer exists so i would say you can call anyone you want a nigger(freely) and you are just calling them small or scanty.
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Name : Kyle, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Age : 14, City : NA, State : NA Country : Mexico, Education level : Less than High School Diploma, Social class : Upper middle class, nigger means, a dirty or filthy person. hence a person with dark skin look, well....dirty! Why people use it today wether you are of any race is, well.....stupidity.
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Name : liquid-stone22732, City : cincinnati, State : OH Country : United States, 
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