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We have an interesting way of handling race in this country. With a foundation rooted in the oppression of people based on their proximity to Blackness, White people instituted the one-drop-rule to keep Black people of all genetic makeups, in bondage.
Now that slavery is over, (for the most part), Black people with interracial ancestry have are often faced with a unique challenge when it comes to identity politics. How Black do you have to be to be considered Black? Does your type of Black represented the lived experience of most identifiable Black folk? And a debate that often arises today, should you be allowed to use the N-word?
I don’t have to give you a long run down on the history of the N word. We know it. It was used and is still used as a racial epithet against Black people (and often other minorities). Eventually, Black folk started using it as a term of endearment with one another. Then that expression became more and more mainstream as it seeped into Black comedy and music. As with many expressions from Black culture, it became a “cool” thing to say. And some White folks seemed determined to erase the word’s racist past.
There has been great effort to remind White people that wouldn’t work.
But the discussion isn’t just about White people. Now, we’ve turned to people of mixed race or people who don’t present as identifiably Black should be able to use the word.
People feel all types of ways about it. There are some who believe if you have a drop of Black blood, you should be able to say it. There are others who think if you don’t live a Black experience, then it is not yours to use. There are still those among us who believe no one should ever use it. And then there are folks who could not care less.
Interestingly enough, this conversation arose again when artist Jhene Aiko shared that she planned to stop using the N word in her music because of her racial make up.
In a tweet that has since been deleted, Aiko wrote to fan who asked what she was mixed with:
“I am less Black [than] someone half Black, but less white than someone half white…and Asian is the least thing I am. Lol so at this point, it’s whatever they want me to be.”
That might have been confusing for some folk but essentially, it means that she’s not half Black. Less than half white and not all that Asian.
A while ago, she shared her ancestry and it showed she was 35% European, 32 % Sub-Saharan African, and 25% Japanese, with some other nationalities thrown in the mix.
But because of her ancestry, Aiko made the decision to stop using the N word in her music.
Someone asked her about the decision on Twitter.
“So you said that you saw yourself as Black, but you stopped saying n*gga because you felt like you weren’t Black enough to say it? Mayve I can understand the braids but come on you’re less Black than half Black so what was the confusing part Jhene?”
She responded:
“I stopped out of consideration to the people who were offended and who thought I was not in a position to say it. I took heed. I wasn’t confused tho.”
Later someone else tweeted to her, “Glad you learned…sad that Twitter had to teach you about you but better late than never.”
Jhene also responded to this person.
“Not just Twitter
Many of Aiko’s tweets have since been deleted, but they were captured by The Neighborhood Talk. You can read them all below.
All of it is an interesting conversation. And thankfully, for Jhene, it doesn’t seem that it was public pressure that caused her to abandon use of the word, just her own personal conviction. Still, it made other people wonder why other women—mainly Hispanic women—who do not have a Black parent have been given a pass.
It’s a conversation with no definitive answers. Racial identity is not Black and white. Pun intended. The only choice we have in this is determining which artists’ use of the word will support and which ones we will not.
