Nigger please!

The discussion about the use of the word "nigger" is not new.  Rappers, street-wise youth, comedians and intellectuals all regularly weigh in on the appropriateness and potential harm of referring to anyone that way - whether in endearment or hostility.    Personally, the word makes me bristle.  I suspect that has as much to do with the fact that the word is not a part of the Jamaican vernacular (or at least it wasn't when I was growing up) as it does with any historical or cultural meaning I have assigned to the word. I choose not to use the word and will strongly dissuade my sons from using it, but I firmly defend its use by an artist who feels it necessary to his expression.

I certainly defend its appearance in Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn. It's unfortunate that an overabundance of political correctness or a misguided attempt to protect young people has lead some school districts to pulling the book from the curriculum.  More horrifying, a publisher has printed the literary classic with the word 'slave' replacing all occurrences of 'nigger.'  Destroying a work of art is not beneficial to anyone - especially not to the students being taught.  To preserve it should surely be more important than preserving the sensibilities of a few hyper-sensitive administrators too limp-spined to risk criticism.

Mark Twain used the word 'nigger' because that was the language of his day.  He did not use the word to glorify its use.  That is obvious because the novel is an indictment of slavery and racism.  An author does not issue such an indictment without intending to rattle the cages of readers.  Discomfort, I am sure, is an expected byproduct of reading Huckleberry Finn.  And that discomfort is an opportunity for a discussion that can lead to understanding and healing.  Removing the word 'nigger' means teachers and students lose that opportunity.

The reluctance to be discomforted by discussions about race is precisely the reason why it continues to be an issue in our increasingly multiracial society.  It is generally accepted that problems are best resolved by confronting them, by discussing them.  For some reason though, race seems to be the exception to this rule.  Most people would rather scuttle discussions about race, in lieu of pretense that we are all the same and that there is not a painful history that proves otherwise.

Huckleberry Finn may be the only opportunity some young people will ever have to participate in a guided, sensible discussion about race, and the history of race relations in this country.  Removing the sting of the word 'nigger' from the book dilutes the author's message and does disservice to the impact it has had on readers for more than a century.