What’s in a word? Quite a lot, sometimes, and not a helluva lot other times. But who’s to say?
Several years ago, one of my dearest of friends, AGRB, was accused of being a spy for the apartheid state. I knew that the accusation was baseless, so did most of our colleagues in the media. The rumour persisted, notwithstanding everything AGRB said and did to try and convince people that he was not a police spy. The fact is, once one is accused of being a spy there is, quite often, very little you can do to change people’s minds. Denial is precisely what spies are meant to do; they are meant to deny or dismiss all accusations. Once you have been tagged as a spy, it is very difficult to shake the charge. Charges of racism are similarly toxic.
Unless you’re a self-declared Nazi or a white supremacist, most people will deny that they are racist. Denial tends to be the first response in the discourse on racism. For instance, typical remarks about black people or Jews (or of gay people and women), are often prefaced with statements like, “I am not a racist, but … ” Alternatively, people would couch their hatred for dark-skinned people in discourse on crime or social breakdown. Anyway, once one is accused of being a racist it becomes difficult or impossible to alter perceptions.
When I first met the family of a former lover, her 80-year-old grandfather told me to come indoors because it was freezing outside – I was busy shoveling snow from his driveway. “Get in here, boy, he said. You’re working out there like a nigger,” he said. I turned, raised the shovel (I was really going to moer him – I had just spent two hours shoveling at least a tonne of snow from his driveway) and asked what he said, my former lover intervened hastily. Calm down, she said. He’s an old man. Her mother would later defend the old man and said, “Nigger is just a word.” The relationship was never the same again. It ended.
There is something quite valuable in this little story. You see, “nigger” is actually “just a word”. Much like “bitch” or “spick” or “yid” or “kaffir” or “boesman”. But words are not neutral nor are they without power -as deployed. There are important differences between the way they are deployed; sometimes these are subtle other times less so. For example, we can say, “someone just walked into the room,” which is, in itself, quite meaningless. Or we can draw attention to that person’s skin colour or gender and say, “a black person just walked into the room”. We can also say, “a woman just walked into the room”. And then, of course, we can say “a yid just walked into the room”. Same act, same person, same time – different deployment of words, each with a different meaning, and suggestive of motive. We don’t need to discuss this here, as it is self-explanatory.
This past week, the Uruguayan football player, Luis Suarez, who plays for Liverpool FC in England, was accused of being a racist. (Some of us will never forgive him for denying Ghana passage to the final of last year’s football world cup. Bliksem!). Nonetheless, instead of denying that he had used the word “negro” when he addressed Patrice Evra of Manchester United, he explained that where he came from, the word was used descriptively, in an almost familial way and not pejoratively. Now, if he is a racist he deserves to be punished; I make no excuses for Suarez. The incident did, however, remind me of my own childhood, and much of my adulthood – and our desperate need to have a discussion about the deterioration of race relations in South Africa!
When we were growing up in Eldorado Park, Kliptown, Pimville, Noordgesig, Orlando, Alex, Diepkloof and Western Coloured Township, we referred, among ourselves (to each other) as “bushies” and “darkies”. We never had problems with that. I was also reminded of the term “char” – which we used, descriptively, to refer to people of Indian decent. There were also contradictions. For instance, the term “coolie” was generally considered to be offensive. However, later in life, I traveled to Guyana, where I heard people (some of whom claimed South Asian ancestry), refer to themselves and others as “coolies”. I had no right to universalise particularities of South Africa’s racial nomenclature, so I kept my mouth shut.
While I PERSONALLY have problems with throwing around these racist terms, including words like “bitch” and “ho”, personal biases need not prevent us from discussing these things. The fact is, the meanings of words tend to change from time to time, and from place to place. A good example is, of course, the word “intercourse” which could refer to conversation between two people or to sexual coupling. Anyone who has read the work of Michel Foucault may have an appreciation for the concept of madness, especially how our own understanding and use of the term has changed over time.
Anyway, the Suarez incident is useful for a discussion on race relations in South Africa, a discussion that has been newspapered over for a long time. What would happen, for instance, if someone from, say, Taiwan, came to South Africa and referred to someone as “coolie” and in defence, explain that she had heard the term used in Guyana where it was quite meaningless? Somewhat similarly (I think), why is it okay for rap artists to refer to women as “bitches” and “hos” in their lyrics? If there is no problem with the use of these words, then why are they (sometimes) censored on television? Who holds the power of words and their deployment? Is every use of the word “negro”, “niggah” or “bitches” offensive everytime, or is it meaningless sometimes? If Luis Suarez tells us he is not a racist, should we believe him?
Its not the fault of whites that blacks are obssessed with skin colour. It seems to be a myth they brought with them when they migrated from Asia. In India caste and marriage chances are improved with a light skin colour, and also in Afghanistan where skin lightening creams are as popular as in South Africa, and the labola/dowry system is very similar – a lighter skin getting a higher price for the parents of the girl.
Americans might have been white racists who continued slavery for generations after Europe banned it, but if that was the case now why would they have voted for Obama?
Good to see someone keeping it real.
You know, there was a recent uproar caused by a Dutch publication referring to Rhianna as a “n*ggah b*tch”, which apparently she has also used in describing herself. As an American Black, I personally feel all such words need to die a quick death. Anytime older Black persons used the word around me (and I don’t care how you dress up the spelling, it still means the SAME thing), it was always disparagingly. And how can you get mad if someone who doesn’t look like you uses it when you go around using? And I really pity any fool who should EVER refer to me as a “b*tch”; don’t care who you are. JMHO but there are many who feel otherwise. All that being said, sorry, but the history of South American race relations leads me to believe Suarez is racist but honestly does not realize that he is.
Hey Issie ! I’m so glad you’re back ! and reminding us about how we use words to connect, to ourselves and others. Yoir piece is about assessing a word, ne? the use of a word… I’d like to add two extra considerations in assessing words used: words have meanings, the meanings are great precious things that we (human kind) have been working on for millenia to assist us with getting on with each other… my extra considerations are “tone” and “rythm” – our words, our precious words, live with each other and their contexts …and are given meaning by each other and their contexts, and are changed by each other and their contexts, each time they are used their menaings change… we can’t tie them down, they live amongst each other and us and we need to play with them and each other – and to play, to create the meanings we need to connect, and to get on with each other better, we have to know the tone of their use, the rythm, like the meaning of verbal face-to-face communication is largely embedded in body language, so are the meanings of words embedded in their context, tone and rythm… let’s love our words, let’s never isolate a word, try to decide what it means all on its own – that’s like trying to own it, imprison it, …
To start offI think you make some very good points here, but there is not enough space to write my full response, so I will post what I can here, and message you the rest. Something I would like to focus on in response to this is the power of words. Yes, words are just words and as kids many of us chanted “stick and stones may break my bones, but words can’t hurt me,” but we all know that is not true. More times than not words can be more harmful than a bullet to the head, we have seen it many times through bullying and cyber-bullying especially in the globalized world in which we live in. To keep this short, words are very powerful, but at the same time I believe strongly that they can only attain this power from us people. If we choose not to give a word power, then it will not hold any power over us. For example, in the United States many black people feel it is alright to call each other nigger or nigga or negro or any variation you can think of, while if a white person tried it they (the caucasian) would be committing heresy and at least verbally if not physically assaulted by any black person whom was the subject of this “name calling”. I personally being a grandson of arab immigrant refugees and growing up in a time where many people of arab descent are ridiculed in the States have seen a lot of racism (even though arabs are caucasian) directed not only towards me, but also to my family other arabs. The rest shall be in a message.
And the vast sums of money and time whites spend on getting a suntan (and skin cancer) is just as ridiculous.
I had an aunt who so overdid the tanning in her 20s that from her 30s onward she could only go into the sun in a long sleeved shirt and wide brimmed hat – rather inconvenient since she was a garden designer!
My daughter in London tells me that the English teenagers who want to fall pregnant for the child grants choose brown boyfriends so as to have children without the pasty white skins!
Really – does that make sense!
After Ghana’s exit at the World Cup I used the word “Suarez” as a derogatory remark, i.e. “you’re such a Suarez” and the like. Ah, the power of a word!
ps. Suarez speaks Spanish and “negro” is “black” in Spanish. Go figure.
To me this entire racism thing is unbelievable. Just go to a soccer match in England or anywhere else and see and feel the tension and venom between the supporters. They actually hate one another and the joke is that most of their team is composed of folks whose origins are undoubtedly not steeped in their own traditions. Of course International games are considerably more so.If we all hate one another so, who are we kidding when we say that we are not racists? Rascism is not just a colour thing now is it? It has much more to do with feeling superior or inferior in my book. That urge to feel superior to others and the arrogant manner in which we actually express that feeling is the problem. If we could learn to substitute arrogance ( Obama ) with humility ( Ghandi ), then maybe we would be better able to coexist without pulling the race card all the time. I just see people as a species, all identifiable as a species, not all blessed with the same intelligence or demeanour unfortunately, but a similar species none the less, who have knowingly,, continuously and systematically screwed things up and are thus deserving of worse terminology than any directed at us in the disguise of being purely rascist remarks. Whatever our colour, creed or beliefs, we have succeeded together in creating all the problems which threaten our very existence in the future and so we may or may not be rascists per se, but we have to admit that we are considerably lacking in many ways.
Let’s veer off the racism stance. I was once kicked out of the house for an afternoon for saying ‘Damn’ in my mother’s hearing. As an adult, I once teased her for being ‘bitchy’ and didn’t hear the end of it for days. As a middle class British women, she felt such slights incredibly, because she believed herself above petty nastiness. In effect, she was being petty, but that comes from someone who is well known for a colourful use of rather raw language.
I would feel not the slighest qualm for sounding off at home about a ‘f@ckging MCP’ or an ‘idiot supplier/doctor/whatever’. I would never do it to their faces, but I sometimes don’t manage to conceal my disgust with supreme politeness. I get short. Does that make me a better person? No.
However, I am presently being hounded by the SABC and their lawyers for a 2001 licence fee they claim I owe (wrong, I wrote them a change of address letter and they opened a second account for me, which has been paid every year) and I have once or twice exploded in 4-letter fury at the poor sod calling from the lawyers. If you have had such dealings, nothing agreed telephonically is ever recorded onto the computer system, so one goes around in circles for (so far) for three years and through two legal firms.
Why is there any need to say that a ‘black person walked in’? Why can we all not, with a bit of effort: ‘the chap in denims’ or the ‘lass in the red dress’. I am waiting for the day when ‘chap’ and ‘lass’ become…
rude words. Bet it comes!
Iit seems that the world has become obsessed with tokenism and political correctness.
It has become more important to say the right things than to pursue the rights actions.
The most balanced people regardless of background are those who can laugh about themselves.
By no means should we be rude insulting patronising or infringe on others dignity however lets stop the charades and focus on constructive co existence.
By the way can we not book a passage on a slow boat to China for Lyndall Beddy and Dave Harrison!
O, lay off Lyndall. I once agreed with one sentence she wrote.
I like what Hilton and Connor have to say. We give words meaning (as you also pointed out, the different meanings the same word can have in different societies). Sometimes racism is so ingrained in a person they do not realise that they are racist. I would like to believe that I am not racist, but I will admit that I am not without prejudice. Does this prejudice have to do with someone’s race? I hope not. In the Guyana I grew up, with the friends I have (all different “races”) I don’t think I was conscious of their races. As an adult looking back after the craziness of post elections violence, when I was made aware of racism in people I never knew existed, I realised that most of my very good friends were not indian (lol or coolie) like I am. In my circle of friends when race came up, they were used in the stereotypical teasing way such as when we say something like, “Ya’ll coolie and chiney people always like hold on pun yu money” to let one of our group know that they being cheap. Someone who did not know us would say that was racist, but I believe that it has to do with the context. Banishing words will not change our world or our prejudices. People will just come up with another word to mean the same thing. What we have to do is realise that we are all human, despite the outward differences in appearances. When we realise that inside we are all basically the same, capable of almost the same degree of good or evil, we might realise that doing right by…
oops, my last comment was too long. Here is the part that was cut off:
When we realise that inside we are all basically the same, capable of almost the same degree of good or evil, we might realise that doing right by each other, and using our collective intelligence for the good of the world might give our children and grandchildren a future that is free of these ills. Can you imagine a world where all the resources that is now being spent on destruction were to be put to use in eliminating hunger, or disease? Might sound utopian, but I believe there is always hope; however if we as human beings continue to allow others to use us as puppets for destruction, then that hope becomes more and more fleeting, and that much harder for others to grasp.
I most often wonder why God made us so different in terms of almost everything from skin colour, language, culture, wealth, intelligence but expected to understand each other and live peaceful. This is quite very impossible. I guess the serenity prayer is the only thing to live by. Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things that I can not change, have courage to change the things that I can, and the wisdom to know or notice the difference. Amen.
One of my most bizzare experiences was when I met a black American pastor in a flee market in downtown Harare. In a discussion about what brought him to Africa, he motioned dramatically with his hands and declared: “these negros need the word of Gaaad, so Aaahm here to preech the Gospel of Jeeezus to all these negros”. As a Zimbabwean white who tries to mind his P and Qs this was a bit embarrasing, but it was also amusing to hear a black American using such patronisingly racist words about black Zimbabweans (in a context where such paternalistic language was usually deployed by white people). This brings me to a thought: Did he perhaps use the word ‘negro’ to me because he assumed a white person would identify better with this kind of paternalistic framework? Or was he just a patronising guy with a God complex?
Is soccer about race? I thought that in England it was about team/area of residence? My daughter says they are fanatics – start their children out wearing babygrows in the team colours.
The only time I have read about race in soccer was 500 people being killed in what was called tribal xenophobia in Africa when one country’s team lost to another (ref: “The Trouble with Africa” by Robert Calderisi) but why call it xenophobia instead of nationalism?
Just get over yourselves . This entire race / tagging debate is nothing more than multiple ingredients being bureaucratically baked into a politically correct pudding , foisted upon us , initially to foster a culture of guilt and thereby conceal the myth of equality .
One retired US infantryman has this to say of political correctness – “Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end”
Has everyone lost their senses or do we still acknowledge that the dreaded “K” word is arabic for non believer , and came eons before apartheid – in fact Gandhi would today be regarded as a first class racist – his speeches are littered with the dreaded K word .
Folks , there is no such thing as equality – no two things are equal and I speak from experience – my wife is a twin . True discernment is being able to distinguish between things resembling one another – otherwise we would have Zebras contesting the Durban July Handicap
@ The Creator [December 23, 2011 at 5:25 pm]
Brilliant!!!
If you are willing to beat up a very old man with a spade for using a hurtful word, then you have serious… very serious issues. Perhaps you should spend more time talking about words that describe what is really destroying our country: Corruption, laziness, murder, laziness, Xenophobia, laziness, apathy, laziness, entitlement, laziness, rape, laziness, violence, laziness, handouts, laziness, unforgiveness, laziness. Get my point? These words cannot be pinned onto one group or another but are found throughout society holding us back firmly in place as the Worlds greatest under-achievers.
Here is the thing with all people accused of being racist & their defences:
1. Suarez’s example: If this word is used in his culture and has no racial connotation, why does he not use it on all the Liverpool Black players during happy & jovial times? Why does he only use it when he is ANGRY? Insulting neh? He knows. Let this pr**k stop patronising the soccer-loving masses. ( I donot support Man U, but this is hurtful to Evra). Suarez knows he is insulting. Must we spell this to him?
2. Darren’s example ( I mean the radio & supersport Jockey): ” I’m not a racist”. He said. It was the heat of the moment? Ja, right. There are other words you can use in the heat of the moment. Otherwise, you always wanted this chance to spew your racism ( Heat of the moment).
Generally, in South Africa when someone is accused of racism, they will start clutching at straws, like ” ag, I cannot be racist, most of my friends are Black,/White/Indian etc”. Dumb response.My take has always been that we need to examine those friends. You might actually be talking about your maid and garden boy ( they will not challenge your prejudices- they know which side their bread is buttered). So you need friends, not hangers-on.
Luis Suraez should be penalised to the extent of his crimes.
If the FA decided to publish a 115 page investigation in the matter that proves that Suárez’s remarks would be “considered racially offensive in Uruguay and other regions in of Latin America”, then what are we debating here?
My belief is the author is trying to make a premise out of the usage of ‘Terms of Self Deprecation’ many People of Colour have sadly internalised & openly express and Conclude whether this doesn’t therefore allow for a neutral viewing of Racial Epithets.
This is not an argument in the complete spirit of transformation and reconcilliation.
It is because this Spirit is so lacking, that we as South Africans fail to have open ‘evolutionary debate’ about our past.
If it was, the author would point out that
1. Historically these terms originated, above all, to promote a view for Europeans as having the more civilized culture
2. Most Racial Epithets are towards People of Colour and exclude Caucasians.
What’s in a word?..the author asks us, and Who can say?
I, You and the Author all have the right to say and MUST say.
The Story/Meaning/Significance behind these NEGATIVE Racial Epithets will never end unless we retell that Story.
I argue that : This is the weight of responsibility all transformative adults, no matter what country they come from or arrive in, have to their fellow mankind.
I take responsibility to be observant and sincere to others ‘Sense of Self’…