The "N word" in yet another context

Every week, I leave campus after class, I turn on NPR--and I kid you not--there is always some discussion on race. Today, on All Things Considered, there was a brief discussion of "Urban Desi," which according to NPR "is a fast-growing style that blends South Asian pop culture and American hip-hop." For more on the broadcast, check out "Urban Desi: A Genre on the Rise." Shaman Ajmani, one of the interviewees, had the following to say about what NPR coins as the inharmonious dimension of this "cultural exchange:" "I do see some Indians over here using the N word. It's so annoying. I feel like saying, 'What're you doing, man? Don't try to be black.'"

"What're you doing, man? Don't try to be black." One of the implications here (there are many, one of which is that "being black" is unseemly or undesirable) is that the N word is a "black thing" or a "black word" (this recalls my New Orleanian grandmother who told my sister, my brother, and me as kids that we shouldn't say "booty" because it, too, was a "black word"). This, of course, complicates the debate surrounding the N word, which usually revolves around the issue of who can/cannot say it. Here, in this context, the N word is cast as the language of "the other." This "casting" is yet again problematized by the fact that whites have used (as part and parcel of their antebellum prerogatives as possessors/owners of commodified black bodies)--and continue to use--the N word. Not only is the N word, as Dr. Young said in class, the most powerful word (yes, I used the superlative), but it is also one of the most versatile words, contextually and otherwise (I had to qualify this superlative). Thus, it can be cast as "a black word," as a resistive (re)appropriation of the term, as a word of comradery (among both blacks and whites--students from my high school can testify to the latter [I might post about this later because it relates to Harris' tome of an article]), as derogatory, as racist, etc., etc. (I'm sure you could add to this list).

Literature

Steve's post below, which includes the Tintin cartoon, triggered some memories for me. Tintin is quite popular in India, and I've read a bunch of those. (Asterix is also very popular in India, but that's besides the point). Of course, before coming to the U.S., I never really realized that there was something terribly wrong with an image like that. I guess that's the kind of ignorance that comes with inadequate high-school education and also growing up in a racially homogeneous society.

BTW, and here's where I am going with this post: this brings me to the subject of children's lit written by British authors. I guess just like cricket, children's lit is Britain's colonial "gift" to countries like India. Especially reading one author - Enid Blyton - is like a right of passage for anyone and everyone who ever attended a convent school in India. I absolutely loved her stuff when I was growing up, but looking back I can't help but see the racial and religious undertones in her work (Most of her stuff was about reforming or reformed "naughty" kids, boarding school stories (recently re-popularized in the Harry Potter series), and about magical "far away" places). Most kids in her work owned at least one golliwog, and as is sometimes with literature, it was the illustrations that were often the most telling. I post a few below:










It's actually strange now that I think about that: I was given this last book The Land of Far Beyond as a prize for some contest in high school by my school principal. (I went to a catholic school). The book that I had recd. had a different cover and there was no indication on it that it was a "re-telling of The Pilgrim's Progress." Hmmm...

"When Obama's Irish Eyes are Smiling"

I was recently browsing a website looking for a cool Obama t-shirt to purchase. I noticed at least a dozen designs all revolving around the idea of Obama being of Irish descent. If my freckles hadn't given it away-I am Irish, so I really got a kick out of these t-shirts. That same day, a friend of mine sent me this link of a man singing an Irish song about Obama-check it out, I think you will all get a kick out of it as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EADUQWKoVek

Hmmm...

The Race Card...

...has been played. Not by Obama as many would have predicted, but by the Republicans.

Of course, all this is not just about race, but also about religion. I am posting below part of a blog-entry from one of my favorite blogs Sepia Mutiny that underscores this point:
"Things from the campaign trail keep getting uglier. Here is what went down at a rally in Davenport, Iowa TODAY (listen to the audio here):

At a McCain event, as the crowd waited for McCain himself to arrive, Pastor Arnold Conrad of the Grace Evangelical Free Church of Davenport, Iowa, gave an invocation that included the following: “I would also pray, Lord, that your reputation is involved in all that happens between now and November, because there are millions of people around this world praying to their god—whether it’s Hindu, Buddha, Allah—that his opponent wins, for a variety of reasons. And Lord, I pray that you will guard your own reputation, because they’re going to think that their God is bigger than you, if that happens. So I pray that you will step forward and honor your own name with all that happens between now and Election Day.” [Link]

First of all, even the hate speech itself demonstrates gross ignorance. For goodness sake, if you are going to be a bigot at least have the courtesy to be a bigot that makes sense. “Hindu” and “Buddha” aren’t gods. Millions of people don’t worship “Hindu.” Furthermore, all three of the Abrahamic religions worship the same God, Muslims just call him Allah. Geez, can anyone just sign up to be a pastor? This was the invocation that started off the rally before McCain even arrived. I guess they wanted to get the crowd in the mood."
The full entry and readers' comments can be found here

Roediger -- Race Will Survive the Obama Phenomenon

So I happened to be checking my gmail account and came across the heading "Race Will Survive the Obama Phenomenon." I clicked on the email and saw that David R. Roediger, my favorite scholar in the whole wide world, sent a link to his recently published essay in the _Chronicle of Higher Education_. For those interested in what Roediger has to say about Obama, this essay will suffice: It's all but a word-for-word copy of Roediger's "Afterword," which, save a brief mention of Obama on p. 196, is the only real treatment of the Democratic presidential nominee in the monograph: http://chronicle.com/free/v55/i07/07b00601.htm

Privilege checklists

OK... I was wrong about their being a "white privilege" checklist (maybe there is one and I just haven't heard about it yet?) There is male privilege checklist and then there is also a Black male privilege checklist. Both can be found at the following websites:

The Male Privilege Checklist

The Black Male Privilege Checklist