your letters

An open forum…

could change so many lives, for good.

In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act – George Orwell

One universally recognised methods of deceit is to suggest certain derogatory words relating to skin colour can by nature shape a persons position in society.

Certain globally renown icons of African origin often adopt a ‘sticks and stones’ method to deal with direct racism.

But, what happens to those who are unable to apply this method? And, who can they turn to for valuable and experienced advice?

Modern Diversity (MD) and its partners are experienced enough to confidently approach and tackle any race related issue sensitive, challenging or otherwise. We have launched this forum with actual general public personal insights designed to help, advise and maybe inspire anyone experiencing any form of racial discrimination.

your stories

Why I’m not your ‘NIGGER!’

An old friend and major MD historical contributor told us of the first time he was called the name ‘nigger’ way back in 1972. He was 8 years old.

It was his first week at Junior school where he remembers being confronted with the hideously abhorrent term delivered with the most angry expletives and profanities he’d ever experienced, as they all queued for dinner.

The school was extremely modern and very well funded for its time, although housed in one of the most depressed and poorest housing estates across Western Europe.

Completely oblivious to the term ’nigger’ my friend was intrigued enough to seek out its meaning and rushed to the library immediately after dinner. Where he found the biggest and most delightful leather bound, gilded edged Oxford Dictionary. He could hardly carry the book due to its size and weight but with a little help from a surprised Librarian he managed to get it to a table and began his search. The book was very old with lots of old fashioned language he couldn’t understand but was in complete shock when he finally arrived at the offending ‘N’ word. Only to find that the term bore absolutely no relation to him or skin colour. In fact it read – uneducated; an uneducated man or woman; a person without education is considered a fool; a fool; a foolish person; a person of foolish behaviour or a person behaving in a foolish manner. He was so happy that he rushed out of the library leaving the book behind. He raced up to the child who confronted him with the term and with exalted passion and pride he said “you’re the nigger!” Needless to say he was never called a nigger again by that child whom he lived alongside for more than ten years after.

Cynically, he suggested the book may have been destroyed judging by the increases in racial violence in modern society?

summary

So, here’s the ‘N’ word paradox.

We at MD understand the ‘N’ word to be one of the most interesting, universally recognised and excessively used racial slur. Often directed at almost every non-white nation across the globe including Black African, Caribbean, Asian and all other dark skinned Europeans. It is in fact one of the laziest hate crimes designed to intentionally cause maximum emotional harm by depreciating all self-worthiness.

However, the good news is that although, it’s just a word it should never be construed as either positive or a term of endearment. Paradoxically, many educated people of colour find the word benign and meaningless delivered only by the most ignorant of our species. And therefore, only a fool would choose to believe otherwise.

More of your letters to come

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