Comments on: What’s the Verdict?

By: Tako

Tako — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:39:22 +0000

You’re absolutely right Beet, i loved the part where you said “Why is it controversial? Because it involves a black man supporting basic human rights and dignity while using the word â€œniggerâ€? ” I LOVED that, i loved the way you put it.

By: jessiee

jessiee — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:44:11 +0000

There are, to reiterate for those of you who didn’t pay attention in school, three races, basically: Caucasoid, Negroid, and Mongoloid — or in layman’s terms, Whites, Blacks, and Asians. Judaism is a religion. Yes, it also has strong cultural undertones, no question, but it is a religion, first and foremost. There are black jews (ethiopians), and I’m pretty sure none of them LOOK JEWISH, according to Chris’s qualifications, and as far as Joan’s comments, you have some reading to do, girl. Hitler was trying to purify the world into an “Aryan Race” — which of course wasn’t a race at all…it was a bunch of blond, blue-eyed, protestants, of which he didn’t even meet two of those three qualifications. The Holocaust took six million jewish lives — but also took many catholic lives, along with russians, poles, gypsies, and anyone else Hitler decided didn’t fit his own “perfect model.” The man was insane, I think that’s been clearly defined.

And with that, I’ll let this go. I never meant for it to go so far, but I’ll tell you, there’s a lot of ignorance out there, people.

By: copa

copa — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 06:16:11 +0000

I’m white, and where I grew up that was bad enough to get you jumped after classes, slurs coming at you all the time or all out shunned. So people dont talk as if racism is something that only affects black people and at least here slavery is over, look up and see that there is still slavery of white people in the world, and think about how many jews are still being outright slaughtered before you go and insult EB and accuse anyone of not understanding.

By: joan

joan — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 05:47:59 +0000

i thought the jewish people were a race. with religion thrown in. um, if not then what was up with hitler and all that. duh.

By: Grace

Grace — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 04:12:24 +0000

I couldn’t agree more with swillz and IHeartRatters. Just saying the word over and over in a video is not going to accomplish anything positive. It’s only going to further numb society through a lazy form of entertainment as education. I don’t care if Naz claims to not be bothered by the “N” word, believe me, if someone called his son the N word at school, he’d be up in the principal’s face the first chance he got. I don’t believe for a second that he doesn’t care. He just wants to be controversial and sensational. But really, I don’t know what his intent is in making this video, and nether do you Beet. Please don’t assume to know someone’s intent or objective. And since you’re not a Black person and haven’t been called the N word before, you should think twice before saying anything like, “I understand that its critics want to respect the struggle that black people have endured in America, especially in regards to that word, and I appreciate that, but what I hear Nas trying to say with this song is â€œMove the fuck on, people.” I really don’t think you do understand the struggle black people have endured, or you would never have made that comment. And no, it doesn’t require you to be a black person yourself to understand a people’s struggle. It’s a human struggle. I’m sure you can empathize.

By: RhymesWithSilver

RhymesWithSilver — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 03:49:02 +0000

I’m of Italian descent, and got a scholarship interview in high school where the head of committee seriously said “You’re going to a school where there aren’t a lot of Italians. What if someone says you must be a ‘guinea dago wop from the Mafia?’” It took all my effort not to laugh in the committee head’s face at the question, but that was the straight answer I came up with: I’d laugh, because those words are meaningless, and when you are able to laugh at something, it loses its power. I still think that’s true for all slurs- some are just more hurtful than others and it will take longer to go away. But any linguist will tell you that words will outlive their meaning, so we may as well learn to cope with it in our language in some way that makes it less damaging now.

By: Julia

Julia — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 01:56:28 +0000

Yeah, I just wanted to say that Judiasm is a religion, not a race. I don’t really care about Nas using the n-word. Whatevs.

Also, I would love ever so much to buy you a drank, my beety site-writer. I think you are amazing. I wish I could be your BFF and we could trade Lisa Frank stickers. You are the wind beneath my wings.

By: Naquan

Naquan — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 23:00:34 +0000

This is sad for me. Why should people who were called “Niggers” have to listen to this. I don’t thik slaves have appreciated it; I don;t think those who fought for civil rights would appreciate it. I don;t think it would be taken as a ggos song if a jew wrote about kikes or a hispanic wrote about spics. When we STOP using the word, it will render it useless- this does not.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:33:17 +0000

This video is not necessarily trying to take away the negative association, I think Nas is just trying to say that its just a word, and that the use of it creates an exaggerated response.
Props to Nas for this song.

By: BLA

BLA — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:10:34 +0000

I don’t use the word and I don’t allow my students to use it in school, whether they be black, white, or hispanic. No words that are considered (or have been considered) racial slurs are permitted. I am all for removing negative connotations from words, but if one of my students came into class, said the N-word while claiming to do so to lessen the impact of the word, I would still reprimand him. I just don’t want to hear it, nor do others.

By: frogirl

frogirl — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 17:02:19 +0000

This would only work if people always used slurs in a positive manner; to try and change them into normal words, with no pain attached. But it wont happen beet, because as often as black kids call each other nigga on the street, and the gay boy tease each other with “fag”, they cannot completely reclaim these words until others stop using them as slurs.
When a boy calls a teammate a fag for missing a catch, or a black woman calls her cheating boyfriend a broke ass nigga, these words turn back into slurs, and all the hatred remains associated with them.

How would you feel if for years your husband called you a stupid cunt and would smack you around? You get strong enough to leave him. Then some hardcore lesbian college students run around shouting out cunt, saying we should reclaim the word. You might agree with them intellectually, but it still stings every time you hear the word.

By: dally

dally — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:21:03 +0000

I’m 26 y.o. and I didn’t even know what a “Kike” or “spic” was referring to. I had to go ask my husband if he knew. He only knew the first one.
Just goes to show if you grow up in a household that doesn’t use disrespectful language, or if you don’t listen to negative garbage on tv or in music, terms such as these could possibly be eliminated. None of my friends (who represent multiple ethnicities) use words like this in any conversation we have ever had. I am well educated and grew up in a large city. I’m actually happy I didn’t even know those words.

I lived in Central America for a long time and I was the only white girl (with blonde hair and blue eyes) in my neighborhood and I was constantly verbally harassed and frequently overcharged for things. I was told this was because I was white, therefore they assumed I was a rich American. Little did they know I barely made 450 US dollars a month and had a dirt floor. I guess this is as close as I will ever get to knowing racial discrimination.