During my period of time at NRHS from 8-3:00, I hear the “N” word maybe about 500-700 times, in a day! There are signs around the school encouraging kids not to say it. That is surely not enough. Action and punishment needs to be brought to the students who say it. Please hear me out when I say something needs to be done about this.
2 thoughts on “The “N” Word at New Rochelle High School”
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N word
nothing will ever be done about this — it is more of an attitude than behavior problem and all the signs in the world won’t work. As a matter of fact we given it status by referring to it as the N word. An African American kid will say that there is a difference between nigger and nigga or niggah and from his perspective there is. Every time we socially engineer something we find offensive that may not be shared by some others, we run into difficulty. Let the community that is affected work it out. People like Al Sharpton and Stanley Crouch have spoken out about it and more will follow. The more publicity to give to it, the more you encourage it. Putting it on the wall in a hallway is commendable perhaps, but it will not do.
Look I am an old white guy and I have been called everyting from Cracker, Mr. Charlie, the Man, Whitey, etc…. and I am still here, bearing no rancor or anger and yes, I wish the word was not part of our vocabulary. It also depends on intent or reaction — I just read about an African American kid in high school smacking around a substitute teacher in the hallway and the implication seems to be that the kid may get off with a suspension. If that is the case, barring unreported circumstances, that sends a worse message than some African American kid calling another African American kid the “N” word.
Look its always been this way in one way or another. Irish were micks, Italians guineas, etc… they spoke to each other often in those terms. There were no M words, or G words, etc…. the rule of thumb is if it was particularly malicious, you took matters into your own hands. That hasn’t changed. If you have an issue with being called the “N” word or “C” word, get over it, or if you like. smack the person,
Lesson learned! I do much more of the former than the latter as I both aged and matured.
Actually the N word pales before the “M.F” reference that you hear almost as much.
try to get over it — there are better ways to change a bad habit and in this case I think it should begin and continue in the African American community itself.
warren gross
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History has proven that nigger/nigga is a bad word. You can’t give up though. I realize that there has been attempts to eliminate this word in the past and it has failed, but you can’t give up. It has to start with the youth (the kids in our elementary schools and middle schools). If harsher actions are brought then and there, then we won’t have to worry about it in our high school or anywhere else.