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The Hegemonic Fantasm Created by the Word Nigga. (Condensed)

Words are like spells. Words spoken with the right syncopation, tone, and rhythm can make someone dance, cry, feel pride, disgust, or pleasure. There is power in words. After those feelings have long left one's emotional realm, the terms associated with those emotions remain. Like chameleons, some words do not disappear; they mutate into something that is befitting their surroundings for protection. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. eloquently expressed that, "A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged; it is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and time in which it is used." (160) This quote precisely describes the life of the word Nigga. Nigga is woven into the fabric of Western society and has worn different hats at different times. One may even say that it has not taken off any of those mentioned hats yet. Nigga means different things to different people based on their knowledge of the word, age, cultural background, and lived experiences.

In the following essay entitled, "The hegemonic fantasm created by the word Nigga”, I will explore the phenomenality of non-African American people using Nigga within the Hip-hop aesthetic; and identify all, if any, rules for utilizing the word. I will argue that hip-hop culture has created a hegemonic fantasm with the use of the term Nigga. A hegemonic fantasm, as defined by Shurrmann, is an "authoritative representation that serves, during a given linguistic era, to constitute the phenomenality of phenomena and thereby to legitimize all theoretical and practical rules" (6). We will learn how the use of the word Nigga has been transferred from oppressor to the oppressed and back again under the cloak of hip-hop culture. In this paper, I use the term Hip-hop aesthetic liberally as it refers to all manners of expression within hip-hop culture, including fashion, vernacular, dance, visual art, and musical objects, within and outside of rap music itself. I will implore Nietzsche's idea of freedom and nihilism as my counter-argument. I will then use the Hip-hop song "Sucka Nigga" by A Tribe Call Quest to further my exploration of the word and its use in Hip-hop music to both celebrate friendship and to slander. I will conclude with Mbebe to construct a call to action to those who may feel compelled to walk backward on what Beverly Daniel Tatum refers to as "The moving walkway of racism." 

I should also bring clarification to my use of the term "one." In these writings, one will represent an African American. This point is important to identify because I am an African American who subscribes to Hip-hop culture. Therefore I cannot speak on behalf of those who do not share racial or cultural similarities. The words in this writing were penned with African Americans in mind; however, this text can be utilized by non-African Americans to explore further the history and the use of the term Nigga in an effort to combat racism. Before I delve into the word Nigga, it is crucial that I provide a caveat that will show what led me to discover the hegemonic fantasm created by the word Nigga.

I am an African American male who teaches Latino students predominantly. As a 5th grade teacher, I have had to have conversations about race with all of my classes. The talks typically stem from me overhearing a group of them say the word Nigga while signing a song. After having this conversation a couple of times with them, what seemed to puzzle me was how they were using it. Schürmann writes, "The double bind arises from singularities though not as a dispersion of givens, but as dispersive functions (610). My Latino students were using the term in the same way that I have used the word when talking to my close friends and family. It made me think about a couple of things. First, do they know what the word means in historical respect? Secondly, if they do know what it means, why are they claiming a term that has caused great anguish to a group of people for themselves? Soon after, I discovered a YouTube video of a group of white kids rapping a song, and I realized that when the rapper said the word Nigga, they too said the word Nigga--while smiling. After this experience, I realized one thing that both instances had in common; Hip-hop. Subsequently, I asked myself, did Hip-hop normalize the word Nigga? Is being a Nigga the cool thing now?

How does an African American, navigate this complex social landscape in a world where a name can either make you a man or a slave -- friend, or a foe. I overheard my students again using the word Nigga. I found myself caught in a double bind. Schrumann describes a double-bind as when, "The hero sees the conflicting laws, and—at the moment of tragic denial—then blinds himself toward one of them, fixing his gaze on the other. (27) I reached this conclusion based on two factors. First, I am an African American, and I should not allow non-African American people to use it; I should discipline them for using the word. Secondly, I am their teacher; I shouldn't get upset based upon the context in which they are using the term; they may not know the history of the word and its racial implication, and that could be a teachable moment. How can I navigate this dilemma not only in my classroom but with other people I may encounter?

I have been asked on two occasions by non-African Americans, "Why can't I say it?". This question brings to the surface one concern: "Why would a non-African American want to say it? Is it the first amendment rights granted to all Americans by the Constitution of the United States? The desire to say what they want when they want to? Is it the need to feel as if they belong to a particular cadre of friends? Is it them being facetious? Or are they truly seeking knowledge to use to combat racism? The answers to these questions can not come from me. For again, I can not speak for or from the position of a non-African American. However, I can show the impact of the word Nigga in the lives of African Americans; The historical origins of the word Nigga and how one could react to hearing the word. 

Since slavery's beginning, the word Nigger has been used as a derogatory term for Black people. This fact appears in a myriad of ways throughout history. However, for some, the term functioned as a source of power (i.e., White oppressors using the term to assert dominance). For African Americans, the word was a reminder that you were "less than" in society. However, among the African American population, the word gave a sense of unity--knowing we were all facing the similar struggles of being oppressed. While this writing focuses on the word Nigga used in a Hip hop context, one cannot get to Nigga without first visiting Nigger. Nigger is a six-letter word derived from the Latin term meaning black. However, the concept of Nigger is a weapon of mass destruction. It is the shorthand for a field of knowledge that, for over 500 years, across every continent, dedicated itself to the progression of white supremacy and the belittlement of dark-skinned people. While before the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the term described something with a dark hue, it has been ingrained in our psyche to mean something negative. In the series entitled Strength In Numbers by Knowledge Bennett, the artist utilizes vast black canvas to represent members of his family and a sense of togetherness. However, if looked at the paintings through an eye trained to see black as a symbol of despair or nothingness, it would appear to be nothing more than a black canvas. One could look in the Oxford dictionary and discover how these negative connotations have fueled the weight of the word Nigger. The intersection of the negative connotations and the usage by African Americans is where the dilemma lies. Do we ignore a set of derogatory definitions to make room for the more amicable meanings of the word? The intertwined uses and implications of Nigger and Nigga are where this discussion occurs--a hegemonic fantasm.

According to Schürmann, words have no meaning alone in their singular state. He writes, "Solon" and "Moses" are not definable, no more than are the objects of demonstratives such as "this" and "that"; the class in which we arrange them, however, is definable." (9) To Schürmann, the word Nigger would have no definite meaning in its solitude. Not until Nigger is chained to other singularities does its identity appear. For instance, if one were to hear someone belting out the word Nigga in a room without knowing the individual's identity, the word Nigga would not have an identity. Only when the individual who is saying the word is revealed can someone begin to assume to identify the intentions behind the use of Nigga. Furthermore, the individual's intentions for the term impacts its meaning significantly. If it happens to be a non-African American, one may define the word differently than if it was an African American. One would also have to consider the setting. Would the meaning the word Nigga mean something different if the environment was a Hip-hop show and those two people were next to one another reciting the same lyrics? Or does Nigga, on its own, have a set of multiple singularities that immediately shapes someone's idea of the term? 

For some, Nigga is a cultural slang term of solidarity or kinship. For others, Nigga is nothing more than a painful reminder of the brutal plight faced by African Americans at the hands of white oppressors. Some people see no distinguishing features between Nigga and Nigger. For someone who has personally experienced times of racism attached to that word, anything remotely close to the word Nigger can bring back painful memories depending on who says it.

 The popularity of Hip-hop culture and its frequent use made the term Nigga transition from being a term shared by African Americans among African Americans or white supremacy ideology to a name that represents other cultures' comradery. With this stance, it can be argued that the word Nigga has morphed into a hegemonic fantasm. Schürmann writes, "The one rests in itself and thereby imposes an order within which mortals, in turn, posit names and laws." (53) This quote speaks directly to why my Latino students feel comfortable using the word. They say Nigga among themselves within a closed circle--therefore, they create their boundaries and laws regarding the word's use. Either that is the case, or they assume that their subscription to Hip-hop culture gives them the same rights as other members (i.e., African Americans) within the Hip-hop community. Based on the plethora of uses for the term nigga, are they seeing themselves as these stereotypical figures created by white supremacy for Black people? Have African American practitioners of Hip-hop made the pain of Black people the "in" thing? Is hip-hop to blame?

"Sucka Nigga," a song by Hip-hop group a Tribe Called Quest, presents to the listener a sonic tapestry that tells the story of the word Nigga from the perspective of a Black man in his late teens. This particular selection is essential because it speaks to someone who is not only creating but also ingesting Hip-hop music during its "Golden Years," approximately 1986 -1995; the beginning of Hip-hop's commercialization. The musical group's lead, Q-tip, speaks to the double-bind he finds himself in when he says the word Nigga. He writes, "Yo, I start to flinch, as I try not to say it / But my lips is like the oowop as I start to spray it." (A Tribe Called Quest) A oowop is slang for an automatic gun. Q-tip, speaks to the double-bind a Black person may encounter while saying Nigga highlights the complexity of its effects. In the first stanza, one has to ask, why would he flinch?

He is aware of the historical ramifications of the word Nigga. He has a sense of pride and power that comes from using such a weighted term. The term serves as artistic weaponry that is both compelling and dangerous. In this instance, Q-tip must decide if he is going to take the position of historical reverence and avoid the word or use the ever-tempting word and embrace its modern social popularity. The double bind yet again.

This is a dilemma of Q-tip's moral consciousness, which is "the consciousness that harbors a precursive practical knowledge in its activities, brought to bear on its obligations and prohibitions. "(Schürmann 383). One could associate Q-tip's paradigm with the story of Antigone and her allegiance to the rules of familial piety (Schürmann 3). When he says Nigga, he is aware that he is reverberating the notions instilled by white supremacy, which, in return, is causing harm and degradation to African Americans as a whole.

On the other hand, he does not find this to be reason enough to stop saying the word because of the era in which he lives. Instead, he exercises his privilege to take ownership of the word despite its negative essence. He writes, "Other niggas in the community think it's crummy/ But I don't, neither does the youth cause we / Em-brace adversity it goes right with the race / And being that we use it as a term of endearment." (A Tribe Called Quest,1993) If Q-tip were to stop using the word Nigga, he would be relinquishing his Hip-hop authenticity--primarily since Hip-hop was founded based on defying adversity. There is no double-bind unless the both-and of the two conflicting laws exhausts the field of possibilities. (Schürmann 28)

In my original document, I presented the idea of choice between two of our thinkers, Hegel, and Nietzche. For the sake of the argument, I selected Nietzche for this rendition. Unlike Hegel, who believes one should acknowledge the total person, including their history, Nietzche thinks that the path to freedom is not to acknowledge the past. (Nietzsche 159)Throughout Nietzche's writings, he refers to this idea of nihilism. Nihilism essentially is the denial of traditional belief systems. Nietzche wrote, "For the historical audit brings so much to light which is false and absurd, violent and inhuman, that the condition of pious illusion falls to pieces." (134) Nietzsche expresses that to be free; one must fail to acknowledge all of the things that construct those conventional beliefs; through this process, one can arrive at freedom and grant others theirs as well. However, one should want to not accept something because of the pain an event or person has caused them. For Nietzche, "it is an error to consider "social distress" or "physiological desperation" or, worse, corruption, as the cause of nihilism." (11) When my non-African American students use the word, should I not acknowledge it? Should I put aside the rapes, murders, kidnappings, and lynchings that I associate with the term Nigga? On the other hand, should I forget about the events in my life that converted my friends to "my niggas?" According to Nietzsche, I should if I want to be free. He writes, "Therefore, it is possible to live almost without remembering and live happy, as evidenced by the animal, but it is still impossible to live without forgetting" (62). However, this dilemma is not quickly resolved with Nietzsche's view of freedom. If freedom is ascertained through discontinuation of my acknowledgment of the distress caused by the word Nigga, I am also failing to acknowledge the sense of exclusive community that was meant when African Americans took ownership of the word. This "freedom" that can be felt by one comes at a cost--denial of those who fought to change the connotation of the word.

Someone may find this idea unworthy of any significant attention. However, the impact of this word produces a devastating blow. The effect of racism is more than cross-burning, black bodies hanging from southern trees, or unwarranted police shootings of Black people. Racism is alive and living off of the deeds and ideas of those who perpetuate its malicious cycle of oppression. Mbembe writes, "In fact, race does not exist as a physical, anthropological, or genetic fact. However, it is not just a useful fiction, a phantasmagoric construction, or an ideological projection whose function is to draw attention away from conflicts judged to be more real - the struggle between classes or genders, for example."

Racism is an idea that we bring to life through our beliefs, actions, and conversations. One could compare it to the story of the creature living in the hillside that the villagers created to keep people out of the woods. However, through these stories, the villagers began to manifest interactions or sightings with this creature. They begin to build weapons, forts, and rituals to ward off this creature because it is now real. Over time, these weapons and rituals become ingrained in the citizens' everyday lives because they made the monster real. One thing to keep in mind is that the myth of the creature was created to control the villagers. Was racism and the word Nigger designed to control us? My answer is undoubted. While racism may be a fantasm, it is a reality that we all deal with, and it has to be acknowledged.