Read Online Nigger: The Strange Career Of A Troublesome Word by Randall Kennedy - Free Book Online
Authors: Randall Kennedy
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the Chaucer class as evidence of the need for a stringent speech code that would apply to all members of the faculty, regardless of the intent behind their “offensive” words. 22
A misplaced protest notable for the distinguished character of its antagonists erupted in the pages of
Boston Magazine
in May 1998 , following the publication of a long, largely complimentary article by Cheryl Bentsen about Henry Louis Gates Jr., the chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies at Harvard University. Gates is a controversial figure about whom it is virtually impossible to write without getting involved in the disputes that surround his celebrity. In this instance, however, disputation arose not from Bentsen's profile itself but from the title given to it by the editors of the magazine. The cover of the April issue featured the phrase“Head Negro in Charge,” a softened version of a term well known in black circles: “Head Nigger in Charge,” or HNIC. Scores of readers objected, including one who declared in an agitated letter to the editor:
The title is EXTREMELY RACIST!!! As a black American, I am outraged and insulted. The term [HNIC] was used in the days of slavery when white foremen would designate a black person to oversee (that is to keep in check) other blacks. The title shows your ignorance and indifference to the black community. I vow NEVER to purchase or support your magazine in any way. I will also rally every single person I know to boycott your magazine. 23
Another reader wrote:
I am a subscriber… who is really offended by the headline of the Gates article. I can accept that you did not mean offense; but if members of the black community express dismay at the use of language, it is appropriate to say: I am sorry. … I will refrain from using such language in the future. 24
Craig Unger, then the editor of
Boston Magazine
, responded to the controversy by asserting:
The term HNIC is part of the vernacular of black writers and intellectuals. It denotes the phenomenon ofthe white establishment selecting one African-American to speak for the race. It was in that context that we used HNIC, and there was clearly no intent to offend. On the contrary, we are proud of our story, and we want nothing to overshadow it. Our use of the expression, however, has obviously upset some people, and I sincerely regret that. 25
Many critics of the “HNIC” title proceeded as if their offended sensibilities alone should settle the matter—as if their sense of outrage necessarily made the act they objected to a bad act warranting an apology. Repeatedly, people voiced anger at
Boston Magazine
without troubling to state what justified their anger. Natalie Anderson's letter to the editor, for example, charged that the title of the article was “EXTREMELY RACIST,” but it neglected to explain what was so racist about it. True, “HNIC” has historically denoted a black person who is in command of a given situation only thanks to the backing of whites. 26 But clearly the editors of
Boston Magazine
were aware of that meaning and simply wished to add a provocative and ironic twist to a largely admiring profile of a prominent black figure by suggesting that despite massive changes in race relations, whites still retain the power to select who among blacks will be accorded the mantle of leadership—a point that has been made by numerous black intellectuals, including Gates himself.
In truth, the anger directed at
Boston Magazine
had to do not so much with the content of the disparaged title as with its provenance—that is, the fact that the phrase had been co-optedby the magazine's white editors. For many people,
nigger
and its cognates take on completely different complexions depending on the speaker's race. Had the “HNIC” profile and title appeared in
Essence, Emerge, Ebony
, or some other black-owned publication, there would have been no controversy. But
Boston Magazine
is white-owned and marketed mainly to
A misplaced protest notable for the distinguished character of its antagonists erupted in the pages of
Boston Magazine
in May 1998 , following the publication of a long, largely complimentary article by Cheryl Bentsen about Henry Louis Gates Jr., the chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies at Harvard University. Gates is a controversial figure about whom it is virtually impossible to write without getting involved in the disputes that surround his celebrity. In this instance, however, disputation arose not from Bentsen's profile itself but from the title given to it by the editors of the magazine. The cover of the April issue featured the phrase“Head Negro in Charge,” a softened version of a term well known in black circles: “Head Nigger in Charge,” or HNIC. Scores of readers objected, including one who declared in an agitated letter to the editor:
The title is EXTREMELY RACIST!!! As a black American, I am outraged and insulted. The term [HNIC] was used in the days of slavery when white foremen would designate a black person to oversee (that is to keep in check) other blacks. The title shows your ignorance and indifference to the black community. I vow NEVER to purchase or support your magazine in any way. I will also rally every single person I know to boycott your magazine. 23
Another reader wrote:
I am a subscriber… who is really offended by the headline of the Gates article. I can accept that you did not mean offense; but if members of the black community express dismay at the use of language, it is appropriate to say: I am sorry. … I will refrain from using such language in the future. 24
Craig Unger, then the editor of
Boston Magazine
, responded to the controversy by asserting:
The term HNIC is part of the vernacular of black writers and intellectuals. It denotes the phenomenon ofthe white establishment selecting one African-American to speak for the race. It was in that context that we used HNIC, and there was clearly no intent to offend. On the contrary, we are proud of our story, and we want nothing to overshadow it. Our use of the expression, however, has obviously upset some people, and I sincerely regret that. 25
Many critics of the “HNIC” title proceeded as if their offended sensibilities alone should settle the matter—as if their sense of outrage necessarily made the act they objected to a bad act warranting an apology. Repeatedly, people voiced anger at
Boston Magazine
without troubling to state what justified their anger. Natalie Anderson's letter to the editor, for example, charged that the title of the article was “EXTREMELY RACIST,” but it neglected to explain what was so racist about it. True, “HNIC” has historically denoted a black person who is in command of a given situation only thanks to the backing of whites. 26 But clearly the editors of
Boston Magazine
were aware of that meaning and simply wished to add a provocative and ironic twist to a largely admiring profile of a prominent black figure by suggesting that despite massive changes in race relations, whites still retain the power to select who among blacks will be accorded the mantle of leadership—a point that has been made by numerous black intellectuals, including Gates himself.
In truth, the anger directed at
Boston Magazine
had to do not so much with the content of the disparaged title as with its provenance—that is, the fact that the phrase had been co-optedby the magazine's white editors. For many people,
nigger
and its cognates take on completely different complexions depending on the speaker's race. Had the “HNIC” profile and title appeared in
Essence, Emerge, Ebony
, or some other black-owned publication, there would have been no controversy. But
Boston Magazine
is white-owned and marketed mainly to
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