but in white american history and culture it’s just a slur for all black people derived from blackface and minstrels shows, like the n word.
You’ve actually struck upon a discussion point I had with Othello where if I’m honest, I don’t even regard the crackers that misuse it. Crackers misuse all of our vernacular, from the top down; so when it’s in their mouths, I consider it just another display of flagrant ignorance that shouldn’t be acquiesced to with regard to social settings. I mean shit, look at what white Tik-Tokers did to “gyatt”. Look at what 4chan’s been doing to “woke” since they found out about the Green Book. Letting crackers dictate what words we can and cannot say is allowing for the same kind of social colonialism they’ve spent 400 years pulling in the physical.
Like, we all know why South Park thought it was so very funny to have Cartman be a raccoon themed superhero, but here in europe you don’t really encounter much black american culture, so you just see the exported racist meaning.
While this here’s a fair enough point to raise, that’s when I’d expect someone to actually do their research; to do some investigation. ‘No investigation, no right to speech’ is and has been my creed since I started reading Mao; and it’s very easy to go back through my history, see all the threading I’ve been doing in Lemmygrad’s Black spaces, how I’ve interacted in c/em_poc, the diction in general, and come to more or less an understanding. You’re not wrong that usernames aren’t necessarily always true; but at that point, that’s where I see the would-be interrogator as having a further duty to perform that I don’t think was done here, neither between the guy who obviously sent those reports in, or the mods who first responded.
I fully agree about white people using the term and investigation by both the reporter and mods, I more meant to highlight black non-americans (I’m specifically thinking of african immigrants and refugees and their descendants here in the UK) who have only encountered it used as a slur against them. I know a couple of my black friends have definitely had it used perojatively against them by white racists, and I feel fairly safe saying more have experienced it but never had a reason to tell me, but they don’t have a personal connection to african-american culture and minstrel shows that makes it “their word” - basically I’m worried that in rightfully aiming to shut down white people you’re in danger of also invalidating the feelings of black people with different histories of oppression.
Full disclosure, I am white white, so if this is just white peepoo nonsense say so, I just know my nonwhite friends have been hurt by its use.
