Date:  Tue, 25 Oct 1994 08:59:32 EDT

From:  David Muschell <dmuschel[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MAIL.GAC.PEACHNET.EDU>

Subject: Re: offending idiot



>> Northeast, I don't know a single white Southerner who doesn't realize

>> that "nigger" is an offensive term when used by whites. I don't think

>

>Nor do I. And I will add, in response to the comment by somebody else

>that "nigger" is used "especially in the South," that in my 51 years of

>living in the South I have never heard anybody use the word -- except to

>talk about the fact that it is an offensive term. I'm not, of course,

>saying that nobody in the South uses or has used the term. I'm simply

>saying that enough people don't use it that I've managed to lead a pretty

>normal life for all these years without bumping into the Southerners who

>do use it.

>  --Natalie (maynor[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ra.msstate.edu)



    Having been privy to plenty of "inner circle" discussions by "good

ole boy" groups of small town elites here in the South, I must say the term

was (is) widely used and with the offensive intent of a majority's fear of

a less-than-equal group gaining control (ie. "if we let that nigger get

elected sheriff, the whole county'll go to hell"). The use has gone

further underground now, but is still prevalent, though with the election

of that African American law enforcement officer and hades not appearing,

the "either-or" fallacy became more apparent to the large, decent group of

whites who sometimes sat timidly on the fringes of those circles, not

voicing dismay (myself included) at the bigotry, using their votes instead.

    Having gone from the journalistic endeavors of those days to the

more insulated towers of academe, I have not heard the term ever mentioned

by students or colleagues, except in its disparagement.





  David