By: Chris Lopez
Imagine you’re walking to class, and you hear “Sup ni**a!” from a person talking to his friend, or you hear “Oh you’re listening to bean*r music.” Now, what would you do? Do you ignore it? Do you get angry?
This happens very often at YB, certain terms have stuck around and are used without the worry of possibly offending somebody.
I’ve personally used the “soft A” fairly often, now I try to avoid it, but it’s like a habit. It’s difficult trying to not use the word considering I’ve used the word since middle school.
And we’re all aware of the history behind the N-word; we’re all aware that that term was meant to keep African Americans down, to dehumanize them, and to criminalize them.
But it stuck to my vocabulary, and I’m not the only one, others have described the usage of the word “like a fluent language,” and have expressed how they and others use the word “practically every day.”
People who were interviewed weren’t phased by the prevalence of the N-word, some “didn’t really care” or didn’t “take offense to it.”
And when asking whether the use of the N-word reminds them of that history behind the N-word, the interviewees overwhelmingly said no.
But that doesn’t mean everyone doesn’t take offense to it, or that no student has ever been offended.
Jalen, a YB student does take offense when people use the word.
“All I have to say is don’t say it, it’s meant to bring people down, we need to tell schools about it. I feel uncomfortable about it, there aren’t that many black people in this school. But I’m not gonna tell people not to use the word. But I want people to know not to use the word cause others to use it”
And people who use the word are not limited, people of different ethnicities have used the word. I’ve heard Caucasian, Asian, and Hispanic folks all use the word.
The N-word can also be used as a derogatory term, the entire phrase “Sup Ni**a” has a double meaning, it all depends on how you use it.
People also use the N-word in an aggressive manner, when describing someone they don’t like, or when describing someone who isn’t responsible, or uncaring.
But for the most part using the word doesn’t mean anything like what it used to, people use the word like a term of endearment now, it normally means friend.
And as long as students ignore the history behind the N-word, they’re going to continue to use it.
Yet, the N-word isn’t the only racial slur put there.
The word Bean*r may not be a common word, but it is prevalent. I’ve heard students use the word, but never in an offensive manner.
I would often hear the word when someone is making a joke or showing me a meme.
I've been called bean**. I’ve had people call me that for eating what I normally eat, for the blankets I own, for the music I listen to.
I’ve even heard people call certain music “Bean** music” or food “Bean** food.”
Although I wouldn’t be offended by this, if anything I would welcome those jokes, it shows that even when hearing words that are meant to offend us, for the most part, we ignore them.
But we see a pattern in these jokes, they revolve around what’s popular or common among the Mexican community.
And a survey I did out of 36 students found that 12 out of that group of 36 use the term themselves. And even go as far as to call others bean**’s.
And almost all students who were surveyed tend to ignore these jokes targeted towards the Mexican community.
So is it a willing ignorance towards hidden traces of self-hatred that has allowed racist slurs targeted towards Hispanics to remain? Or is it the lack of acknowledgment when certain jokes are made?
Memes have allowed students to make even worse jokes with no repercussions, and some of those memes are even quoted.
And despite previously mentioned causes as to why certain racial terms are seen as ok to use. Memes have allowed more explicit content creators to make more offensive content.
I’ve actually heard people quote some extremely offensive memes, or use offensive terms that are completely new.
Memes have much more offensive language, some memes contain words describing folk who migrated illegally to the United States, or past injustices involving slavery, or even hate speech targeted at certain religious or ethnic groups.
I’ve personally seen memes that attack different ethnic groups, including my own ethnic group, and while I don’t personally take offense to those memes, others do, and for good reason.
A lot of memes contain terms like that even use the n-word, but use the term when describing other ethnicities besides African Americans.
One meme in particular names one object that is popular among a certain ethnicity, but after naming that object they put the N-word right after in order to use the N-word to describe a Hispanic or an Asian. (Ex. Taco *N-word*, chopstick *N-word*, Sand *N-word*)
But it is undeniable that memes contribute to the usage of racial slurs, and can even create new slurs.
Racial slurs have spiraled out of control among YB students, and the fact that memes that are commonly spread among students contain explicit language makes the use of racial slurs a much more relevant issue.
We can be more careful by watching what we spread around, or by thinking about the people around us who may be offended by what we say or what we show to others.
By acknowledging the fact that not everyone approves of what we say or do, we can better communicate with each other.
Imagine you’re walking to class, and you hear “Sup ni**a!” from a person talking to his friend, or you hear “Oh you’re listening to bean*r music.” Now, what would you do? Do you ignore it? Do you get angry?
This happens very often at YB, certain terms have stuck around and are used without the worry of possibly offending somebody.
I’ve personally used the “soft A” fairly often, now I try to avoid it, but it’s like a habit. It’s difficult trying to not use the word considering I’ve used the word since middle school.
And we’re all aware of the history behind the N-word; we’re all aware that that term was meant to keep African Americans down, to dehumanize them, and to criminalize them.
But it stuck to my vocabulary, and I’m not the only one, others have described the usage of the word “like a fluent language,” and have expressed how they and others use the word “practically every day.”
People who were interviewed weren’t phased by the prevalence of the N-word, some “didn’t really care” or didn’t “take offense to it.”
And when asking whether the use of the N-word reminds them of that history behind the N-word, the interviewees overwhelmingly said no.
But that doesn’t mean everyone doesn’t take offense to it, or that no student has ever been offended.
Jalen, a YB student does take offense when people use the word.
“All I have to say is don’t say it, it’s meant to bring people down, we need to tell schools about it. I feel uncomfortable about it, there aren’t that many black people in this school. But I’m not gonna tell people not to use the word. But I want people to know not to use the word cause others to use it”
And people who use the word are not limited, people of different ethnicities have used the word. I’ve heard Caucasian, Asian, and Hispanic folks all use the word.
The N-word can also be used as a derogatory term, the entire phrase “Sup Ni**a” has a double meaning, it all depends on how you use it.
People also use the N-word in an aggressive manner, when describing someone they don’t like, or when describing someone who isn’t responsible, or uncaring.
But for the most part using the word doesn’t mean anything like what it used to, people use the word like a term of endearment now, it normally means friend.
And as long as students ignore the history behind the N-word, they’re going to continue to use it.
Yet, the N-word isn’t the only racial slur put there.
The word Bean*r may not be a common word, but it is prevalent. I’ve heard students use the word, but never in an offensive manner.
I would often hear the word when someone is making a joke or showing me a meme.
I've been called bean**. I’ve had people call me that for eating what I normally eat, for the blankets I own, for the music I listen to.
I’ve even heard people call certain music “Bean** music” or food “Bean** food.”
Although I wouldn’t be offended by this, if anything I would welcome those jokes, it shows that even when hearing words that are meant to offend us, for the most part, we ignore them.
But we see a pattern in these jokes, they revolve around what’s popular or common among the Mexican community.
And a survey I did out of 36 students found that 12 out of that group of 36 use the term themselves. And even go as far as to call others bean**’s.
And almost all students who were surveyed tend to ignore these jokes targeted towards the Mexican community.
So is it a willing ignorance towards hidden traces of self-hatred that has allowed racist slurs targeted towards Hispanics to remain? Or is it the lack of acknowledgment when certain jokes are made?
Memes have allowed students to make even worse jokes with no repercussions, and some of those memes are even quoted.
And despite previously mentioned causes as to why certain racial terms are seen as ok to use. Memes have allowed more explicit content creators to make more offensive content.
I’ve actually heard people quote some extremely offensive memes, or use offensive terms that are completely new.
Memes have much more offensive language, some memes contain words describing folk who migrated illegally to the United States, or past injustices involving slavery, or even hate speech targeted at certain religious or ethnic groups.
I’ve personally seen memes that attack different ethnic groups, including my own ethnic group, and while I don’t personally take offense to those memes, others do, and for good reason.
A lot of memes contain terms like that even use the n-word, but use the term when describing other ethnicities besides African Americans.
One meme in particular names one object that is popular among a certain ethnicity, but after naming that object they put the N-word right after in order to use the N-word to describe a Hispanic or an Asian. (Ex. Taco *N-word*, chopstick *N-word*, Sand *N-word*)
But it is undeniable that memes contribute to the usage of racial slurs, and can even create new slurs.
Racial slurs have spiraled out of control among YB students, and the fact that memes that are commonly spread among students contain explicit language makes the use of racial slurs a much more relevant issue.
We can be more careful by watching what we spread around, or by thinking about the people around us who may be offended by what we say or what we show to others.
By acknowledging the fact that not everyone approves of what we say or do, we can better communicate with each other.