Word: niggerã
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Dates: during 2002-2002
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...premise of Kennedy’s book is to illuminate African-American history through the prism of the word “nigger?? and to chart the word’s strange and troubling history. As Oliver Wendell Holmes said, a word “is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged,” but “the skin of a living thought [that] may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and the time in which it is used.” Kennedy’s book aims to study these circumstances...
Consider the example of Central Michigan University’s former basketball coach, Keith Dambrot. When Dambrot, who is white, asked his predominantly African-American players for permission to use the word “nigger?? (as they did) to denote toughness, heart and passion, they agreed. But when news of Dambrot’s usage got out, the college administration reproached and then fired him. Kennedy thinks that Dumbrot’s usage was ill-advised, but thinks his being fired was too harsh a sentence. Herein lies the contradiction. If racist intent was not apparent...