In Jordan Gibbs’ essay “The Life and Lethality of the word ‘Nigger’” (October 2014), Gibbs asserts that the word “Nigger” has always and will always be the most negative combination of letters despite the context it is used in. Gibbs supports this claim with various quotes from authors, court cases, and various opinions from others. Gibbs composes this narrative in order to convince readers that this word should essentially be erased from history and never uttered by another human being ever again, as it may offend some people. This essay is most likely intended for the general population, or those unaware of the heavy connotation of the word “nigger”. I am disappointed in this essay, because the fact that one word is able to heat some people up so much is very reflective of how much of a “victim culture” society has become. It is my opinion that blacks should have enough pride in themselves…show more content… Gibbs first does this by citing quotes from various authors about the negativity of the word when used by racist whites during the early years of the United States. For example, they quote Hosea Easton, an abolitionist from the early 1800s: “White adults employed the word as a tool to instruct white children how to behave and not to behave” (qtd. in Parks and Jones 9). This is important, because it allows the author to then make the point that the use of the word in the past has allowed blacks to be viewed as a negative, subpar race. Later in the essay Gibbs anecdotally uses a court case from 2005 in which a black man was assaulted and robbed by a group of presumably racist white men in New York in order to illustrate that the use of the word “Nigger” is used to express hatred and contempt for a person and their race. It is through these means that the author is able to support their claim that the word “Nigger” should be made obsolete in society’s
