on THAT Word: Can Latinos Use the N-Word?
“Alright, let’s see her.”
It started out innocently enough: I was bragging to a buddy about a girl who I used to see, as us insecure males tend to do, and he asked to see a picture of her. I pulled up her Facebook, as us boomers tend to do, and let him scroll on the sole condition that he not ‘Like‘ or comment on any of her pictures.
“Woah, dude, this girl is racist.”
His joke didn’t land. As a matter of fact, I was appalled that he even called her that. I immediately snatched my phone back and said, “Well now you can’t meet any of her friends!”
“I’m not kidding. Look at her picture.”
I pulled my phone up to my face to reveal a very flattering selfie with a caption that read, “Single but curving n***** like i’m taken.”
At first, I didn’t see the big deal. I grew up in Back of the Yards, the Mexican hood on the South Side of Chicago, and almost everyone I grew up with (friends, cousins, uncles, ghetto-ass Mexican girls who ate Hot Cheetos for breakfast) would say that word all of the time. My friends would say that word in large groups and they were never corrected by any Black kids or adults who may have overheard. Not that I can remember, at least. Granted, I always believed that this word wasn’t mine to use, and never even felt comfortable saying it (not even at karoake), but I just kind of always blindly and ignorantly assumed it was an ok thing to say if you were Mexican or Latino.
So I asked around. Kind of an awkward way to start a conversation with a Black friend after you haven’t talked in a while, but I plowed ahead. The answers I received were all across the board. Some people didn’t care, some said it was ok, some said it was completely unacceptable. Others said it was the most ignorant and insensitive thing a person who is not Black could do.
I went and asked my Mexican friends/family who have always used the word about why they felt justified in saying it. The answers I got weren’t very convincing. Some said they didn’t say it around everyone. Some said that it was ok to say if you were a person of color. Others said that it’s just how they grew up.
So I don’t really have an answer for you. I don’t know if it’s okay to say this word if you’re a person of color or, more specifically, a Latino. What I can say is that if you really want to use the word and risk offending someone or being corrected in public, if you really, really, really feel the need to use the word, just don’t say it near me. Unless we’re at Karaoke, in which case it’s all fair game.