Let's just agree to shelve the 'n-word' for good
Surely what we all can agree on is that the “n-word” is now shelved for good, whatever the situation, whatever point is trying to be made, or whatever potential artistic belief.
OPINION: Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark says he wanted to prompt some thinking through his controversial short speech at an arts event in the city this week.
He never expected for it to grab national attention but says he’s glad it has.
It’s the sort of national attention that has attracted criticism from MPs attached to most parties, on both the left and right sides of the political spectrum.
Clark used the “n-word” and the phrase “f**k the bitch” in an attempt to raise an issue with the arts community. We’ll come back to that point.
Race relations commissioner Meng Foon suggests Clark should apologise for the use of the “n-word”.
Clark has no intention of apologising.
In fact, he’s gone as far as saying Foon should be replaced in the role over what he believes is double standards. It stems from a controversial poem that Clark is disappointed didn’t gain the same scrutiny from Foon.
Here’s the background.
A poem by poet Tusiata Avia in her book The Savage Coloniser prompted calls that it is "hate-fuelled" and "racist".
“That poem is absolutely disgusting,” Clark says.
The following is an excerpt from that poem in that book:
These days
we're driving round
in SUVs
looking for ya
or white men like you
who might be thieves
or rapists
or kidnappers
or murderers
yeah, or any of your descendants
or any of your incarnations
cos, you know
ay, bitch?
We're gonna F... YOU UP.
The ACT Party called on the Government to withdraw $107,280 in taxpayer money that went towards that work.
Creative New Zealand responded saying one of its functions is to "uphold and promote the rights of artists and the right of persons to freedom in the practice of the arts".
Enter Clark, who chose to insert himself into the debate. As if he hasn’t already got enough on his plate working through Invercargill’s issues.
Creative New Zealand representatives were at this week’s function where he made the speech.
He says his use of the “n-word” was about asking what control the Invercargill City Council might have, as an art gallery owner, over the content inside it.
What can be passed off as artistic freedom? Is effectively what he asked in a unique type of way.
“If we build it and we fund it, and we staff it, do we have the ability to have a say over the content? Especially if it is content that might be thought-provoking”.
Clark says since his comments hit the national headlines, he has received over 100 emails. Ninety to 95% he says are in support of him prompting the debate.
He also says he had lunch at Invercargill Central the day after and was approached and congratulated by people who praised him for raising the question.
However, you don’t have to look too far to find plenty of people who have condemned it and are fed up with Clark.
There are some in Invercargill who feel the whole situation has embarrassed the city.
Surely what we all can agree on is that the “n-word” is now shelved for good, whatever the situation, whatever point is trying to be made, or whatever potential artistic belief.
Clark himself says he hates the word and the horrible history attached to it.
Isn’t that enough to stop saying it?
Clark used the word in full three times during my interview with him. Yes, he was using it to explain the situation, but it’s still a jarring word to hear from anyone, particularly the leader of a city.
US prosecutor Christopher Darden once described it as “the filthiest, dirtiest, nastiest word in the English language” when the word came up in the 1995 murder trial of US football star OJ Simpson.
In 2020 the BBC received more than 18,600 complaints for using the word in full in a report about a racially aggravated attack.
I’m sure most don’t need a history lesson here, but the word can be traced back to slavery.
The summer of 1619 was the first documented arrival of slaves in the US. A ship arrived in a port in Virginia carrying around 20 Africans who were chained up to be sold as slaves.
The Africans were referred to by using the Spanish and Portuguese words for black, that’s where the word originated from.
"It's really tied into the idea that African people aren't really human beings," Kehinde Andrews, professor of black studies at Birmingham City University, told the BBC.
"They were more like an animal than a human being, a beast of burden, could be bought and sold, could be thrown overboard ships and literally had no rights.”
"So, when the n-word is used that's essentially what it's used for. So, I would hope most people would understand why that is deeply offensive and problematic because it still is used in that context now."
Sometimes it’s healthy to stare directly at our horrid past rather than simply ripping up the history books and pretending it never happened.
But in the case of the use of the “n-word”, let’s just agree not to utter it again.