'The N word' repels, confounds, provokes FEBRUARY 22, 2007 (wcsu) - The "N word" sums up for many the worst brutality and humiliation of the black American experience from slavery and Jim Crow to more subtle, but still real, forms of segregation and discrimination in society today.

The diverse group at the forum generally agreed the word represents pure poison. But attendees also were perplexed by how it is aggressively marketed as part of the commercial hip-hop movement.

The word has seen a disturbing renaissance not least as an expression of fellowship and affection among young blacks. And it is being used frequently by white kids seeking to mimic rap artists and "gangsta" wannabes but also as a careless form of racism perpetrated behind the backs of black peers.

Much of last week's discussion focused on this development, and generational differences were quickly apparent.

Participants age 40 and older tended to take an absolutist position: the word is never, ever, ever appropriate.

They intellectually understood how the word could be seen as a tantalizing taboo, and how young people might use it to scandalize their elders, as earlier generations of youth adapted other taboos for the same purpose.

But the older crowd saw the issue as a moral imperative, and lamented how, in shielding youngsters from painful bigotry, they may have failed to teach hard lessons essential to connecting young people to this history.

Younger black participants attempted to explain (but not excuse) the word's widespread and carefree use. They recognized and respected the offense taken by their parents' and grandparents' generations but tried to convey almost apologetically how their use of the term is devoid of hatefulness.

By the end of the conversation (which lasted until the library closed at 9 p.m.), something unexpected emerged: The "N word," for all the pain it has provoked, can bring small consolation in limited circumstances.

Mark Twain saw this in ways that are still misunderstood.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Russell Baker described how, in Mr. Twain's masterpiece, Huckleberry Finn, the people Huck and Jim encounter are "drunkards, murderers, bullies, swindlers, lynchers, thieves, liars, frauds, child abusers, numbskulls, hypocrites, windbags and traders in human flesh" all of them white and "the darkest visions of American society."

The "one man of honor in this phantasmagoria is black Jim, the runaway slave." Mr. Twain's use of the racist "Nigger Jim," writes Mr. Baker, served to "emphasize the irony of a society in which the only true gentleman was held beneath contempt."

People of good will in Dayton didn't resort to irony at the forum.

They bravely put the "N word" on the table. Their purpose was to confront and dispel ignorance and misunderstanding about the incendiary history of this word and the high stakes involved in its continued use.

This and other complicated, still unresolved issues of race cry out for open community consideration of this kind with patient listening the best hope for understanding and progress. WCSU-FM's Dr. John C. "Turk" Logan, Jr. & Darron Johnson participated in the forum on the "N" word. For the video link, go to http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/mplayer/features/9580

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