I know a lot of people are going to think of this as a troll post, even though it isn't, and are going to think my post here is a troll post (it isn't. I am serious here.)
To accurately address this issue, we first must address why the word n***er is banned, and should stay banned.
The word n***er is used to take an entire group of human beings, focus on a singular part of them, and reduce them to that part. To take a complex individual and reduce them to the color of their skin and imply that all parts of them are the same as the other people who share the single trait of having black skin is wrong. The word n***er historically has done this, and is still used to do this. I rarely even hear black people themselves using the word "n***er" on themself. So, this word should certainly stay banned, as should other words that perform this same task. Racism is horribly immoral, and should not be given a voice within the After Hours Gaming community.
So, why then, should the word n***a be treated differently? N***a is basically a shortened version of the word n***er, and was used as such by the enslavors when addresses the enslaved. It was used by the oppressors to address the oppressed. However, unlike the word n***er, an interesting sociological phenomenon occurred, that is not unique to this situation. The oppressed black people began owning the word, and making it their own. This is not the first time in history this has happened, and certainly will not be the last. When the United States of America was still just thirteen colonies, the British would frequently call the Americans things like "Yanks" or "Yankees", and other slurs, so-to-speak. The British certainly did not mean anything good when calling an American a yankee. However, the Americans would hear this word reapetedly, and stole it from the British. They turned this term into their own word, so much so that we now have a baseball team named the Yankees, and we have songs sung in elementary school about some yankee doodle dandy. A similar situation can be observed with the term "queer." While the term queer can be, was, and still sometimes is used to insult a gay individual, the term has been adopted by the LGBT community, so much so that the term LGBT has now become LGBT
QIA+, the Q meaning queer. A similar event has happened with the term "f*g", and "f**got", where the oppressed have adopted the word and now use it on themselves. So why then, should the word n***a be treated any differently? The people who were being harmed by this term, similar to yankee, and is not typically used to reduce a complex individual down to a single aspect of their person.
So if black people have claimed the word and have taken it from their oppressors, should non-black people be allowed to use the word? Yes, they should, for a few different reasons. In an online community, it would be impossible to identify who is black, and who is white. One could take the
https://reddit.com/r/BlackPeopleTwitter approach and demand irrefutable photographic proof of blackness, but this is an absurd and inherently racist concept, as well as a major privacy violation, and After Hours Gaming should strive to be better than a Reddit community. So, should the word n***a be allowed for someone in the community, it must be allowed for everyone. There is the issue of the fact that many white people simply use the word. If a white child grows up with black parents, and adopts the language of their family, should they be barred entry from using the term? Should a white person, who regularly uses the word when in the presence of real black people in the real world without consequence, be barred use from this online internet community where race cannot even be easily identified?
There is also an issue with the way this community addresses context and the word n***a. In many songs, the word n***a is used. A very popular song by Jay-Z has the word in the title, "N***as in Paris". In this song, Jay-Z and his friends travel to Paris. They are enjoying many high class things in Paris, they are enjoying high fashion, fancy hotels and restaurants, and other things most people will never experience. Jay-Z and Kanye West reflect on the event, and feel like they were not ever supposed to reach these heights and ever travel to Paris. Upon reflection, the duo think about where their people started in America - as slaves, as nothing but a n***a, just a reduction of their complicated character down to the fact they are black. Eventually, the slaves were freed, black people's human rights were recognized in America, and were given the same opportunities as white people. One such opportunity was the ability to become rich, famous, and travel to Paris. So, the duo have the revelation that they are a couple of "N***as in Paris." This song is more than just a generic rap song in which someone is speaking provocatively, using slurs just to use slurs, or using curse words just to use curse words. The song is actually a powerful reflection on where black people started in America, to where they are now. It is a song made with love, and not from hate. It is not difficult to examine the context of a situation, and determine if someone is using a word hatefully, or using it with love.
Should the word n***a be disallowed when used hatefully, then? When using a word like "retard", or calling a woman a "cunt," there is an appropriate time to do so, and an inappropriate time. Perhaps as a term of endearment, the terms are fine to be used. However, when a woman speaks for the first time on a microphone in the game, immediately calling her a "cunt" or a "bitch", and telling her to go back to the kitchen, immediately tells you the words are not being used lovingly, but are being used hatefully. When any words, whether they are/were racial slurs or not, are used hatefully it is considered harassment, and is punished as such in this server. The fact the woman was called a bitch or a cunt is not why the user would be punished. It is because the user harassed the woman. The same situation would apply with use of words like "n***a." If my friend joins the server, and I exclaim "What's good n***a," it is trivial to assume I am coming from a place of love, and am not harassing the user. But if I were to say to my arch nemesis, "You stupid fucking n***a," I may be harassing the user, and should be punished. Whether I called this user a n***a or called him a cunt, bitch, or any other curse word actually doesn't matter, as I was still harassing him. There is a clear difference between using a term to love someone, and harassment, and it is trivial to tell the difference.
Excuse this giant wall of text, it is difficult to take a complicated issue involving linguistics and shortening it to a forum post. In short, the term n***a should be unbanned, and the moderation team should be given the simple directive that "harassment is, always was, and always will be harassment. Continue to punish those who harass other users, regardless of the language used, as you have always done, and always will do."
