Last Saturday’s rescue operation by Israeli forces had a lot of us thinking about 1976 — July 4, 1976, which was America’s bicentennial day, but also the day on which the Israelis rescued their hostages in Entebbe. I lead with this matter in Impromptus today. I have a slew of other items, ending with some photos — of Jacksonville, Fla., an interesting corner of the world.
Let’s have some mail. Not long ago, I had a column that touched on a sensitive issue. An ever-raw issue. Let me quote a bit from that column:
To my mind, the ugliest, nastiest word in the English language is the N-word. Let me amend that: the ugliest, nastiest word in the American language. The word is less freighted, less explosive, in other parts of the English-speaking world, I understand.
(The second-worst word, in my opinion, is the C-word.)
“But many black Americans use the N-word regularly!” one might say. Sure. There is such a thing as “owning the insult.” I wrote a piece on this once. (Here, a 2009 essay.) Lots of now-common and -benign terms began as insults: among them “Christian,” “Tory,” and “Impressionist.” But, certainly out of most mouths, there is nothing benign about “n*****.”
I have a friend and colleague who dislikes the phrase “N-word.” He also dislikes asterisks. He regards these things as cutesy and prissy. I agree with him. And yet, I shrink from saying or writing the word, flat-out.
Do I contradict myself? Oh, sure.
I received a letter from David Churchill Barrow, which I found quite moving. As a historian, he says, he thinks of two stories from the Civil War. You have to use the “N-word” straight out, he says, for the stories to have their proper impact. I quite agree.
Howdy, Jay:
. . . I have tried to make clear to my fellow Americans that, despite what “Lost Cause” aficionados would have us believe, Lincoln died a martyr for civil rights. How do we know this? Because on April 11, 1865, Lincoln appeared upon the balcony of the White House to deliver what many thought would be just a “Rah! Rah! We won!” speech following Lee’s surrender at Appomattox two days before. Instead, he looked forward to how we would bring the South back into the Union and said he would have further announcements soon.
A well-known actor was in the audience below and was heard to remark, hissing through his teeth: “That means nigger citizenship. Now by God, I’ll put him through. That will be the last speech he will ever make!” And so it was.
The second story:
Inquiries were made to the Confederates as to the disposition of the body of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, who fell at the head of his regiment, the 54th Massachusetts, in their attack upon Fort Wagner. “We buried him with his niggers,” came the reply. Shaw’s parents, staunch abolitionists, insisted he remain there: “We would not have his body removed from where it lies surrounded by his brave and devoted soldiers . . . what a body-guard he has!”
God bless them all.