White nigger
White nigger is a racially charged term, with somewhat different meanings in different parts of the English-speaking world.
United States
White nigger was a derogatory and offensive term, dating from the nineteenth century, for a black person who deferred to white people or a white person who did menial work.[1] It was later used as a slur against white activists involved in the civil rights movement such as James Groppi of Milwaukee.[2]
The term "white niggers" was uttered twice by Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia in an interview on national television in 2001.[3]
Canada
In another use of the term, Pierre Vallières's work White Niggers of America refers to French Canadians.[4]
India
The White Nigger was a nickname given to the nineteenth-century English explorer Richard Burton by colleagues in the East India Company Army.[5]
Northern Ireland
"White nigger" was a religious and ethnic slur used to refer to Irish Catholics, in the context of The Troubles in Northern Ireland.[6] An example of this can be found in the Elvis Costello song "Oliver's Army", which contains the lyric:[7]
Only takes one itchy trigger. One more widow, one less white nigger.
In May 2016, Gerry Adams, the Leader of Sinn Féin, was criticised after tweeting:[8]
Watching Django Unchained - A Ballymurphy Nigger!
while watching the film Django Unchained. Ballymurphy is an area of Belfast best known for an eponymous massacre. Adams deleted the tweet, and subsequently tweeted:[8]
[Anyone] who saw Django would know my tweets & N-word were ironic. Nationalists in [the North] were treated like African Americans.
The term was also applied to Irish Catholic immigrants to the United States and their descendants.
See also
References
- ↑ The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang, 2nd edn, ed. John Ayto and John Simpson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008).
- ↑ Frank A. Aukofer, City with a Chance: A Case History of Civil Rights Revolution, 2nd edn (Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 2007), 114.
- ↑ Andrew D. Todd, What Is a "White Nigger" Anyway?, History News Network (March 20, 2001).
- ↑ DePalma, Anthony (26 December 1998). "Pierre Vallieres, 60, Angry Voice of Quebec Separatism, Dies". New York Times. New York. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
- ↑ David Shribman, "'That Devil Burton,' the Great Adventurer", The Wall Street Journal (6 June 1990), A14.
- ↑ The IRA 12th impression, Tim Pat Coogan, page 448, William Collins, Sons & Co., Glasgow, 1987
- ↑ "The Elvis Costello Home Page". Elviscostello.info. Retrieved 2015-06-18.
- 1 2 McDonald, Henry (2 May 2016). "Gerry Adams defends N-word tweet". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 May 2016.