The exchange took place on Saturday during Stone’s appearance on “The Mo’Kelly Show,” a Los Angeles-based radio broadcast. Host Morris O’Kelly questioned Stone on his conviction for lying to Congress and tampering with evidence by threatening a witness involved with Trump’s 2016 campaign. He then asserted that Stone’s sentence was commuted because of his longtime friendship with Trump.
“There are thousands of people treated unfairly daily, how your number just happened to come up in the lottery, I am guessing it was more than just luck, Roger, right?” O’Kelly asked.
Stone’s voice was faint over the phone following O’Kelly’s question. A voice could be heard murmuring “arguing with this Negro.” O’Kelly then asked Stone to repeat the comment, but there was silence from Stone’s end of the line.
Anyway, a lot of people are referring to the word as a slur. No doubt Stone used it derisively. But is the word itself a slur? I’ve always thought of it an archaic term, like what your grandma, or really great-grandma, might use if she wanted to refer to black people in a polite fashion, but one that has since fallen out of general use. I seem to recall that Harry Reid got in hot water a few years back for using the word.
It’s a minced oath type of slur–where you say one n-word when you actually meant the other one.
Negro itself isn’t a term you want to use often. It’s used primarily in historical contexts. It has a lot of baggage simply because it was the term used by so many racists when trying to politely avoid the slur. As such, it took on some slur aspects on its own.
If it’s used to describe a third party in a way to indicate you are “putting them in their place”? Of course it is. If it’s used by a political operative who absolutely knows both the history and meaning of racially-charged language? Of course it is.
If it’s used by great-great-grandma to attempt to politely describe a guy she spoke to at church? Possibly not, although still pretty questionable unless great-great-grandma has dementia or something.
Yes. I should have been more clear. That’s what I meant with “primarily used in historical contexts”–i.e. back when it was a more polite term.
But it soon got used as just a replacement for the n-word. The words are etymologically related: the n-word comes from a mispronunciation of “negro.”
Point is, you might be able to get away with saying something about “Negro spirituals,” the “magical negro” trope, or talking about the NAACP, but you can’t use it like you would the n-word.
And I’d even suggest against it in those other contexts. Stick with only the abbreviation, and use “African American” or “black person” for the others.
As far as race relations in the United States go, the use of any outdated terminology referencing how things used to be in the past is in and of itself racist.
Booker T. Washington wrote “The Story of the Negro” and it was certainly not a slur then. Language usage shifts over time, especially with contexts such as this involving racism / anti-rascism / social conventions / dog whistles / etc.
There is absolutely NO way in hell that Roger Stone DOESN’T know that you’re not supposed to say “Negro” anymore. Stone is not stupid. He understands contemporary idioms and the progress of language trends. He said that word because he wanted to put down whoever he was talking about.
Nice beach along the local river named NegroBar (two links). While there are some wanting to change the name, others, including a local black man say the name should remain to honor the intrepid African American miners who established the site. It will be an ongoing discussion.
It’s not a matter of word choice in this case: only a straight-up racist would mentally categorize himself as arguing with a “negro” as opposed to just a person. So there is no polite synonym he could have substituted to make it not a racist insult.
Well, if anyone has any questions about Stone using it, just remember, when asked to repeat it, he… well, there was silence. He couldn’t think of anything to say to justify it.
…
But, a handy note to others in his party: As you emulate this elder statesman, you should keep in mind that the phrase Mr. Stone was looking for is "I’m arguing with this uppity Negro.” Try that out, next time you’re in an interview.
Indeed. Was he arguing with a journalist, (or even media hack (or even enemy of the state))? Was he arguing with a man? Was he arguing with a liberal? He could have chosen any of those descriptors in his statement to this third party. But what did he choose?
My wife is Asian-American, and she’s faced with pretty much the same problem with the world “Oriental.” She’s older, so she actually grew up hearing the term, and she can let it slip past when elderly grandmothers use it without malice. But if an educated white man who’s five years younger than her (and a self-admitted provocateur) said, “this Oriental” about her, she would rightly consider him to be making a deliberate racist attack on her
“But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.”
This is Martin Luther King with his “I have a Dream Speech”.