The “N-word”: Bhavna Malkani [Feature - HHNLive]

The elephant in the living room, otherwise known as the word “nigger”, became a high talking point when comedian Michael “Kramer” Richards let loose a spray of the N-word with a lynching reminder at black audience members of the Laugh Factory last November, when UK Big Brother contestant Emily Parr (white) told a black contestant she was “pushing it out like a nigger” last month, and even when Don Imus didn’t say it but labelled a women’s basketball team as “nappy-headed hoes” on the radio last April. But of course, the N-word was a highly contentious issue long before these unexpected mainstream utterances

Has the word been flipped to put a positive meaning on something used to oppress and insult? Is it an intended insult regardless of the colour of the lips that utter it? Is there ever a scenario where it’s acceptable for white people to use the word? What if their black friends don’t mind? Can any ethnicity use it in an understood common bond of the prejudice they’ve experienced? Should it be banned from hip hop as advised by Def Jam co-founder Russell “Godfather of Hip-Hop” Simmons? or is it the attitude of one BBC News Online reader – “John” – “Is it only racist if a white person says the word? If so then that itself is racist! Such a load of PC baloney!” – a credible point of view?

These are just a handful of the type of varied perspectives that inspired 25-year old UK-filmmaker Bhavna Malkani to begin making what would be an award winning ‘Best Film’ at London Portobello Film Maker’s Convention 2006, and more recently this June winning ‘Best Short Documentary’ at the 5th Annual Odyssey H20 Hip-Hop International Film Festival in NYC. ‘Guilty or Innocent of Using the N word?’ is a 28-minute documentary which “breaks down the word chronologically from the history of the word all the way up to Hip Hop’s influence on the acceptance and commercialization” whilst questioning the “issues around the derogatory ‘N’ word that many feel shy to discuss as it’s often categorised as a taboo subject area.“

Full feature on HHNLive.