Dropping the “N-Word”: Examining How a Victim-Centered Approach Could Curtail the Use of America’s Most Opprobrious Term

Abstract

The “N-word.” It’s what one scholar called “the nuclear bomb or racial epithets.” Few words are so abhorrent that just their utterance can provoke rage, hatred, and conflict. Unlike other slurs, it is perhaps the only one so vile that it has been truncated to a single letter: “N-” (i.e., the “N-word”), because of the negative connotations associated with it. This analysis addresses the N-word from multiple perspectives. It first examines the etiology of the word and how it became the derisive term it is today. Second, it examines the legal problems that courts have had in banning it as a form of hate speech, and how the N-word blurs the line between speech and conduct. Third, and finally, this analysis details how understanding the intent of the speaker, and using a victim-centered approach, can assist in creating polices that curtail the use of the problematic N-word.