I am in agreement with Gary about purviewing appropriate articles on the
issue, prior to pronouncement of opinion, so as to make informed,
appropriate and salient responses.  I also appreciated Larry's point about
it being alright to say something about your mother (or, about yourself)
while still taking legitimate offense at an outsider's similar voicing.
One last word about the N-word: one way to look at it, is this--members of
minority groups who appropriate "the language of the oppressors" do
succeed in defusing, somewhat, the sting.  If you're not in that group,
though, you're simply, as it's put, "calling someone out their name"--a
very big offense, because, historically, names, religious affiliations and
family structures were shattered.  That seems pretty clear. Finally, Steve
said something to the effect of "what if I get offended by the term
'honky'?" Well, what if you do?  The issue, whatever it may be, shouldn't
be a matter of "personal and individual offense."

On Tue, 3 Mar 1998, Gary Henrickson wrote:

> In all honesty, I've been waiting for this thread to die off.  The issue of
> Mark Twain's/ Huck Finn's racism has been viewed and reviewed for the last
> 10-15 years in the journals and in some fine books with no resolution (Cf.
> Forrest Robinson's articles and books).  My suggestion is that one plow
> through some of those articles and then return to this thread if there is
> anything new to say about it.
>
> As far as the "N" word goes, I do accept arguments that it is a historically
> weighty term.  But I am struck by the frequency of the use of the word by
> American blacks in conversation with each other.  I have wondered at times
> if such use hasn't taken some of the sting out of the term. (?)
>
> Gary Henrickson
> North Dakota State College of Science
>