“If Lil’ Wayne Can Say It, Why Can’t I?”: White Male Undergraduates Using the N-Word

ABSTRACT

This paper critically analyzes the narratives of 62 White male undergraduates and their consistent use of the n-word during their college years. Almost all heard and/or used the n-word, but rarely did they believe using the n-word was racist. Despite these beliefs, the participants almost never used any form of the n-word in the presence of People of Color, Black people in particular. There were some who felt uncomfortable with their friends’ casual use of the n-word, but they rarely challenged their peers fearing social discomfort. The analyses highlight different levels of responsibility for the racism embedded in both speaking and hearing this word as well as the White campus-based segregation that allowed the use of the term to flourish.

KEYWORDS:

• Racism
• Whiteness
• n-word
• male undergraduates
• campus racial climate
• backstage racism
• oppression and responsibility

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Editor’s Comment

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Drs. William Smith and David Gillborn for their insightful comments on an earlier draft of the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. We switch the use of “I” and “We” throughout the manuscript depending on who contributed to a section.

2. http://factbook.arizona.edu/2014-15/students/demographics. We did not hide the identity of the institution for two reasons. First, we all had UA affiliations at the time of the interview, so it seemed relatively obvious. Second, IRB required making the students unidentifiable, not the university.

3. There was a third author on this piece who did a lot of coding, analyzing, writing, and editing, of previous manuscripts. However, after some deep introspection, he decided to leave the project because he did not think it was appropriate for him, as a White man, to produce a piece on n-word usage. He was very sensitive to not wanting to engage in linguistic violence against Black people. We, as authors, respect his decision even though we do wish he was still part of the team.

4. “I” refers to “(Cabrera)” the interviewer, and “R” refers to interviewee “Raymond.” For the remainder of the findings section, interactions between interviewer and interviewee will be abbreviated in this format.

5. This is 93.1% of 58 interviews. Four were not considered in calculating this percentage for two reasons. One did not complete his interview due to time constraints, ending it before the discussion of the n-word. The other three participants never discussed the use of the n-word because it was not incorporated into the protocol at the time they were interviewed.

Additional information

Funding

This research was in part funded by the National Academy of Education/Spencer postdoctoral program. The views expressed to not constitute an endorsement of the funding agency. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, 2015, Denver, CO.