Sexism and racism
"nigger, n. 1. Disparaging and offensive. a. a black person. b. a member of any dark-skinned people. 2. to criticize in a peevish way; carp... -niggler. n." — Webster's College Dictionary.
The "n-word": I find it so offensive that I will not write or speak it beyond a really important need to quote someone else.
Our use of language can perpetuate the evils of sexism and racism. Both are demon seeds conceived in a compassionless union of ignorance and hate.
For too long, lexicographers and linguists have been the sole creative body in choosing what is or is not to be put into dictionaries. While I suspect that some of them have a broad cross-cultural background, logic tells me that most are little more than societal reflections of their erudite sexist and racist upbringing.
Those of us who strive to create a more inclusive society — i.e., a non-sexist, non-racist society — must bring those lexicographers and linguists whose printed words promote exclusion into a more inclusive social consciousness.
Not nearly enough of us are doing that. As this is first and foremost an interactive column, I urge the reader to follow the example set forth by a wonderful young woman in Ypsilanti, Michigan. According to the March 29, 1998 Macon Telegraph, Delphine Abraham started a one-woman campaign against Merriam-Webster, the largest dictionary in the US, demanding that its publishers "change their definition of the word nigger". She wanted the dictionary's definition to focus on the slur involved in the use of this word.
Merriam-Webster started listening, offering to honour Abraham's demand. All of the support and signatures that had been gathered rocked them to the core. Only a few die-hard racists opposed her.
Because of her efforts, Abraham was invited to be a guest on a talk show. One of the calls she took during the program was from a racist Southerner who said: "I don't know why you're so upset about that word... That's what black people are."
"No, that's what you say we are", she replied. I agree. We are not the n-word.
I have spent many hours, days and weeks in solitary confinement reading every manner of dictionary and have come to realise that, in a host of ways, dictionaries wage a kind of intellectual war against women and those of us whom the status quo seeks to subjugate (here read "people of colour").
To use an example from Webster's College Dictionary: "nymphomania, n. abnormal uncontrollable sexual desire in a female".
Where is the male equivalent of this and many other gender exclusive words? Why is it alright if a male is "uncontrollable" in his sexual desire — keep in mind we now call such a male "virile" or "Mr. President", while excusing his promiscuous behaviour with catch phrases such as "boys will be boys" — but in a female that same behaviour becomes: "mania, n. 1. An inordinately intense desire or enthusiasm for something; craze 2. A manifestation of manic-depressive psychosis, characterized by profuse and rapidly changing sexual partners."
Needless to say, being in prison denies me the freedom that most of my readers enjoy. I cannot get a dictionary publisher's attention — but you can. Check the dictionaries yourself. Let the publishers know how you feel about their less-than-subtle perpetuation of both sexism and racism.
BY BRANDON ASTOR JONES
[The writer is a prisoner on death row in the United States. He welcomes letters commenting on his columns (include your name and full return address on the envelope, or prison authorities may refuse to deliver it). He can be written to at: Brandon Astor Jones, EF-122216, G3-77, Georgia Diagnostic & Classification Prison, PO Box 3877, Jackson, GA 30233, USA, or email <brandonastorjones@hotmail.com>. Jones is seeking a publisher for his collected prison writings. Please notify him of any possible leads. Visit Jones' web page at <http://www.brandonastorjones.com>.]