Please, Don't Teach Our People the N Word

Two weeks ago our air shipment finally arrived.

When I stood by our door to receive the goods, I was extremely dismayed by the sad state they came in because they were so poorly packed.

I complained to the movers that the packers didn't do a good job, and the leader of the crew asked me, "Was it the niggers who packed your goods?"

He said it in such an innocent manner, it was as if we had been chatting whether the name of the United States President really was George W. Bush.

I looked at him incredulously, bewildered by what I had just heard.

I said carefully, “The packers were black."

He told me that on one of his previous assignments delivering goods to an executive at P&G, the goods were also really poorly packed. The executive was very angry, and kept cursing the "niggers". He thought it was simply a regular way to refer to black people, completely unaware of the ugly history behind the word.

I could guess why this had happened. Back in the US, people are very careful to avoid using such racial epithets even if they hold racist inclinations. Here in China, some people think that they are finally free from being politically correct, and start showing their true colors. The guy probably thought the Chinese movers won't know the difference, and inadvertently taught them such an offensive word.

I was so stunned that I didn't do anything at the moment. In retrospect, I wish I had told the crew leader to never use that word again.

This reminds me of another story about the N word.

Back in business school my roommate was from Brazil. When talking about our black classmates, she very casually referred to them as niggers, and kept saying the word.

At first, I was in shock from simply hearing the word being spoken.

Finally, I said, "Manoela, did you know that's not a very nice word?"

Manoela said, "What word, you mean 'nigger'?"

"Yes." I cringed upon hearing her say it so loudly.

"That's bad?"

"Yes."

I told her that she should refer to them either as African Americans, or simply blacks, which is what a lot of my black friends prefer, because they may or may not be from Africa.

She looked really confused and said that in Brazil, "nigger" is the standard way to refer to blacks and the word "negro" is the bad one.

Oy.