This is what I get for making a suggestion:
> Hi,
>
> Just thought Quaker.org could use these links:
>
> Some history of African-American members
>
http://www.qhpress.org/quakerpages/qwhp/hcjnh3.htm >
> And on Paul Cuffe a prominent African American Quaker from Westport:
>
http://www.ai.mit.edu/~isbell/HFh/black/events_and_people/html/007.paul_cuffe.html >
http://www.mysticseaport.org/learn/lo-Cuff.htm You mean ... he was a nigger.
Let the word roll off your tongue lovingly. Nigger.
Say it again. Nigger. And again. Nigger, nigger, nigger, nigger.
Say it enough times so that it loses all ability to shock. Nigger.
Nigger. And more, until it loses the ability even to offend.
Nigger. Nigger. It's meaningless. Nigger. Nigger.
Quaker used to be an insult, you know. Quaker, like in shaking in his
boots. Like in coward. Mormon used to be an insult too. So did
queer. The trouble with taking offense at nigger is that it empowers
the user. It gives them a power to shock, to offend, to insult. It
turns a word into a permanent edifice to racism. Taking ownership of
an insult takes away power from the would-be insultor. It forces them
to work, to create another insult. Yet it is of no avail, because the
new insult can be stripped from them, by accepting it with love.
Learn to love nigger. It's the only way to destroy the word's power.
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