Who Am I An American Essay

In the essay “Nigger: the meaning of a word” Gloria Naylor discusses the essence of a word and how it can mean different things to different people in a myriad of situations. Depending on race, gender, societal status and age Naylor outlines how a word like ‘nigger’ can have different meanings within one’s own environment. Naylor discusses how a word can go from having a positive to a negative connotation merely due to how it is spoken and by whom. Naylor shares a personal experience with her audience as she describes the first time she really “heard” the word ‘nigger’. A young white boy in her third grade class spit it in her

In “Mommy, What Does Nigger Mean?”, author Gloria Naylor explains throughout her piece that reality shapes language and language can shape reality. Naylor explains this, “chicken or the egg dispute” (Naylor 1) through her experiences with the word nigger. Gloria explains how she starts on one side of reality and shaping her language, then comes to another understanding from the boy in her third grade class. Language can be how words are used, what their meaning is and the purpose behind that selection of words. Reality is everyday life and experiences. When in third grade Naylor encounters nigger as a racial derogatory when a boy said “nigger” to her while receiving graded tests back. To Gloria it was anything but a racial put down since

The essay “The Meanings of a Word” by Gloria Naylor discusses the many definitions of a word and how its meaning can change according to context and delivery. She made this point by telling a story of her childhood and the first time she heard the n-word used by a white person in a derogatory, demeaning way. She described her this situation that took place when she was in third-grade and a boy in front of her in math class called her the n-word. She had no idea what it meant to be called that in a negative way because the people she grew up around only used it as positive and empowering. At the end of her essay, she once again emphasized how easy it is to change a word into something hateful simply depending on who says it and their

What I am most proud of, is the fact that I am a hardworking immigrant. In today’s divided society, immigrants are stereotyped as “non-contributing to society” or “largely uneducated”. This ignorant stereotype is a constant reminder of how hard I should work.

To be an American means you have rights and responsibilities. I believe so many other people in different countries don’t have these rights or responsibilities. In the article “What is the American Dream” there was a quote, “That dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each to ability and achievement.” (Anonymous paragraph one) This means that the American dream should be better, richer and fuller for all Americans. Other people in different countries don't have these opportunities because in these countries they’re restricted. Rosenfeld’s article on “The American Dream suggests that Americans have

After many hours of dissecting my own thoughts and ideas about the terrorist acts against my country, the United States of America, I have decided that there is no right or wrong way to handle the situation. The fact is, something just has to be done. I have studied our involvement in World War II, but the attack on the World Trade Center has really affected me. I grew up with the idea that although German- and Japanese-American citizens are innocent, many of us still have stereotypes about them. Why? What is so hard for us to give up stereotypes? Will our society ever be able to accept people of every race and color?

I am no longer a child with eyes that do not regard for the disease in this world. I know what people have passed to their children, and what they will pass to their children. I have heard it from the mouths of my classmates and random strangers walking down the street. It is the Maycomb county disease and it still thrives today. It wasn't long ago that my eyes opened and my ears listened to the vulgar statement that passed me every day going down the halls and whispered around in class. I lived in a very small town and I was the only mixed kid in my grade. It was an ordinary day in English class until I walked in the door. Right in the middle of the white board in big block letters was the word, “NIGGER”. I took my normal seat and

As a teenage minority, it was a slight struggle in the beginning in trying to identify myself. Miller (2010) argues that this struggle started early as a child due to the fact that minority children are often told how they should identify themselves in a politically correct manner which alters the child’s “racial identity development” (39). For the longest time, I wasn’t quite sure how to identify myself in a racial manner; should I refer to myself as being Black, or should I say African American? Society created difficulties for me to be able to identify myself, especially since both labels can have different connotations. To be Black in a Black community meant that you had pride and confidence, whereas in society, it meant that you were

In fact, S said many Ethiopian immigrants reject the label “black,” and talk differently about themselves from other US born black people. Then S provided an anecdote of him recognizing his own race in the US society for the first time. When he was young, his mom always locked the door whenever they drove down the neighborhood of which residents were predominantly black. S’s parents labeled the US born blacks in Arabic word that technically meant “slave,” a derogatory term for African Americans. But in general, S said his parents avoided answering to many of the questions pertaining to racial issues in American society, and were even afraid that S might actively express his thoughts about such matter in public. Although his parents’ racial attitudes remained relatively reticent, S “clearly remember[ed] that there was very distinguishable ‘us’ from the ‘other’ black people, who may be dressing or speaking differently.” The social identity theory suggests that it is a natural tendency to categorize people into us vs. them, assigning superior traits to in-group and negative traits to out-group. However, it was surprising to learn that people would not want to identify with the race that most people would categorize them in. This phenomenon of dissociating themselves from other African Americans resonates with Tatum’s internalized oppression, which explains when the member of a

I am going to use my personal experiences of discrimination, stereotyping, and racism, to emphasize that we are not in a point in society were everyone is “equal”. All my life I have been stamped as unqualified and undeserving. To emphasize my place in society, whites have spoken words of defeat and racism into my life. I am constantly called Nigger and Nigga every day of my life. This directly demonstrates that blacks are not considered worthy enough to be addressed by their name, but rather addressed in derogatory names. People do not understand the power of these two words and they use it very loosely. Now a days whites feel it is ok to use the transformed version of nigger, because they took out the -er and added an -a. But is there really a difference? No, there is not, whites and blacks have taken a horrific word that has a historically negative connotation and changed the meaning. I have been called this word everywhere I go. In the bathroom, in the middle of class, by my coach, etc. Last year when I was walking home from school. First, I was approached by a white truck with two white guys. They started slowing down and I got scared. Then the passenger

Twain wrote the phrase "I AM NOT AN AMERICAN; I AM THE AMERICAN" in a

In my opinion "Huckleberry Finn" should be omitted from the list of required reading materials within an academic environment. The selective use of verbiage is just as significant as the central message of the literary text. Although this book reflects the nefarious terms and history of a time in which African-Americans were treated and referred to as less than human, the term nigger is an egregious reprehensible descriptor which was carefully chosen within the Eurocentric agenda to strip, defile and eradicate Africans. Additionally, the basis of this claim can be supported via the word itself. For example, the word nigger can be traced back to the Latin word Niger meaning "black"; this word became the noun negro in English referring to "black

Certain words and phrases are often used by communities to collectively define the group of people they belong to. The n-word in particular has had a long history with a load of heavy baggage that has ties with slavery, oppression, and racial inequality. In the past century or so, African-Americans have been turning this word around to define represent them in a more positive manner, simply through accepting the term as their own. Gloria Naylor highlights the usage of the word by black people to represent a cultural identity. She explains how “they transformed ‘nigger’ to signify the varied and complex human

At about age three, my mother gave birth to my younger brother. Shortly after, my grandmother returned to Nigeria and we moved from Orange, NJ to suburban Union, NJ. My older brother and I were shifted from an all-black private school in Newark, NJ to a predominantly white public elementary school in Union. I still remember the level of fear I had the first day I attended, the youngest person in my first grade class, with my eyes glued to the window looking for my mother, father, and our Toyota Camry. They said my name wrong, so I eventually abridged and “Americanized” it. Both my classmates and teachers didn’t see me as an American, even though I was born here, and constantly asked questions and made assumptions about a country I had not, and still have not visited. It was like a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree twist from the world I had once known, and I would be trapped in it for another eleven years before matriculating to Howard University.

When I was in seventh grade, I was almost arrested. It feels shameful to even type those words but I, the teacher’s pet, was almost arrested in seventh grade. One day in gym class, a girl named “Lacey” called me a “nigger.” I cannot remember what I said to Lacey, but I am sure I was loud and angry. In my household we never used that word. My grandfather was born in 1920s Florida and my grandmother was born in 1950s Georgia. They both told us that “nigger” was the last word some of their neighbors heard as they were killed. Although I never had those experiences, that word is emotionally charged for me.