Josef Powdrell remembers what it was like growing up in segregated West Texas hearing the N-word tossed around lightly.
"As a child, I was called the word by people who ran grocery stores, people who ran movies, people who shopped at stores," he said. "Now you have a generation that wants to take a word that endears negativity, inferiority, servitude and tries to turn it into a positive."
Powdrell, former president of Albuquerque's chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, will address the history and impact of the N-word during a panel discussion and free luncheon at 11 a.m. today in the SUB Fiesta rooms.
The subject is controversial, and the discussion will probably get heated, said Ogechi Chibueze, president of Black Student Union.
But the goal of the luncheon is to open a dialogue, not to argue or preach about the word, she said.
"We just want a little education on the history of the word, and even if it's not politically correct, we want to hear what people have to say," she said. "We want people to talk about the everyday uses for the word and think about its meaning and importance."
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Tim Green IV, the event's moderator, said the word is inherently offensive and shouldn't be used.
"It's not OK for anybody to use the word, and it should be deleted from our society," he said. "The word should be removed from the English vocabulary."
Green said the word has a negative impact because of its history, even if it's not used with an air of racial superiority.
"Look at young children growing up in a society where they see 'nigga' as socially acceptable and don't know the harmful effects of the word," he said. "When a 5-year-old white kid comes up to a 5-year-old black kid and says, 'What's up, nigga?' that has detrimental effects on the black kid's consciousness."
Powdrell said removing the word's negative connotation is impossible without undoing about 400 years of history.
It's time to look for a different word to toss around lightly - one that doesn't have roots in slavery, racism and bigotry, he said.
"'You're my nigger' - that means you're my property. You're my human property that doesn't deserve certain rights and certain opportunities," Powdrell said. "I think a better choice would be to find a word that endears us positively - a word that endears us with dignity and a word that endears us with purpose."
