In the last post, a much-abbreviated history of the word “nigger” was discussed as it was originally intended by slave breeders and other whites. Their use of the term meant “a non-human animal”.
Understandably, a people who had never heard of themselves by any other reference might take on the term as a way to identify. But what makes it so appealing today?
In the non-humanizing slavery days, the “bad nigger” was the one who defied the authority of the master and held on to himself/herself facing punishment and/or death. From the perspective of the white oppressor, the “bad nigger” threatened the order of the plantation and the colonial apparatus (system).
The masters/overseers would refer to that person as a “bad nigger”, in much the