The Truth Behind The N Word: Recent Episodes
Estrella Arriaga
In To Kill A Mockingbird, many citizens in the city of Maycomb use the “N” word within their daily lives. In Chapter 12, Calpurnia is taking care of Scout and Jem and decides to take them to an all black church. The three of them encounter a woman named Lula approached them and said “I wants to know why you bringin’ white chillun to nir church” and this is where the discussion began.(Lee, 158) Towards the end of the discussion between Calpurnia and Lula, Lula turned to her and responded. “Stop right there nir...You ain’t got no business bringin’...
In this episode, Omar and Estrella go over 2 Samuel 11-12 and discuss their predictions of what comes next and what they will do in this moment.
In this episode, Jo and Mama talk about the three main judges in the Book of Judges and how they go against the Word of the Lord.
In To Kill A Mockingbird, many citizens in the city of Maycomb use the “N” word within their daily lives. In Chapter 12, Calpurnia is taking care of Scout and Jem and decides to take them to an all black church. The three of them encounter a woman named Lula approached them and said “I wants to know why you bringin’ white chillun to nir church” and this is where the discussion began.(Lee, 158) Towards the end of the discussion between Calpurnia and Lula, Lula turned to her and responded. “Stop right there nir...You ain’t got no business bringin’ white chillun here-they got their church, we got our’n. It is our church, ain’t it, Miss Cal?” and Calpurnina responded with, “It’s the same God, ain’t it” and ended the discussion between her and Lula. (Lee, 158).
In an earlier event in Chapter 9, it is Christmas morning and Scout's family goes to visit their other family for the holidays. After opening gifts, Scout and her cousin, Francis, go outside and sit at the porch of the house. They begin discussing their families. He brings up something about Atticus and calls him a “nir-lover” and Scout starts to defend Atticus and this causes them to get into an argument that leads to a fight between both of them. Scout ends up getting in trouble after this argument, with no punishment being put onto Francis. (Lee,110).*
Although Francis should be punished for saying the N word, Scout should know the meaning behind the word. Throughout every chapter, Scout and her family repeatedly say the N word without knowing what it really means. Although the vocabulary from 1930 is different compared from 2021, it should still be known, especially to the people who are not a person of color.
Today in 2021, the N word can be used as an offense to others who are not people of color. People of color think it is alright to say the word but the truth is, it really is not. In 1930, people back then didn’t have the vocabulary we have today. In 1930, people who were not people of color would give hate on people of color, and even though today in 2021 some people continue to show hate towards people of color, we have had protests and riots for the Black Lives Matter movement. We can see a huge difference between events in 1930 and 2021 but we have learned looking back at this, we can still change our ways and support everyone.