You can not say these things do not have “the connotations or baggage” (how dismissive) that “westerners attach to it.” The N word is an English word with one use, dehumanizing people of African ancestry. Blackface and Sambo imagery are also borne of white supremacist ideals and dehumanizing Africans. That is specifically where this stuff comes from. There is no alternative interpretation. You could maybe say someone is ignorant of the history of the N word, but if you are not racist garbage, the intent of blackface and Sambo imagery is very clear without needing a history lesson. Acting as an apologist for racists is functionally the same as being racist. I’m sure you’ve heard the expression about having dinner with 9 Nazis. 10 Nazis are having dinner.
What a load of shit. One of the ways that we can communicate across languages and cultures is via imagery. Blackface and Sambo imagery isn’t limited by USA hegemony. It’s pretty clear the meaning. You didn’t address that at all.
I am only going to be expanding on your discussion of the N-word specifically, and not the larger discussion. While the N-word is abominable in English, because the word for black in a lot of languages came from the Latin word “nigreos”, a lot of languages have words that sound like the N-word but are not. The word just means the color black. That’s just the etymology of the Latin word. If you have personal experience living in those areas then I’ll definitely add more weight to your comment, because I haven’t.
While I understand the similarity with the latin languages, as it shares that origin, it is its own word. The actual word is being used, not words that sound alike, as it was exported by colonial powers. I don’t have to have lived there to be aware of its use. Hell, anyone that read the post is now aware, there wasn’t any confusion as to what was stated in the peace corps document.
Yes they can in fact say this. You do realize english is not the only language that exists or ever existed right ? Or that northern american culture is not hegemonic (yet) ?
Niger/nigra/nigrum is a latin word that simply means black or dark without all the prejudice attached to it in english, and believe it or not, variations of that root word still exist in a shitload of european languages and dialects to signify the exact same thing : a color.
To claim as you do that the denigrative usage of the word is the only understanding some farmer from the depths of the Urals should have is frankly preposterous.
What’s preposterous is the number of people who get upset, make excuses, and try and throw it back when I call out racism. Before I paste what I said in another comment, I’d like to point out that I specifically said that some non native English speakers may be ignorant of the history of the n word. Anyway:
While I understand the similarity with the latin languages, as it shares that origin, it is its own word. The actual word is being used, not words that sound alike, as it was exported by colonial powers.
American culture is interwoven with the black slavery history, most of the rest of the world is not. So no, they don’t have that baggage when it comes to black face or the like. Like you don’t understand the Indian caste system, for example.
Making them out as racists is stupid if you stop to think about it and not just give kneejerk reactions. Not everyone is as obsessed with race like Americans.
For just about all former soviet states, the N word is the term used to describe black people, because the word imported from Europe to describe Africans. It doesn’t have the connotations or baggage that westerners attach to it. Diddo for blackface and sambo imagery, it’s usually used more out of ignorance than malice.
Oh dear God, let me tell you, I feel my bones tickling when I read this. All these flashbacks of my parents meeting other Russian people and, all of the sudden, casually dropping the n word in conversations in public and me just freezing and praying no one overheard them. I mean it was with no mean intent (as you wrote, more like ignorance paired with custom) but if someone heard them, then they didn’t understand the context and only heard them say n*ger.