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Laura Schlessinger may be confused about the N-word but Stamford-born poet Keren Dongo isn't.
"The way I feel about it, when a word or situation has such a negative connotation and history, there's an evilness about it. The evil spirit is still with it," said Dongo. "It's not endearment, it is still dividing us as people of color. It's hurting our children. It has to stop, and it has to start with us."
The talk show host shocked a caller last week when she repeatedly used the N-word and said she was confused why it's okay for young black males to say it but not non-blacks. The Rev. Al Sharpton responded with a call for advertisers to boycott her radio program, while never demanding a public boycott of products by entertainers spewing the same derogatory term,
Dongo weighed in on the subject Saturday while at Stamford's South End Branch Library promoting her new book, "Sung Sister."
"If we stay silent, we do a disservice to the ones who came before us," said Dongo, referring to civil rights pioneers. Promoting the N-word is derisive, she said.
Amazingly, there exists a subset of African Americans who say they embrace the pejorative term. Some rappers make millions using it. But even others, such as sociologist Michael Eric Dyson, have said African Americans should "own" the N-word, noted Dongo. She said Dyson's stance inspired her to write a poem about the issue.
Titled "Returning the N Word," the poem reads, in part, "The price my ancestors paid to lose it makes it impossible for me to ever use it."
"What she said is right," said attendee Jonas Charles. "A lot of young people use it. I don't use it, and people shouldn't use it."
"Thank you, sister, for your insight," said CTE, Inc. President/CEO E. Phillip McKain. "That was not created by us. It was created by somebody else to oppress us."
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