Who gets to use the N-word? Visiting lecturer gives his take

photo by: John Young

Jabari Asim, right, author and editor-in-chief of The Crisis magazine, answers a question from professor Clarence Lang on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016 at Budig Hall. Asim presented the fall keynote lecture for the University of Kansas' Common Book program.

Thursday night I covered the University of Kansas Common Book keynote event featuring celebrated author and editor-in-chief of The Crisis magazine, Jabari Asim. One of Asim’s books is “The N Word: Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn’t, and Why,” and during the event’s Q and A portion an attendee aptly asked him for his thoughts on using the word.

Asim, who is black, said he does not believe blacks should have “ownership” of the N-word (despite at least one other national writer wrongly accusing him of saying they should).

“I’m not an absolutist,” Asim said. “I don’t believe speech should be banned.”

Asim says he considers whether use of the word would help expose racism or advance an agenda. There are instances where it’s appropriate to use the word, like history, scholarship, art and journalism, he said. “How can you engage the phenomenon of racism without engaging the language?”

Those quotes weren’t in my event story in Friday’s paper, but given the attention the word has recently gotten on the KU campus, I thought readers might like to hear what Asim had to say. (Background: A white professor’s use of the word during a class discussion on race led to a university investigation and the most viral story I wrote last year. No one at the lecture mentioned the Andrea Quenette incident; rather, to be clear, Asim was speaking generally.)

• Step inside the “Truth Booth”: On a somewhat related note, a giant bubble with the following self-described mission is coming to campus this weekend: “to represent and celebrate the world’s diverse people, cultures, and locations and capture as many definitions, representations, confessions, and thoughts on ‘the truth’ as possible.”

The Spencer Museum of Art, the Emily Taylor Center and Daisy Hill Commons are hosting a visit by the “Truth Booth” to KU. The inflatable, portable public sculpture with a video recording booth inside will be in front of Self and Oswald halls from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday. Students are invited to tape two-minute videos completing the statement “The truth is…”

“We believe that bringing this project to KU, especially during the current campus climate, would be a great opportunity for students to comment on recent events on and off campus in a safe, honest format,” Spencer Museum of Art multicultural coordinator Sydney Gaylord said in an email letting me know about the event.

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• I’m the Journal-World’s KU and higher ed reporter. See all the newspaper’s KU coverage here. Reach me by email at sshepherd@ljworld.com, by phone at 832-7187, on Twitter @saramarieshep or via Facebook at Facebook.com/SaraShepherdNews.