Jabari Asim reads The N Word: Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn't and Why April 4, 2007

The N Word traces the symbiotic growth of the word and racism in America over the past 400 years. Asim pinpoints Thomas Jefferson as the word's source: in a seminal but now obscure essay, Jefferson marshaled a welter of pseudo-science to define this enduring stereotype. Asim then reveals how nineteenth-century "science" colluded with popular culture to amplify this slander. Asim argues that even when uttered with the opposite intent by hipsters and hip-hop icons, using the slur helps keep blacks at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. He concludes that only when we know the word's twisted history and legacy can we loosen its grip on our national psyche. Asim is deputy editor of the Washington Post Book World. He also writes a weekly syndicated column on popular culture. He lives in Maryland with his wife and five children.

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