[Marxism] On the Use of the Word "Niggardly"

["David Altman" <altman_d@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Andrew Austin wrote:

"I'm from the South.  A lot of people I know who aren't racist, including
blacks, use the word niggardly.  The word "niggle," which means to fuss
about small stuff, is derived from the same root as niggardly.  I am seeking
direction.  Is "niggle" still acceptable to use?

Andrew "


This also came up on the SWP-USA list, where I cross-posted. Below is my
response there:

---------------------

Let me clarify.

People who don't live in the U.S. might not be aware of this controversy,
which occurred a few years ago.  One of the (white) assistants to the Mayor
of Washington, D.C., I believe, was in a budget meeting, and used the word
"niggardly," meaning stingy or parsimonious.

The word "niggardly" is no longer in common usage in the U.S., for whatever
reason, probably because "stingy" or "parsimonious" do just as well, and
don't have the stigma of sounding like a certain racial slur.  A Black
person who was in this meeting, who was unfamiliar with the word,
misunderstood and took offense to what the white staffer said.  By all
accounts the white staffer was a decent person who was thoroughly mortified.
 He resigned his position.  A big hue and cry in the media ensued about how
this poor fellow was a victim of political correctness, free speech was
under attack, etc.  The subtext of all of this was how stupid and ignorant
black people are that they don't know the meaning of the word "niggardly."
The whole controversy was really a tempest in a teapot. The white staffer
was rehired and that should have been the end of it. Certain right-wing
bloviators, though, went out of their way to use the word every chance they
could.  It was a kind of coded racism.  It's not acceptable for white people
to use "nigger" in polite company, but they could use "niggardly," you see,
with a wink and a nod to their fellow racists.

This is the sense in which I wrote that people who go out of their way to
use the word "niggardly," IN THIS DAY AND AGE, are either provocateurs or
racists. I don't think the white mayoral staffer who used the word was
either, nor do I think Cannon was, especially in the late 1940s (when the
word was in more common usage).  The POINT of the story, which I think
should have been obvious, is that when Cannon realized that he was being
misunderstood, he DIDN'T USE THE WORD ANYMORE. Cannon was a real
working-class leader who didn't want anything to get in the way of the
message he was trying to get across.

The reason I brought up this story about Cannon was that Fred Feldman
reported that Jack Barnes defended the use of the word and that The Militant
made a point of using it.  The reason I asked Fred when all this occured (I
don't remember it myself) was because if it happened AFTER the
previously-mentioned controversy, it's another example of political
bone-headedness on the part of the Barnes crew.  Barnes obviously didn't
learn anything from Cannon on this score.

David Altman

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