by Bobby Brown

Created on: April 05, 2009   Last Updated: April 11, 2009

A few years ago, I remember reading an article about how the NAACP was successful in getting Merriam Webster's newest dictionary to redefine the word "nigger" so that it no longer refered to African Americans specifically. I was discussing this in an email to some of my friends and it occurred to me that it was a bit hypocritical and ironic for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to continue to use the term "colored" in their title and demand that Miriam Webster change the definition of a particularly offensive word.

Having said that, I understand that there are some people who would argue that no name change is warranted because of the historic, iconic nature of the institution. Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Jesse Jackson, Al Shartpon and the like all owe their fame (and not just a little bit of social standing) to the NAACP after all. Still, I feel that as the social demographics of this country continue to change (Black Americans are not persecuted the same way that they were a generation ago, there are more Hispanic Americans in this country than African Americans and very possibly by the next census there will be a larger minority population than White Americans in this country. That is the very definition of irony, to be sure.) the NAACP also needs to recognize that its mission has changed and is no longer relegated just to the service of one group of underprivileged, underserviced people, but to several groups who are trying to make America live up to its creed; where everybody is indeed equal before the law and everybody has equal access to a quality education and health care.

In the book "Before the Mayflower", author and historian Lerone Bennet Jr. talks about the various terms that have been applied to the people that we call African Americans or Black Americans today. The first group of these people arrived before the pilgrims did on the Mayflower (hence the name of the book) and were called Moors, because it was assumed that these people were Muslim. Later, the accepted term became Blackamoor, which eventually became Negar which is a Spanish or Portuguese derivative of Negro which means "Black". The "N"word is (in my opinion) a pun or a mispronunciation of the word Negar. The "N" word does have legitimate meaning that has nothing to do with a person's skin color or race and everything to do with a person's character. Shakespeare used it at least one of his plays. Unfortunately that word became associated with African American people, some of whom have taken the word as a badge of honor and even use it as a term of endearment. That's enough about that.

The word "colored" came into use during the colonial era of our country and was used to refer to African Americans (Negroes) and Native Americans (Indians). The NAACP adopted the use of the word because it was the most positive word in common usage at that time to describe African Americans (presumably Native Americans were not included in NAACP definition at this time) and according to Carla Simms, communications director for the NAACP, the term is "outdated and antiquated but not offensive."

Obviously the term reminds people of a certain time in history that was painful, to say the least, and if we are looking for positive terms to describe African Americans there certainly is no dearth. What about the words "brother", or "sister" or "cousin" or "homeboy" for example? Those words are used in African America circles and are generally considered to be positive.

I think that it's time for the NAACP to change its name, though I would be hard pressed to come up with an appropriate term other than African American or the inclusive word "minority".

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