One of the most controversial words in the English language and one of the most common words in The Wire are one in the same. This word has the power to unite and anger, to shame and alienate, all depending on the context that it is used in. This word has such a social stigma that it cannot even be spelled out, but is abbreviated to its first letter to reduce its powers. Of course, this refers to the n-word.
In The Wire, scarcely a scene goes by without the word. This is especially true of the scenes on the corner. In this context, the word is often used simply as a noun. A person is “those East Side Niggas” or “my nigga.” In Season 4, during Mr. Prez’s math class, the children use it as a unit of measure, doing a measure of diving apples by saying “You’ve got seven apples, 12 niggas…” It is clear that the word has become less of a powerful insult, and more of a self-descriptor when used from within the African American community. Some argue that this approach in media and other type of productions is a way to handle the word’s power. Comedian Lenny Bruce had a routine where he repeated the word, urging that the more times it was said, the less bitter the sting would be. Organizations like the National Coalition Against Censorship argue against laws and book curriculum removals that would block the use of the word.
However, this comfort with the frequency of the word, or the idea that it has been taken over by African Americans to emerge a new word is contested. New York Times write Toure explained the opposite in a column in 2011, stating,
“The idea that this generation of kids has recontextualized or defanged nigga is silly. Nigga is a Siamese twin of nigger. The two words are interdependent. Nigga would have none of its edginess or power or cultural sexiness without its close relationship with the Darth Vader of American English. Nigga is nigger with an ironic twist, but the venom is still in its fangs.”
While research on the Internet did not reveal the use in The Wire as contested, the use of the n-word in media has been a historical battle. One of the most famous battles about this is the use of the n-word in Huckleberry Finn. The book has been removed from school curriculums and libraries due to the use of the offending word. Last year, a new version of the book was released with the word “nigger” replaced with the word “slave,” which spark outcry of “whitewashing” the book. Marc Twain scholar Alan Gribben, who orchestrated the release of the new book, argues that its removal is actually a method to allow more dialogue about the issues discussed in the novel. Gribben believes that “for a single word to form a barrier, it seems such an unnecessary state of affair.”
Cover for Randal Kennedy's Book
In the book Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word, Harvard Law professor Randall Kennedy discusses some of the history of the n-word, but also writes as a caution against scrubbing the media clean of the word. Somewhere between over saturation and removal lies the difficult medium, according to Kennedy. However, this still leaves the use of the word in the HBO series in unclear ground. It raised questions about the use by white producer David Simon. While working on the Corner, his first venture for HBO, Simon clashed with African American director Charles Dutton, who was uncomfortable with the ability of a Caucasian man to tell African American stories. (More about their interesting dynamic in this article) Potentially, people are more comfortable with the language because of the reality of the series, and how it feels less as though The Wire is less putting words in mouths and more capturing the street. However, the actors on The Wire are not afforded this allowance outside of the confines of the show. An interview ith Idris Elba, the actor who played Stringer Bell, a character not shy to the n-word, drew complaints for the use of the n-word in clips from The Wire, critiquing Elba even though he explained he did not like the word himself. What is left is an inconclusive picture of a word that as Kennedy puts it, is troublesome, and certainly strange.
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