It is a slur that demanded the tongues of Black people at the outset, forced to wear the mask of subservience. Some of those tongues turned in on themselves, forked, sucking in poison; some others—more I believe—began to speak on two registers, or three, or four. In case you haven’t noticed, Black American language does that frequently. Our words mean multiple things, sometimes opposing. Of course they would. How else in this nation could there be a way for Black people to both love themselves and stay alive?
