“Get that nigga, Nate! Get that nigga, Nate! Get that nigga, Nate!”

These words and more were screamed over and over as I watched students at my school fighting. For once I wasn’t outside my classroom door during passing period. Instead, I was home on my couch spending an hour on YouTube, watching this disturbing spectacle that is somehow legal to post on the Internet. You need a parent’s permission to post a picture of a kid doing their Chemistry lab on your classroom website, but if they’re getting beat up in the middle of a crowd of screaming adolescents after school, it’s all good.

Of course, as teachers, we’ve heard about the YouTube fights, but I had yet to really check it out. It is easy to do, just search the name of your high school with the word “fights” after it. I spent almost an hour watching until I couldn’t take it anymore- it’s too damn REAL. I saw some of my own students. One boy in particular I have a new respect for. Even though he is four-foot-nothing, he doesn’t back down from a fight. He doesn’t win any either. I think I’m going to give him extra credit.

But it is the words prevalent in these fights I am going to focus on here. The kid who screamed the dialogue above was not a black kid. The child he was yelling at, Nate, was a white kid, and the kid Nate was fighting was not black either. As the shaky camera panned around the smiling, laughing audience while two boys bloodied each other’s faces, the crowd was like any large group at my high school: All ethnicities were represented, including black kids.

And no, the black kids did not take offense to this liberal use of the “N” word.

A lot of people don’t know this, and it might not be true in most of our country, but here in Northern California, the word “nigga” is no longer used exclusively by black people. Actually, it’s been like this for over a decade.

Lets back up.

The evolution of the “N” word has been a painful one. While the term “Negro” was used as regular parts of speech forty years ago, nobody uses that anymore. Now we call our fellow Americans “African-Americans” or simply “black.” However, the derogatory version of the word, “nigger”, continues to be of use in the mouths of racists. That is nothing new either. What then happened with the advent of rap and hip-hop was black people taking that word and making it their own. “Oh, you want to call us niggers?” They said. “How’s that gonna hurt me when I’m using the same word myself.” It also became “nigga.” It was kind of ingenious. Black people owned the word, and by doing so, removed some of the racism from it (not completely, but you get my drift). What ensued was this: They could use it but you couldn’t, i.e., complete ownership.

But now, with the prevalence of the word in our music and movies, black people aren’t the only ones using it. As far as I can see in Northern California, EVERYONE is using it.

The word “nigga” is now an integral part of ghetto youth of all colors. It has been like this for a long time. When I graduated with the class of 1998, students of all colors were using it like crazy. But back then, they still refrained from using it too loudly when there were actual black people around. The word was still in its infancy for universal enjoyment.

But today- today all these kids are using it. “Nigga” has now turned into “fool”, “sucka”, “joker”, “dog”, “brother”, “sister”, “friend”, EVERYTHING. And kids today aren’t looking over their shoulder when they say it either. I heard one of my best students say it the other day. This little Latino kid who has a 4.0, a cute little Mohawk, and volunteer hours, said, “That nigga’s crazy, he’s bad in Geometry class.” He wasn’t talking about a black person. There was a black student sitting next to him. It was the most natural thing in the world amongst students (he didn’t know I was listening).

Of course students don’t use it in class discussions. “Nigga” is still a pretty hardcore word. You can use it for a variety of things, but if you do you are letting everyone know you aren’t from the suburbs. It still packs a punch. You just have to make sure you don’t roll that “r”, you know what I’m saying?

What does all this mean? I honestly don’t know. As an English teacher I am obviously interested in language. It is an intriguing phenomenon: a word with such powerful connotations becoming so popular that I hear it every single day from students of all colors. And it seems to be gaining speed. It is used by more kids of all colors today than ten years ago- I tell you that with certainty. And despite the NAACP and prominent black leaders asking black musicians and celebrities to ease up on its usage, I’ve only seen its increased use in my black students as well.

Is that bad? I don’t know. I’m not sure it is- but I do think it is worthy of discourse. I wonder what your thoughts about it are. Clearly, my history of the “N” word has been generalized for brevity. There are books out there about it. But what of this new evolution? Are we continuing to remove the racism from a horrible word simply by not rolling the “r”? Or are we continuing to give credence to hate speech? I tend to think it is the former.

Here’s the kicker: With its increased usage by White kids, Latinos, Indians, Arabs, Asians, Islanders, and everyone else, in twenty years, will we all be niggas?

I kind of hope so.