The N Word in the Bullpen

Richie Incognito, workplace bully

Rembert Browne, an AMDAL alum, has been crushing it lately on Grantland, writing informative pieces on sports and hip hop as it relates to pop culture (aka my dream job minus sports).  Recently he wrote this article regarding the NFL’s decision to ban the use of the N word, whether it ends in “a” or “er.”  Before you read the below, read that.  I’ll wait.

Good, right?  Before we get into it, I want to say that I fully appreciate Rem’s stance, both its content and the fact that he’s taking a position at all.  These are awkward discussions to have, but if we can’t talk about race in sports and rap, we’re pretty much fucked.  So why not? 

I won’t book report Rembert’s article since you just read it (right?), but the gist is that to him, context matters and that a blanket NFL rule does little to help the situation in the league and out of it.  I fully agree, and because this topic hits as close to home as possible for someone who isn’t black, I’ll try to put it in my own context.

As a 30 year old rap fan, I often feel that the only place I get to truly enjoy rap is alone.  I alt-tab music videos all day and crank that shit while driving down 101.  And while I try to mumblerap along with the songs, when the n word comes in, I drop out like a crude radio edit. If white rappers Action Bronson or Yelawolf, who have half black kids, or Eminem, Mac Miller or Macklemore all refuse to use it, why should I?  Tyler the Creator, a talented young black Los Angelino, has said multiple times in interviews that he wouldn’t care if his white friends use it. I doubt they actually do.
 

What about Drake or Obama, who are both half white?  I’m half Asian and all Jewish, and while I’ll occasionally make Asian jokes (FOBs are hilarious, Jews less-so), I rarely let similar jokes slide from my gentile friends.  Is that fair?  Not sure, but the way I see it, I can navigate both worlds, because I have an Asian family and a Jewish family, not a half-asian half-jewish family.  So I can only imagine the same is true for using the N word – it belongs to black people not to me.  And if someone told me I can’t use a word that belongs to me in my free time, I’d be pissed.

But the NFL isn’t free time to players or coaches.  It’s work.  And as a 30 year old resident Human Resources person working in a highly litigious state, I’m hyper-aware of what is and isn’t allowed in the workplace.  My heuristic is this: Does saying or doing something make another person feel uncomfortable?  Will that discomfort land the company in hot water? Then don’t say or do that thing.  Pretty simple. Many of you reading this have gone through sexual harassment prevention training and the lessons are the same.  Does saying or doing something, even if not directed AT a person, make that person feel uncomfortable?  Then it’s off limits.  So I feel the same way about the N word in the work place.  Another case study – imagine the following situations:

a)     No blacks employee, non-black employee using the N word

b)    One black employee, uses the N word referencing non-black coworkers

c)     One black employee, uses the N word while talking on the phone (presumably to a black friend) while in the bullpen with non-black coworkers

d)    Two black employees, using the N word while talking to each other, same non-black bullpen

e)     Company of black employees, using the N word

Now imagine you’re the non-black person in the room.  How would you feel?  If I were to take the same test, I’d say in all but the last situation, I’d be uncomfortable (in the last one I wouldn’t even be there, but you get it). So back to the NFL – we’re somewhere between d) and e).  Now the NFL isn’t Beutsche Dank, so employees aren’t as stuffy.  And maybe that’s why the N word on the field has gotten this far unchecked.  But there doesn’t have to be many situations to disrupt this delicate balance and it sounds like Incognito-gate was the tipping point.  If it wasn’t that, then it’d be something I’m sure. 

Point is, I’m in no position to opine on whether blacks should feel bad or good when they hear the “n__a” and I’m sure Rem is right that it all depends on who says it when.  And as a minority I’d be pissed if someone who isn’t my race tells me what I can and can’t say on my own time.  But unfortunately work is work - unless it’s your show and you’re willing to pay the legal bills, you have to play by the rules. Or take the 15 yard penalty.