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The suggestion by Jesse L. Jackson that black people be referred to as African Americans is fine with me. But we have a long way to go before white people become willing to make this change. And, frankly, we have an even longer way to go before black people catch on. I come to this conclusion after visiting a local elementary school where one class period was devoted to the discussion of a word that is still commonly used by blacks to refer to themselves. It is the "N" word, and I do not mean Negro. It is the word that rolls smoothly, reflexively, some might even say naturally, off the tongues of black boys, girls, men and women alike. Dexter Reed, a social worker at several elementary schools in the District, convened the discussion classes after hearing two black youths casually refer to each other using this derogatory word. Reed asked the boys to "look the word up" in an outdated but still used school dictionary, thinking that they would find that it meant something without regard to race like "stingy" or "uncouth." Instead, they found it defined as a characterization of black people, as well as Indians and Egyptians, "usually offensive." During a recent discussion group at the Stevens Elementary School in Northwest Washington, the pupils were asked to define the word as they mean it when they use it. "Rude or uncouth," said Rumal Rackley, 11. "Crazy or dumb," said Anthony Davis, 10. "Dumb," agreed Phillip Sikes, 13. Invariably, the definitions offered by the children had nothing to do with race. But when asked if they had ever used this word to refer to the stupidity of a white person, none raised their hands. The truth was, without their even being aware of it, they had reserved this particular denigration for their own people. And although they had internalized its meaning as connoting ignorance, they heard and used the word in almost every conceivable circumstance. "I saw two men having a stick fight and one of them had his eye knocked out of his face," recalled Fernado Payne, 9. At that point, Payne said, the injured man yelled the "N" word several times. "When people are arguing and they don't have anything to say it slips out," said Jolla-Anne Meroe, 11. "I hear it on cable television all the time," said Vernon Hunt, 13. "They use it in rap songs. Mostly I hear it on the basketball court. People say, 'Ah, {'N'}, I can whip you . . . . ' " When asked where the word originated, the children were unanimous: adults. Asked where they heard the word used most, the response was from their peers. Some of them believed that it was a matter of noble distinction that another black person could use the "N" word to refer to them while a white person could not. Their minds had not yet developed the psychological sophistication to realize that once blacks begin to believe that they are "N's," there is no need for white people to say anything. "The issue," Reed pointed out to the students, "is self-esteem. You are our future. We want you to believe in yourselves, not fall victim to this subtle form of racism." Reed had become so disgusted with some dictionary publishers for misdefining the word that he asked the students to write letters of protest, which some did. "{'N'} is the word that white people used against us in segregation days," wrote Don Givens, 11. "When I was in third grade, a white boy called me a {'N'} and I hit him." In many respects, the students at Stevens are fortunate. They have been given opportunity to think twice about the words they use to describe others who are black like themselves. But it will take more than a classroom of enlightened children if black people are to cast off this self-limiting shackle and claim a title as powerful and positive as African American.

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