Bear with me here, and lets take an arm's length, analytical approach to the issue.

I recognize that the term has a distinct resonance for those who are its target when deployed as an epithet, or for those who use it to self-identify when supporting group solidarity, and I don't in any way minimize that.

But we need to recognize that for the rest of us it's essentially a concept; that in of itself it has no power outside of the intentions of the user, and if this is the case, then the popular culture prohibitions regarding its use are ill-conceived.

Don't get me wrong, it's a powerful concept, carrying the weight not only of its particular history but also the political narrative that partisans have embellished it with. And because of this it's a remarkably effective vehicle to communicate a really significant idea, complete with every inherent subtlety that ordinary discourse struggles to make clear.

I can think of two examples that illustrate this, as well as the terms portability. One, the usage in the political treatise White Niggers of America refers to the historic second-class status of the native French-speaking population in Canada. It's use is of course entirely instrumentalist, in much the same way that "apartheid" is deployed by some when criticizing Israel. Yes, there are structural similarities, but when you scratch through the superficial, it's clear that the term has been mis-applied, or rather applied simply to capture attention rather than to further deep analysis.

The second is Chris Rock's usage in a past stand-up performance, when distinguishing between regular folks and those who behave in a deplorable manner, who he characterizes as "niggers". For Rock, this is not a racial epithet. He is a post-racial man in an ostensibly post-racial country, segments of which still clutch onto their racialized interpretations of reality. He uses the term strategically to refer to a sub-group that may parallel those who fit the description of "white-trash". By doing so, he underlines the fact that each black American has the personal power to either self-identify as those the term is used to disparage, or to completely reject the entire premise of them being constructed that way. It's essentially an exercise of empowerment.

Which of course leads us inevitably to the class-based analysis, where racial identity and racially-laden terms are used as short-hand to distinguish and reinforce differences between groups who are in competition for jobs in an environment of scarcity. This is why one sees practices that are explicitly racist being deployed by those that are elsewhere characterized as "white trash".

And who are these people? Well, if we are to scratch beneath the surface, and use Rock's insights, it is they who are the actual "white niggers of America" - those caught in a cycle of poverty and the consequent depravity and misery of a life that is "nasty, brutish and short". To understand them better, it's useful to see them in an environment other than the U.S., since for Americans it may be less politically and emotionally charged.

In Britain, this group of the under-class are referred to as "benifit scroungers"; those that remain unemployed and survive in their ghettos on government handouts and petty crime. This critique on a TV documentary is illuminating in that it critiques the critiques. Rather than simply accept the opinions of those that characterize these Rockian "niggers" as lazy, devious and stupid petty criminals, it points out that their circumstances are a result of historic structural deficiencies in society, politics and the economy that are self perpetuating, and that serve the narrow interests of the 1%.

To conclude, "nigger" is a vehicle that communicates a heavily-laden idea in a powerful way that is universally understood. In the struggle for social justice, human emancipation and universal enfranchisement it is a powerful and effective tool that belongs to all of us. It could be argued that we need to use it more, rather than less. By doing so, we illuminate the universal shared struggle of people everywhere, which actually binds us together with common interests. By doing so we also neutralize the word's hatefulness.

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