I No Longer Drop N-Bombs

I stopped using the word in my twenties — but long before then, I realized its power

Walter Mwasi Williams III
LEVEL
Published in
8 min readFeb 13, 2020

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A close-up portrait photo of an older, mature man with tears in his eyes, covering his mouth.
Photo: David Waldorf/Photodisc/Getty Images

To call the word “nigga” complex is an understatement. Even calling “complex” an understatement is an understatement.

Black people have a thorny, painful, multifaceted relationship with the word. To assume its usage is cut and dried — even among us — is…

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