Below is a truly fascinating interview with John Lennon about a song he wrote with Yoko Ono called “Woman is the N—– of the World” (found at Racialicious).
I spell out the term in the rest of this post and the speakers in the video use it, so I’ve decided it’s not safe for work.
The video and my comments after the jump, along with some comments I took from the Racialicious post.
What’s so interesting to me?
Lennon explains the title of the song. Essentially the point is that women’s work is more or less compulsory work that is done for no pay (just room and board) for the benefit of others. He also quotes the Chairman of the Black Caucus, who says:
If you define nigger as someone whose lifestyle is defined by others, whose opportunities are defined by others, whose role in society is defined by others, then good news! – you don’t have to be black to be a nigger in this society. Most of the people in America are niggers.
The use of the term “nigger” in this way is very provocative. Certainly it gets peoples’ attention. Certainly it makes a compelling argument. It also makes some sense historically. For example, at the turn of the century, the Irish were called “white niggers” in order to denigrate them by comparing them to Blacks (see also this post). Such linguistic bridging was often used to transfer the hatred of one group to another. He and Yoko appear to be trying to appropriate this strategy and do it for progressive instead of oppressive purposes.
Then again:
(a) Some object to the very idea of comparing oppressions as inherently problematic. In sociology, we call this the “Oppression Olympics.” Over at Racialicious, drispe comments:
His argument runs the risk of pitting racism against the ills of sexism, which women will win out with because of their numbers. I don’t call slavery the black holocaust, because it’s just slavery, and the holocaust is a different thing entirely. They aren’t in a competition of who suffered more.
(b) Lennon admits that there have objections to his use of the term, “nigger.” And his defense of the use of the term is not philosophical, but more along the lines of: “I have Black friends, so it must be okay.”
(c) Does the song erase black women? Um, kinda. I mean, yeah totally. At Racialicious, A. D. Nix writes:
And yes, where does that leave black women? I guess we’re the nigger niggers of the world?
(d) I don’t know anything about the Beatles, but one commenter at Racialicious, Black Canseco writes:
For a band that spent much of its early years appropriating black music and mannerisms with little attention to the communities it came from to go for the easy N-word as some sort of protest slang for non blacks is pretty pathetic.
This alone puts John Lennon in my top 10 list of all-time annoying hipsters.
On another note, it is fascinating for me, as someone who didn’t live through this era, to see mainstream, beloved, culturally powerful figures talk about women’s rights. Lennon isn’t afraid to say that he cares about women and women’s rights. He offers some honest comments about how he abandoned misogyny only through discussions with Ono. In this way, he is willing to admit her influence. He seems to respect her tremendously and is not afraid to let others know it. Their appearance, further, defies traditional masculine and feminine norms. He is not the giant hulking manly man and she, as far as I can tell, wears no make-up and does not appear concerned with whether the audience thinks she is beautiful.
Still, at Racialicious Fathima points out that Ono does almost no talking, deferring to Lennon.
What do you think about this interview?
