All posts by Fahima Haque

 
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What’s all in a word?


I didn’t really listen to what they were saying exactly, but my ears perked up when I heard one of the boys calling the other the N-word. To my knowledge, the context in which the often-offending word was said was not a negative one, but rather in reference to his friend. All the same however, I couldn’t help but take note of it and the black man standing by the education-prep books couldn’t help but glance either.

His cursory glance obviously made me think. Was he irritated by the boy’s obvious disregard for using such a contentious word, especially for someone who isn’t black, or did he merely peer at the relatively loud outburst amidst the quiet readers?

Despite my strong distaste for most politically correct terminology, I can’t help but find something wrong with the N-word. Maybe it’s because I’m a sensitive minority or I’ve been unconsciously brainwashed by society to feel that this word is an especially ugly one and should never be uttered by society (even though I have never been one to object to a substantial sprinkling of the word “fuck” in my daily vocabulary).

When I bring it up to my black friends, they generally respond with indifference when a black person chooses to include the term, but if a suburban, fourteen-year-old white kid utters it, then it’s clearly a problem. Or is it only a problem when a so-called dumb white kid samples it for their liking, but it’s tolerable if New York City “urban” Hispanic kids consider it worthy of their sentences? Frankly, I wouldn’t blame black people for being annoyed. I liken the N-word to the Fubu of the English language; you know, “For us by us.”  In a sense, I get it. Black people drummed up a unique word solely for their culture, and they certainly don’t want anyone stripping it from them.

In another sense, I’m just confused. How could a word have created such controversy? I, myself, have never said it and never plan on saying it; not because I think it’s taboo, but rather out of respect for black history. However, plenty of my non-black friends randomly pepper their daily conversation with it.

Honestly though, does it even matter? It’s just one word lost among the millions of other problematic phrases in our society. Or is this issue with the N-word actually a much larger problem we face in today’s environment because it further segregates what is supposedly black and what is supposedly part of the other? Isn’t the point of diversity and globalization and living in 2008 to view the inhabitants of this planet as people, not as parallels established via color?

Either way, every time I’m presented with this argument, I rarely find a reasonable explanation concerning this vocable perplexity. In a perfect world, we all would just ridicule those who quantify and categorize every example concerning color or ethnicity. But until then, we’ll just have to settle for semi-inane blogs posted by curious rabble-rousers. 

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Even foodies sweat it out


On second thought, however, I chuckled, agreeing with her confounded expression. I quickly realized the sad hilarity of the food industry. As a self-proclaimed burgeoning foodie, complete with an Epicurious.com widget proudly affixed on my Macbook, I, too, found myself lost in the culinary sphere of everything from executing the most perfectly puffed pommes dauphin to creating a delicate but savory parsnip foam. Yet as a penny-pinching college student, I can’t fathom why I feel the need to procure my lox and cream cheese bagel breakfasts from the neighborhood Balducci’s on New Mexico Ave. in Washington, D.C.

It finally occurred to me that even if I, too, wanted to purchase the outrageously expensive pounds of wild ramps at $14.99, it has become nearly impossible for food snobs to divorce themselves from loving food to loving the distinction of said product. We also can note the hypocritical nature of food snobs and regular people alike—that it is often the same environmentally conscious, Obama-sign-toting liberals that are also desperate to purchase the 43-dollar liter of Italian olive oil for their dinner soiree bruschette. Do we all just ignore the startling statistic that half the world lives on less than two dollars a day? Or should we continue tickling our refined palettes with a Northern Bluefin tuna tartare amuse bouche?

Unlike the argument of criticizing how the wealthy spend their money on extraneous costs, this contradicting question strikes up a more unsettling debate. We all may share this land, but we certainly do not share the same woes that other families do across the world. The larger problem with the agony of food and the availability of it is that it is glaringly obvious that food snobs won’t recognize the poor and hungry because they simply do not understand the plight of those suffering in a perpetual state of gastric misery. But if a middle-class citizen hailing from an immigrant home, like myself, also fails to remember about the other half, who isn’t guilty of hypocrisy and sickening contradiction?

The point of this revelation is not to point fingers or engage in a battle of who deserves what blame but rather a quest in becoming cognizant of our international shortcomings and hopefully also taking action in the cause.

Now, if only an article or a blog could effectively solve the issue of a global food crisis and simultaneously transform the minds of the greedy and wealthy, everyone in the world from Monaco to Bangladesh could head to their local Whole Foods and devour a package of chili-infused Vosges chocolates perfect for any occasion, guilt-free.

Dear Reader, In The Fray is a nonprofit staffed by volunteers. If you liked this piece, could you please donate $10? If you want to help, you can also: