Counter-Currents
Including Audio Version by Jim Goad!
The Unpardonable Word
Jim Goad
Jekierin Walker
1,327 words / 9:27
Audio version: To listen in a player, use the one below or click here. To download the mp3, right-click here and choose “save link as” or “save target as.”
I live in greater Atlanta, which ranks second only to New York City among all American metro areas in having the highest total number of blacks. Atlanta, though, has nearly twice as many blacks per capita as NYC. If New York is the Big Apple, Atlanta is the Big Watermelon.
During the summer of 2020, as race riots raged across the country while an insane media egged it all on, I remarked to a friend how there was nothing stopping some opportunistic descendant of slaves from walking up to me as I pumped gas at a local station, pointing their smartphone camera at me, pressing the RECORD button, and asking, “Why did you just call me a nigger?”
That’s not nearly as paranoid as it might sound. Back in the summer of 1996, when I lived in Portland, I was temporarily handcuffed after I elbowed a young black gent out of my rental car as he tried breaking into it by crawling in between me and the steering wheel while I was in the driver’s seat. He told police that the incident kicked off when I’d flung some unkind racial epithets his way. Thankfully, witnesses in the parking lot behind the skeevy bar where all this went down corroborated my side of the story, which is that I’d made no racially untoward comments toward him, and the police let me go.
That paranoia-inducing incident happened less than a year after O. J. Simpson was acquitted of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ron Goldman in what was then known as “The Trial of the Century.” Although most people might not put it as bluntly as I will, the main reason Simpson beat the rap was because his defense lawyers argued that he couldn’t possibly have been a murderer because Mark Fuhrman, the white police detective who says he found a glove at the crime scene with Simpson’s blood on it, had been caught on tape several years before the murders saying the word “nigger.”
Rumor has it that Johnnie Cochran, the black member of Simpson’s fabled “Dream Team” of defense lawyers, promised a hung jury if he could seat at least one black juror. They wound up with eight black jurors and a complete acquittal.
Christopher Darden, a black lawyer for the prosecution, attempted to exclude evidence of Fuhrman’s N-bombs, arguing it would prejudice the jurors:
If you allow Mr. Cochran to use this word and play the race card, the direction and focus of the case changes: It is a race case now. . . . It’s the filthiest, dirtiest, nastiest word in the English language. . . . It will do one thing. It will upset the black jurors. It will say, Whose side are you on, “the man” or “the brothers”? . . . There’s a mountain of evidence pointing to this man’s guilt, but when you mention that word to this jury, or any African-American, it blinds people. It’ll blind the jury. It’ll blind the truth. They won’t be able to discern what’s true and what’s not.
Darden couldn’t bring himself to say “nigger,” deferring to the namby-pamby “N-word.” I don’t recall Johnnie Cochran saying “nigger,” either. But in what was admittedly a brilliant move, white defense lawyer F. Lee Bailey said it multiple times over the course of about ten minutes as he mercilessly grilled Fuhrman over whether he’d uttered that unspeakable word at any point over the past ten years. Fuhrman denied saying it but was outed as a liar once the jury heard excerpts from the damning tapes.
According to NewsOne:
the move effectively put the detective on trial instead of Simpson as the jury, which consisted of eight Black [sic] people, watched intently. . . . The cross-examination of Fuhrman was also effectively the turning point in what had up until that point been a lopsided case in favor of the prosecution.
You can buy Jim Goad’s ANSWER Me! here.
There wasn’t a wisp of evidence that Fuhrman had planted the bloody glove. But to a lopsidedly black jury, hearing a white lawyer repeatedly say the Unpardonable Word while watching a white detective lie under oath that he hadn’t said it was all they needed to let O. J. Simpson — at least in the eyes of most Americans — get away with murder
This past Monday in San Antonio, police say a 20-year-old black man named Jekierin Walker admitted to shooting and killing a 41-year-old white man named Stefan Volkmann. Walker, whom witnesses say had been panhandling at a gas station, apparently wasn’t so destitute that he couldn’t afford a handgun and several bullets.
“‘Your son was racist’: Murder suspect says dead man called him ‘n-word’ at San Antonio gas station,” reads the headline in a local Texas daily:
A man charged with murder Monday afternoon said the person killed in a deadly shooting earlier in the day called him the “n-word.”
“Your son was racist,” Jekierin Walker, 20, of Georgia, said as San Antonio police walked him past the media. He said he had no regrets.
Witnesses told police the victim began yelling racial slurs at Walker. That’s when Walker took out a gun and shot him multiple times. . . .
“Mr. Walker, what happened out there today?” asks a female voice as cops walk the handcuffed accused killer past the media. Walker responds, “Whole lotta racism.”
Police say that Walker has already admitted to the shooting. But they are also alleging that witnesses said Volkmann was “yelling racial slurs” at him before Walker shot him dead, so this might turn out to be another case where there’s a word that a jury finds to be worse than murder. Maybe he’ll plead down to manslaughter.
In May 2021 at a Dunkin’ doughnut store in Tampa, Florida, 27-year-old black manager Corey Pujols claimed that a 77-year-old white customer named Vonelle Cook called him a “nigger” twice — the second time after Pujols challenged him to say it again. Pujols socked Cook in the jaw with a right hook, causing him to fall and crack his head on the floor, resulting in a skull fracture, brain contusions, and death three days later. Pujols was initially charged with aggravated manslaughter, but in March of 2022, he accepted a plea bargain of felony battery and was — get this — sentenced to “two years of house arrest followed by three years of probation, as well as 200 hours of community service.”
One of the comments under the Washington Post story about Pujols’s sentencing was “Some things are equal to, if not worse, than violence.”
I would assume that this commenter believes that reportedly calling someone a “nigger” — and twice at that — is worse than punching the person who said it to death.
News reports about similar stories seem to imply a cause-and-effect dynamic between allegedly — heavy emphasis on that word, because in many if not most cases, there’s no proof beyond hearsay — dropping an N-bomb and getting yourself killed:
- Police say racial slur led to murder of Dothan businessman
- Police: Salamanca murder suspects say fight resulted from racial slur
It doesn’t matter that, at least for the time being in American jurisprudence, “Fighting words are not an excuse or defense for a retaliatory assault and battery.” Juries are composed of people who are too dumb to evade jury duty, so one shouldn’t expect them to grasp even basic legal concepts.
Take it from someone who got lucky and didn’t have to learn the hard way: If you’re not going to call a black person a racial slur, whether it’s in the parking lot behind a Portland bar or at a San Antonio gas station, make sure you have witnesses. Otherwise, you could wind up dead — and in a culture that has been brainwashed for decades to think there’s only one word that’s worse than murder, your killer might walk away with a slap on the wrist and a pat on the back.
* * *
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27 comments
“Juries are composed of people who are too dumb to evade jury duty, so one shouldn’t expect them to grasp even basic legal concepts.”
This is hilarious and true.
As the general population gets dumber and more diverse, the juries will get worse.
Somebody, I think maybe a lawyer, said “Next time you’re on a bus or subway, look at the people sitting across from you. Then imagine you’re on trial for you life, and this is the jury.”
Real countries have professional jurors, but that — like joining the rest of the world in celebrating May Day, having a national anthem that you can sing and doesn’t celebrate a military defeat, and playing soccer — conflicts with American ideas of “muh Freedom!” or something.
As a Canadian, I can take or leave soccer, but I agree about jurors.
Britain also has random-member-of-the-public juries. Having done jury service, I no longer believe in jury trials. I saw some jurors being sworn in for a complex fraud trial, that was going to involve a large amount of documentary evidence. An old lady read her oath from the prompt card, in such a halting way as to make it clear that reading was not her strong point. One of the barristers objected to her inclusion for this reason, but the judge said: “No, she’s sworn in now.” I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised.
What if you yelled “Nigger” in a crowded theater?
Just like the Common sense/law.
You have the right to yell “fire” or “niger” anywhere anytime however dumb the act is. And whoever was damaged by that act has the right to redress damages. I don’t think insults are damages but in the above situation, the insulted could ,in turn, insult you. That’s as far as it would go. An insult play off until one won or boredom set in and everyone goes away.
Well, that’s the technical legal answer. However, the way things are working is that the one doing the yelling might get a knife in the back, and the judge lets the knife wielder off with a slap on the wrist.
If it’s a showing of Black Panther, I would advise against doing so.
Gotta hand it to them. They weaponized a word. No other parallels in history. The only example that comes close is maybe the taboo of mentioning dead people. The White simply must aquire and own THEIR word. And we must make a tremendous combined collectives effort to, at least, ACT as if the name offends.
It’s our only hope.
And I had a similar thing happen here in ATL.
285 parking lot.
Southside. SWATS.
Had to get cigs,beer,and gas.
Ubiquitous Panhandler denied by me at the pump. He stepped back and loudly accused me of calling him a nigger.
I rehooked the gas nozzle, got back in my truck, rolled down the window and retorted even louder. ” I didn’t CALL you a nigger” I told you to quit ACTING like one”. At least twenty black folk heard and I know a beautiful black girl laughed.
Ifn I hadda had my diesel, I would have rolled coal leaving.
This made me happy.
Several years ago, I had planned to take my son to Charleston for a long weekend, then that church shooting happened. The one where a white fella killed several black folks. And I mean it happened literally the week before we were going. Anywhere else in the country they would have been burning the entire city down, but we got to Charleston, and other than loads of news people and flowers piled up all over the street where the church was, and it was business as usual. There was ONE black guy doing his level best to get people riled up, and they were there, leaning up against the outside of the church, but nobody lifted a finger.
I figured that might be the difference between southern blacks and northern ones, but I could be wrong.
For years, I’ve been trying to get the phrase “nigger-word” into circulation. It has an irritatingly stupid quality, but that only enhances the intended effect, which is to mock the cucky-sucky term “n-word”. However, “nigger-word” has not caught on. In fact, I used it in a book review, on this website, and it was edited to “the word nigger”.
While we’re on the subject, check this out. Most readers here will have seen it already, but even so, it’s worth another look. Dave Chapelle should have gotten the Nobel Peace prize for it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLOw_SzkRQ8
https://counter-currents.com/2013/07/the-nigger-word/
Haha, I’d never seen this before.
By the way Mr. Goad, I have been trying to contact you but to no avail since I have trouble understanding your address.
I hope that thing can be made easy to understand.
Wow! You very prolifically, and yet judiciously, used the phrase “nigger word”, without a hyphen, in that article from ten years ago. I can’t prove it, but I began my personal campaign in the mid-90s, shortly after hearing “n-word” for the first time. The Ngram (almost a pun in this context) website, which I should have checked before commenting, shows that the phrase “nigger word” really took off then, so I certainly wasn’t the only one to react the way I did. Surprisingly, the phrase has had bursts of popularity since 1840. The single word “nigger” has undulated over the past two centuries, and is now more popular than ever.
Very well said Greg. I’m glad you shared this with us. That word is an expletive and I’m certain that you and I share the same sentiments about people that overuse expletives. It shows a lack of creativity, imagination, vocabulary and a few IQ points.
The word wasn’t always an expletive. Back in the 1800s, it was probably no more offensive to most people than the word “black” is now. It was used liberally in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which some consider to be the greatest American novel. About a dozen years ago, someone came out with an edition of Huckleberry Finn that had the word bowdlerized. It’s clear that making it a capital offense for white people to say it has been a power move, and nearly all white people surrendered the right to use it. Meanwhile, black people overuse that word to rub our noses in it. Just as some people would say that using it shows a lack of imagination, others would say that refusing to use it shows a lack of courage. I’m in favor of demystifying all words. But there are no right and wrong answers here, only opinions.
True dat. Even Kurt Vonnegut used it very liberally.
Someone just forwarded me this 2017 article: Another “He Called Me Nigger” Killer Walks Free
Mentioned in the article: Florida Statute
782.03 Excusable homicide.—Homicide is excusable when committed by accident and misfortune in doing any lawful act by lawful means with usual ordinary caution, and without any unlawful intent, or by accident and misfortune in the heat of passion, upon any sudden and sufficient provocation, or upon a sudden combat, without any dangerous weapon being used and not done in a cruel or unusual manner.
* * *
Just look at all that wiggle room for a crooked lawyer with a cowed jury and a perverse judge!
Saying “nigger” is our prerogative, but only among ourselves; it is useful shorthand to implicitly express contempt for what is arguably the worst people group to ever curse the earth. However, we should never let a black, or anyone else, coerce us into calling a black person “nigger” in person, under present conditions, ever.
Someone might object to that, confident that he could win a fight. But doing that and winning the fight is even potentially worse. What does a white man suppose his defense is going to be when Tyrone’s sympathetic witness(es) and lawyer(s) are able to say, and probably with video evidence, “First, the racist defendant called Tyrone the N-word, then he beat him unconscious”?
Win or lose, a fight after saying that-which-shall-not-be-uttered is, pragmatically speaking, to be avoided at all costs until things drastically change. And if they change the way most of us hope they will, the point will be moot anyway.
Bravo!
Black people have had no remotely plausible claim of moral superiority over whites at least in the last sixty-odd years. About the same time we gave them civil rights, and started the ‘war on poverty’ we have dealt with horrendous rates of violent crime. And in the last three years especially tens of thousands are dead that would not be otherwise had there been no BLM crime spike. Compared to the Jan 6 protestors who killed no-one but are being brutalized in jail. The left has ZERO moral high-ground, especially since they celebrate big pharma poisoning us with vaccines and waging war in Europe. The life expectancy has been continuously declining the entire time Biden has been president. I therefore reject any and all moral grandstanding on the part of racial liberals and leftists in general, because it is clear that the right wing is in no way responsible for the current abysmal state of the country, except perhaps that we did not protest forcefully enough.
When I was in high school, every time a negro fought anyone, he’d always say he’d been called a nigger. Every single time. It’s over 20 years ago, but teachers, cops, everyone knew it was BS and laughed it off. 20 years ago. Now it’s grounds for murder. I hear that in Russia everyone carries a video camera to prevent insurance fraud. In America we’re going to have to have body cams to prove we didn’t say nigger. Until Whitey wakes up.
Hmm, that must be why so many blacks kill each other in the ‘hood’.
It’s curious how the media consistently fuels racial tensions and indoctrinates victim mentalities. It’s almost as if there is an underlying agenda. But that’s paranoid conspiracy thinking, right?
Look how the media played up so many examples of “racial injustice” up until the George Floyd debacle, which was finally sensational enough to resonate with naïve suburban housewives with liberal guilt complexes. This, in turn, defunded, demoralized and emasculated the police. Not surprisingly, crime and homelessness spike as the cops are sitting back and letting society learn the hard way that some folks are just inherent pieces of shit and not victims of “racism.”
The constant video feeds on social media of the same demographic (guess who?) committing crime leads to even the most lightly-educated, lightly-traveled, small town college pseudo-intellectual to draw some correlations. Presumably, a subset of this sanctimonious group is objective enough to second guess who the actual victims are and take down their preachy front yard signs.
The combination of the constant “systemic racism” media narrative with highly publicized Ben Crump orchestrated multimillion-dollar payouts doubtlessly has led to more of the dark persuasion to instigate needless conflict to hopefully get a piece of that “victim justice” money. There has been created an incentive to commit crime, resist arrest and possibly get some huge payout when the coppers give them a deserved thumping.
Let’s face it, many in that demographic with no athletic, hip hop, comedy or acting skills don’t have much chance of building wealth as the concepts of long versus short-term gratification are a few rungs up the IQ ladder (not to mention the fundamentals of compounding interest and dividend reinvestment plans). After all, the average is a borderline moron (reverting back to 60s era IQ scale categorization: IQ between 0 and 25 are idiots; IQs between 26 and 50 are considered imbeciles; and those who have an IQ between 51 and 70 are considered morons).
Dear editors and dear Mr. Goad
I have been reading articles from Counter-Currents since circa 2018, which helped me understand the racial lens of our World. I have read this article as well and once again my blood boils because of the abominable and atrocious injustice.
Part of me supports TND and other stuff because non-Whites are being completely scummy alongside the grievances I developed over the wrongs they did such as slavery done by Muslims, the mental poisoning the Japanese are doing, the Chinese using TikTok instead of animated cartoons, mass murder done by Blacks and so on.
But then part of me thinks all of that is too extreme even for someone who supports every pro-White incentive and denounces industrial scale mass invasion and race mixing.
I want to know if the answer is in the middle of these two conflicting parts or if one side is fully right and the other is not.
Just looking at that mugshot you posted to accompany the story made me spit out my coffee in a totally uncontrollable/instinctive disgust/shock response.
You know, just like how the used to confront gays with disgusting random images in the aversion/conversion therapy which was in vogue sixty years ago.
The sensation is rather like having a screen randomly flash up images of faeces, decomposing corpses, human entrails, severed limbs, anatomical dissection etc.
On a visceral level it can only be described as having extremely unpleasant smells and stinks forced upon you.
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