this post was submitted on 02 Nov 2023
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Isn't it just the female version? Like actor/ actress. It's dated now but I guess in the 60s it wasn't.
So it's even anachronistic for Lincoln to think it's a slur word.
In Lincoln's time, 'Negress' would have been the genteel term. It was still fairly common in the 1960s, as was Jewess.
Look up "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" for a discussion of the fight to change the term from 'Negro' to 'Black.'
Let me get that straight: Malcom X was about the time of TOS right? So he fought against the N word while Star Trek was like "let's join the other team"
I get that it was in discussion back then and the message "don't think too much about language" is one I agree with but maybe don't encourage people to use a word that the black community tries to eliminate
@lugal Well, yes. This manifestation of Lincoln had been apparently living happily post-death on this planet and was aware of the changes to the universe somehow. So he was aware that language had changed since his time.
Certainly the word is discouraged now but it's not really at all at the level of the other N word.
(Uhura's response is an interesting one that doesn't resonate in the modern era, despite probably being considered akin to woke at the time, I dare say.)