Editing Nigger (section)

===Political use===
[[File:Why the nigger is not fit to vote.jpg|thumb|Historical American cartoon titled "Why the nigger is not fit to vote", by [[Thomas Nast]], arguing the reason Democrats objected to African-Americans having the vote was that, in the [[1868 United States presidential election|1868 US presidential election]], African-Americans voted for the Republican candidates [[Ulysses S. Grant]] and [[Schuyler Colfax]]. "Seymour friends meet here" in the background is a reference to the Democratic Party candidate: [[Horatio Seymour]].]]

"[[Niggers in the White House]]"<ref name="Niggers in the White House">{{cite web|url=http://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/Research/Digital-Library/Record.aspx?libID=o284393|publisher=Theodore Roosevelt Center, [[Dickinson State University]]|title=Niggers in the White House|access-date=September 12, 2013|archive-date=March 31, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331161158/https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/Research/Digital-Library/Record.aspx?libID=o284393|url-status=live}}</ref> was written in reaction to [[Booker T. Washington dinner at the White House|an October 1901 White House dinner]] hosted by Republican President [[Theodore Roosevelt]], who had invited [[Booker T. Washington]]—an African-American presidential advisor—as a guest. The poem reappeared in 1929 after First Lady [[Lou Henry Hoover|Lou Hoover]], wife of President [[Herbert Hoover]], invited [[Jessie De Priest]], the wife of African-American congressman [[Oscar De Priest]], to [[Jessie De Priest tea at the White House|a tea for congressmen's wives at the White House]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Jones|first1=Stephen A.|last2=Freedman|first2=Eric|title=Presidents and Black America: A Documentary History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mBRKYgEACAAJ|year=2011|publisher=CQ Press|location=Los Angeles|isbn=9781608710089|page=349|access-date=July 25, 2020|archive-date=September 15, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240915130429/https://books.google.com/books?id=mBRKYgEACAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> The identity of the author—who used the byline "unchained poet"—remains unknown.

In explaining his refusal to be [[Conscription in the United States#Vietnam War|conscripted to fight the Vietnam War]] (1955–1975), professional boxer [[Muhammad Ali]] said, "No [[Vietcong]] ever called me nigger."<ref>{{cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Randall |author-link=Randall Kennedy |title=Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word |publisher=Random House |year=2002 |page=28 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yb8LmupcLdkC&pg=PA28 |isbn=978-0-375-42172-3 |access-date=September 24, 2016 |archive-date=September 15, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240915130432/https://books.google.com/books?id=yb8LmupcLdkC&pg=PA28#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> Later, his modified answer was the title of a documentary, ''No Vietnamese Ever Called Me Nigger'' (1968), about the front-line lot of the U.S. Army black soldier in combat in Vietnam.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rollins |first=Peter C. |title=The Columbia Companion to American History on Film: How the Movies Have Portrayed the American Past |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2003 |page=341 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xB1rhm6Ke2UC&pg=PA341 |isbn=978-0-231-11222-2 |access-date=September 24, 2016 |archive-date=September 15, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240915130433/https://books.google.com/books?id=xB1rhm6Ke2UC&pg=PA341#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> An Ali biographer reports that, when interviewed by [[Robert Lipsyte]] in 1966, the boxer actually said, "I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong."<ref>{{cite book |last=Lemert |first=Charles |title=Muhammad Ali: Trickster in the Culture of Irony |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2003 |pages=105–107 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MI1cTZGcDVgC&pg=PA105 |isbn=978-0-7456-2871-4 |access-date=September 24, 2016 |archive-date=September 15, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240915130531/https://books.google.com/books?id=MI1cTZGcDVgC&pg=PA105 |url-status=live }}</ref>

On February 28, 2007, the [[New York City Council]] symbolically banned the use of the word ''nigger''; however, there is no penalty for using it. This formal resolution also requests excluding from [[Grammy Award]] consideration every song whose lyrics contain the word; however, Ron Roecker, vice president of communication for the Recording Academy, doubted it will have any effect on actual nominations.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/usa/story/0,,2023817,00.html |title=New York city council bans use of the N-word |last=Pilkington |first=Ed |date=March 1, 2007 |work=The Guardian |access-date=August 17, 2007 |archive-date=September 15, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240915130535/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/mar/01/usa.edpilkington |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://webdocs.nyccouncil.info/textfiles/Res%200693-2007.htm?CFID=425440&CFTOKEN=70865698 |title=Res. No. 693-A – Resolution declaring the NYC Council's symbolic moratorium against using the 'N' word in New York City |publisher=New York City Council |access-date=August 17, 2007 |archive-date=March 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220308044117/http://webdocs.nyccouncil.info/textfiles/Res%200693-2007.htm?CFID=425440&CFTOKEN=70865698 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The word can be invoked politically for effect. When Detroit mayor [[Kwame Kilpatrick]] came under intense scrutiny for his conduct in 2008, he deviated from an address to the city council, saying, "In the past 30 days, I've been called a nigger more than any time in my entire life." Opponents accused him of "playing the [[race card]]" to save his political life.<ref name="COXreaction">{{cite news |last=French |first=Ron |date=March 13, 2008 |url=http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080313/METRO/803130408 |title=Attorney General Cox: Kilpatrick should resign |access-date=March 13, 2008 |work=The Detroit News}}{{dead link|date=February 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.mlive.com/grpress/2008/03/attorney_general_mike_cox_call.html|title=Attorney General Mike Cox calls for Kwame Kilpatrick's resignation|date=March 13, 2008|publisher=Advance Local Media}}</ref>