The term "nigger-lover" was not only derogatory toward Blacks because of the cruelly termed reference to them, but it was also a derogatory term meant to describe the Whites who supported or befriended them. Unfortunately, this was a term that reinforced the racism and segregation that marked the pre-Civil Rights era that Harper Lee describes in To Kill a Mockingbird. Because it was so widely accepted that Blacks were of lesser value in society,...
The term "nigger-lover" was not only derogatory toward Blacks because of the cruelly termed reference to them, but it was also a derogatory term meant to describe the Whites who supported or befriended them. Unfortunately, this was a term that reinforced the racism and segregation that marked the pre-Civil Rights era that Harper Lee describes in To Kill a Mockingbird. Because it was so widely accepted that Blacks were of lesser value in society, calling someone a "nigger-lover" meant that they, too, were of lesser value in society. They were seen as associating with the lower classes, so to speak. By calling a white person by this term, it further demoralized and dehumanized Blacks, while at the same time demoralizing and dehumanizing the Whites who "liked" them. This also sent the message that supporting or befriending Blacks was socially unacceptable and that non-Blacks would be socially shamed for doing so.
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