nem

pronoun \nem\

1. them, especially in the American South

a.
You finally get the courage to use the word when you’re sixteen. When you finally
wear a real bra and can count on your hips to fit into a skirt the right way. Your
tongue is a bit looser these days— you even get the jokes when you’re talking with
your mom and all the women in her family. When grandmother squeals out a dig
at someone you don’t know, you find something slippery in it and laugh, finally,
with the throat of a woman. Someone asks you who you went to the store with the
other day. Mama’nem, you say. Inside, you tilt with excitement. You light up, a pinball
machine of colloquialisms.

b.
At school, you’ve become a comedian. You’re quick with jokes about race—you’re
the only black girl in most of your classes. It is easy to blend in and stand out. You
offer opinions when they are required—during Black History Month, during the
unit on the Atlantic Slave Trade, when you and the teacher are the only ones who can
name a black poet who is not Langston Hughes. You have perfected what you call
‘the Klansman:” a short impression you pull out when there’s no more conversation
amongst your peers. They are impressed with your feigned Southern accent. They
are more impressed with how you wield the n-word. Me, Billy-Ray’annem gon’ round up
some niggers, you say. You watch your classmates laugh. Their eyes bulge like hot dough