Over the past couple of years, you probably have heard the word coon used to refer to a Black person from America.  Normally, it is used to reference a Black person who says something that publicly says things that other Black people in the United States don’t agree with.  But the word has been so overused that many don’t know the real meaning of the word.  So since most of your who read my blog don’t live in the United States, you may wonder what really is a coon?  Well, here is the answer.

Real Meaning of a Coon

A coon is not someone who says something that is controversial.  A coon refers to a Black person who plays a character that is a negative stereotype of a Black person, usually for money or to advance themselves at the expense of other Black people.  Normally, a coon will hate other Black people in America, and will put down Black people while praising anyone who is not Black.  It is not unusually for popular Black people in television or radio in the United States to be called a coon for not being what other people consider to be Black enough or being “real.”  But are these people really coons?

Who Coons Really Are

Black people who want to see Black people act properly, speak properly or live up to a higher standard are often called coons, but they are not.  Coons play up to a negative stereotype of Black people.  These stereotypes would be things such as a man not taking care of his children, people selling drugs, being sexually promiscuous, having a number of kids out of wedlock with different people, in street gangs, robbing people, being lazy, disrespecting women, being drunk and using drugs, just to say a few.  While some feel that these activities are just “keepin it real” they are really acts of cooning.  They do not present a positive or real image of Black people, nor are they encouraging to see.  If anything, these acts make Black men and women look bad and should not be celebrated.

Hopefully this helps you to see who the real coons are in society.  I personally hope that this word stops being thrown around the way that it has.  The history of the word is much deeper and is very hurtful, so you should be extremely careful about calling other people this.  But at least now you’ll have a better understanding of what the word is and why you can’t believe it when other people are called this all the time.

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