Mark Kirk, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Illinois, told state Republican leaders last week about his plan to send “voter integrity” squads to two predominately African-American neighborhoods of Chicago and two other urban areas of Illinois with significant minority populations “where the other side might be tempted to jigger the numbers somewhat.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/mark_kirk_sends_poll_watchers_to_vulnerable_largel.php
“Intimidation” is my word based on this:
- “”Voter fraud” has been the rally cry for conservative groups seeking to make it more difficult to cast ballots and suppress minority voter turnout.” Quoted From the Above Article
- The video recorded the alderman from the south side of Chicago stating the remarks were an “insult” and “offensive”.
- Moreover, the Urban Dictionary defines it this way, “A jew who tries to act black.” This is offensive to Jews and African-American. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=jigger
- Additionally, I can’t speak about Chicago but in Louisiana where I come from the white folks used the word “jig” as an offense to African-Americans. Occasionally, they would extend that use to “jigger” to refer to the actions of a “jig” as in jigger rigging. A lexicon is a record of how regular people use words. In the South, I would not say it was a common usage but just about everyone I knew knew what it meant. If others have heard “jigger” used in this context, before the the Republican candidate’s comment, the comment would be heard as an insult, offensive and intimidating. This may not be how the Senator meant it but I think it is certainly how some might take it as was mentioned in the article. Here is proof of this statement:
“Jigaboo, jiggabo, jigarooni, jijjiboo, zigabo, jig, jigg, jigga, jigger
(U.S. and UK) a black person (JB) with stereotypical Black features (e.g. dark skin, wide nose, and big lips).[110] Jiggaboo or jigabo is from a Bantu verb tshikabo, meaning meek or servile.[111] There might also be a historical connotation with peek-a-boo, boo boo, boogie and boogie man.”