"That term encapsulates so much of the indignities forced on our people," said the Rev. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., a longtime civil-rights leader who is executive director of the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice. "That term made us less than human, and that is why we must reject the usage of that term.

"We cannot let that term be trivialized," he said. "We cannot let that term be taken out of its historical context."

Some blacks say they are so traumatized by the oppressive legacy of "nigger," that they cannot even not bring themselves to say the word. Instead, they choose linguistic dodges like "the N-word" or simply spelling the word out. Other blacks say they are "ambivalent" about the growing public use of "nigger." Earlier Hateful Terms

"Does it signal a new progressive step forward toward a new level of understanding or a regressive step back into self-hate?" asked Christopher Cathcart, a black 29-year-old public relations specialist in New York. "I fear it is the latter."

Throughout history, nearly minority groups have found themselves branded by hateful terms. Early in the century, such seemingly innocent words as "Irish" and "Jew" were considered pejoratives, said Edward Bendix, a professor of linguistic anthropology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

In time the groups have used some of the same terms as passwords to their particular groups, which is what happened with "nigger" in the black vernacular. Indeed, Bob Guccione Jr., editor and publisher of the popular music magazine Spin -- which reports extensively on the rap music scene -- said that while whites are very reluctant to use "nigger" because it has "such an incredible weight of ugliness to it," blacks often use it in the presence of whites as a verbal demarcation point. 'That's Harder'

"In a sense, it empowers the black community in the white mainstream," said Mr. Guccione, who is white. "They can use a very powerful word like a passkey, and whites dare not, or should not, use it."