Fair enough. But the question is' date=' if this word is ever to be eradicated - and I would hope that is the goal - is the African American community the one that needs to lead the charge, which is contrary to what many feel? I don't know the answer, but just pondering about this recently.[/quote']

 

Only if you feel there is a cause and effect. I do not.

I don't disagree with you that it's an issue, but it's not THE problem.

 

THE problem is people still using the word with malicious intent. Even if black dudes stopped using that with each other, you really think that is going to stop racist white guys from calling them that? Nah...

 

Fair enough, one of the problems.

 

No probably not but if black dudes stopped using it all together and then some other dude (not black) used it then I believe there would be a lot of reason to punish that other dude but as long as black dudes can and do use it no one else should ever be punished for using it because that makes it a double standard and double standards are what we need to do away with, not allow to flourish.

I haven't read the rest of the thread, I went right to your first comment. The bold above is the problem, until that changes this word will always be an issue.

 

Agreed.

I haven't read the rest of the thread, I went right to your first comment. The bold above is the problem, until that changes this word will always be an issue.

 

On the surface it makes sense but can it be likened to the fact that I'm allowed to call my brother stupid but if someone else does we're going to have a problem?

Do you think Frank Kaminsky took it as a racial slur?

I would be shocked if he did. And to be honest, I would not have cared if he had called Frank a "big nose Jew". Many on here will probably not agree with me, but to me, being called a name is nothing. Now, call my kids or wife a bad word, and I might get pretty upset.

I hate that word, no matter who is using it or why. But it's not necessarily that word in particular. I hate the term redneck, too, for instance. It infuriates me when people embrace their "redneckness". They don't really get what that means, do they? So, to me, the N Word is exactly equal to Redneck. And I can see the same argument being made for white people to call each other rednecks, and it be ok, but if a black person called them that, there'd be a big ole stink.

On the surface it makes sense but can it be likened to the fact that I'm allowed to call my brother stupid but if someone else does we're going to have a problem?

 

If he's called stupid in a derogatory way, it's not about the word, but the intent IMO.

 

I agree with Clizzy on intent making all the difference in how the word is used, although I am not a fan of it at all and believe we'd all be better off if the word was stripped from our vocabulary.

 

The inconsistency I see is that if two black guys are friends, they can use it with one another. But if a black guy has an equally close friend who is white, he can't use it. Even though neither has malicious or racist or hateful intent, one can say it and the other can't based solely on the color of skin? Isn't that what we're trying to eradicate? Treating someone differently based only on the color of their skin?

I get the sentiment that black dudes should stop using it if we want to eliminate the problem, I really do...

 

But you know what would REALLY help the situation? White people holding other white people who say it in a derogatory manner accountable. White people use it because they are comfortable around each other, because they think they can "get away with it."

I would be shocked if he did. And to be honest, I would not have cared if he had called Frank a "big nose Jew". Many on here will probably not agree with me, but to me, being called a name is nothing. Now, call my kids or wife a bad word, and I might get pretty upset.

 

Is he Jewish? I don't think so, but I don't know for sure. He went to Benet Academy, a Catholic School. I would think he may be of Polish descent, but that doesn't make him Jewish.

I hate that word, no matter who is using it or why. But it's not necessarily that word in particular. I hate the term redneck, too, for instance. It infuriates me when people embrace their "redneckness". They don't really get what that means, do they? So, to me, the N Word is exactly equal to Redneck. And I can see the same argument being made for white people to call each other rednecks, and it be ok, but if a black person called them that, there'd be a big ole stink.

 

Redneck is a great example.

 

If one white guy calls his buddy a redneck, as RM has pointed out, they embrace it.

 

If me and PP call a couple white dudes rednecks, you think they are going to feel the same way about it?

I'm not sure there are a lot of white guys out there calling each other rednecks.

I'm not sure there are a lot of white guys out there calling each other rednecks.

 

You need to leave Northern Kentucky and spend some time in the hills and hollers. :lol2:

If me and PP call a couple white dudes rednecks, you think they are going to feel the same way about it?

 

It wouldn't bother me in the least because you two are my friends & I know you would never knowingly try to hurt me or verbally cut me down.

 

Again, I think it's all about intent. And intent is not color-based, but rather it is heart-based.

Had a friend that used to call me his N-Word all of the time...as a white guy I wasn't offended by a black friend calling me this, should I have been? It just felt like he was saying "we were boys and rolled together"...because we did.

 

Over the years I have become more and more sensitive to that word and never say it and rarely does it even come into my thoughts.

It wouldn't bother me in the least because you two are my friends & I know you would never knowingly try to hurt me or verbally cut me down.

 

Again, I think it's all about intent. And intent is not color-based, but rather it is heart-based.

 

What if Getslow called you a redneck?