I’m going out on a limb here…in fact, I don’t even know if I’ll even post this article or not, but here goes.
I was just outside getting a breath of fresh air when some kids came down from one of the neighboring businesses in my building. Actually, they were about 24 or 25, which to me seems like a kid. Anyway, they were talking about the previous night’s exploits, etc. and while doing so – well, one guy anyway, kept laughing and talking while.....dropping the “N” bomb.
Yeah, he saw me sitting there. And, no, that didn’t stop the guy from using it. Maybe it’s because he – and his friends were black too. So, I guess in their eyes, that made it okay. How disappointing. Like my being black was kind of like a license to use the “N” word -- it was just a twist I’d never counted on.
So then I’m feeling like I’m in one of those hidden camera shows that spy on people to see what they’d do in certain situations. About two or three times, I started to say something, but I didn’t. I wanted to tell him to stop and think about it: that if a white person were using the same word around him, he’d probably be ready to fight. Or file a lawsuit. Or get someone fired. Honestly, I’m kind of kicking myself about it now, because I’ve been in situations where I’ve heard a white person saying that word, and I had no problem calling them out about it.
What was my problem here?
I just went back to my office thinking of how disappointed our forebears – black and white -- who fought to keep the “N” word from defining black people as something other than human, would be to hear that that ugly word is still around stirring up the same stuff it used to stir up since people started using it in the first place.
This is one of those cathartic posts, because there aren’t any cut and dried answers. We just have to put the “N” word down. EVERYBODY. Once, and for all.
