THE "N" WORD IT'S JUST A DAMN WORD!

It’s been a few days now since I thought about this topic and I wanted to speak on it now. Its 2013, why is the “N” word such a hot button topic still? If you have read the sports page lately you have no doubt seen the article about Riley Cooper, the wide receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles and the video that shows him using the “n” word. Apparently he was at a concert and had a few too many drinks. The result was an encounter caught on tape that shows him using the six letter word to describe a group of people. Cooper apologized repeatedly about the use of the word and vowed to be more aware of his language and behavior in the future.

The story was fairly big with teammates both supporting and denouncing the Eagle wide out. One player was quoted as saying I accept his apology but I can never respect him again. Whenever I turned the news on there was harsh criticism of Cooper and his actions everywhere. Get this, the Eagles front office even went so far as to have Cooper attend culture sensitivity classes and take a break from camp! I thought to myself “wow here we are damn near the Jetsons out here and the “N” word is so damn controversial?”

When I was growing up we threw the “N” word around like it was any other phrase. My grandmother and father used the word themselves. Back then there was no problem using the word if you were black. I was told that “hey, that word is terrible if said by other races but not us.” For us African Americans the word is a term of endearment of social what upness if you will. I have friends from all nationalities and I can say without a shadow of a doubt they have said the word. No doubt about it but when in my presence they would try not to say the word. I would assume that they figured it would be offensive to me based on who is saying it. I get it but I don’t get it. IT’S JUST A DAMN WORD!

Why on earth do we give such power to words? We live in a different time folks. Gone are the days when one race’s point of view so dominated the other that they had POWER over them. IT’S JUST A DAMN WORD. Richard Pryor said the word Nigger 20 million times in his career and what did we call him? GENIUS! Average white guy says the word nigger and he is the most racist person on the planet. IT’S JUST A DAMN WORD! Why are we so scared of words in this free society, I just don’t get it. Especially since the word is being used when no one else is there. Let me give you an example. Tupac Shakur was one of the most popular rappers of his time. All Eyez On Me became one of the most successful albums in the history of rap! Millions of people went to the store and bought the CD. As they played the disc they sang along with the music. There is no way in hell that when white folks or any other nationality got to certain sections of the song they didn’t say the word nigger in their car singing along to his lyrics! IT’S JUST A DAMN WORD!

People give words power. What if the word Nigger had no power what so ever? What if it was just another word in the dictionary that everybody said? Don’t give me the whole “well if you take the “er” off the end it’s different, that’s crap! I believe we as a society have the ability to get over stuff. Look how far we have come as a society. We have a black president for goodness sake! Now that doesn’t mean that racism and other things no longer exist. We as a society have problems, but the problems are so much bigger than a word we all use. I don’t care about what someone calls me as long as I’m free to call them something right back if I’m childish! Or I have the ability not to answer to what I do not wish to be called.

Come on folks, we have much bigger issues than the issues of the past. We have a homeless issue, an insurance issue, an abortion issue an education issue. Can we put all the energy we put in labels into finding solutions to the problems that so plague our Nation?