Topic : 09/12 The N-Word Debate

I As an African american feel that the word shouldn't be used by anyone at any time at all not even in personal life. think of it this way, if it's okay to say it at a certain time who really has the right to say when the right time is? if a certain race is allowed to say it we can't instantly say that The race that came up with the word have a right to say it because their race came up with it because then African American will either protest against it or say that they have the right to say it because their people live hundreds of year being called that words.

The word doesn't offend me at all and im serious when i say it doesn't and it really shouldn't since im only 16 and i wasn't raise on being called that word. However, I was Raised to know my roots and my history and sadly that word has popped up alot. The only reason i get upset with this word is that people all around people of different races and background say the word loosly like it's a simple hello or goodbye and all of them have no idea of it's History or how many people have died, gone to jail, been beaten, risked their lives to get rid of that word and here we are maybe more then 30 years later using the word as term of affection? Thats what hurts me the most about this.

sadly no matter what anyone says the word won't be buried and it wont be forgotten.i don't even think it should. When this show came out and i whated it i remeber some woman yelling "Slavery Happend so long ago Get over it" which the only thing i can really say about that is, why do we have to get over it? We have to learn from the Mistakes made in the past and simply "Getting over it" isn't by any means learning from it.Besides, you just can't take all those hundreds of years of the use of the word and it's history and simply bury it or swipe it under the rug it just can't be done.

Im not trying to give my race the right to say the word and im not trying to attack white people when it comes to them blaming us for the use of the word, they're only trying to defend themselves from us attacking them. I simply think that no one should say it at all not Black People, not White people and no otehr race either. The only time that the word should be used or said is in a historical book or a text book.

Please explain to me the many points in that post that are wrong?

     Really I'm a bit disappointed that Dr.Phil didn't stop or correct Paul Mooney for his belligerent and racist statements made towards the people in the audience.

     I think paul Mooney showed himself to be nothing more than a hardcore racist, he spewed nothing but ignorance at the audience members who were given an opportunity to speak-The very moment he got hostile he should have been corrected.

I see a lot of people making reference to the terminology "African American" and from what they post they are under the assumption that it was "African Americans" that coined this terminology. Well they Didn't, it Was individuals in the government and health system that created this terminolgy to describe some one of African ascent who was born in America. I also seen some one refer to the "Drop of blood" stating why is it if a African American has a drop of white blood do they not call them selves white? The answer is the Courts deemed that if an individual had even a drop of black blood he/she was then characterized/classified as a Black person, so again when some one is yelling at some one for saying they are Black even though they have white blood it is not them! It was the Courts, the Law.

People were not given a legal choice as to how they wanted to designate themselves...

We can however, ensure that the " N' word becomes archaic and socialy, politically, and personally unacceptable in all forums, because it is another word to cause division, angst, hurt ect, so let us not use it. And hopefully start taking a good look at how we as human beings are being catagorized, disected, and divided by being classified as anything other than what we are, which is Human, yea I belong to the human race just like every one else.

Tammy

I did not get to watch the show so I cannot comment on what was said.  I will have to catch it on the rerun.  I do have an opinion on the N-word.  It should be outlawed like using God's name to damn people, calling people with learning disabilities retarded, calling overweight people fat, and calling people of other beliefs vile names that I have heard and do not want to repeat.

When we first attack the Creator, then whats next, the created starts attacking each other.  I know some will say I have not stock in this, but I do.  I am a woman who has been called vile names by people just for standing in line at the grocery store.  I have been physically violated for being in the wrong store and being a white/american indian woman.  Racism, if it were the real issue, is on all sides.  But the real issue is lack of respect for human life and for the Creator who created it.

I am from the south and I am not completely ashamed of my southern roots, but I am ashamed of how many black people have been treated in the south and I try to be understanding when then treat me with lack of respect.  My problem is, the ones who are usually treating me with respect are the older generation who lived through the worst of it.  They, for the most part, are loving and caring and would do anything to make you feel comfortable and cared for.  It is the younger generation who have felt the need to make people pay, even people from their own race, and this is all races I am refering to.  I did not, never have, nor ever will call a black man or woman the N word.  I cannot answer for my brothers and sisters, but I know I don't and won't because I have been abused and violated and treated with dire disrespect and I hated how it felt.  As one of my ancestors said long ago, until you walk in a mile in a man's moccasins (shoes), you will not know their life, their pain, their feeling, their love. 

Using God's name to curse or as a joke, using the N-word as a word to describe God's creation and using other words including retarded to describe God's creation is never ever right no matter what. 

It is time for us to rise up and decide we are more intelligent than that.  I am chosing to be smart, not stupid.  I may need that hand to reach out to me, whether black, white, yellow or mixed, at my time of need so I will not cut off my own nose to spite my face and insult them.  These are my thoughts popular or not.

   First off where are you constantly hearing white people saying thet they and their ancestors never owned slaves? I haven't heard it much at all myself.

   Second, race doesn't dictate where a person can live, eat, or get a job: we live in America and the year is 2008. Also I can honestly say that none of my ancestors owned slaves, I'm half white and half asian: Half of my ancestors weren't even here during the slave years and the other half were poor field workers themselves.

   Third, yes racism does still exist, but it flows in all directions. Racism is not just white on black, its every race on every other race. I know this for a fact from my own personal experiences:

1 instance when I was assualted because I wasn't black, another where I was pushed down a fleight of stairs, again, because I wasn't black, and one other where I was repeatedly slandered for being half white and not full asian.

   On all of these occasions I did nothing to provoke any of it, in fact they all occured while I was attending a racially inbalanced middle school- I was always the rule following kid who kept to himself.

   Concerning Obama, if you want to get really technical, he is not black, he's biracial(2 races, hello): why does no one point that out?

   And what do you mean African American men are the only feared people in America? Personally I wouldn't waste my time leting race or gender dictate who I would fear, I would let a persons behavior decide if I thought they were a threat to me or not( as in appearing to be stalking me, or holding a weapon in a semi-concealed fashion).

   Now about white women who get married to black men-What is wrong with that? For that matter whats wrong with people getting married to people of a different race?-nothing at all, and anyone who says different is only spewing ignorance.