I have heard so many people say"don't say that word" its offensive.But here it is ,in the news again.jesse jackson this time.obama said he's ok with it,and accepts his apology.Why?Why apologize ? He said it,he meant it,spade is a spade.Be a man about it.It is very obvious to me that the Black community picks and chooses who can say the word and who can't ! To that i say "screw you"! We will not be singled out.Sounds like the Black community loves to create DRAMA.Some can say it,some can't.tears tears tears wa wa wa cry cry !

That's human. People like to create and perceive drama. (Case-in-point above.)

I agree that it may not be "fair", but I also understand that the context is different depending on who says it! It is simplistic, and immature, to pretend otherwise.

He can. He did.

Maybe you should be asking yourself why you care.

As a member of the dramatic Black community let me be the first to say fuck you and the rest of your inbred family.

tubbs ! thanks for the kind words ! I must have touched your nigger nerve.I apologize ! I know thats what jesse jackson would do ! you should ask your momma about your being an inbred,I only went out with her a couple of times !

I'm with reddawg here. If Jesse Jackson gets to say on prelive TV to another black man (That guy looked a lot like David Brooks. Was it David Brooks? And when did David Brooks become a black man? I thought he was Canadian), then reddawg should not be afraid to say it and have to scream ten times it after he gets back to the car and rolls up all the windows so nobody will hear.

Follow my, and mothers, example, walk right up to the first black person you see and say "Hey, Nigger!" Wow, and if it's a group of black people (a gang perhaps), then you can actually add some flourish to it when you say "Hey, Niggaz." Mothers and I do this all the time. Icebreaker, it really is.

And when they ask you what you're talking about, just say, to paraphrase your summation of Jackson, "Just calling a spade a spade." That should make it perfectly clear who you are and what you are saying. And they will answer you promptly and, if my and mothers' experiences are any indication, succinctly.

Reddawg, do not let the man keep you down.

gatesta ! very good ! roll up the windows ? I have a convertable ! You know and i know that its not a nice word to say.BUT there is a double standard here.Besides that,in the websters dictionary there is no mention of a race related term for this word! I think The blacks need to clean up their own yards before they even LOOK at the white mans !

"It is very obvious to me that the Black community picks and chooses who can say the word and who can't!"

I'm guessing that you're not on the "approved" list. tears tears tears wa wa wa cry cry!

NightSwimmer is right: You should ask yourself why you care.

"I think The blacks need to clean up their own yards before they even LOOK at the white mans!"

But, speaking of double standards, do you also think the reverse is true?

ps -- Do you ever speak of "the whites"? It sounds kind of silly, doesn't it?

I just find it so funny that it's the one WORD in our language,that seems to bother them so much ! Example : if two white men were sitting in a very Black crowded bus station,talking to one another(only speaking to each other mind you ) and the word "Nigger" came up,the entire room would go completely SILENT .Its like they have been programed some way, to react to the word" Nigger". Why is that ? You don't even have to be looking at them and say it ! They sure are funny looking the way they let that one WORD control their lives !

First of all, the word is an insult and people don't like to be insulted -- what about that is mysterious to you? Is it really a fondness for drama that causes a person to object to being insulted?

Furthermore, it's a particularly egregious insult. It's not like calling someone "asshole" or something like that -- the attitude it expresses is one of such superiority that the people to whom it is applied could at one time (and it really wasn't so long ago, in the scheme of things) be considered mere property under US law, for crying out loud! Sure, it's just a word, but what's behind the word led to more suffering than you or I or anyone else could ever get our minds around if we had ten lifetimes to do nothing but think about it. If black people have been "programmed in some way" it is by that history, a history that -- thanks to attitudes such as you express here -- echoes loudly into the present.

As for your example: If you were a white person in a bus station full of white people and two black people talking to one another (only speaking to each other mind you) said, "white people should be hung from the nearest tree," do you think you might take it personally, even if they weren't looking at you? Maybe just a little bit? Now imagine that hanging white people from trees was once considered by many a family-friendly social occasion and you might begin to get the picture. I'd say that if the room then went completely silent the appropriate response from the speaker would be the most humble gratitude one could muster, not puzzlement and contempt.

Well, substitute "black" for "white" in my imagined quote and you have something roughly equivalent to the n-word as it is spoken by racists such as you. Of course, the word might be used to mean something different, and isn't it reasonable to suppose that it was when it was spoken by Jesse Jackson?

You don't quite come out and say so, but your posts give the impression that you would like to use the word without any negative repercussions to youself. You are expressing your anger over people's objection to your racism. You'd be better off taking the time to look into the black person's yard you speak of and imagine the view from there.

As far as i know:on a personal note, there has not been any Black slavery here in the U.S. since i have been born.You are speaking of things that simply do not exist anymore! How long has it been since you have personally seen a hanging of white or black ? I have never seen one,i have been here since the 60's ! None of these Black youths have ever seen a hanging,witnessed slavery,or not had the right to vote ! So why all the hatred? Why does the word Nigger bother them? To them its just a word,or it should be.Look around,it does not look like the black population has suffered from anything that happened 100 years ago ! The Blacks use the "word" to each other every day.Maybe they are the ones who are living in the past ?

Everyone lives in the past, whether consciously or not -- the past forms the present (and suggests the future). Your ignorance does not free you from the past.

Black youths may never have seen a hanging, witnessed slavery, or have been denied the vote, but they are well aware that the n-word is an expression of the very same hateful ignorant ideas that led to those things. In other words, the n-word is not simply an expression of hateful thought -- it is the expression of hateful thought that has been the basis of murderous action, and in that sense it is much more than just a word, it is the brandishment of a weapon.

You may not have personally cracked a whip or slung a noose over a limb, but to use the word is to express solidarity with those who did. Why in the world would anyone other than a racist like you not be bothered by that?

Your racism is wrongheaded but explainable; your failure to understand why people object to being insulted is baffling.

Are you saying that the word is not an insult or are you saying that (other) people shouldn't mind being insulted?

With words, intent matters. Do you really not see a difference in intent between its casual ironic use between black people and the way you used it to attack Tubbs?

Your objection to (some) black people allowing its use among themselves reeks of envy. Well, go ahead and use the word if it means so much to you; no one's stopping you. Just don't expect anyone to overlook the ignorance and hate it so unmistakably and deliberately expresses.