N-Word Questions: Set #2

I agree with Andy Rooney of "60 Minutes." The best way to get rid of the problem is to talk about it and examine the word. We can't do anything about a word or some other type of problem if we just ignore it. It will still linger around and cause problems. In the episode of "Boston Public" that we watched, it spread information about the word...what the real meaning used to be, what it means today, and how it affects other people. We see how mad the principal of the school gets when he finds out that a white man is teaching the word. That shows how much different the word means to different people. Had Danny been a black man, I think the reaction may have been a little bit different. The affect on the principal was huge. He knew what the word felt like and what it was really about. This word had a huge influence on him. That's also what the book does. It shows the effects of the word. What happened when people have used it, what do people, both white, black, and otherwise think about the word, who should use it? It talks about the coach of a basketball team who was fired for using the word to motivate his players. He got consent from his players to use it, but he was still fired. The word wasn't meant to be used by him, according to some people. That shows us that there is a line to who can use the word and who can't. Abolishthenword.com has done the same thing as the other sources as well. It has provided a history on the word and how people feel about it. It also talks about how the NAACP has been able to change the meaning of the word in the dictionary to mean something other than African American. They made the change because the meaning was hurting other people.
I think there is a benefit on examining how the word is used. We can figure out if the word is being used in a negative way to lessen the "value" of African Americans. We can figure out if it's being used as a slang term, like homie or one of "your boys." By examining how the word is used, we can figure out how much it is being used as a negative word or how much it is being used in a more affectionate way. We'd be able to see the outcome of that. I don't think we can change the intent of the word overnight. It has such a powerful meaning that it would take years to change, but, I think, if people are educated about the word and how hateful the word is to most people, the word may change. It would take a while, but if many people worked for it, it could happen. Words are very powerful and a lot of the time, they may be more powerful than actions. In the case of this word, the "riddle" "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me," isn't necessarily true. In the case of this word, this word is very powerful.