I am tired of the “N” word.

I am tired of having to say “N” word when referring to this 6 letter racial slur.

I am tired of it having so much power towards the people hurt by it.

I am tired of having to double and triple think what I am trying to write here.

I am tired of anything that is hated because of ignorance — black, native american, jewish, muslim, etc…

The overwhelming controversy or whirlwind that was caused by a comedian whose name would not even ring a bell with a majority of people two months ago, is making me sick. This question I have running exhaustingly through my head is killing me, and it needs to get out. Why is this word given so much power? I know that this word has a very tumultuous and saddening past, but there are many other parts of history that are just as bad or worse. You have the Jews with 11-26 million dead and many more tortured with the Holocaust; religious crusades on the non-Christians with uncounted millions slain; the near genocide of the native americans with 20-50 million dead with some estimates near 100 million; Darfur, Rwanda, etc. Yet, this “N” bomb is still here with an elevated and heightened sensitivity matched but no other. So, what do we do about it? Try to convince the entire black community to stop its usage? Try to educate the young about racism in an attempt to remove the ignorance tied to skin color? Any other ideas…?

Now we get around to making my point. Can we remove the power of the word? Let’s take the word “ass” or “bitch” — not nearly as demeaning as the “N” word, but hear me out on this. Many years ago people would cringe upon hearing these words used in public. Now, because of the media’s abundant use, it is quite acceptable to hear these words in news, tv shows, radio spots and even cartoons. From this now lax stance on these words, and the permissible use in the media, we have removed the stigma associated with these words and converted these “bad” words to regular vocabulary words. Could the same be done with the “N” word?

Now I am not saying use it to the “N’th” degree (sorry for the pun) in the media. But, what if we just stopped reacting to the word and change our perspective. If you are black and someone drops the bomb on you, even though it burns you up inside, just react like it was any other word. If every black person in the world stopped reacting, it would lose its power. Now it would not be an overnight success. But, eventually, in the long run it would lose its impact.

Unfortunately, the way the black community is handling it now is, in my opinion, making it worse. By trying to convince the black community to stop using it and making it more taboo, you are giving it more power! You are telling the racist community that it is now so bad that everyone should stop the use of it. This in turn changes it from the “N” bomb to the “N” A-bomb. Forget Korea and Iran, now ignorant racists have nuclear arms!

Let’s try to look at life through a different set of glasses. The ones we have been using the past 50 years just don’t work any more. It’s like what your mom used to say when referring to schoolyard bullies…”Just don’t pay attention to them honey. After a while they will leave you alone.” Now this may not seem like good advice, but what’s the alternative? Continue to give more power to a word that covers up deeper issues. Perhaps if we just don’t talk about it all, it will go away? I doubt it.