The N-Word

Earlier this week, the NAACP had a mock funeral as a symbolic gesture of the organization's belief that Black folks should kill their use of the N-word.

For those of you who may not be keeping up with this issue, it's been a hot topic of late. The N-word, as we all know, was a derogatory term for Black people used first during slavery and oppression. In present day, many Black people have turned it into just a word used when talking with one another, some say a term of endearment ( I wouldn't go THAT far, but to each his own). And while Blacks use the term in everyday dialogue with each other and while rappers use it more than they use their own names, it isn't a term the Black community wants to hear others use to describe them.

So the argument goes, is that hypocritical? Truthfully, we each have to determine that for ourselves. I know that I can see both sides of the argument, but more importantly, and as usual, I think we are focusing on the wrong thing. I mean, let's be real, when a White person calls a Black person the N-word, it isn't because they love them. And as to what we (as Black folks) call each other, well, that's our business - whether it makes sense or not.

What I do know is that while we are having a mock funeral for the N-word, black-on-black crime is steadily increasing, the justice system is turning back the clock in our schools and soon segregation may once again reign supreme (and you can already see how predominately black schools are treated unfairly), racism still abounds in the workplace, the criminal justice system houses Black men like it's some kind of dormitory and there are still more Black children growing up in foster care than any other race.

So while I think having a conversation about the N-word may be important, we have bigger issues at hand. And while we worry about who is calling us the N-word, we need to be more concerned with who is treating us like one. If we don't get it together, before we know it, the clock will turn back on much of the progress we as a people have made, now THAT, is something to mourn.