The N-word's toxic power

soundoff (4 Responses)

1. Susan LaBonte
   

   I am from Florida and have many friends who are "Crackers" and very proud of it. The world "Cracker" referrs to the cowboys who used whips while driving cattle – it has nothing to do with slavery!

   July 1, 2013 at 7:23 pm |
2. ddtbasics
   

   I agree The N-Word and Cracker are both derogatory words but yet to many common folk, refer to it as "that dude or that person". I'm an older black gentleman and think this whole debate is ridiculous. I learned in elementary that, "stick and stones may break my bones but name will never hurt me". Moral to the story. It's just words but don't touch me or I will retaliate.

   July 1, 2013 at 7:28 pm |
3. Donald Ray Watson
   

   "The N word", This is a word when spoken, may not hurt you or effect others! Also this is a word when spoken may hurt you, or someone else and set you back! However, I promise you one thing, the use of this word will NEVER do you any good! There is not any good in it!

   July 1, 2013 at 8:55 pm |
4. Eric vonHentschel
   

   I watched the show, and appreciated Don's closing remarks. As a 48 year old white man, I really don't see the difference between Nigga and Nigger. If you want the word and its meaning to disappear, LET IT. I learned a valuable lesson as a child, one I'm not sure made it through the heads of people who think they and they alone are entitled to use this word. That is, Practice What You Preach. And while we're handing out cliches, how about You Reap What You Sow. If you can't respect yourselves enough to convince people around you that you don't deserve to be treated as a second class citizen, How can you expect them to not treat you that way? I'm certain that it is still a much tougher hill for blacks to climb to gain universal respect, and that is wrong. But people like Don Lemon probably wouldn't be called Sir or asked for an autograph from nearly as many many people if he were a trash-talking street punk running around calling everyone Nigga. Even us white punks eventually figured out that if you want somethingou might just hav to change some things to get it. If you are not willing to do this, you can hardly blame everyone else for your lack of success. And while starting out as a blak person makes whatever hill you're trying to climb harder, there probably someone you can use as a rolemodel for how to get it done. As long as you're not tryingto be a rapper or celebrity to blacks only, you'll probably see pretty quickly that they don't run around calling anyone Nigga.

   July 2, 2013 at 8:45 pm |