I’m sitting in Chick-fil-a working on the podcast website and behind me there is a group of young, hispanic boys. Now, these boys were very well dressed. They kind of reminded me of a Boy Band. They all had fresh haircuts, most them had blonde highlights, and name brand clothes that were very well maintained. 

They were, or at least what seemed like, typical suburban high school boys. They talked about a girl that clowned one of the guys on social media,  then started dating another guy the same day. They clowned the guy that she started dating by talking about his haircut and how ugly he was. Now It was a little weird listening to a group of guys talk about another man’s appearance with such passion but things are different these days so…. N-E ways.

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They cursed out loud which was kind of rude being that we were eating the “Lord’s Chicken” but again things are different these days. There was one word that they said that threw me off… they kept saying the “N” word… yes “NIGGA”! 

Now I’ve never been the type of person that cared about other ethnicities saying the “N” word but what threw me off was that they said every other curse word with such conviction, with such confidence, with such passion. But when it came time for them to boss up and say the “N” word they would lower their voices. They didn’t whisper but they definitely didn’t say it with the same balls as all the other words. 

Now again, I couldn’t care less about who says the word but if you are going to say it, say it with your chest. Don’t be bitch about it because that’s when I get mad.  

I know a guy named Bobby. Bobby is white. He says the “N” word with conviction, like it was his middle name, with pure confidence. Not once have I ever felt offended or upset because he was using this word. But these NlIGGAS really upset me. 

To make it worse when they left they drove off in and Audi and a Suburban. Now I’m not saying that you have to be in a beat up car, ragged clothes, poor or starving to say the “N” word. You don’t have to be from the hood, or from a broken home, you don’t have to be “Black”. It’s a word that is apart of you, apart of the culture, something that we have earned the right to say.

So my questions are:

1. Do I have a right to be upset?
2. Should we ban the word?
3. Has the music and comedy made it ok for anyone to say it?
4. When is it ok for or will it ever be ok for other people outside of the “Culture” to say it?