The "N" Word

Sometimes I can’t believe the way words just pop out of our mouths. Something being discussed on TV caught my attention while I was visiting a good friend recently. Pictures of a woman “addicted” to tanning beds were being shown. One showed her with a very dark face but her mouth and eyes stood out as white circles. I gasped in shock and cried, “Oh, my, gosh, she looks like a nigger!”

I realized moments later that was not the word I intended to say but since I couldn’t remember what I was trying to say, I kind of just left the “n” word hanging. In the middle of the night, I woke up suddenly- “a minstrel! That’s what I meant. She looks like a minstrel in a show.”

For those of my readers who don’t know- minstrels were performers. They were white people who blacked their faces, leaving big white circles around their eyes and mouth. They sang and danced in traveling shows. That was what this woman reminded me of.

I called my friend the next morning to apologize. How grateful I am for good friends!! She had a single thought when she heard me- “that doesn’t sound like Kathy, she must of meant something else.” God bless her!

And even though I didn’t mean that word, the fact remains that to those of us raised during a certain time in history, using the “n” word was an acceptable way of referring to those with black skin. Even black people used that word. My generation has made the journey from the “n” word to Negro to colored to black to African-American. Someday that will probably be considered offensive, too. These words are part of our history, culture and unfortunately our vocabulary.

Recent events have occurred that are destroying a woman’s life because she admitted to using that word in the past. Get your heads out of your self- righteous butts, people! As I’ve already stated, most of us born in certain years have used that word at one time or another. It was something we heard all the time. As children, we didn’t even know it meant anything bad.

 Paula Deen is not a terrorist. She has not killed anyone or committed a crime. She isn’t even very important but she is being persecuted for a slip of the tongue. How can that be right? I see her being discriminated against by people who swear they are against discrimination. Does that make any sense? Where is forgiveness and understanding?

Corporate America is made up of a bunch of chicken hearted hypocrites ready to throw anyone under the bus to avoid a loss of profit. They are cancelling her show rather than doing the right thing and defending the person who has made them tons of money. Have they ever heard of loyalty?

Finally, I am a Christian. I hate to hear the Lord’s name taken in vain. Using any form of God’s name as a swear word is offensive to me and millions like me. But nothing has ever been done about it. Books, movies, Facebook, even texts are full of those words. OMG is used by virtually everyone with no thought to the hurt it may cause many. Those of us offended are expected to suck it up and deal. Well, I think the rest of the world should be doing the same thing. Suck it up and forgive the woman. She doesn’t deserve this. That’s the view from my side of the street, what’s yours?