Don't Use 'That Word'

An Internet headline today invites us to read comedian Tim Allen’s take on the Paula Deen problem, popularly attributed to her use of the ‘n word’.

If you do an Internet search of ‘Tim Allen’ you can read his interview.  It’s lengthy.  It’s not necessarily horrible but it is obnoxious to me, a black woman who knows full well where ‘that word’ comes from. 

Historically, 'that word' was a derogatory label commonly thrown at slaves and their descendants. It lived on.  If there had not been slavery in America (the concentrated subjugation of a race of human beings; buying, selling and holding black people (Negroes) as property to build white people's worlds, to build this nation) would the word be part of our nation’s lexicon?  I think not. To me, it is quite simply an insulting, derogatory, nasty derivation of the word Negro.

It troubles me how people new to this country might choose to digest this Paula Deen inspired discussion.  The story is demeaning on several levels and I don’t think they ‘get’ it.  I'm thinking, Tim Allen, who has lived in America all his life, doesn’t grasp the real significance of 'that word'.  So how could I expect immigrants to know and understand this foolish discussion? Stop the negativity.  It's depressing.

No other word has evolved into our American language bringing the sordid baggage this word has.  No word of any other culture or community compares with ‘that word’. Hearing the despicable six-letter derivation of Negro, I think of all the blacks beaten, shackled, and hung to die just because the economic structure then culture of the time fostered the tragic injustices people practiced against another people.

Use of the word should not be tolerated.  Who ever includes it in their vocabulary, speaking with another, or about anyone is ignorant, no matter their color, heritage, age, purpose. No matter the dictionary definition, they cannot entertain nor inform me using ‘that word’.  I don’t have to think about it.  That I know, for sure.