Using the "N-Word"

I know this is going to get me all kinda of heat but why exactly are so many of us still laughing off black people using this language and burning everyone else at the stake?! In school, a couple of my black girlfriends kept asking why I didn't participate in using such language with them, as they were aware that my dad is 50% black and as I used to wear braids (which didn't suit me but my black babysitter liked doing my hair. XD ) Neither my dad nor his father (my grandpa, who was 100% black) ever had the disposition to use racial slurs so I just wasn't raised to do so. It pisses me off that some of us let certain people get away with this shit and then throw others under the bus when they do the same thing. Freakin sick of people's double-standards. So many people only support equality when it's trendy, convenient, or affects them and/or their loved ones directly. While it's easier to notice and be bothered by those things, of course, equal rights should mean EQUAL rights. If we're all gonna have the right to vote and not be slaves, we should all feel the same repercussions of poor word choices and/or be permitted to use the same words. I don't care how stupid the usage is - we all deserve the same treatment for partaking in it.

Additionally, you can't expect people to respect you if you don't respect yourself. If you're not going to stand up to everyone equally, regardless of race, when they use slurs like this then you're still promoting racism, racial segregation, and inequality. Tired argument, perhaps, but many still seem blind to that fact. Sick of the damn, "yeah, but.."s. It's not debatable; it's fact.

Men had voting and all kinds of other rights before women did in this country but they don't get to say, "we claimed this already and you have no business here" anymore than we women get to say, "we want the right to vote and get equal pay but men need to be the ones to open doors and we have every right to expect our men to be the bread winners if we decide feel like staying home." No. How about we all do a little progressive thinking and realize that we're all equally accountable for our actions and ought to be held to the same standards as long as we're demanding of equal rights and treatment. Either that or women can give up the right to vote and go back to staying home, maybe fucking the milkman, while our hubby's out working all day..

People arguing that a word belongs to a race need to realize that just because one race has or does something first doesn't make it okay and doesn't give them exclusive rights. I've heard the common rebuttals for this way of thinking and I've gotta say that I'm disappointed that so many people are unable to think deeply enough to realize that we take steps backward in the pursuit for equality when we start saying that we're okay with some people doing a thing but not others just because of our bilinkered opinions of what the thoughts and intentions of the latter group might be or because giving them this equal right bothers us personally. If the word is hurtful, it may not feel the same depending on who's saying it but isn't okay for ANYONE to use.

This in no way is meant to serve as justification of anyone's actions but I hope people will learn to be a bit more logical in and mindful of their judgements of others and take more time to think for themselves than what I've seen to date.