An open letter to Skinner (POSTED IN THE AFRICAN AMERICAN FORUM)

[wildeyed]

204. I disagree.

There are socks galore who are making false claims, but no one doubts that 1SBM or bravenak are who they claim. Their posts are too prolific and consistent. And this has nothing to do with freedom of speech. It is a community standards issue.

I avoid using that word because I hate it and all it stands for from the mouth of a white person.

When a white person could own the body of a black person. When a black boy could be hung publicly by a mob because someone claimed he was uppity or look wrong at a white woman. I hate the injustice that word symbolizes, the terror, the theft of labor and lives, the pure, unadulterated greed and ignorance. That word, from the mouth of a white person, symbolizes the very worst our country has to offer.

It takes on a different meaning in the mouths of black people who chose to say it about other black people. Black people can use the word because now they own that word and decide for themselves how they want to use it. Or not. Language is powerful.

And a black person can sure as shit use the word if they are simply pointing out a hateful post that was directed at them. That is not "tossing excrement". That is simply pointing at the pile someone else left and saying Hey, we need to CLEAN THIS SHIT UP! Or you think the victim should be responsible for cleaning up the pile of shit by themselves? Or should just step over it, pretend it didn't happen because the existence of said pile makes some uneasy?

None of this seems particularly subjective

Don't use that word if you are white. Mind your own beeswax if you are white and a black person chooses to use the word. And call that shit OUT if a white person levels it against a black person.