Stop...

Nigger-- originally a dialectal variant of Negro, the term is a derogatory and vulgar racial slur directed primarily toward black people.

I am no civil rights leader. I'm no black panther, NAACP member, or anything else for that matter. I'm just a regular man. I still feel as a regular man, it is necessary for me to try to remind everyone of the negative meaning of this word, in hopes of having it permanently erased from our vocabulary. I'm not even going to front and act like I don't say it, because I do. I am conscious of it though, and I am trying my best to stop. We all should stop.

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It seems like our generation is so far out of touch with what happened during slavery, the civil rights movement, and almost every other event throughout history that has contributed to the oppression of black people. Black people were bought and sold. Black people were hung in public for looking at white women. Black people had to deal with segregation, police brutality, discrimination, and so many other obstacles, just for the right to be considered EQUAL. Previous generations of black people went through so many years of pain, struggle, and sacrifice... just so our generation would be able to benefit and prosper. And how do we repay them? Our generation took the main racial slur that was used to define the negative perception of black people, and flipped it into a term of endearment. How did we let this happen?

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Things have gotten so bad, that even other races feel comfortable saying the word. Latino's, Asians, and even some white people, use the word freely and with out regard. It is not just adolescents and uneducated people either, but grown professionals--even religious people who are using the word just like it was any other. Some people attempt to justify the use of the word, by justifying the context it is used in. So why are no other racial slurs used in that manner? If I would use the word honky, spick, chink, or any other racial slur in any context, people would look at me like I was crazy. So why is that one ok?

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We have to make a change. We have to. I had a recent conversation with a teacher about this issue. He told me the kids in school are too far gone, and that they use the word casually all of the time. He said it is ingrained in our youth and in their language. Now I know it may seem impossible to reverse this way of thinking, but we have to try. We owe it to past generations who dedicated their lives to granting us the freedoms and equality we have today. The same freedoms and same equality they could only dream of. We have to educate our kids, and at the same time keep reminding ourselves of the history that is behind that word. It won't be easy, but we have to make it stop. We have to.

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Ok that's all for now... thank you for visiting and stay tuned...