The other day I read an article that I shortly have imprinted in my mind forever. The article was about a middle-aged white woman talking about how she uses the N-word on a daily basis. Now, I was instantly thrown back and curious when I read that statement so I continued to read.

Apparently, she said she grew up in an area that was very diverse and grew up around black people. Since that was the case, she felt like that gave her a right to say the word any time she felt like it. She said that she had tons of black friends and that made her feel like it was ok and she felt “down.”

The crazy part about what she said was that she closed off her statement by saying, “If any black person has a problem with me using it, then maybe they shouldn’t use it either.” Now, I know this has always been a touchy subject, but after reading what that lady said, I decided to put my two cents into the usage of the N-word.

Okay, so before I get into this, I just want people to know that this is all my personal opinion of how I feel about the usage. So for anyone who might get mad, just act like a penguin and chill okay?

So, we all know that N word was a derogative word to downgrade African Americans during slavery. It was used to make them feel useless or less than anyone else. Even after slavery, it was still used by whites to describe black people. But as years went on, something happened that no one saw coming.

Over the decades, many African Americans took the N word from something that was demeaning into making it into their own cultural word. A word that was used to degrade blacks was now used by blacks as a way of enlightenment and greetings to one another. In today’s age, this word is seen as taboo to any other race besides black people, and black people always get the question, “Well how come you guys can say it but when we say it then it’s a problem?” Now they have every right to ask that question. But here’s my question though: Why do you want to use it?

Now hear me out on this. If you know that whites have used this word to degrade black people for over 400 years, (even in today’s age) why do you still want to use that word? Don’t you think 400 so years is enough time to get to use it? Plus, after all the privileges that many white people are granted by just being “white” in America, why are you angry that you can’t get to use one word? To me, it’s like an army of soldiers being able to use any deadly weapon of choice in battle and getting mad at the other army for using a wooden stick. Is it like really dude? Really?

To take it deeper, there are white people out there who befriend other black people just so they feel like they can say the N-Word whenever they want. I call this the “black friend magic trick.” It’s basically when a white person wants to say the N-word and when they get called out on using it, they use the excuse “well my best friend is black.”

I had to learn about this trick the hard way in college. Throughout my time going through a predominately white school, I’ve made a lot of cool white friends that I’ve grown close with and still keep in contact with today. But then it was those other white people that tried to be “friendly” but always end up rubbing me the wrong way. One time I was at a house party (where I was the only black guy) and some kid I knew from class starts to walk up to me. Remind you, I only had talked to him like twice from our class but he seemed like a cool guy from those encounters. When he comes up to me with a hand shake gesture, he says, “Yo Derick what’s up my nigga?” I was kind of thrown off by what he just said and had to ask myself, “Did this guy really say what I think he said?” When he saw my twisted expression, he then tried to cover it up by saying, “Oh come on dude. You and me are tight. I thought I can say it.” Ummm, I don’t know about anyone else, but I feel like talking to someone two times in class does not make them cool enough to use the N word.

Look, I don’t mind white people using it when a rap song is on. Hell, if you hear it in a Kanye West song, you can’t help but sing every word. But my point is, just because you have black friends, does not mean you can use it any time you want. We are not your bodyguards to protect you if you use that word, and other black people don’t like it. If you want to be friends, just be yourself! That’s it! Don’t feel like you’ve got to “blacken your image up” just so we can be friends. If you are a genuine person, trust and believe me, black people can tell. But until then, go listen to some Kanye West or something. Peace.