Bob Jones is a school filled with many different people. Each and every person is unique based on his or her ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, and interests. What really defines a person, however, is the way that they act and the things that they do.

So what kind of person are you when you say the N-word?

Does saying the N-word necessarily make someone a bad person? Does it automatically burden them with the hundreds of years of racism in the United States? Do they think that it makes them cool? Do they think that they, for some reason, have a right to say it because they have the “N-pass” or simply because they are black? What does the N-Word even really mean?

With the drama department putting on a production of Harper Lee’s famous novel TKAM, it’s appropriate to address some of these questions, not only from the perspective of a young black female who despises the use of it in a common or general way, but from people of different opinions around Bob Jones.

I have never been okay with the N-Word. It’s degrading, regardless of whether you’re using it in a friendly way or not, regardless of your race. The fact that only black people should be allowed to use the N-Word is a thought widely accepted by the black community that baffles me to this day.

Maybe you will get a better understanding when I really break the word down for you. I’m going to start with the most common thing that I hear and break it down by definition.

N*gga: respelling of n*gger (typically representing urban African-American speech).

N*gger: a contemptuous term for a black or dark-skinned person.

***contempt: the feeling that a person or a thing is beneath consideration, worthless, or deserving scorn.

The word, in itself, no matter how a person means to use it, is just saying “you are a black person and because of that you are worthless.” You can also click on this sentence for more historical context, which makes everything 10 times worse.

I do not understand how it is possible for people to use this word as a term of endearment, a way to signal a friend or a way for non-people of color (POCs) to feel valid when hanging out with their black friends. Take a minute to think about the idea of this word being used daily in entertainment. Why do rappers think that it is okay to use this word? To me, unless they’re rapping about slavery, racism, and social injustice (which rappers like Kendrick Lamar normally do), it makes absolutely no sense. It shows me that rappers do not realize that they have an audience, who are usually teenagers. When teenagers hear rappers saying that word, it often makes them think it’s okay to say it as well. We may not believe that we are still impressionable kids, but we really are.

Not using the N-Word is really just a matter of respect for the people around you. For me, the usage of this word in a way that is not educational is just not okay. I don’t personally think that someone is a bad person if he or she do adds the N-Word to your vocabulary. This person is, however, insensitive and ignorant, and he should think about their word choice.

Not every black person is okay with saying the N-Word. I do not support the idea that black people should “re-appropriate” the word or take away the meaning of it, and I think that we should be working together to get rid of it altogether, working toward bettering the systematic oppression toward our people.

Junior Kiara Gunn said, “Unfortunately, I am a user of the N-Word. I understand that black people as a whole are still oppressed and using the word as a term of endearment is forgetting the meaning overall. I get that. I get that, in history, it was a term of hatred. But as you know, normally black people have a way of taking all of the bad things that have happened to us and turning it into a positive thing or making it comical. Do I think that it is okay? No. But, everybody has different coping mechanisms, and our people as a whole have just adopted the term and made it seem okay because we’ve just become numb to the pain.”

Sarah Arafat, a POC and freshman said, “Personally, I think since black people get offended by anyone saying it to them, they shouldn’t be able to say it among themselves either.”

Finally, on the use of the word being so commonly used in rap music, Jasmyn Montavlo, another POC and freshman said, “I feel like they should use a better word and not use that, especially since most of them are black. I mean, it’s not racist, I just feel like I [the audience] wouldn’t be okay with using it left and right.”

What do you think about the N-word? Start the flame of a revolution here at Bob Jones; start respectful conversations or debates about the pros and cons of usage. Let’s stop the use of this horrible word.