The N-Word and Degradation

First allow me to apologize if this offends anyone. It was not my intent or my motive. This show is written by African Americans and is meant as a social commentary. Our discussion in class the other day got me rather upset. Just hearing the word has a tendency to rile people up, but what I think might be misunderstood is the reason why it riles people up. To white Americans, we have a history of racial oppression and bigotry that no one likes to revisit, but it is through the revisitation of our history that we prevent things like segregation. The word itself was originally meant to be condescending and sought to assert dominance over an entire race of people. It's use today, even casually or as a term of endearment, I still believe to be inappropriate. This clip will hopefully address how I feel with words that I cannot use. "The Boondocks" released this episode for Martin Luther King Jr. Day a few years ago. The premise of the episode was that MLK had still been shot, but had been in a coma for almost four decades. He comes out of the coma and sees what life was like in contemporary society. He had this to say: