I totally disagree. It is not OK for some people to use the word and not others, regardless if you are included or not. I have read many, many posts that have been in severe opposition and have denounced to using this word, but now that the President has used it and that he is partially black, it's OK. It's not a gray area, either we use it or we don't; no matter the context. I don't go around calling myself a whitey or a cracker or whatever, although I have been called those names on occasion and there is no reason why when referring to my heritage I ever would. We have all heard black comedians use this word when speaking of others in their race. I remember a "Sanford & Son" segment where Lamont had to go to traffic court because he was given a ticket by a white cop. Fred thought he was being a hero by standing up and telling the judge that he was Lamont's legal counsel. There were many blacks in the courtroom. Fred asked the white cop why he never arrested any white drivers. The white cop said he does. Fred answered by asking, "You do? Well where are they? Look around in here. There's enough n_______s in here to make a Tarzan movie." How would that have gone over if a white man would have said that?
Some want to take down the Confederate flag because of what it stands for in their eyes, yet we don't go so far as to say, "Well, some can say the 'N' word, but only if they are black." Makes no sense. It's like wanting our cake and eating it to. I have a friend that is a judge in the bordering county. We got to talking about race one day and the subject of hate crimes came up. Meanwhile, another person stuck his nose into our conversation and asked the Judge if he yelled the 'N' word at a black man across the street, would he be charged with a hate crime. The Judge said no, but if he would use the word along with a threat, then probably. This would be like yelling, "Hey, 'N', get off of our street or I'll kick your black a$$." That could be considered a hate crime. On the other hand, if he would just yell, "Hey, YOU, get your black a$$ out of here." Totally different. Again, it really doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
We had an issue with a black man on a flight from Miami some years ago. He was pretty upset over a company policy, but there just wasn't anything we could do until we reached our destination. During the conversation he said to one of the flight attendants, "You crackers would't understand." No big deal. We passed it off and took care of his issue when we reached Chicago. It's just like when we dealt with black people we would never think to say, I'm sorry, but we crackers just don't understand." Who in their right mind would say such garbage?
I agree with what the columnist wrote in his blog. The President has normally only addressed race issues when the right time presented itself, like with the police issues. For that, I give him credit for being smart enough to know when to pick his battles. However, he has never gone this far to actually say the word that so many of us repudiate in our life. My last word on this is that I believe that his saying what he did and in the context that it was said; it was a slip of the tongue. Perhaps, as some say, a Freudian slip. I would almost bet that if he had it to do over again, he would choose different words.
God Bless America!!