I think that we as a society have become way too sensitive. For goodness sakes it's a word. If you actually take the time to study the word you will see that at one point its actual definition was black. Not until some time later in history was it used as a derogatory term. But again - it's just a word. We want to have free speech, but then we want to be sensitive. We want to be safe (homeland security) but we don't want our bags randomly searched. We can't have it both ways. Get over it and please let us stop being so sensitive about every little thing.

I agree with Charles, it's simply a word. I've always been under the impression that a word (or a person for that matter) has no more power over you than you allow them to have. Thus, I lead a relatively trouble free existence, because I refuse to focus time and energy to futile things. I understand others strong feelings on the matter, but for me, I'd rather save my energy for a more significant battle.

Personally I despise it. I tend to question the intelligence of people who incorporate it into almost every conversation. Then again, I am slightly older and still remember the time when people called you that what they really meant. Try saying "what's up bitch" to an lady and just telling her it's a term of endearment or just a word..

I too am "slightly" older and remember the use of the "N" word as a means of inflicting inferiority on an entire race of people. Now, the word is used by Black people to Black people. I cringe when I hear the word as well. When terms move into the category of epithets, it is difficult to later give them respectability. Not only that, we lose the memory of the unsavory historical abuse heaped upon our race by those who gave the term its destructive nature. For a short, articulate discourse on this topic, see Prof. Charles Lawrence's article published in the Chronicle of Higher Education at . Note particularly that "[t]he Supreme Court has held that words which 'by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace' are not protected by the First Amendment." It is interesting that this topic has also resurfaced at Keith Boykin's message board . I think that this term will always cause controversy. Shem hotep.

Well for me the N word is a definite deal-breaker, if a guy I am dating use it in any context as a descriptor for black people including me, its over. How is using the oppressors words on each other harmless? No matter how its used the word still has the same historical connotations it did when it was created. I think it comes to sublminal self-loathing for N word practitioners.