WOW!
I didn't see it.
Yeah. For some reason we feel like we have some type of ownership of the word and therefore the right to use it.
It's similar with the word b__ch. I've seen two women come up and be BEST FRIENDS and greet each other like "What's up hoe?" Or "What's up b__ch." It's like "Nothin' tramp." However, if a man calls a woman a hoe, tramp or otherwise...IT'S ON!!!
There's some feeling that belonging to the group allows one to utilize these derogatory terms as terms of endearment.
I am in Los ANgeles. I hear Caucasians and Hispanic people call each other N-I double G-A all the time. No one comes up and says "Hey, y'all ain't n*ggas, I am. Don't let me hear you say that again." But behind closed doors, people talk about it. How everyone is a n*gga, now. I don't go up to my African American sistahs and say "Hey Chicana." or to my male friends and say "Hey, ese." These words have meaning and although not negative to Hispanic people, still I feel like I do not have the "right" to use them.
Who knows, if dogs could speak perhaps they'd tell us they were pissed off because we refer to our TRUE homies as our "dawgs..."
I would have simply dialogued with the young man. Perhaps asked him if he didn't know it was a racial slur, what exactly did he think the word meant and take it from there.
Sorry so long.
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