This logic that 'if you're not black, you aren't allowed to say the n-word' pisses me off. I don't use the word and I don't care to either. Just for the record, I'm not white, I'm Indian. I grew up in the suburbs, but it was an area that was predominately blacks and Hispanics. I can't tell you how many times I've been called a nigga. I'd be playing basketball at the YMCA and I get an easy lay-up and someone on the other team says "'aye who has that nigga" ....or I'd be in gym class in grade school and I forget to bring a t-shirt, so I end up having to wear basketball shorts with a polo and I walk past a group of guys and someone laughs at me and says to his friends "look at what this nigga is wearing". I can list dozens of examples, some that are much more direct. I make nothing of it, it doesn't offend me in the slightest.
My qualm is this: don't call me a nigga, but then turn around and say I don't have the privilege to use that word in return. And I get it, Ice Cube is older and he understands the historical significance of the word a bit more than a bunch of teenagers do. But at the same time, I don't understand why the same people who are outraged when a white guy says it, aren't outraged when a black person says it to someone outside of their race. It's such a huge double standard.
As George Carlin said,
words are neutral, it's all about the context. People need to grow up.
