This bears repeating. I hate that stupid ass argument (which I hear from white people who wanna say it) "its just a word" no the fuck its not. "By saying it you're just giving it power" oh yes tell me more. Because obviously you have a say in the matter.
For clarification, I'm white. Not that I think that should matter.
I get the conversation around the word is controversial and deeply seeded into some absolutely horrifying history of slavery and racism.
But isn't the fact an entire "race" of people is completely discluded from the discussion of if it's okay to say the word in fact just... and I hate saying this - exactly what racism is? Excluding people from the conversation because of the color of their skin. The word is either okay to say, or it's not okay to say it.
The color of your skin really, REALLY, shouldn't matter, since teh entire point is to eliminate racism on teh whole - and you can't do that if you'r still using someone's skin color to frame a conversation around a term. IMHO, it's simply not okay for anyone to say it. Period. Regardless of the reasoning it was adopted.
If it's not okay for a person of x skin color to say it, it's honestly not okay for anyone to say it all. Isn't this is the entire point of trying to get rid of racism? You can't fight racism by then segmenting people by the color of their skin when it comes to a conversation.
Dunno, just my two cents. I am sure I will get roasted for this. And then of course we're expected to have the youth understand because it they hear it all the time at school from some people who think it's okay to toss it around because of their skin color. I am expected to have my kids understand when I explain why it's wrong and yada yada, and then try to explain tot hem why it's okay for them without trying to make it look like some racist stuff.
Rock and a hard place. The term should be banished from everyone's vocabulary.