Masio Sangster

A3

11/17/2017

Mrs. Freestone

Just don’t say it

The 1st Amendment is built around the idea of people being free to express

themselves and establishing religion and prohibiting the free exercise of the press. To sum

this up; this is Freedom of speech, freedom of speech is the right to peacefully assemble and

petition the government for a redress of grievances. Freedom of speech gives people a chance

to openly discuss their feelings and thoughts about certain political

views/religion/environmental issues/ etc. going in the world today without it being a hate

speech. Freedom of speech is not always protected though, you cannot obviously yell in a

public place “ There's a shooter!” people can seriously get injured and it will cause a really

big hazard then what you might expect. Even social media users may might not be protected

by the 1st amendment, if you log onto facebook and it asks “ whats on your mind” you

simply cannot write a status about how you wish you could assassinate the president of the

united states because you might just get a few FBI agents at your door.

Where i’m getting at with this is that Freedom of speech does not protect you from a

hate crime/speech. For this i’m going to be talking about the issue of some POC’S ( People of

Color) and non POC’S using the N-word. As a Black/mixed person of color i’m used to

hearing the N-word, but as I see people who are not black or who are not in someway African

American it starts to annoy me in a sense. “N**** this.” “N**** that.” I don’t think these

people really know how it makes me or other Black people feel. People might throw out that

slavery was years ago and that it's just a word, I should just “get over it”. It’s not a JUST a

word, as a huge minority in America where my people are still constantly being racially
profiled, harassed, judged, killed, and experiencing racism from different ethnicities, yes, I

am going to say “Don’t say that word.” I personally believe people who say the N-word,

whether it’s with a hard R or not are either internally or externally racist. Who would want to

be labeled as a racist, nobody wants to be labeled as a racist because they only meant the

word in a friendly way. The N-word should be considered a hate speech because not only

does it attack the African American culture but its toxicity behind the word is not a good

outlook on the society of the world. In some distant future, where maybe racism is no longer

existing I feel that the human race will be able to prosper in a greater light. I had a discussion

with a few Non POC’s about this topic, of course they feel that the word makes them

uncomfortable and that nobody should say it. Yet, they believe that it’s acceptable to say it

withen a song. No, it's still not okay though the word may be used in a different context in

songs it is still a hate word and should not be said. Most White privileged people i’ve

encounter have at least made some racist remark towards me, they feel as if me calling them a

“cracker” or “sweetie”, Yes, Sweetie; is the equivilent to them calling me a “N*****”. I have

encounter this a lot and I believe it’s an internal rage of racism towards certain POC’S which

is why I believe it's a hate word targeted amongst African Americans.

A few POC’S who are not black think that just because they too are minorities they

can say the N-word whenever they want, i’m here to say: No. You still cannot use the word,

there is a lot of racism within different cultures and ethnicities viewing Black/African

Americans as some type of wild monkeys who are savages. Instead of sticking together as

minority group I feel as if we have segregated ourselves from each other and have learnt over

time to stick within our own groups as I hate to say. The reason behind why us

African/Americans use the N-word towards to each other is because we are reclaiming back a

word that was once given to our ancestors long ago. I do not believe when Black people use

the word amongst each other it is a hate word/speech because we know the actual meaning
behind the word and it’s just more of a growing up thing. If you and your husband call each

other baby and let's say you are walking down the street and some random lady says to your

husband “Hey Baby” of course you’re going to feel some type of hate as to why some

random chick, who is nowhere close to relating to your husband on a personal level is calling

him baby. This could also apply to the LGBT+ community, any gay man can use the term

“F**” or “F*****” amongst each other but if a heterosexual man or woman were to say that

to a person of the LGBT+ community, they are going to, once again snap.

The N-word is never going to go away but I feel if we are in some way able to end

racism and everyone to understand the use behind the word I think we will be able to put an

end to it coming out certain individuals mouths, I also believe that Freedom of speech should

not protect this word because it is targeting a minority group who was in slavery once upon a

time and is giving a boost in racism in the world today