Written by: Marquis Murphy

By now all of you have heard of the incident where Kentucky Wildcats basketball player Andrew Harrison used a racial slur and dropped the F-bomb. Oh, wait… all of you have not heard about this? You mean it’s not on every news outlet in the country? Are there no unity marches out of the basketball stadium like the Oklahoma Sooners football team after the SAE video? Are you like the rest of them that thinks it’s no big deal, it’s his culture perhaps? What if Kentucky won the game and Kaminsky would have said F*** that N*****. There would have been riots in the streets! I lived in Wisconsin, I know.

If you are of the mindset that Andrew Harrison is African-American so he gets a pass on using the N-word, then you may be part of the problem! African-American people are NOT the N-word. If we don’t hold people accountable for using this racial slur especially if they are of dark-skin, then we will never resolve the racial injustice in this country. There is no uproar because Kaminsky is of a pale skin complexion so therefore, the N-word does not apply. It would be as if Harrison called him a girl even though he is not, right? Actually, that would have made bigger news.

Let’s get a few things straight once and for all. A Nigger is an ignorant person, African-American people are not black; we are mostly brown! There is no difference from the word Nigga and Nigger; (I spelled it out to identify the difference) Southern people often mispronounced words especially words with “R”s in them. I was born in Mississippi and I said “Foke” instead of “Fork” or “Fo” instead of “Four”. Over the years African-American people began to identify themselves as the N-word and we seem to prefer the word ending in “A” over “ER”. The fact is, it’s the same thing.

I also, understand that the N-word derived from the Latin word “Niger” meaning black. Notice, that I have not described dark-skinned people as “Black” because almost all of us are brown so that word does not apply.

So, the point of this blog is to make the point that anyone, no matter the skin complexion can be defined as the N-word. However, it is derogatory and should not be used. If it is used, then the consequence should be the same for all people. Humm, imagine that, the same for all people.