Social Responsibility

Last night after Kentucky's winning streak came to an end, a Kentucky  player was caught referring to a Wisconsin player as the n-word.  The Kentucky player is African American and the Wisconsin player is white.  Today on ESPN Stephen A. Smith said in today's society African Americans are acostumed to using that term in a non disrespectful way, defending the Kentucky player. However, Smith did say that if the roles had been reversed and the white player said it about a blacker player it would be racist. I find it very disappointing that someone in the media is defending this athlete. The bottom line is that the n-word is a discriminatory word with a cruel history. No one should be "allowed" to say it.  I've never heard of a culture embrace a word that was once used to demean their race like African Americans use the n-word. Jews, Mexicans, Irish, Italians all at one point or another have been discriminated against with a derogatory term, yet none of these cultures have embraced the once hated word and made it their own. Many of my students use the n-word and I treat as a curse word. It has the same punishment as if a student said the n-word. What makes me even more infuriated than someone using the word, is when someone tries to defend the word saying it's okay because they are black.  If the roles had been reversed, there would be outrage right now. A similar event happened at a Chicago suburban high school recently. After the riots in Ferguson, Oak Park River Forest High School  held a Black Lives Matter assembly for only black students and staff. I was outraged and shocked that anyone would think this was a good idea. I didn't hear any mention of it in the local news, instead from a student. If the roles had been reversed much like this Kentucky-Wisconsin situation it would dominate the news. I believe the media  has the social responsibility to report any type of racism no matter who the victim. Blacks excluding whites or blacks using derogatory words towards whites should get the same reaction from the media and society. The media should not see color, just the truth.