After reading “What Does ‘Nigger’ Mean”, at this point in my life how I feel about it is different from the average person my age. Right now it is acceptable for a black person to say it to another, or for anyone of another race except a white person to say it. The word is unacceptable no matter who says it in my book. That word when my great grandparents were younger was a degrading word. A word used to demean a person, and make them feel less of a person. I don’t care if a White person, Black person, Hispanic person calls me the N-word, and I would be upset. According to the dictionary Nigger means ignorant, and for these children and grown people to go around saying it to each other I guess is just the meaning of the word—ignorant. For years Black Americans have been trying to be disassociated from the term, but with the true ignorance going around, I guess the word is here to stay. This is quite sad.​

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Defense:​​​​
I decided to include this piece into the collection because it is something that I can personally relate to unlike most of the other pieces. Growing up for the first 4 years I was in school I went to an all-Black school, and then in the 4th grade we moved to an all-White area. At that point in my life I’ve heard the N-word, but because the conversation never directly involved me I never questioned it because it didn’t matter to me. Then one day I was while I was outside with my friends, a little boy called me the n-word. I knew it was bad because I never said it and I never heard my parents say it in my presence. So I made a mental note to ask my parents what it was when I got home, and I kept on playing. When I got home I asked my dad what it was. I immediately knew that it was something that I should have never said because my dad got real upset and started yelling. He said “Tarren Dee Mechelle Manor (only called me that when I got in trouble), where did you hear that word at”. I was like some boy at school called me that. He called the school and told the principal what happened, and the next day the boy apologized to me. He explained to me what the word meant and how it was used, and I remember telling him that I would never use that word again. I’m not a proponent for the word from one person to another at all, it is highly offensive and should be a word banned; but in order for that to happen, people would have to stop saying it.