What happened to sticks and stones?

A few days ago I was a caller on Rev. Al Sharpton's Sharptalk radio program (98.7, Kiss FM-NY) in which the topic of discussion was the use of the infamous "n-word" in today's lexicon. Of course Rev. Sharpton has a specific agenda, so any real discourse with him is foolhardy. His contention was that the word, nigger, should be banned or evaluated as it is the precursor to racially motivated crimes. My call centered on promoting diversity in Black imagery and class in order to counteract the pervasive hiphop or street culture that currently defines the way African-Americans are viewed. I also felt that the use of nigger pales in comparison to Black on Black crime or the general disrespect that some in the Black community have for each other. Sharpton rarely discusses Black internal mayhem in favor of racial dynamic issues.

The next caller essentially gained his allegiance and support when she plugged her site,

http://www.abolishthenword.com

, whose purpose is self-explanatory. The site appears to be gaining popularity, as I have heard other stations mention it. The marketing hook(and you know that was coming) has the site visitor download a form making the person promise to stop using the n-word as well as purchase a t-shirt with the "abolish" slogan emblazoned on it. In some respects I have a problem with this campaign. On the surface the Abolish project appears to be admirable. But how can you truly stop free speech? I stopped being affected by the usage of nigger many many moons ago. I am more concerned by those people (of various racial strata) that seem to live up to the meaning of the word. What the site is saying is...."oh please (Mr. White Man) stop calling me nigger because it still hurts." Please....I wish somebody had that kind of power over me. Not today son. Also, how do you counteract hiphop's orgy with nigger, excuse me nigga.

But back to my point, nigger is a white cultural invention. White folk also believed the world was flat at one time as well. So by using this logic, if a White person (allegedly it stings worse when they say it for some reason) calls a person of color a nigger does it make it true? I don't think so. Randall Kennedy's book, Nigger, gives an excellent legal and social history of this racial epithet. It is just amazing that someone can actually write a book on one word! My wish would be that we stop caring about silly words and start caring about not so silly actions. Sticks and stones folks. Stick and stones....