swan newsletter :
To any who thinks using that word is “just a joke” or “not that serious”: As an African American, I have never and will never use that word because it makes me uncomfortable. Not once in my entire life has anyone in my family ever called me, or anyone else in our family, that. I was told extremely young that it was a bad word! I’ve only heard that word used by people outside of my family. I’ve had that slur yelled at me as a child, and it immediately made me upset and sad. And yes, if anyone called me it, it would be upsetting. If it is not in a song, I don’t hear that word in my circle of people because the people around me (from many different backgrounds) all find that word offensive. What I will never understand is if someone who isn’t a person of color knows that there are some (not all) Black people who really, really hate that word deeply, why would you want to use it? If a Black person wants to use that word because they feel it strips the word of the pain it holds, that shouldn’t feel like an invitation for everyone. I’ve never and would never use a slur for any race, ever, because the knowledge that even one person in that race saying they don’t like a slur towards their race would be enough for me to never use it. I don’t understand the obsession and hyper-fixation people have with saying slurs that were once used to harm a race. I’m genuinely curious is it really that hard not to use them? I ask because I genuinely don’t have the itch to, yet it seems so many have such a visceral urge that they get aggressive when they can’t say slurs and I just want to know why if you know it’s a word that HURTS PEOPLE?
2026-10-20 18:29:44