This article serves as my third article in the last three years concerning the misuse of the n-word in our school. 

As a young black woman,  I’ve only used the n-word roughly four times in my life. 

This is mostly because I think the n-word just doesn’t roll off my tongue easily, especially as easy as some make it seem.

For it to roll off easily I’d have to use it often, and I, personally, think there are so many equally effective ways to greet or refer to someone. 

You could use ‘hey b*tch’, ‘hey h*e’, ‘hey a**hole’ or my personal favorite, ‘hey f*cker’. 

Yet even with the wide array of synonyms and phrases that hold the same value the n-word holds, the n-word still frequently and easily rolls off the tongue of many students, specifically young Latino boys.

Yes, I am calling them out specifically because after my three years of highschool, the male Latino community has been the most exorbitant user of this word.

I can remember so many times walking through the hallways of our school or the quad and hearing these students using the n-word, and using it boldly. 

Multiple times over the past three years, I’d be standing near or around a group of Latino boys in a hallway and one or multiple of the boys in the group would use the n-word. My eyes always go to check the source of the word to make sure it was a black person, and it never is. 

Everytime I make eye contact with the person who said the word, I would hold their gaze hoping they’d apologize or at least show remorse for using a racially degrading term so casually amongst their friends. But time and time again, I never see even a hint of remorse in their eyes and none of their friends ever chastise one another for their actions. 

I said nothing, not knowing the group of guys. I didn’t report it to anyone either because administrators scolding the kids wouldn’t do anything. The students would say a half assed “i’m sorry”  and continue their senseless behaviour. 

If anything, it’d make it worse and make them want to defy the administrators even more. 

Despite this, I refuse to accredit the use of the n-word within the Latino community to purely the idea that they want to ‘break the rules’. Many of the excuses I’ve heard include that ‘we’re all brothers and sisters,’  and all I have to say to that?

No, we are not. 

We did not go through the same things and the word simply does not hold the same weight to the Latino community’s forefathers as it did to my forefathers. 

So, by their logic, there’s no reason for them to use the word.

Administrators can’t do anything because you really can’t stop someone from saying what they want to say without physically gagging them so the only way to get these people to stop is by making them realize that they are being inexplicably stupid by using the word.

Like I mentioned earlier, there are so many other terms for the Latino community to refer to their friends but they choose the one they know is not meant for them. 

Why? 

We can only find out by asking a non black n-word user them-self, but none of them would ever agree to an interview because they know using the word is wrong and they are ashamed of it but not ashamed enough to use it on a daily basis where any black person can hear them. 

It’s not likely that these students will come to the realization that they are being dumb on their own because I doubt that they go online frequently to read articles or they would have been informed enough to understand that using a term like this is greatly offensive.

But, a very plausible viable solution to this seeming epidemic is to actually call out these people in person right after their use of the word. 

I’d say the acceptance or tolerance by the black community, including myself, of other non black people using the word has made its use more acceptable. Many of those Latino groups of boys that I see, hang around black friends who don’t correct them. Therefore many think that just because they are friends with a black person that uses the word often, that they can use it as well. 

So instead of just chuckling or pretending like you didn’t hear them say the word, black people, including myself and especially those who hang around people who misuse the n-word, need to say something because otherwise they think it’s okay. 

If these Latino boys keep getting scolded every time they use the word, they’ll stop saying it, maybe they won’t stop saying it all together but they will stop saying it around you so non-concerned. And even just that is progress.

Yes, you might be called dramatic or told that ‘it’s not that deep’ but you should be dramatic and it is really that deep because there’s no real reason any non black person should be using the word. They’re not claiming back their power because they were never called that word in the first place. There’s no point, so they shouldn’t use it. 

While I’ve mostly only targeted the Latino boy community in this article, it seems to be a trend amongst other minority groups to use the word as well. I’ve heard Asians and some South East Asians say it too and I honestly don’t know why. 

People need to realize that being a minority doesn’t automatically qualify you to use the n-word. 

It’s really a simple rule, if you’re not black do not say the n-word.