We cringe, when we hear it said, in that haughty overly articulate way. We shiver from the shrill of the letters placed together, to make that statement with a southern twang. We ball our fists as the sweat beads down our foreheads from the anger we feel when we hear it. We hope that we have the strength to fight back once we raise our hand to defend ourselves from such an ignorant personal attack. That word, that taunting, most disgusting word, filled with negativity, anger, infringement and memories of a past almost unrecognizable, sits in our soul deeply, waiting to return, holding on for another moment of glory and its ability to control. That hateful word, it is said, contributed to the unwarranted deaths of thousands. That word, kept a race of people uneducated, abused, underpaid and overworked for hundreds of years. That word was known to separate mothers from children and husbands from wives. It crossed oceans and increased international commerce. It created a nation using the backs of men and women whose closest watch were a whip and a gun. That word, built a railroad with no train, and later, a railroad with a train. Sultry and bigoted, it made class distinctions, transitioned class relevance, and built industry that would have never been established for if it did not exist. Yet, this word is only a word. 6 letters of the alphabet, with a definition:

1. Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive.
a. A black person.
b. A member of any dark-skinned people.

So much time and effort has been spent to build lives that relate to each other and all cultures, that it's as if we have almost forgotten the price many had to pay not to be considered ignorant, listless, lazy or shifty. Now we look in the dictionary and all that is left of its meaning is the negative connotations to a race of people. Today, the word, the "N" word has been embraced by many, used as a term of endearment and made popular to use in the new urban culture. It at times makes a reference to a specific type of person, with no racial overtone. Has the word has lost its meaning? Lost its history? Lost the depth in which it once had? Has our society changed so much that many have forgotten what it was once like to be judged before we opened our mouths? And who now becomes responsible for this transition? The music industry for allowing lyrics that utilize the terms of a generation entrenched in the struggle of the urban world? The artists that vocalize the means in which they have to survive? Who holds the key to this recent phenomenon, when the man we so lovingly called "Kramer" has to apologize to the world for using the "N" word in regards to African American hecklers in the crowd of his stand up show. Also, how do we feel about Chris Rock, when asked in a recent Time magazine article, says that he will never stop using the word? Who do we blame when Don Imus uses a derivation of its negativity when commenting on the Rutgers University Women's Basketball team? What do we do? How do we trace back the issue of this problem? What true answer do we give, when a country is crying out for more information? We try to abolish the word from ever being used.

Yet, other than protest and boisterous guffaws, the simplest solution seems to be abolition.

We stand up and talk of immediate change and forced education when swastika’s are painted on synagogues, black men are dragged behind pickup trucks or shot to many times by police by just reaching for their wallets. We organize and call for the perpetrators dismissal, jail sentence or banning from the public community, when the transition from language to a physical act occurs. We only hold those responsible for the act at the time of the occurrence, and not their miss-education. We raise our eyebrows to the "Blackest White Girl" as much as we raise them to the "Whitest Black Girl" and yet no one questions why either is happening. Both represent a crisis of identity and class distinction that is so obvious, in a world where to embrace a culture means to mimic its worst attributes and deny the success and achievements of your own culture.

Every race of people on this earth has a negative racial connotation related to their cultures. East Indians occasionally are called "Coolies", Jews (and I even have a problem with calling the children of Israel that name) are called "Kikes", the French are called "Frogs" and people of African decent are called “Niggers”. None of them are the right words to choose to refer to any of those cultures. Focusing all of our energy to the abolishment of negative connotations defeats the purpose of rising above the negativity itself. It does not challenge those who will continue to use it in the comforts of their own homes. It could breed the ignorance that is being perpetuated by those who continue to use the negative language. It could perpetuate the ignorance of those who would be affected by the use of the language. Abolishment denies the right of those the opportunity to educate others on the history of the negativity. The need to eliminate the use of these words is not in argument. It’s how we chose to eliminate its use. Banning words can create the idea of infringement on the rights of others to free speech. Regardless of the nature of the speech, the right should still exist for all. The future could find a world of individuals breeding their ignorance from within, with the rest of us living amongst cancers we don’t know exist and therefore cannot kill. To eliminate its use by abolishment is to slowly eliminate its understanding and history for everyone, creating generations of individuals who have no sense of the words violent history, or the feeling one has when the word is being used in their presence. No knowledge of the pain can be more painful than the knowledge of pains existence, and a forgotten history, is most definitely a history repeated.