a>I can actually agree with him on something for once:
A bit of a lofty goal, for sure, but I can't say it wouldnt' be a step in the right direction. If you haven't figured it out by now, I am one of the whitest whities to ever buy SPF 45, so I can't speak from personal experience as to what the use of this word does to African-American society.
From my perspective, though, the use of this word by ostentatious hip-hop artists and actors speaks to an underlying self-loathing. One that has long been engrained in that community due to years of being told that they were nothing but...that word. It provides the impetus for seemingly well reared children of all races feeling the need to start gangs and show their manhood by gunning down their unarmed peers. It goes along with many more complex issues in the rise of gangs, of course, but it can never be called a positive force.
I know this will become a free speech issue to some, and I am not one to fight free speech. If this, however, begins the process of this word being rooted out of the Pop Culture lexicon then I'll actually feel good about something Jesse Jackson did.
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