I personally cringe when I hear it no matter who it is. It's a word that comes from hate, I would just prefer to not hear it. Or my kids. At the same time if black people want to use it, then that's up to them.
Every time a non-sports topic comes up on this board, it’s incredible to see how out of touch some posters are. Still using the word “negro” regularly? Really?? At that point, you’re being intentionally ignorant using a word with a negative connotation.
In a vacuum, I wouldn’t say what Gundy did was fireable. He likely wasn’t being hateful with the word. However, if he just picked up an iPad and read the word multiple times without thought, it’s a pretty good sign that the word is a normal part of his vocabulary. Even if it’s not used hatefully, it’s ignorant on his part to not immediately recognize that it’s wrong. The vast majority of people would stop in their tracks if they were reading something aloud and came across the word.
To all of you complaining that the black community can use the word and you can’t: the word was used hatefully against them in the most racist times of our history. I think they have the right to take ownership of the word for themselves.
Genuinely curious for all of you up in arms: how does black people using the word amongst themselves affect your life? I have yet to see a valid reason in this thread or anywhere else.
As I mentioned I worked in a setting where the vast majority of our staff and patients were African American/Black. I was shocked at how often I heard that word being used. I can say many of our African American patients and staff did not like hearing that word either, regardless of what letter was at the end, and it put everyone in a weird spot when someone would use the word - what do you when someone tells a funny story, uses that word, some in the room don’t appreciate the word, yourself included, and those that laugh are seen as tacitly approving of the word and its use.
HR recommended I not reference use of any specific words in our policy, so that left me saying, “please don’t use that word” whenever I heard it until it got stamped out of our culture and we had a standard response when we heard its use. Whenever I got pushback, I just had to say, “it puts me in a really weird spot, so I would appreciate your help here”. (Frankly it put a lot of people in a weird spot, but I wasn’t going to put that on others).
Until it got removed from our culture I would have had a hard time firing anybody who said that word in certain context given its prevalence in the culture at the time.
Bringing it up to a higher level, I wish it was removed from our culture. Unfortunately my kids hear the word when they listen to their music and on social media. I’ve told my children, be careful about what you say - if you say or read the lyrics to some of the songs you listen to, your life could be seriously impacted regardless of your intent. So when you see Snoop at Super Bowl halftime, or in commercials, movies, etc. you best never say his lyrics word for word. Fair? No, but what in life is?
.
