Recently Dr Laura Schlessinger became the latest white public figure to come under fire for dropping the “N” bomb.

When asked on her radio show how a Black woman in an interracial marriage would handle racial comments, Dr Laura said, ” I guess you don’t watch HBO or listen to any black comics. They say nigger all the time……nigger nigger nigger…”

Needless to say, Dr Laura soon found herself in a firestorm from all sides.  Pundits from all across America weighed in condemning her. Some even said it was no big deal. Dr Laura issued an apology the next day and can still be found on the air.

So what’s the big deal?

Having listened to the interview, I’d have to say that Dr Laura was trying to garner points. That is to say, she needlessly reiterated the “N-word” in its entirety over and over.  So much so that her original point was lost.

What Schlessinger was trying to say was that if Black people can use it, then why can’t everyone else? To this, I’d have to agree with Tim Wise author of Colorblind, “I can talk about my momma, but you bet not.” Wise, who is white, was a commentator on a recent panel on CNN to discuss the ramifications and implications of Dr Laura’s comments.

I am fed up with all the hoopla given to N-Word rather than the mind set that spawned it. We need to stop cutting the branches and dig up the root of the issue. Racism is alive and well in America. Sure we can all use the same bathrooms, restaurants and ride the same buses, but until we can find a way for all 6 billion of us to look alike, racism will always exist.

We are all different and as long as we can see that difference then the opportunity for exploitation and degradation will remain. You can use legislation to push racism away.

One thing t the movie Avatar taught me was, until we begin to really see each other as citizens of Earth and not allow nationality, race sex, religion, etc cloud our views, we will never live in perfect harmony.

Words have changed meanings before and maybe one day the N-word would be like the word “Yankee,” which was the absolute worst thing you could’ve called someone from the North a hundred years ago. Maybe, just maybe, our grandchildren can look back and say, “What was the big deal?”