Obscures The Effectiveness Of His Intellectual Witness

I hear you brother Michael. Even though I get and understand your use of what is now termed "the N word," I see where it is getting you into trouble and we certainly cannot minimize the effectiveness of your intellectual witness.

"I have decided to stop using it for two reasons: many black folk who otherwise supported my work and agreed with my perspectives were thrown off by my public identification with the downtrodden and the debased of our race through use of the term. Despite all the good they thought I did, they believed that the use of the word made it difficult for them to fully embrace me. [To paraphrase The Apostle Paul said in the Bible that 'if meat offends my brother, I don't eat meat.'] Finally, Rev.Jesse Jackson, after we both attended Johnnie Cochran's funeral, and after we engaged in a healthy political discussion with Stevie Wonder, asked me to refrain from publicly using the 'N' word because it obscured what he termed the effectiveness of my intellectual witness. [As some of you may know, I've also had friendly debates with Cornel West on the subject, and even though we have disagreed about the subject, I have enormous respect for him and all my elders, including Rev. Jackson, who have different views]. So, I have decided to refrain from public use of the 'N' word where I cannot explain the context of the word and its association with traditions of racial response to degradation."

But seriously, I can read and listen to Michael Eric Dyson with the same attentiveness that I can read and listen to Cornel West. They are two modern black philosophers and intellectuals with very different styles - if not similar messages. My issue with the 'N' word (which I have been known to use rather freely in certain circles) is that it is being gobbled up in mainstream culture via the continuously morphing musical/spoken word genre called hip-hop. It started out as a wicked slur. It was re-claimed it back as a term of endearment (or loving disdain) and now has all but been sold into global culture as a generic word that, supposedly, means brother or friend. So, yeah, now that people have been desensitized to the use of the word (and racist types use the excuse that they hear it on the radio so they can use it at will) it has, in a sense, lost its cherished meaning to a once and, often still, oppressed people.