Boston Public

I just saw an episode of Boston Public that I think has hooked me to at least watch a few more episodes. I didn’t realize how much the show actually is about. All this time I always thought it was about how a school operates, but it really raises a lot of controversial topics that are in today’s society.

The word “nigger” was discussed on today’s show. The students brought up the point that it’s okay for black people to use the word to refer to each other, but when white people use it, it’s not right. I thought they brought up a lot of good points. It kind of changed my point of view on the word. Before I kind of used to think that words were just words, and it was the specific person who put power into it. If I were to call a black person nigger, they’d probably be pissed, but if a black person were to do it, they wouldn’t think anything of it. Whoever is being called “nigger” has the power to decide how they interpret it. I used to think there was no difference between who used the word, but now I can see one.

One of the students brought up the point that the word was created by white supremacy. So when a white person uses it, it kind of reinforces that. But for black people, the people on the recieving end, when they use the word it, in a way, takes away the meaning that the white people originally gave to it. It’s like they’re challenging it, and making it into their own thing. I just thought that was a good point, and it got me thinking.

I hate how one word has so much power, though. It really shouldn’t be that way.

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