A forbidden but common word that has become far too powerful

A word now used mainly by certain members the race it was originally intended to degrade has turned into a monster — the use of which can have devastating consequences.

A Tennessee man who was accused of using a racial slur on a receipt at a Red Lobster restaurant last year is suing the restaurant chain and the waitress who cashed in on the incident after she posted a copy of the receipt on the Internet.

Devin Barnes, 21, claims he never wrote the racial slur on the receipt, and that the negative attention he received as a result of the way Toni Christina Jenkins – the waitress who claims to have received the slur – publicized the incident is slanderous. 

In Barnes’ suit, filed in Williamson County Circuit Court, he claims Jenkins slandered him by misusing his personal information, and that Red Lobster’s ‘willful and malicious … omissions to act’ by failing to prevent Jenkins from using his name and information ‘to gain publicity and money’ has caused lasting damage to his reputation.

On the receipt, a photo of which was posted on Facebook and Youtube in September by the 19-year-old waitress, the line designated for a tip read ‘none.’ On the line for the total, it read ‘n***er.’

Jenkins left a caption on the photo that was uploaded to her Facebook page that read ‘This is what I got as a tip last night…so happy to live in the proud southern states…God Bless America, land of the free and home of the low class racists of Tennessee.’

I keep reading about incidents like this, and I have a big problem with allowing any word to become so powerful that its mere use by anyone can lead to multi-million dollar lawsuits.

The question isn’t who did it, but why any word should have such power.

The temptation for mischief posed by the N-word is simply unbelievable. Imagine what a bratty kid could do. These days, merely writing it down somewhere could cause school investigations, legal repercussions, and maybe even get a school shut down. Great way to make a mess with very little effort. The word can be written anywhere, on anything, even on the back of a dollar bill (which would go God knows where until someone saw it and blamed God knows who).

It has become a malevolent weapon capable of causing great damage with very little effort. It is capable of reaching out and grabbing innocent parties like the guy who is suing Red Lobster.

Add to that the fact that this taboo word is used routinely by those who are allowed to use it, is broadcast from car and home sound systems (with the entertainment industry makes huge profits from its use), and the hysteria becomes an exercise in surrealism.

Despite its forbidden nature, that there is no way to avoid this word. Being in a student neighborhood, I hear it emanating from cars and parties and I hear it at the gym regularly.

Those who cooked up this extreme double standard taboo ought to be ashamed of themselves.


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3 responses to “A forbidden but common word that has become far too powerful”

  1. Gringo Avatar
    Gringo

    I am reminded of the furor that waitressDayna Morales generated when she posted on Facebook a receipt which stated a customer had not tipped her because of her gay lifestyle.

    Dayna Morales, 22, a former Marine, first complained about the alleged incident on a “Have a Gay Day” Facebook page, posting a photo of a receipt that read, “I’m sorry but I cannot tip because I do not agree with your lifestyle and how you live your life.”
    Waitress denied tip for ‘gay lifestyle’

    The post went viral. Morales claimed the message was on a receipt for $93.55, for a meal ordered by a family of four at the restaurant in Bridgewater, New Jersey.

    But then a report on television station NBC4 displayed a receipt from a family showing an $18 tip on a bill of $93.55, and a credit card statement with the same total value, $111.55, to back it up.

    She left her waitress job. Better said, she lost her waitress job.

    Being falsely accused of some “-phobia…racism” whatever is getting old.

    Life is hard enough for blacks or gays without getting others pissed off about false accusations.

  2. Gringo Avatar
    Gringo

    I am reminded of some experiences of a childhood friend of the Afro-American persuasion. We were taking an AP English course in high school. The course was a tough, demanding one. She was not pleased with the grades she had gotten on our weekly book reports. She did not scream “racism,” but asked the teacher what she needed to do to improve. The teacher replied that she just needed to keep working as hard as she had been doing, and she would see results.

    Years later, she took a trip down south to New Orleans with a boyfriend. She requested something from the hotel staff, and got a rather negative response. She told me that the brisk, direct manners of the North didn’t fly in New Orleans. Her boyfriend, who was from Mississippi, was more versed in the ways of getting things done,used some honeyed speech to get the request granted. No accusations of racism.

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