(ThyBlackMan.com) On the night ofJune 26, 2011, in the city of Jackson, Mississippi, James Craig Anderson, age 49 after being brutally beaten was ran over and killed by teen suspect Deryl Dedmon. The beating apparently was premeditated by some white teens which escalated to the victim being run over. Authorities say white teens targeted Anderson because he was black.
This cowardly, outrageous and reprehensible act is shocking and disturbing however, I feel that in this 21st century justice will be served.
Prior to this immoral act the teens were quoted as saying “Let’s go get us a nigger.” And after the victim was ran over the teen suspect Deryl Dedmon was quoted as saying, “I ran that nigger over.” 
The distraught family of James Craig Anderson I’m sure has the heartfelt sympathy of many in the Black community and I’m sure some from the White community as well. However, there is something else that needs to be said, in regards to this senseless tragedy. There are many in the black community who condones and/or use the n-word as if it is cool and chic to do so. They say it is just another word, demonstrating insensitivity and indifference, as to how that word affected the lives of their ancestors.
It may be just another word to those black users who are naïve and foolish enough to believe that, but to the rest of the world—and our beloved ancestors— they know and see that word for what it is. And whenever, you refer to yourself and your race as a n**ger/n**ga there are people more than willing to take you at your word, further illustrating the fact that the Black community’s definition of the n-word isn’t global; in other words Black American users of the n-word are not in touch with reality relative to the significance of the vulgar term.
In this 21st century there may be attempts to reduce the term to nothing more than a racial slur, but the historical meaning behind that word have far more sinister implications and is immutable, heads need to be taken out of the sand, stop being in denial, and see things for what they are. The suspects use of the n-word relative to the James Anderson incident was above and beyond that of a [racial slur].
When people of that ilk look at us and see a n**ger, it’s a twisted way of their justifying any inhumane acts that they may perpetuate upon any person of color. Under such circumstances we are inhuman to them and this is something our ancestors had to live in terror of each and everyday of their lives. They were [categorized] as n**gers for a reason…and it was not just to insult.
Black America the hour is getting late, it is time to wake up and yes GROW UP and stop acting like this is some sort of a game. We need to start taking responsibility for our own actions and use of the n-word is inexcusable and downright infantile. Consider what those teenagers did—and why they did it—as our alarm clock. James Anderson in their minds was a n**ger, and what they did is what you do to n**gers—is the way they think—and is how their forefathers thought.
Use of the n-word is synonymous with any of the sordid acts committed so when you use and approve use of this despicable term you are endorsing and approving every whip lash laid upon the backs of our ancestors, the brutal rapes, hangings, mutilations, castrations, disemboweling with hot pokers, etc.
Every time you invoke use of the n-word you are sanctioning such acts as those teenagers committed upon James Anderson, there was nothing cute about the despicable crime nor their use of the n-word, just as there is nothing cute about your use of that anathematize expression, and spare that tired dilapidated excuse about using n**ga as oppose to n**ger. Use of the term n**ga is a ghetto vernacular for n**ger and there is no conceivable excuse upon the face of the earth for anyone black to be embracing the n-word—NONE.
Use of the n-word is aiding and abetting the systemic to down-play the significance of the tens of millions enslaved African Americans who, over a 300 year period, were slaughtered, butchered, terrorized and dehumanized, simply because they were categorized as n**gers. Rappers such as Jay Z, Lil Wayne and Soulja Boy, ministers, civil rights and community leaders, businessmen such as the likes of Russell Simmons and Robert Johnson, scholars such as Professors Randall Kennedy and David Bradley along with countless other scholars, and CBS 60 Minutes news correspondent Byron Pitts—though perhaps unsuspectingly—are all tools of the systemic.
And are only useful to the systemic so long as they are proponents of the n-word, should any of them display any signs of being independent thinkers and disdain the use of the n-word they will be thrown to the curb like an old worn out shoe. The n-word is a weapon and has been for more than 300 plus years. A weapon
used to mentally enslave a race of people. You will know you are free when you suddenly discover that you have the mental strength and the intestinal fortitude to walk away from that leech of a word. Black Americans would be surprised at the positive affect it would have on the rest ofAmericaand the world in general if they as a group refrained from illuminating the n-word and keeping it alive.
The Anderson family, just the same as our ancestors, finds nothing funny, chic or cool about being categorized as a n**ger/n**ga and having to suffer the consequences of being labeled as such and as descendants of our ill-fated ascendants we likewise shouldn’t see anything, chic, cool or funny about the use of the n-word and all the crimes committed involving this obscene term.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/08/17/mississippi.hate.crime/
Staff Writer; H. Lewis Smith
This talented brother is the founder and president of UVCC, the United Voices for a Common Cause, Inc. ( http://www.theunitedvoices.com ); and author of “Bury that Sucka: A Scandalous Love Affair with the N-Word“.
Also follow Mr. Smith on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/thescoop1
