also, i vaguely remembered seeing this in the post you skating thread. if that pictures as old as it looks, id say you were ahead of your time rocking those nut huggers.
but that attitude we're talking about, to dismiss racism, is one thing. to not let it get under your skin, thats a good thing. to recognize that someone is using it just to fuck with you and spite them by ignoring them, thats good. but its something else to try and ignore the connotation of the word as someone who has not felt the stinging sensation of it in your eardrum.
because you and I don't know what its like to walk in their shoes. i know theres some things for me that, try as i might, i cant control how i will feel about them. I would guess its the same way with that word, when a black person hears it, they might just brush it off and act unfazed, but deep down inside they might be reminded of the brutal and humiliating injustice that was done to their ancestors. I don't know. I couldn't say. but im a very visual person and when i hear a word i see the word. you can break a word down to its latin origins, but what the word has come to mean and how it has been used over the past couple of centuries makes the word what it really is - offensive and inexcusable.