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First, and this is a stupid thing to get into a debate over, I must comment that during my observations at a school in the Philadelphia area there were a few occations where white students used the N-word while hanging out in the hall with their "clique" of mostly black friends. This is certainly not the norm, but if you take it to the field, it just shows why handling the situation in different ways based on skin color can create problems.
On a more substantial point, if the slur was used between teammates and it was not heard by the other team, fans, etc. a stern warning and a mention of it to the coach will be my initial action (and that is totally independent of the coach's and player's skin color). If the comment is heard by opponents, fans, etc. I am going to flag it, again independent of skin color.
I can never appreciate what the N-word means to African-Americans. I cannot know what it feels like to have that word used in a hateful manner towards me, and, in contrast, I cannot know why it is acceptable in conversation between blacks. That will create some close-mindedness about the subject on my part, but I cannot justify the use of that word as a part of normal public discourse. If I take the use of the word out of context and I flag it, I apologize, but when the public arena of a football game is entered, those in attendance should have a reasonable expectation of not having to hear a word that through much of its history has been considered hateful. Therefore, irrespective of the context or intent of the speaker, if it is generally heard, I am going to flag it.
[Edited by PSU213 on Aug 6th, 2003 at 07:39 PM]
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