" Head Negro in Charge "- offensive ?

 I must begin by asserting my " innocence " in racial warfare . I'm

    just as old as the president and therefore influenced by the same cultural

    milieu. When dealing with individuals whom we know, we quickly learn their

    special sensitivities and try not to offend them out of kindness and respect.

       In general true friendship can be " taunted " and indulged. As  Frank Sinatra

    said in a movie role : " Only my friends can call me a wop ! "

       Returning to Providence from Boston on a Greyhound bus Easter weekend, I

    heard a number of New York bound " Blacks " refer to themselves and one

    another as " Niggers ". Several of them were so unruly that the bus was

    delayed at the Pawtucket Bonanza station. A  Providence Journal sports writer

    whom I chatted with, was upset about missing a deadline. (  Mo Vaughn won that

    game with a homer )

        Besides thinking about how I would like to go right back to North Conway,

    New Hampshire, where I had vacationed for a week, I reflected : How can self-

    respecting people talk about themselves this way ?

       If any white passengers had dared to use a racial epithet in addressing

    them, they  might have provoked a minor riot.

       For some time now black leaders have insisted that the  seemingly innocuous

    term " negro " is offensive to their racially sensitive ears. My 76 year old

    father still uses the word when discussing the problems of the race benignly.

    A few decades ago it  mysteriously became taboo. In  junior high school, I

    would not have dared to call " negroes "... blacks.

        Oddly enough in the movie " Malcolm X " we see Malcolm amused and disturbed

    by the many negative dictionary meanings of " Black " : evil, sinister, unclean,

    impure.... etc. .

        In my " innocent " opinion no harm is done in STILL employing this word

    " negro " . The respectable Latin word " niger " - close to universally

    offensive " nigger " simply  MEANS black in color .

        In general words are whatever we make them to be . I  myself, for example,

    could be called a WOP - which meant originally that some relative of mine

    was caught " WITHOUT PAPERS ! " The humiliation of it !