u/Apprehensive-Task930

I’m not a fan of using the N word. Never say it, don’t listen to music with it in it (clean version or not at all), don’t want to be around people who use it, no matter the race. I live in California, and recently the amount of non-black people who say the word has gotten crazy. I lived in Alabama and didn’t hear that word as much as I’ve heard it since moving to California.

It’s not a reclaimed word as I’ve heard people say. It doesn’t mean kinship or any such thing. I’ve seen/heard black people use it the exact same way white people use it, I.e. to express disgust or unwanted behavior. It doesn’t change the meaning just because a black person says it. It’s rooted in anti black hate and even we use it that way. It’s not just a word. It’s never just a word.

But everyone, even popular non black musicians are saying the word now. So, is this just something that I’m going to have to accept? That I’m randomly going to hear the n word in casual conversations and learn to just not react to it? I can’t see myself being friends with anyone who uses that word freely. It’s never ok for me. So, what do I do? How do you handle it?

This is one of my favorite Black Mirror episodes and I was surprised that a lot of people didn’t like it. I get that Issa Rae’s performance left a lot to be desired, but I think a lot of people forget how badly acted those old Hollywood movies were a lot of the time. They were over done and over acted, but that’s also beside the point. The thing that makes a Black mirror episode what it is is the subtleties that lead up to the reveal, and our connection with technology.

In San Junipero the thing that made that episode for me was that Yorkie, who was in a coma because of her parents homophobia, finally gets to marry a woman that she loves, even if it’s just so she can finally be free from her families wishes and live life the way she wants to. That’s what brought the tears. That’s what made the episode for me. It’s kind of the same thing with Hotel Reverie. I’m not saying that a straight person wouldn’t get it, but a gay person definitely would.

Dorothy Chambers killed herself because of the rumors surrounding her sexuality, sad and alone. It is subtlety suggested that the woman who still owns the studio (I blank on her name) was the woman who Dorothy was in love with. Unpack that for a second. Dorothy’s lover had to watch her play straight roles and bury herself to be accepted, and now, with ReDream she can give her former lover the thing she always wanted. Yes, she had to watch her fall in love with another woman, but she gets to be with another woman, on film, with no one rejecting her for it.