Opinion

The word is never acceptable

The Issue: A video of the Philadelphia Eagles’ Riley Cooper using the n-word, which has sparked outrage.

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Riley Cooper’s use of the n-word was definitely wrong, but let’s keep it in perspective (“The N-Word & Me,” Leonard Greene, PostOpinion, Aug. 6).

It shouldn’t have been said, but we’re not talking about cancer here.

Young black people use that word with one another quite often. That is also offensive.

Yet for the elite media and black activists, racism is only a one-way street. What about white people being called honkies, crackers and whitey?

Racism is a two-way street. Let’s judge people by their character, not the color of their skin.

Bob Cronin

Ocala, Fla.

As a white kid from Queens Village from 1965 on, I never even realized it was a word until I heard it on the street one day. I had to ask my Dad what it meant. He said: “Hate. It means hate.”

It never dawned on me to take the conversation any further, and I knew at 10 years old it was a bad thing to say. My Dad told me: “People who say that shouldn’t be your friends.” To this day, those kids, mid-50s by now, are still not my friends.

I’m glad this article addressed the fact that no one should use the word, regardless of skin color.

I hear it more now than I did back then.

Jeannie Reysen

Mineola