The N-word is a horrible slur. Like all other slurs that are used as synonyms for people’s ethnicity, sexuality, gender, and gender identity, it is used to demean people. They are not words that I think anyone should use, the only exception being in highly academic contexts where the words themselves are the subject of study and one needs to use them to avoid ambiguity or when people who belong to the group being described derogatorily use the words in an attempt to defang them.

But it does seem to be the case that there are people who are not Black who relish the opportunity to use the N-word. The word seems to have an allure for them that they cannot resist and they seem to seize any opportunity to use it and even go to the extent of creating opportunities for them to use it, while trying to act as if the context makes it acceptable. I have written before about how filmmaker Quentin Tarantino seems to absolutely delight in using the word in his films and even plays a part in the film Pulp Fiction where his character throws the word around. (Incidentally, whenever I write a post that castigates Tarantino, I get responses from his fans who assert that he is some kind film making genius and that I am too stupid to understand the humor and subtlety. These fans are as passionate about their idol as are fans of Sam Harris.)
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The National Football League consists of 32 team owned by extremely wealthy people who are mostly white and male and so one would not expect them to be the most ethical of people in terms of the way they do business or the most enlightened when it comes to issues of race. This has already been demonstrated in the way they responded to Colin Kaepernick and the issue of racist team names and mascots. During the height of the Black Lives Matter protests, they felt pressured to at least say the right things about racism but it seemed to be the minimal amount that that they could get away with.

American football is a game in which the head coach plays an outsize role in the team’s performance, calling the plays, deciding who is does what, and so on. It is telling that although 70% of the players are black, there is currently only one black head coach. There has been an overwhelming majority of black players for a long time, long enough for large numbers of them to have worked their way through the ranks of player, assistant coach, offensive and defensive coordinator, to finally head coach, so the lack of more black coaches speaks to a real problem. While black coaches have been hired, they are usually hired by struggling teams and their tenure tends to be short-lived. Furthermore, while white coaches who fail with a team and are fired are given multiple opportunities with several other teams as either head coaches or coordinators, black coaches often have just one shot.

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Amnesty International is the latest mainstream organization that has finally come to the conclusion that what Israel practices with regard to the Palestinians is apartheid, joining other human rights groups like Human Rights Watch and B’Tselem that said similar things a year ago. The 280-page report outlines in great detail the reasons for saying so, pointing to what it calls decades of oppression. It says that Israel achieves this through four main methods.

Fragmentation into domains of control

At the heart of the system is keeping Palestinian separated from each other into distinct territorial, legal and administrative domains

Dispossession of land and property

Decades of discriminatory land and property seizures, home demolitions and forced evictions

Segregation and control

A system of laws and policies that keep Palestinians restricted to enclaves, subject to several measures that control their lives, and segregated from Jewish Israelis

Deprivation of economic & social rights

The deliberate impoverishment of Palestinians keeping them at great disadvantage in comparison to Jewish Israelis
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