Kindred Post 1

We hear the “n-word” thrown out a lot in today’s society. When we hear this word it is almost always in a movie or a comedy show. When the “n-word” comes up it is used in a non-serious, joking manner. As I was reading Kindred, it was shocking to read how two hundred years ago the “n-word” was used in a totally different way.
Kindred starts off in Dana’s house helping her husband unpack some books. Dana begins to feel light headed and the room starting to move. She realizes furniture disappearing and all of sudden she collapses into a woods near a river where there is a young boy drowning. Dana, not thinking where she is or how she got there, rushes to the young boy’s aid. Upon pulling the young boy out of the water there is a white woman, the young boy’s mother, running and screaming for her son’s life. She is blaming Dana for killing her baby and takes out her anger on Dana by hitting her in the shoulder. Dana refuses to give up on the young boy’s life and pushes the white woman away and begins performing mouth to mouth on the young boy. The boy begins to breathe on his own and upon turning around there is a man with a long rifle pointed at Dana. Dana then vanishes back to where she began the chapter with her husband. Upon arriving back home she frightened with her husband by her side. Not knowing what had just happened she opts to stay home and not go outside. At the dinner table she begins to feel the same way she did the last time she vanished. The room starts disappearing and she collapses in a room with the same young boy, who is now a couple years older. The young boy was trying to start his house on fire to take away all of his father’s money. Dana rescues the young boy and the house by preventing the fire from starting. Dana begins to talk to the young boy with whom he refers to her as the “n-word”. He recalls the time where he was drowning and Dana came to his aid. His mom was hesitant to allow Dana near him to help save him because Dana was a “n-word”.
What is the “n-word” in today’s society? I believe that word is used in a joking manner only for those who are allowed to say it. The African-Americans in today’s society use the word the most and actually refer to each other as it. You will never see a member of the opposite race say the “n-word” without some sort of punishment or action being followed.
I believe the “n-word” is a very sensible subject for African-Americans. If they want to use that word and refer to each other as that then that is fine, it is up to them. It is a word that was used to downgrade them in the early years of America. Never should a member of the opposite race feel the need to say it in reference to an African-American. It is wrong and there is no place for it in today’s society.