The N-Word

I thought that this article was redundant and terribly boring. In the beginning, Bernard does a good job of setting up the scene of a black teacher (Bernard herself) in a class full of white students at a university. She discusses the issue of people using the n-word, and the feelings and thoughts behind it.

However, in the middle of the essay, I was sick of hearing about how since she's black no one wants to say that word around her. It's basically what the whole story is about. Bernard talks about being treated unequally in the street, in the college, and when talking to her husband. She is obssessed with that topic, while no one really looks at what race anyone is anymore, or at least I don't. I think that since she grew up in the South, she has a biast look on racism, and thinks that everyone is racist, and that whenever anyone looks at her, they think BLACK. But I don't do that, and I don't think a lot of other people do anymore, either.

Bernard creates this whole controversy that isn't a big deal to begin with. She talkes with EVERYONE about her class discussion, her sister, her husband, and her three or four friends within the university. I think she has a problem with thinking that everyone is against her. Why does she do everyday things, thinking she's judged? An example in the paper is when Bernard is in a restaurant and she's drunk. Bernard is thinking, "I'm a black person, and i'm drunk in a restaurant." Who really cares? No one is looking at her thinking, "she's a black person, and she's drunk. That must be what all black people are like."

My point is, she is basically stereotyping and being prejudice against herself.