Ah yes, that dreaded "N" word 

Ah yes, that dreaded "N" word

Here I am again, at a complete loss to understand just what the hell is going on.

According to the Cavalier Daily, it seems that the discussion at a staff meeting at the University of Virginia turned to football, then to football team mascots and team names. One employee apparently said something along the lines of, "I can't believe in this day and age that there's a sports team in our nation's capital named the Redskins. That is as derogatory to Indians as having a team called Niggers would be to blacks."

This is where I get lost. This is being referred to as a "racial incident." As in, something bad happened here. And I can't figure it out. What was the bad thing that happened? Was it simply the use of the word "nigger?" Are we completely forbidden to use that word anymore, in any context? The guy who used the word acknowledged that it is a derogatory term; that was his whole point. Is the problem that he equated it with the term "redskin?" Is that it? Whether that is it or not, the implications of the fact that this has raised such a brouhaha are that "nigger" is more offensive to blacks than "redskin" is to Native Americans. Personally, I have a hard time imagining that this is the case.

Anyway, I am seriously lost here and I welcome a serious explanation from anybody who thinks he or she can explain to me what was so bad about what the guy said. And frankly, although I usually hesitate to speak for anybody else, I imagine there are millions of others who are wondering just what the hell this is all about.