Say What?

I always try to say what I mean and mean what I say.  Put another way, words matter to me, and they always have.  That’s why I find this Tim Anderson/N-word thing so confusing, especially after Anderson told the Sun-Times Tuesday, “I didn’t mean anything by it [calling Royals’ pitcher Brad Keller the N-word after Keller hit him with a pitch], but that’s just in my language.”  Pardon me?

 

The word means something, or it doesn’t.  It can’t simultaneously be the spoken embodiment of all the suffering African-Americans have experienced and just a curse word, like “damn’” or “sh*t.”  Any number of sports’ figures, including players like Micah Johnson and Adam Jones, have spoken out on this subject.  Do they agree with Anderson, and, if so, why?  Better yet, how can they?

 

Again, the word in question has meaning, or it doesn’t.