Racial discrimination against African Americans is one of the most controversial issues today, so much so that President Barack Obama addressed the issue during a podcast interview with comedian Marc Maron on June 22.

“It’s not the matter of it not being polite to say ‘nigger’ in public,” Obama said. “It’s not just a matter of overt discrimination. Societies don’t overnight completely erase everything that happened 200 to 300 years prior.”

With Obama being the first African American president, his use of this inflammatory term in the interview shocked many people. However, that is what made the issue that more appealing to the public eye; demonstrating to society the intensiveness of the issue. With this issue being a risky subject,this act of courage not only set the stage, but broke a barrier.

Although the world has evolved from a racial standpoint, racism still exists and continues to affect society in a tremendous way. Today the word “nigger” is still used as a slur when referencing an individual of African American descent. However, today’s youth fail to take into consideration that this term was used by individuals of Caucasian descent as an implication of ignorance towards the African American “race”.

A normal walk through the halls of high schools and even elementary schools consists of the term being thrown around carelessly. Instead of recognizing the derogatory meaning that this term entails and unifying to eliminate the usage, too many individuals have decided to use and abuse the term after changing the verbiage.

Some African American individuals continue to associate the term with its original meaning; feeling that because this term is specified for their race, they deserve the right to have ownership of it. This meaning that only they should be afforded the right to use the term freely. But this doesn’t downplay the severity of the term. The purpose of reclaiming the term is to remove the oppressor’s power. Seeing that the term still holds the same meaning, no matter who, where, or when an individual decides to say the term out loud, it will continue to be offensive, because of it’s content.

“I believe that it’s up to the people of all ethnicities to put a stop to the use of these unnecessary words. This is more of a cultural issue; only we can change and improve our world,” said Annie McDonald,” staff member.

Additionally, society is failing to recognize that many other ethnicities are experiencing racial discrimination as well. Similar to African Americans, other ethnicities are taunted with tons of derogatory terms. Although President Obama has contributed to the progress that has been made on race relations, he is not blind to this fact that it is still occurring.

“Racism, we are not cured of it,” Obama said.

I couldn’t agree more.