N.H. Police Commissioner calls Obama the "N" word

http://news.yahoo.com/towns-white-police-official-calls-obama-n-word-204931723.html

I'm not going to copy and paste the article. Here's what happened. A resident overheard the police commissioner call President Obama the "N" word while he was at a restaurant. The town is small and predominately white. Residents are calling for his resignation, but he refuses to either resign or even apologize for his comments. The town manager says the Board of Selectmen do not have the authority to remove an elected official from office.

Here is the quote that spurred me to write this, uttered by a resident of the town:
"All this man did was express his displeasure with the man who's in office," Bader said."

Expressed his displeasure? By calling him a derogatory racial term? No. If you are displeased with someone, maybe you call him a jerk. You say you don't like how he's doing his job. You do not refer to someone's race, gender, sexual orientation, nation of origin, disability, and then claim that you're saying it because you're unhappy with the way someone is doing his job...or driving his car...or the condition of his house. When you bring things like race or sexual orientation into a conversation, it is discrimination. Pure and simple.

I had a discussion with a family member fairly recently about celebrity chef Paula Deen and her use of the "N" word. Paula claims that she uttered the word once, in reference to a man who held her at gunpoint during a bank robbery. My relative said, "If that had happened to me, I probably would have used that word too." I was speaking to a woman in her 70's, who had never appeared to be racist...until Obama was elected.

But I don't think I would do that. I just don't think I would. I would call him lots of names (not to his face of course), but not a derogatory term referring to his skin color. Because there are bank robbers of many different colors and nationalities. There are male and female bank robbers. I wouldn't dislike him because he was black. I would dislike him because he held a gun to me. Because he was a threat to my health, safety, and security.

Lots of people didn't like President George W. Bush when he was in office. Lots! And a lot of people didn't (and still don't) treat him with the respect that he deserves as a former president of the United States. I am guilty of that. But the level of disrespect and discrimination directed at President Obama has far exceeded that of President Bush, or any former president, in my opinion. The things people say out loud, the emails that have been sent, even the political cartoons have been outrageous. Some newspaper published a picture of President and Mrs. Obama with their faces altered to look baboons! Who would think it is okay to do that? The same people who refuse to apologize when they refer to the President as the "N" word. Because so many people believe that free speech should include the right to hate speech.

librarianintx