my friend said, "it is never, ever okay for white people to say (n-word)."

[hfojvt]

93. are you a black person?

I didn't see that in your OP.


"how do you know it is never appropriate?

because black people have told you it is never appropriate."


That's probably not gonna be true of all black people though.

In fact, the phrase "black people" also has some controversy attached to it. The politically correct term is "African American", but some blacks like that term and some don't.

Now, if you read Martin Luther King, which I encourage you to, he uses the word 'negro'. Yet using that word today, particularly by a white person like me, would be considered a huge faux pas.

It's kinda funny how these things get 'decided' insofar as they ever are decided. I don't think there really is a universal rule.

I would also note, again, that in my limited experience among the black people who use the word. They make a distinction between n-ga and n-ger. But YMMV.