Is it now socially acceptable for white people to say the n word?

[athena]

27. It's probably best to talk to your manager.

Is it possible that it bothers her too, but because she's black, she doesn't want to make a point of objecting to it? Perhaps if she realized that it bothers white people, too, she would feel more justified in saying something?

I don't know. I'm just imagining being a woman in a male-dominated company, and having all the male employees make sexist jokes. I might want to avoid making a scene, drawing attention to the fact that I'm female, and appearing hypersensitive. If, however, a male subordinate came to me and said this kind of talk was bothering him, I might feel more justified in stepping in, saying that other people in the group are complaining about their behavior, and putting a stop to it. (It would be pretty important, though, that the male subordinate didn't give me the impression that he was trying to suck up to me or to manipulate me into doing something that might hurt me.)

Personally, unless you really trust your HR department, I wouldn't go to them. I'm not convinced that they're always on the side of the people they claim to represent.

I'd love to get the view of a Black person on whether this makes sense, or whether I'm totally off the mark here.