Why is it acceptable for a white person to call another “nigga” in Wyoming? I hear it all the time, even say it often as a friendly yet offensive word. Students in Wyoming use this term because they are isolated from urban areas populated with African Americans. One of my friends spent a weekend at the University of Wyoming for a football camp. The days consisted of the hot sun beaming down on dozens of high school athletes who were exhausted from hours of playing football. After a long day of work, my friend stepped into an elevator accompanied by two high school students and, unknowingly, an African American college student. The three high schoolers were acting childish and immature (as high school boys from Tongue River do). As they began talking, my friend stated…show more content… When I was in the eighth grade, Brennan Kutterer, my friend, and I travelled to Denver with my parents. Denver’s population is full of African Americans whom interested us (interested us for the wrong reasons). So, immaturely, we started talking about the people like they belonged to us. “Look, that’s a big ol nigga over there.” My dad heard us talking about them and told us that if one of them were to hear us, we would get our asses beat. It was disrespectful and immoral to talk about a person like that, and it didn’t help that it was the first time that either of us had seen an African American in first person. I then realized that my dad was right: if we lived in a more African American populated area, we would be in some serious trouble. I thought about how’d I feel if a different race had a slang term that was offensive and rude for white people. I thought about how’d I feel if people constantly grimaced at me and mumbled things under their breath. Well, the reality is that black people are treated that way all across the United States but more so in
