Shaken, not slurred

I'm all for freedom of speech, but some people seriously make me want to shoot them. It's 2004. Racial slurs should be a thing of the past by now. I know that as long as people are different, there will always be slurs and insults related to those differences. \nBut that blows. \nRacists use slurs the way some people use the word "like." What really angers me is when stupid ordinary people use them without realizing they're doing anything wrong. \nI know white guys who said they called the few black guys in their school the "N" word and laughed about it. Their only defense was that they joked around like that in their school. \nStuff like this just makes my brain hurt. I don't know who I'm more mad at: the white guys joking about the "N" word, or those few black guys who allow them to. To think that there are teens who think joking about racial slurs is acceptable makes me wonder who were their parents and why did they raise idiots? \nI came across a story in The New York Times Sunday about a radio disc jockey in Milwaukee who used a racial slur on the air. WISN DJ Mark Belling used the word "wetback," a derogatory term describing Mexican immigrants, in an on-air discussion about voter fraud. \nBelling received some calls complaining about his comment, but instead of immediately apologizing, he joked about it for an entire week. He later sarcastically apologized for the comment. \nThere was a 300-person protest outside the radio studios, but nothing has been done to punish Belling. The only result was that one advertiser pulled its ads. \nWhy is this Milwaukee radio station not doing anything about this? If the slur was said on a radio show in New York or Chicago, the station would be without advertisers and the DJ would be out of a job by now. \nI think part of the reason Belling wasn't fired is that many Latino slurs take a back seat to others. If someone is called a "wetback" or "spic," a lot of people just laugh and don't think much of it. \nIf someone calls me or someone else one of those names, I get mad. On my floor freshman year, there was this group of white guys and one Latino guy. They called him a "wetback" and ran through the halls yelling "la migra," which refers to Immigration and Naturalization Services.\nI can't even describe how insulted and angry I was that some idiots joke around this way and think it's OK. You'll never see someone running through an IU dorm hallway yelling the "N" word. \nPeople just don't think slurs aimed at Latinos are that severe. The influx of Latinos into U.S. culture is a relatively new occurrence. Children aren't being taught that hateful words against Latinos are equally as wrong as those against blacks. A lot of people are still living in a black and white world, but brown people are here, too. Change needs to happen, and Latinos and others need to speak up. \nIt's not just Latinos or black people that have slurs aimed at them. Maybe the most tolerated slurs are those aimed at white people, and most are afraid to say anything for fear of being considered a racist. \nPeople like that one Latino guy in the group should stand up for themselves. Instead of going with the flow, correct it. My dad always tells me a story about how one of his co-workers called him a "taco." In response my dad called him a "hamburger," and the guy got really upset about it. \nDon't be that passive person who just wants to go with the group. Stand up for yourself.