Hamilton, are you my Caucasian?

Is the photo a mugshot?

Can you suggest an alternate way for whites to show how hip they are? Is there, like, a button or a t-shirt they could wear? Or a special handshake that's not too complicated to remember?

@moff: Yep, from when Lacey got arrested by a hick Arizona sheriff for a story his paper ran. He is possibly a great journalist and simultaneously a huge jerk.

@TheHonJudgeSmails: HamNol rolls like that.

@Hamilton Nolan: Impossible!

@Hamilton Nolan: See, well, then maybe he picked up that word in the joint from the crew he started rolling with, and he just got so accustomed to using it and it was really, really hard to reacclimate once he was outside like in Shawshank.

Morgan Freeman! That guy's my...my nephew. Morgan Freeman is my nephew.

it is also a reminder to whites everywhere: JUST LEAVE THAT WORD ALONE, FOR GOD'S SAKE. Whether ending in -er or -a, it is not for you.

I don't think it's for anybody, black, white, brown. When I hear that word, no matter what the context, it makes me think the person saying it hates me and wants to hurt me. It's such an emotionally visceral reaction that all intellectual arguments about reclaiming the word are lost on me.

I blame Quentin Tarantino for starting this fly-for-a-white-guy blacker-than-you trend.

On the other hand I'm starting a business "Certifiably Black" which will provide "down" whities with a certificate of authentification should they feel the need drop the n-word in an affectionate manner in public. Simply flash your certificate at angry mob and they'll know you are good peoples. Only $999.99 if you order in the next 20 mins. Personal safety NOT guaranteed.

would "my ni99a" work in that context, I wonder

@famousauthor: Maybe just adding "DLT" at the end of their name for "Down Like That." Kind of like "Esquire."

"I'm Brett Wilkinson, DLT. Great to meet you."

Any good?

"Thanks for the stank on my hang-low", Lacey responded to Ms. Paulson's e-mail.

@yogagrrrl: While I certainly understand the emotional impact of the word, there is no way in holy hell I can justify writing or saying "n-word" if I need or want to say "nigger." I certainly think there are contexts in which not using it seems silly. Like, for instance, when discussing it's use. But that's one woman's opinion. I know for some, the sting is too sharp. That kind of troubles/puzzles me a bit though.

@ambitious: "its use", dumbass.

Lacey's Note to self: Hitchens is not an appropriate test audience

Was it "nigger" or "nigguh"?

There's a big difference, Mikey boy.

@roodles: I blame Vanilla Ice.

@belltolls: I blame Vanilla Ice.

Yes. For many, many reasons.

@roodles: I understand that Vanilla Ice, who hit on hard times, is now trying to resurrect his career by playing in some of the smaller clubs under the name "Hot Chocolate Marshmallow." How cool is that?

ha ha ha... more stuff white people like

@famousauthor: that actually makes me like him a little. My world is imploding...

I agree with Matt Taibbi. This is manufactured outrage. Crusty old white men wouldn't know about these type of phrases (ie "nappy headed hoes" were it not for the hip hop stars and their (predominantly) white overseers doing a modern minstrel show so the artists can make millions, get out of the ghetto they romanticize in their lyrics and buy mansions in Connecticut . . . like 50-Cent did.

PS: Larry David is my nigger.

@gawkimo: see what you're saying. still, its not for Matt Taibbi to make that call. Last time I checked he wasn't a person of color and can't really speak for me. I don't use the word and it's certainly not cool for random white dude #1 to chuck it at me even in jest.

How about "Voldemort?" Can you say that?

"the classic fatal mistake of white men who quite rightly believe they're rich and well-connected enough to say whatever they want"

FTFY

Can we also do something about white suburban kids who listen to rap and think it reflects their actual life experience? THere's a special place in hell for wiggers.

Christ, I hate it when people defend their assholery by citing the First Amendment. People, the FA isn't prescriptive. It protects your right to say stupid shit, but isn't an encitement to do so. Nor does the FA mitigate your stupid shit's stupidity or shittiness.

I sure hope this doesn't encourage the schmuck to put the word on the cover of the VV next week.

>> its not for Matt Taibbi to make that call <<

Imposing a race-based linguistic ban on "nigger" is the same as telling me I have no right to paint a picture of Mohammed with a bomb in his turban. And choosing to be violent against whites for using the word would be morally equivalent to murdering a Dutch filmmaker because he was being offensive to Islam. I'm kinda tired of that shit. I went to an inner city school and there definitely were black students and there were niggers (who weren't all black, by the way). Chris Rock is right in that regard.

@gawkimo: no, no, no.

I'm black, don't use it, never use it. I also grew up in a family that never used it so it always struck me as odd. I don't understand (a) why some blacks use it purportedly under the guise of "diluting" the word's power and taking so-called ownership of it which is BS to me until I start seeing Hispanics calling each other spics and Jews, each other kikes, in open public forums nonchalantly and (b) why some whites feel "deprived" if they "can't" use it or feel that they should be entitled to use it, which begs the question, why do they want to say it so badly? It's like my 4 year old niece who giggles when she says a bad word like "look what I did" Children.

@ambitious: I don't know if you'll read this again, but why does it trouble you that "the sting is too sharp?"

And co-sign with 3cardkitty, No, no no. I don't subscribe to the Chris Rock school of thought no matter how superfically alluring it may seem to posit there are two types of blacks.

@3cardkitty: DOUBLE THAT.
If I call your mother a whorish cunt and she punches me in the face, of course, her reaction is uncalled for. That doesn't mean that calling your mother a whorish cunt is laudable or should be celebrated or is my place.

No one here has argued that the appropriate reaction to being verbally dehumanized should be violence. And your example of "moral equivalence" is woefully, woefully misguided (for one, 'violent against whites'- which could mean doling out a hard shove- is not quite the same as murder). I mean, you may think me a nigger but even I know that wee difference.

Confidential to Mike Lacey: If you're ever tempted to call someone "my n----" again, just substitute the word "buttboy." Then everyone's happy.

@yogagrrrl: If it hurts too much to even say or use it in a critical context, then it seems to me that confronting its depth and danger will be difficult. And I think that confrontation is crucial. Or at least it has been for me.

As a Caucasian male, I understand where this guy may have been coming from. My best friend is black and I use that term with him on occasion, and he with me as well actually. I think we both know that, since we've been best friends farther back then either of us can remember, that it holds no barbs and is meant in jest and or mockery, though then again we've never explored the deep social issues of interracial friendships, but then sometimes you just don't need to to "get it". Other times you get run on sentences. Anyway . . . so maybe, just maybe, that's what Cracker Mike was on about . . .

Then again, even with no public speaking experience, I know that it's not "ok" for me to fling that word about in mixed company. Oh, pretty much ever. Actually, anecdote. One night I found myself at a comedy club in Jamaica Queens. Let's just say that I caught the crowd and comic's attention by merely walking in to the place and was immediately called out (and subsequently up on stage). First I was made to sing some Robin Thicke song (I had no idea who he was nor the song) as that's who I was introduced as ("LADIES AND GENTLEMAN ROBIN THICKE IS HERE WITH US TONIGHT!!), and then the comic gave me the mic and told me to say "fuck all these niggas". Even then. Even in a comedy club where all rules get bent. Even a little pre-bent myself already . . . didn't work out for Kramer, I'm just gonna smile and be mocked some more instead, kthxbai.

@ambitious: Thanks. You've given me a different and new approach to thinking about the word and its uses and contexts. Hard to communicate this over the internet, but your response hit me in a place I needed to be hit.

The funniest thing about everyone's comments is the fact that contrary to what Gawker has reported, the dead Pulitzer Prize winning journalist TOM FITZPATRICK WAS WHITE.

No one has really given a credible reason as to why some whites like this guy want to say it, whether out of malice or supposed kinship save for Teemo and his post-post modern day interracial Starskey & Hutch friendship. I just don't get it and don't have friendships with whites where it's permissible, even whites I grew up with since age 4 and have long track record with. It's not like I have words of endearment/solidarity racially based with my jewish or Asian friends and whatnot. my gook, my kike, my heeb, please. Let me try that at Passover and see how it goes over.

@AfroGuapo: IT IS JUST LIKE STARSKY AND HUTCH (but with less action). We don't have that cool car either. Ok, it's not like Starsky and Hutch at all.

Actually though, I wasn't debating your point which I think is totally valid. I really even doubt my friend goes home and says that to his momma (though who knows). I guess my point was more that it's on a case-by-case basis and maybe the two in the article were chummy enough that it was ok for them. That doesn't make it ok to say in public to whoever, or me to you, etc. Some people bristle at the word, understandably. Other people bristle at "fuck", understandably. Also, it's not something I say to my friend all the time either (or again, vice versa), but we're also confident enough in our own friendship to know that it means nothing in that context. I've also had many gay friends that I've called "fag" (and lo and behold, they called me fag too, as turnabout is fair play). Though, that may all be down to people's sense of humor as well, and again not a word I would run through the Castro or WeHo or Chelsea screaming.

Teemo I wasn't being dismissive of your friendship but was merely stating I don't have friendships of that nature -- never have, never will. I guess I am tired of this being a recurring theme with black people being on the receiving end of this crap (Don's nappy-headed hoes, the N word being bandied about so easily by blacks and whites on radio, etc., really tired of seeing Hispanic and white kids using it on the PATH train, etc. etc.) But yes, your point that it's a case-by-case basis is what people like Lacey forget, and unfortunately, his no holds barred friendship with the journalist likely offended the 82 year old black mother who was in attendance to see a tribute to her late son. I remember having phone sex with a white guy once and he exclaimed the N word in the heat of the moment. Suffice it to say I lost my erection and hung up on him. Perhaps this worked on another black guy and he erroneously thought all blacks use it. I blame pop culture/rap industry (NAS, etc.) for being too permissive and thinking it's chic or cool to use and pedaling that fiction mass market and white teens and adults in their perrenial elusive quest to be cool and down and keeping it supposedly real. Until I start seeing Jews, Asians, Hispanics, etc. co-signing on doing the same thing in their groups en masse, I can't entertain a rational reason as to why we're the only group that denigrates ourselves and why people like Lacey WANT to use it and then raise the First Amendment when they get called on it.

One last comment here: For the record I don't use the word, feel weird when I'm around people who use it (white or black). As Kurt Vonnegut once told me: good rule of thumb is to simply be polite. What's dumb is creating limits to expression that borders on dogma.

And yes, imposing a racist ban on the "N word" is the same as imposing a religious ban on depicting a prophet. Same ball park.

I was watching a basketball game many years ago in a bar in Chicago frequented by African Americans. A woman next to me pointed at Shaq and said quite loudly "That nigger looks like King Kong!" I found that funny at two levels, most notably how inappropriate it would have been for anyone except a black person to make that observation.

He looks like a man who combs his face every morning with a rake.