But there is something else that this story has brought out -- and it's something that is bothering me a lot. That is the idea being put forth by some that using that word back before the civil rights laws were passed was not a racist act, but a common occurrence. And that even non-racists used the word. That is an outrageous falsehood.
I am about four months older than Paula Deen, and I was born and raised in Texas (where racism was just as prevalent as it was in the Deep South). So I think I can speak to what things were like when she was younger. Was the word commonly used by many? Yes, it was. But we all knew that those who used it were racists (people who believed whites were better than blacks, and deserved more rights). But it was not used by everyone, and it certainly was not used by non-racists.
I cannot speak to the time before my lifetime, but I can say that in the 1950s everyone in Texas (and the South) knew that the word "nigger" was a racist term -- and those who did not think racism was acceptable, did not use that word. I was one of the lucky ones, because I was not taught by my parents to hate anyone because of their race, color, or ethnicity -- and I never heard my parents use that word (and my brothers and I knew it was not acceptable for us to say it either).
Southerners are not any stupider than others. They knew that by using that word, a person was making a racist statement. The non-racists (there have always been some good people in Texas and the South) knew it, and the racists knew it. The word was heard a lot among whites because the racists were in control of Texas and Southern society at that time -- but everyone understood it was a racist word, and it was not acceptable to use that word among non-racists.
I sincerely hope that Paula Deen has changed, because if she used that word in the past (as she has admitted she did) then she was a racist. People can change, and I have known many who have (and are ashamed of their past) -- and I have known many who have not changed. Racism is alive and well, but thankfully, it is no longer accepted by the majority in Texas and the South as it once was -- and hopefully, that majority who don't accept it will continue to grow larger as time passes.
But make no mistake -- in my lifetime (and Paula's), the word "nigger" has always been universally recognized as a racist word (even in Texas and the South). And anyone who used it marked themselves as a racist (to both racists and non-racists).