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The "N-word", should it be protected under the First Amendment or prohibited and punishable as dangerous, hate speech? Well, we can certainly agree that it is offensive to African Americans, as well as many non-African Americans, as it has direct ties to racism. The "N-word", while it did not originate as a racial slur, evolved into an epithet for racism during the slavery era. Even after the end of slavery, the "N-word" was used by white Americans to belittle and insult people of African decent. Therefore, the history of this word has fueled strong emotions among many races and I can actually understand how this word may have the ability to present itself as a "fighting" word. According to Justice Frank Murphy's opinion in the Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire (1942) case, "insulting or fighting' words . . . are no essential part of any exposition of ideas" and therefore are not protected under the First Amendment (Sullivan, 2005, 24). In some cases, its use, regardless of its version, by African-Americans is even offensive to other African Americans. Although the "N-word" offers no real benefit to society it does not in and of itself present a danger by inflicting anything other than offensiveness and therefore is, at this point, still protected under the First Amendment.

Although I would never use this word and certainly do not sit silent when it is used around me, I have to agree with Justice Hugo Black's opinion of absolutism. According to Justice Black, our right to exercise free speech should never been restrained or punished (Sullivan, 2005, 28). The government's word-by-word assessment of our language in an attempt to prohibit would-be offensive or hate speech is contradictory to the First Amendment. The hodgepodge of social values and morals and the varying degrees of thick and thin skinned people within our country make it impossible to eliminate all offensive speech. For instance, despite the fact that the "N-word" is continued to be used discriminatingly by non-African Americans, it is also used by some African Americans but with a different meaning. Many African Americans have transformed the word within their demographics. Instead of using the original word "nigger", they have shortened it to "nigga" and have adopted it as an affectionate introduction of camaraderie.

This ambiguity does create problems between races and in eliminating the use of the "N-word". Some African Americans' use of a version of the "N-word" appears that they have

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