The issue caused a firestorm on social media.
“My thing is, if you don’t have to carry the weight of that word each and every day that you are alive, then why should you say it,” Facebook user Gabrielle N. Johnson wrote on rolling out’s page.
Others defended Rodriguez’s use of the N-word by posting, “I have absolutely no problem with them saying that word. I say this all the time, it’s all about context,” Facebook user Dana A. Olesen wrote on rolling out’s page.
The use of the N-word will remain a hot button topic due to the historical weight that it holds as a tool to demean Blacks. Just this week New York governor Mario Cuomo received backlash and harsh criticism of his carefully choreographed use of the word as a quote from a news source.
But even with it being used by some as a term of endearment, the burden that it carries can never be taken away.
