http://www.blackvoices.com/blogs/2009/02/13/sanford-and-son-n-word/?icid...
The above link has been in my hold box for a while now—the link indicates it dates back to February of this year. The link used to take one to an AOL blog that opined they were sorry to come across reruns of Sanford and Son in which the n word had been scrubbed. (The link, for some reason, has been re-routed to the home page of Black Voices.)
I could only shake my head in disbelief at the absurdity of this writer—yes a black writer.

Very arguably, the best thing that has happened over the past 30 years is the media’s refusal to tolerate the N word. The FCC has no rule against the word. But media got their collective act together and point blank refused to use the word. Blacks everywhere benefited, perhaps even more so than from Brown V. Board of Education. Respect is what breeds tolerance—not laws imposed, however fantastically righteous the law.

You can watch prime time TV until you’re eyes glaze over and you will not hear the N word. What will you hear? Slut, bitch and whore-- each coming with a dizzying number of nasty adjectives to pack an even greater punch. Of course, late night “comedy” would never dream of calling a public figure a Ni%%er. But David Letterman’s favorite descriptive word for women is whore. (Almost nightly, as a matter of fact!)

It is so VERY important to tell society it is NOT OK to denigrate blacks with such a despicable word. And the best way to do so: make those who use such words culturally anathema. The proof is in the pudding. When anyone uses the N word they are multilaterally mocked and ridiculed. Apologies come as predictable as the sun rises.

Now if only we could get media to understand that Slut is the preferred word of choice rapists yell at their victims. (Bitch and whore are right up there!)

During the time it took you to read this, a woman has been raped in the United States. Go worldwide and your head will burst with their screams. Listen carefully, because intermingled in those screams is the world Slut and Whore. Think about it! Please, think about it.
Language matters.
Think of all the women who have been raped, who been called whore and slut and bitch, who then turn on the TV and hear such language. No one is immune: senators, governors, the girl next door—all are openly mocked and disrespected on national TV, just without the actual rape to go along with it. Think of how it must feel to the woman who was raped to the tune of Slut/whore/bitch…think how it must feel to her to hear delighted peels of laughter from the audience when such terms are thrown at women.
Then think about the women who yelled the n word at those girls going to school—or trying to, as segregation was ended. You know the pictures, you’ve seen them. Faces (white faces) twisted in hate. Then..

Think about what it would mean to those black women, now grown, to hear society laughing as we belittled our black public figures as nothing more than ni%%#rs. Language matters.

And to that silly writer who wished cable had not scrubbed the N word from Sanford and Sons reruns—I encourage you to think about the amazing changes wrought by simply refusing to make a group of humans sub-human with language. NEVER wish to turn back the clock, because the hearing makes the saying OK.

Finally to those ridiculous media mavens, who are so intent on telling us Poor David Letterman was a victim, I say to them: Stop the HATE.

Women have a right to the same respect we give to blacks.

We have a right to not be bitches, whores and sluts just as blacks have the right to not be n-worded.
Women are no less. We are not sub-human. Yet…in this 21st century, I would say it is almost impossible to find a woman who has not been belittled by the word, slut, whore and bitch. When will women wake up and say NO, it is NOT ok to belittle us based on gender?
Many, many women have, and they are speaking loudly just now...but for some odd….reason, the media is BEHIND the curve on this. Why?? Could it be media is 98% owned and operated by men? To all the women in media who SAY they have no trouble downing the Slut word with their morning coffee, I say: have you no shame?