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David Banner joins the fight over the N-word


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‘Kids want to hear it’
But even though there have been movements to permanently retire the word from the lexicon, Banner said that he’s going to continue to use it as long as “kids want to hear it. I’m a Bible with a Playboy cover on it. It don’t matter how they get the information.

“The problem is not young black men, it’s the old white folks who put the word out there in the first place.”

What he fails to understand is that those of us like Sharpton, Jackson and Winfrey who are old enough to know what it feels like to be called that word, are still recovering from the knife wounds we received back in the day. They hurt then, but in many ways the pain is even more intense now that the word is often used as a term of endearment among the seemingly lost generations.

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Banner really needs to ask somebody.

What’s even more twisted is the fact that Banner said if one of his young white fans called him the N-word he would “beat them bloody.”

We need to join the Rev. Al in prayer.

The prudent thing for Banner to do at this point would be to schedule a meeting with the men and the woman he’s been attacking. I don’t think Oprah would be down for it — she’s got an empire to run and souls to save — but I’m assuming that the men of the cloth would be willing to forgive and forget and use their collective wisdom to try and increase the peace in what seems to be an unwinnable, generational war of words.

But Banner says he isn’t willing to do so. He thinks Sharpton and Jackson have “lost their way.” Funny, they probably think he’s driving with a faulty GPS system, too.

I know I do.

Let’s just hope Banner finds his way back before he loses any more money and has no one to blame but himself.

Miki Turner is an entertainment columnist for MSNBC.com. She welcomes your comments at .

© 2009 msnbc.com.  Reprints


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