Chris Rock tells a joke about the late rapper Tu-Pac. "People are saying that Tu-Pac  was assassinated. The truth is that n-word just got shot." Laughter follows. If Tu-Pac was replaced with Martin Luther King Jr. or Malcolm X, you might expect horror rather than laughter. In fact, if laughter followed then the standards in the black community have fallen to  dangerous level.

We do differentiate at some level between black people and n-words. In another joke, Chris Rock notes that n-words screw things up for Black people. Again laughter follows.

Somewhere along the line, many have accepted that the free use of the n-word by black people came about the bold move by blacks to "take" the n-word way from the racists. Somehow, this declaration of war was never received by the racists. If you think you fought a battle and won when no battle was actually fought, you are deluded.

I have pointed out before that true power was shown when Michael Jackson had albums taken off the shelves and re-recorded a song that included a Jewish slur. The Jewish powers that be were not going to roll over for the racists. They were not going to let a hint of degradation survive.  Similarly, true power would be shown if when the n-word was used, you turned around and got in the speaker's face and said in a loud, clear voice, "Say that again!".

There has been no dramatic improvement in the status of blacks in poverty since the n-word was "taken back". Children who have internalized that the non-battle fought over the n-word is the way to engage in combat are ill-equipped to confront people who say that they are "acting white" by trying to gain an education. Instead of fighting back, the children just give in the the pressure. You have given children a message that you can fighting a battle means giving in and giving up. Another battle, another victory.

Then we come to the Cookie Monster word, Oreo. Black on the outside and white on the inside. If the man had a plan to get black people to degrade themselves, they could not have picked a better crop of Stepin Fetchits than the current crop of rappers. They will rap about killing n-words and call black females canines to a hip-hop beat. These rappers are the true Oreos serving the same purpose as black slave catchers in days of old. They hate blacks just as much as the racists. The rapper goal is to live large like the Wall Street bankers. If the rappers could count money, they would be foreclosing on very black family in sight. They get paid for passing out the degradation. They are despicable.

When Florida GOP Representative Allen West did his rap version of degrading Wasserman-Shultz in an e-mail titled,

"Unprofessional and Inappropriate Sophomoric Behavior from Wasserman Schultz."

The e-mail said: "Look, Debbie, I understand that after I departed the House floor you directed your floor speech comments directly towards me. Let me make myself perfectly clear, you want a personal fight, I am happy to oblige. You are the most vile, unprofessional and despicable member of the US House of Representatives. If you have something to say to me, stop being a coward and say it to my face, otherwise, shut the heck up."

West was condemned unlike the acceptance given to those Oreo rappers who do the racists bidding. West was just doing a variation on the hardcore hip-hop beat so why was there a difference in response? Are black females less valued?

If words don't mean anything, then we waste our time on books and advertising dollars would not lead children to tell parents about the latest cereal or toy.