Jena, Race And The N-Word, By Shaheem Reid, Reporting From Louisiana

JENA and from the road, Louisiana — I woke up this morning thinking in the back of my mind, "There's a good chance I'll be called 'n----r' today."

It's come to this, huh? I was racking my brain last night, seriously thinking about the last time somebody had the audacity to call me "n----r" to my face.

Ironically, I had just come from the Jena Six rally in Jena, Louisiana, where about 20,000 people, many of them black, showed love to each other (see "Thousands March On Louisiana Town To Support 'Jena Six' "). "N----r" wasn't even a thought, except when considering the allegations that a white student used the slur on the Jena Six last year. But for somebody to lose his mind and call even one person in that sea of black people such a name was unfathomable.

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