Claim The Slur, Or Bury It?

A new documentary purports to examine one of the most delicate debates in American race relations: who, if anyone, should be able to say the word “nigger,” and what do the various taboos surrounding the word tell us about our society? “To some degree the filmmakers are using the debate over language as an emblem for a host of uncomfortable racial issues that are pushed to the side, in Hollywood as in other parts of American society.”