Andrew Harrison proves the N-word ain't what it used to be

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“F*** that N***a.”

Saturday night, Kentucky Wildcats sophomore guard Andrew Harrison wasn’t interested in praising a player on a team he just lost to in the Final Four.

Harrison mumbled the ‘slur’ when a reporter asked his teammate to comment how difficult it was to guard Wisconsin’s Frank Kaminsky. Certainly, he didn’t realize his mic was ‘hot.’

The irony of this latest gaffe is that Kaminsky is white and Harrison is black — and Harrison used the N-word in reference to Kaminsky.

I have gone on record several times to say that we should not overreact when private thoughts become public, no matter how offensive they may be. Andrew Harrison is a young man who had just suffered the most upsetting loss of his life, and the person that was mostly responsible for that loss was the subject of his ire.

Watch Andrew Harrison’s ‘unscripted’ moment below:

[youtubevid video=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MtoKhCX3qpE” id=”MtoKhCX3qpE” w=”640″ h=”360″]

I know the N-word is like the third rail on the cultural landscape of America. As a writer, I truly understand the power of words, but what is even more powerful is the intent or the true meaning of the words we use, especially in context.

For me, the N-word doesn’t hold the power; it is the intent behind the word. Obviously, Harrison didn’t mean it in a racial sense. He could have easily replaced the n-word in his phrase “F that N-word” with “F that guy,” and the meaning and intent would have been exactly the same.

Now let’s be honest, if the tables were turned and Kaminsky had said the same thing about Harrison in the exact same scenario, then all hell would have broken loose on Easter Sunday, Kaminsky would have been branded a racist and it may have even cost him money and positioning in the NBA draft.

Let’s face it:  young people of all colors are throwing the N-word around in all kinds of contexts that have nothing to do with race.  In the above scenario, if Kaminsky had said it and meant it the same way that Harrison did, then shouldn’t he be given the benefit of the doubt – as I’m sure most black people are doing with Harrison?

Or is the N-word just too taboo to ever be uttered by a white person, and there will always be hell to pay for all offenders?

I know I am in the minority when I say let’s take the power away from the N-word and focus on the intentions of people when it comes to race matters. People can say and mean much more hateful things using the Queen’s English without ever resorting to the use of racial epitaphs.

Don’t get me wrong: I am not saying that we should ignore racism and just sweep it under the rug when it rears its ugly head. However, I think there are two lessons to be learned from this:

1) In relation to private thoughts becoming public, we should always do our best to be empathetic, because we’ve all said things and will continue to say things privately that we wouldn’t want people to use to make a blanket indictment of our character.

2)Like it or not, the millennials have reshaped, repackaged and remixed the N-word – they don’t carry around as much, if any, of the baggage of the word’s history as older generations.

Race in America is still a powder keg issue. As a nation, we haven’t completely healed from the sins of the past. Sports is one area in our culture where strides have been made, because black and white players end up spending an inordinate amount of time together in a team environment with a common goal. It’s not the players that seem to have the issue as much as the fans.

Harrison apologized via Twitter and contacted called Kaminsky directly and apologized. I’m convinced that there is no “vibe” or hateful feelings between Harrison and Kaminsky.

They left it out there on the floor. Sure, Harrison is disappointed and may never forget that loss for as long as he lives, but he gave it his all, and on Saturday night, it wasn’t good enough.

Harrison was wallowing in pain after his quest for an undefeated season was cut short, and he said something that he never intended to be overheard. We’ve all said much worse, especially after a heartbreaking loss by our favorite team.

Unfortunately, most of the venom and hate that gets spewed via comments public and private, online and in person happens more with us fans. who often invest way too much of ourselves in the outcome of something that we absolutely no control over — believe me; that’s a recipe for certain disappointment.

Andre Kimo Stone Guess is a contributing writer for theGrio.com and cultural critic. He is a former CEO of the August Wilson Center in Pittsburgh and former VP and Producer for Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York. Follow him on Twitter – @aeducatedguess and visit his blog at aeducatedguess.com