“I’m not mad, just disappointed,” lamented 48-year-old Tim Saunders about the infrequent use of the N-word amongst his Black co-workers and friends.
“Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to say it. The word is a poison on our society but I sure as hell want to hear them say it every now and then,” said Saunders.
The Youngstown, Ohio native thought he would get his chance to hear the slur come off the lips of an African-American when his next-door neighbors sold their house to a young Black couple expecting their first child.
“Nothing doing! I can’t tell you how many lunches and Barbecues I invited them to, and not once did they say it.” If I could, I’d say it all the time, for kicks.
Saunders, who will be 50 in two years, believes his chance to hear the word in person may be slipping. “I’m not getting any younger; I thought I had my chance when I got a Black boss a few years back. I was ready for it, but it just didn’t happen. I guess the timing wasn’t right.”
Though hearing the racial epitaph in person has alluded to him, Saunders says he’s taking it one day at a time and believes that if he stays humble, focused, and sharp, as Ted Kennedy once put it: “The hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.”