When it comes to racism, Caucasian people are notorious. So it’s no surprise that even in the year of 2007, racism, prejudice, sexism, and discrimination run rapid in the United States today.

Many of us witness these things on a daily basis, whether in work, school, public, books, or all over the media.

Recently on April 4, talk show radio host Don Imus was on air when he was watching tape and commenting on the Rutgers University women’s basketball team and said, “That’s some rough girls from Rutgers, man they got tattoos. That’s some nappy-headed ho’s there, I’m going to tell you that now.”

It was because of this remark that Imus was later rightfully fired from his radio show at CBS.

For those of you who don’t know, Don Imus is a white, old, and obviously ignorant man. Despite the fact that not only did he think these thoughts in his own mind, he said them on a live, national, radio talk show for thousands of people to hear.

This was a false, stereotypical, ignorant, racist, and above all, sexist comment.

Along with many other problems and discussions that this has caused, it has ultimately brought to the table the question of racial double standards.

For many white Americans the question is “if black people can say and use those types of words than why can’t we?” The answer however is simple, and should be obvious as well. If being used by someone from a different race, culture, background, or lifestyle, it is not only offensive, but it is ignorant as well.

While many people point fingers at the hip hop industry for their use of these words, and call it a double standard, they don’t realize that as cultures and races of people who use these words have taken them and have turned them into something positive when they use them.

For many years different groups of people have had words thrown at them with the purpose of being offensive such as the “n” word, “gay”, “queer”, etc. However over the years those words have been flipped and made positive by the people who are among those groups.

However, when coming out of anyone else’s mouth, it is often hard to distinguish whether or not the term is being used negatively.

People hear songs, watch comedians, tv, movies, and then they take these words out of context. When they do this the words become harmful and offensive.

The reason why Chris Rockcan say certain things, or poke fun of his background and race is because it is where he is from, and who he is. Michael Richards, who is a comedian however got in trouble for making racial slurs during a comedy act. Richards is white, he had no room to say those things.

Look at it this way, when people are with a group of friends they sometimes will crack jokes or make fun of each other, and not take any offense.

However if people are with a group of friends and a stranger comes up to them and starts to make fun of them it is different, and will probably be taken offensively.

Many people may claim double standards when it comes to language and slurs, however in cases such as these there are no double standards, only ignorance and a lack of understanding