Sacked for using 'N' word

[Horrace]

I don't know how to copy link sorry but has anyone been following the story of the Lloyd's bank manager who was sacked for asking a relevant question in a so called anti racism training session by his employers but in his question he used the full 'N' word.
His question I believe was how would he be expected to deal with black employees or customers speaking to each other using that word.
The trainer was so offended by the word, she had to take 5 days off work. However, he got sacked.
He has since been awarded £500,00 but no apology from Lloyd's and no job back.
As far as we know, the ridiculous incompetent trainer is still employed.

I am close to this story but afraid to say how.
But will say that I'm losing sleep and furious more and more at this bank.

Thank. YOU. Sorry for your experiences.

No one on this thread has said they are white and feel left out because they can't say the N word. I have no desire to say it. Same as I don't use the C word to descibe women. I don't let my white sons use gay as a descriptor either. They have no desire to say the N word and don't mind their black firends using it. People's experiences can be different without is taking away from the hideous experiences other people have had with that word.

I’m baffled by this tbh. It’s just a word. It reflects a hateful attitude but the word itself only holds the power given to it by speaker or listener.

I also don’t really understand why it’s so uniquely awful compared to the horrible words used about gay people, Jews, women etc.

@AIstolemylunch This is an environment/context thing. If you work in a school in a large city you hear black young people calling each other the N word on an hourly basis! They are proud to do it because it's been 'reclaimed' and is assocaited with cool rap/grime artists

And in lyrics usually spelt with an "a" rather than an "er". Presumably to avoid falling foul of online censorship checks, or perhaps even real world ones.

Does that change the word? Does the different spelling mean that when TLC describe the man they would be willing to spend the night with (rhyming with "ten inch or bigga") make it a different word to the one used in the original title of Agatha Christie's (renamed) "And then there were none"?

I'm hypothesising. I suspect with the wrong audience.

Perhaps it's time this thread was removed as it has got toxic and I'm sorry to say that it's very racist. Bad move MN for not removing it so far. It's clear that there are racist undertones to the white posters who feel rejected that they can't use this word.

Please Mumsnet. I call for this thread to be removed.

All of you wanting to say it but claiming you're not racist, are deluding yourselves
Nobody here want to say it. Nobody on this thread would consider saying it or consider inoffensive to use it in the context you've shared

There is MASSIVE difference mentioning the word in the context of training when it is not directed at anyone and shouting it in the street at a toddler.

Let's be real and not act outrageous comparing apples and pears.

No idea. I don't use the word, in any form. The ONLY point I am making is that lots, and lots, of young people do. So how is that going to be policed?

@vivainsomnia I totally agree with you. I haven't been posting on my for long and it's sad to see that there are so many delusional racists here and it's not being challenged by mumsnet.

I'm going to report it.

there are racist undertones to the white posters who feel rejected that they can't use this word.

Which posters do you think fall under this category? I think anyone that is horrible enough to want to use this word in a racist manner just would. Nobody needs permission to use a word, just like this bloke didn't. I REPEAT I DO NOT USE, NEVER WOULD, AND HAVE NO DESIRE TO SAY THE FULL N WORD.

@AIstolemylunch my children's experience was from white girls saying it to her and she felt offended and upset after. I did post up thread that black youths do use it as a way of greeting eachother and it's not because of hip hop it dates back to slavery. When white youths start saying it because of the music they listen to that's when it becomes a problem because no one is educating them why they say it and the history of the word. I posted up thread about it from a professor from America he teaches on the matter of the n word.

If they are using it within their own friendship group and it is not causing offence, does it need to be policed?

It is different, but I know lots of LGB etc people who use the word for a female dog to refer to their friends but there is no offence intended nor taken. It is a totally different context when it is used to refer to someone who is not party to that relationship.

Well that's my question - and, presumably, the bloke in this case (although I suspect he was just being a dick). But according to other posters, even asking that question is a reportable offense <shrug>.

Good point.

He used the word outside of that relationship. Ergo, he must be punished.

This thread is talking about the freedom to discuss words and what they mean. To acknowledge that offensive words exist. No-one is asking for the freedom to be hateful. Lloyds would be better off tackling the real racism you describe because being twitchy about the use of a word in a benign context isn’t going to do anything when it comes to real violence.

I guess you’re saying that negative experiences of the word mean that people are triggered by hearing it at all. I don’t really know how this fits with it being in common use in some communities.

I don’t think you should assume we’re all white either. POC don’t all have to think the same.

@AIstolemylunch: I suspect he was just being a dick

Also agreed.

There are certain words you don't say to people or it will cause upset and offense. I asked my daughter if she heard black kids greet eachother using the n word and she said yes but the issue is the only people who have said the n word to my daughter is white people in a racist tone.

Oh please everyone knows the word is extremely offensive and if you need to demonstrate the word you use the n word

save place to talk why does that give permission to use extremely offensive language

Hideous for your daughter. Those grls were racist and i hope they were punished. You have misunderstood my point though. I don't use the word and dont think it was invented by 20th century rappers. I am saying that the black boys I know use it use it because of the influence of rap/grime, not becuase of the influence of slavery, although they are obviously aware of the history, they just feel like they have superceded it - that is what they tell me directly in a school I work in when it is discussed.

I wish we could just outright ban the word as it is clearly so powerful and hurtful for many to hear it, I just dont see how you can when you can turn on the radio and hear song after song singing it.

Nothing else to add so i'll leave you all to it.

Completely agree.

That's what you hear and think that's where they get it from. Its not when they go home and talk to their family they talk about the past and current issues.

You may not be white, but you're certainly not black.

No one is taking away your freedom. You can say it all you want. You'll look like a giant racist though, but if that's what you're going for by all means...

It’s fucking lunacy that we have ONE word in the English language that can never be uttered because the mere sound of that particular collection of vowels and consonants apparently has some sort of supernatural power. Even if no one else is in the room. A young girl was singing along to a rap song in her own car and lost her university place and had her whole life ruined, simply because she sang along to the N word too.

Of course it’s not a word that should be directed at anyone. But it’s highly performative to claim just hearing it said, even in a perfectly innocent context, traumatises you beyond words. And sorry, but it is relevant that the same people would be able to hear it in a rap song (along with other awful words like ho and bitch) without it bothering them.

Either the very sound is the end of the world, or it isn’t.

@Lasegna: Racism is a way to terrify white people and make them submit to your POV - despite (usually) not saying anything offensive.

Wow! I mean, Wow!

Are you really so deluded as to marginalise racism as an attack on white people?

Do you see what is going on in the world???

A young girl was singing along to a rap song in her own car and lost her university place and had her whole life ruined, simply because she sang along to the N word too

Do you have a link to this story, please?