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Racial Slur

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During my junior year from fall 2014 to spring 2015, I was a copy editor for the school newspaper. It was a relaxed environment, and everyone knows each other very well. Employees are allowed to do as they please as long as they are efficient and prompt with their work and due dates. Music, food, and profanity is allowed. One evening as I was working, a colleague of mine decided to play music for the entire office. He chose a Pandora station that did not have censored lyrics. I was nervous when a certain song by Lil Wayne played, because his songs are strife with the ‘N-word’. As the song progressed, my colleague continued to rap the word aloud with no hesitation or regard toward me being present. I did not say anything or report him to the …show more content…
I would also advise him on the proper stations that only play censored lyrics. If I noticed that the behavior did not change, I should have taken the initiative to discuss the situation with the head of the publication. Blowing the whistle would not have only benefited me. It would have been my opportunity to stand up for the African-American community as a whole. With the racial issues that the country still faces today, I am disappointed with myself for not saying anything. The word is used to demean my race and make us feel that we do not belong in this country at all. Josiah Royce writes in “Loyalty” that the definition of loyalty is the “devotion of a person to a cause,” (316). He also states, “Many people find that they have a need of loyalty. Loyalty is a good thing for them,” (317). Loyalty to a cause would have been good for me because it would have given me a supportive reason to be uncomfortable with the music. I should have been whistleblowing for the activists who fought for me to be able to attend this university. I should have blew the whistle for the minorities who were not allowed to edit for this publication. Most importantly. I would have been standing up for the African-Americans today who have been called that word while a police officer or figure of authority showed no sign of respect or regard for their lives. It was my professional responsibility to speak up for myself, and no one else’s. Since I chose to leave in the middle of the semester, the copy editing team was short a staff member. I was unemployed for a certain amount of time, and I have chosen not to use the publication as a reference. As I analyze this situation, I realize that whistleblowing would have given me more positive outcomes, than bad. I would have been able to keep the staff balanced, I would have maintained a steady income throughout the end of my

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