Congratulations on making it past the title of this post and into the review. That’s the first step, but I warn you, not the last time you will have to encounter the n-word. Nigger. There. I said it. But do you say it? Is it a part of your vocabulary? Do you embrace it as a phrase of respect for others, or disown it, a heavy word of the past? Or do you whisper it when you hear it in songs or read it in texts, speaking just loud enough for you to hear in your own head? Is it a verb or a noun? An adjective? (Take a moment and sit with these questions.) In 2002, I received a book as a Christmas gift from some friends at school. That book was Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word by Randall Kennedy. I can only imagine the horror my parents must have felt. What kind of friends did I have that would buy this? (They knew exactly what kind of friends- white friends.) At 17, I didn’t have the understanding …