I belong to a generation where Richard Pryor was the only person to use the N-word in a public place. Today, however, rappers and hip-hop music are inundated with the word, and our young listeners imitate their idols. It’s considered hip, like “dude” or “homeboy,” and has now become a problem in Dallas schools, as well as many other schools across the country.

Recently, a middle-aged white English teacher in Kentucky used the word toward one of his black students and was suspended for 10 days without pay. The teacher defended his use of the word as an attempt to relate to the student in a modern way. As you can well imagine, Black parents, pastors, and civil rights leaders complained loudly and publicly, with many wanting the teacher fired. I can’t say I blame them as that was my own reaction when I first read about the incident.

Lauren Roberts, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky high school, stated that all students use the term with each other, regardless of race. A Dallas teacher at Carter High School sees the same thing at his school and has campaigned vigorously to ban the N-word from all Dallas schools.

Hollis Brashear has taken up the campaign and wants all racial or ethnic slurs banned from Dallas schools. Dallas schools already have a policy prohibiting the use of obscene and offensive language, but Brashear wants more specific language written into the policy.

Brashear is a native of the city, who attended schools in Dallas. He was also the longest-serving trustee of the Dallas school board at the time of his resignation last spring. During his tenure, he spoke openly about everything from leadership concerns of different superintendents to racial issues within Dallas schools. A graduate of Lincoln High School in the 1950s, he pointed out that such language was not suitable for students who wanted to do something with their lives, regardless of their race. Brashear noted that he is still inappropriate today. It all comes down to the basic principles of decency, civility, and respect for oneself and others.

You can’t have it both ways. Students who use the N-word as a term of endearment one moment can’t be mad the next when an Anglo uses it, Brashear told the Dallas school board last April. This dangerous double standard is the problem that Dallas schools are currently dealing with.

According to Brashear, the answer is easy: stop using any offensive language, especially in public places and especially racial slurs. As a veteran administrator of Dallas schools, a 21-year retired military officer in the Army Corps of Engineers, a graduate of A&M University, the owner of an engineering consulting firm, and a successful black businessman, Brashear knows what talking. Offensive language, especially ethnic slurs, does not belong in Dallas schools and more specific language in school policy is obviously needed for guidance of all as well as enforcement of the policy.