I will bet you a million dollars that all of these kids on your team knew exactly why this word was so controversial. You did not need to tell them. Everybody knows about the slave owners and especially black people. But this word wasn't always seen as a negative. It simply denoted "black skinned". Nineteenth-century English (language) literature features usages of the N word without racist connotation, e.g. the Joseph Conrad novella The ni**er of the 'Narcissus' (1897). The main character is a West Indian black sailor and in no way was he seen as a poor representation of black people. Words can have many meanings and whose to say what the true meaning is or better yet, the right meaning! In no way do I favor racism, but I don't believe in the power of words that are nothing more than some letters scrambled together. What I do believe in, is the power of the thought that is behind the word. You can walk up to me and tell me how bad I am when you're actually complimenting me and telling me how good I am. Yeah! and what about the word motherfucker. When you break that word down, it refers to people who fuck their mothers, but is that really what you think of when you hear it? Most of the time I hear it, it's not even a negative word. It's always like "What's up motherfucker" or "I love this motherfucker". People say it with affection now. I got many black friends and I never looked at them like they were different from any of my white friends. No, I don't use that word. Not because I think it's a bad word, but because of how other people perceive it.