Editorial

Right, left, conservative, liberal, young and old. It didn't matter.
When the Record-Eagle reported that a local gun shop employee referred to President-elect Barack Obama as "the n-----" in a story about the store flying the American flag upside-down, reaction was swift and nearly universal -- this we will not accept.
People from across the political spectrum made phone calls or wrote letters to express not just outrage at the use of the slur but to reject the mind-set its use represents. Political speech is one thing, but this wasn't it. It was hate speech.
Of the dozens of readers who wrote letters to the editor (nearly 120), many were not just offended but saddened that this came in the wake of a historic election. We've all heard that word and others like it before and shrugged the whole thing off; but in the context of Election Day 2008 the verbal assault carried a special sting. Barack Obama is the nation's president-elect, not "the n-----."
The reaction was electric. It seemed the entire community, almost as one person, decided to no longer turn a deaf ear to these kinds of attacks. People spoke up. They made it clear they would no longer endorse -- by their silence -- efforts to intimidate and debase based on skin color.
A few writers and callers tried to defend the indefensible; a few decided to blame the messenger. Some agreed with Hampel's Key and Lockshop employee Rod Nyland, who said employees at the gun shop were flying the American flag upside-down because that is "an international signal for distress and we feel our country is in distress because the n----- was elected."
Nyland, who was later fired for using the slur, wasn't alone in his feelings about the election. Hampel's salesman Jack Fellows, who said he was a spokesman for the gun shop, condemned Nyland's choice of words but assailed Obama's record.
"The winning presidential candidate was not our choice and has the worst anti-gun record in Congress, let alone the Senate," Fellows said. "We feel we are facing a national crisis. Fine rhetoric is one thing, but the gentleman has no executive record whatsoever. He's not fit to be president of the country."
That's his opinion and he's welcome to it. No one has to like the president or the choice voters made. But using a slur in such a discussion debases the speaker and the message.
It is not often a community has the kind of discussion the Grand Traverse area has had in the past week. As someone pointed out, most of those who harbor such feelings are rarely willing to expose themselves to the censure of the community by speaking up in public.
Conversely, most of us simply don't want to talk about it -- or confront those who cross the line into hate speech.
Over time, Obama's election may or may not prove to be good for the nation.
But nothing can change the fact that American voters elected a black man to the highest office in the land, shattering a color barrier many thought would never be broken. American voters -- white, black, Hispanic, Asian and Muslim -- were put to the test: Could they really set aside ancient feelings about race and vote on the issues? Obviously, many did just that.
Something good has already come out of this. People have refused to be silent, to go along to get along. They have taken a stand which will hopefully make it easier to speak up the next time.
Having political opinions and expressing them is our right as Americans. But we have no right to use racial slurs to demonize and intimidate.

The Record-Eagle, Traverse City, Mich.