Slaves to a word and a culture

I watch every day how someone can use the word nigger. Or someone says this person thinks this way because he is a black man. I will tell you one thing I grew up in an area that I really never heard the word nigger. If I did I never thought one way or the other about it. The black men or women I have met have always respected me and I respect them back just as if they were a friend of mine. I watch in the media how it brings Imus out and tries to make an example. Then Jesse Jackson does the exact same thing and since he apologizes he is forgiven. Which in my mind totally discredits Al Sharpton to a tee. I guess I will never understand this as a 36 year old white male because I did not grow up in a time when slavery and segregation existed. That is what I dont understand about alot of these that are the same age or younger. The only thing I can think of is are we slaves now to ourselves because we are not happy with ourselves?