I'll be honest and say I used racial slurs as a very young white man, but I'm also honest in saying not in a long time, and never to POC to "put them down."

That being said, I think it is ridiculous not to be able to say any word in the context of discussing how it was used, particularly in an academic (historical) setting. The story recently of the teacher who got fired for describing 10 years ago about how other people used the word historically is fucking insane. Context matters.

Finally, I discussed Pulp Fiction and particularly "The Bonnie Situation" scene with my wife (who also really likes the film). My wife is not a POC but also not Caucasian (Slavic), and I wanted to get her opinion as someone who has personally experienced racism, even if it is not the US flavor. Also, I'll point out that we both have no real experience with organized crime or combat.

Jules and Vincent were looking at being arrested for murder and who knows what else if they didn't find a solution. Now maybe if Jules and Vincent were in their neighborhood and Jimmie had been throwing out racist epithets, Jules would have shot him or beat the shit out of him. I don't know (again, very little experience with that milieu). But if Jules had shot him or started a big-ass fight, how would they solve their problem? Yelling and fighting or gunshots and another dead body certainly would not help. Finally, is it not exactly an example of massive racism that Jimmie throws around the N-word when he knows the black dude can’t do or say fuck-all to him about it?

During the entire scene three dudes are discussing coffee and arguing about who picks brains out of the rear seat cushions. No one has more than a passing sense of remorse that a young guy just got killed and they are all joking around with Marvin’s remains splattered all over themselves and their car. To my mind that whole situation is so surreal that I have a hard time taking it seriously – like the entire movie.