Editor, Gazette-Journal:

What a strange time we live in today! Young comedians and rappers use the ‘N’ word all day long, but Paula Deen admits saying it once 26 years ago in the privacy of her own kitchen and she must be ruined. She must be reduced to tears and lose her livelihood, as well as her reputation.

Now I personally despise that word, along with numerous others, and never heard it in my mother’s house nor allowed it in my own. But then again, I was never robbed at gunpoint by a man of color, as Paula reportedly was, either. If so, I might have been heard saying something other than, "a nice young gentleman of color pointed a gun at my head today, dear." So please just walk a mile in her shoes and give the poor woman a break.

It simply makes common sense.

Jonnie Adams

Cardinal, Va.
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