Giving words power

I was in the kitchen when my little brother comes up to me and says " So N*gga and K*ffir are brothers?", I wasn't shocked - dude asks a lot of questions like this - I was just diseapointed that he already knew these words without their history or meaning. I sat him down and we thought on it for a minute ; I didnt know where to start, do I tell him about racism and oppression first or respect and anti-ignorantness? I couldnt decide so I just delved right into racism and words used to subjectify, label and oppress, I told him that it goes both ways, that any one of any race can be a racist if they are prejudists. By the time I had finished explaining the book by Steve Biko ' I write what I like' he still looked confused and he asked, " So these words only hurt people who care too much about them? Why dont we just pretend it never meant what it did before?", I almost cracked up, dude is right; we give weight to these words. By being overly sensitive about the use of the word you are giving someone else power over you because now they know how to get under your skin.
Its just a word afterall, just because rappers and artists will use these words in a vulgar or disrespectful manner does not mean you as an individual have to feel disrespected. I'm only saying this because I recently realised that the word fat is relative, the real hero and teacher of this story is my little eleven year old brother.
Now I kow what they are teaching 'em in schools today!!!!!!!!!!
Lesson learned, you are what you believe you are, so if someone calls you by a derogatory name you shouldnt be offended if that is not what you would describe yourself as. Do  not give that word power!!!!