Musician Slayyyter recently got caught being racist a bunch when she was 16 years old on Twitter. And I’m talking, “just shouting the N word in all caps over and over again” levels of racism. Slayyyter, who’s thirty, said the following: > [!Quote] Some racist hwhite hwoman > Everyone is trying to re-cancel me over things and behaviors from my high school days. This got me pretty pissed so here we are, me writing yet again because screaming into my pillow isn't very efficient. Nothing pisses me the fuck off more than people who try to say that their racism as teens was “an edgy phase” that they no longer indulge in, so you can’t call them out on it any more. Were it only so easy to forget being called the N word in third grade the same way you want to forget having said it. But if I have to remember, so do you. On top of this, it disgusts me how people have zero issue holding “children”[^1] accountable when it comes to “regular” bullying, but when it comes to racism suddenly there’s crickets. White people will agree that a kid was a mean bully when they were ten years old. They will find it reasonable for an adult to still feel anger towards that kid for what was done to them at that age. But if that same kid said some racist shit when they were 10, suddenly they were just a smol bean baby who didn’t know what they were doing. 🥺 FUCK. OFF!!! Crackers[^2] seem to think that racism is some rite of passage that they get to simply shrug off like a nasty old jacket and we’re all supposed to just accept it and move on with our lives. So what if Justin Bieber was harmonizing with the N word when he was a tween? So what if Slayyyter was out here harassing the fuck out of Normani like it was her damn job? We've grown up now, it’s time to move on from my edgy phase. Your edgy phase is supposed to be wearing eyeliner and JNCO jeans and saying damn and duel-wielding keyblades in the school parking lot, like what the fuck are we doing here man? You can't just say slurs and then not acknowledge the impact your “phase” had on people on the receiving end. You don't get to act like being a child frees you from any and all criticism, particularly given that it’s actually *very easy to not say the N word*. Being Black online and off leads to a constant consciousness of how you're being perceived. I a protective, proactive assumption that every stranger, friend, celebrity, and coworker has some racist past, present, or future in the back of my mind. It feels like an inevitability. One that continues to appear and be forgiven for *me* by others who don't want to address their own prejudices. The kids I knew in high school don’t know about this blog (thank **fuck**) but if they ever happened to read it, just know that I remember every single one of you that was a racist as a kid. And no you’re not fucking forgiven, I don't like you, and I hope you get to feel an ounce of the mental anguish that I had to as a kid forced to bite my tongue whenever this shit reared its head. THIS IS WHY THE COOKOUT IS OFFICIALLY CLOSED. NO MORE INVITATIONS, LEAVE YOUR NASTY CORNBREAD OUTSIDE. [^1]: again, she. was. **SIXTEEN**. [^2]: and let’s be honest, it’s not just strictly white people…or strictly straight white people…iykyk