It does not take long to hear racial slurs on a college campus. As events of racism and hate speech unfold in cities like Charlottesville, Va. Americans must constantly remind themselves of the responsibility they have in these events for allowing hate to grow in their own home.

In America, the lyrics of artists shouting a word many associate with centuries of hate into slang by changing an ending syllable fill houses. Musicians want the public to view a hateful word as acceptable because of context. This should not be the case.

An artist should not be able to put the same word in music as a word which has a history of hate. Changing one syllable does not make a word, or the meaning associated with the word, any different from in the days of slavery.

Words of hate are not acceptable no matter which group says them. Race should not be a determining factor in who people allow to say words associated with hate because they should be off limits to all races.

History has shown how a group can turn a simple word into something ugly toward a certain race.

 Whether someone is African-American, Asian, Hispanic or Caucasian, every group has felt a form of discrimination at some point in history. The mistake people continue to make is allowing pop culture to turn these words of hatred into something acceptable.

Things today are not the same as they were in the days of the Civil Rights Movement, but they are not where they should be either.

The past does not define the American future, but people should also not forget the past and the way words and actions made an impact on our country.

A word is the same word whether someone shouts it at a protest or during the chorus of a song. Hate speech is hate speech no matter the situation.

Some may say people use these words in a different context so they do not mean the same thing. This thought process is feeding into what makes current cultured such a hate-filled place.

People should not forget history, and people should not continue to live history on repeat because pop culture says changing a syllable changes the meaning.

In times of violence and racism,  be the person who does not tolerate hate speech so we are not doomed to repeat history.