The speaker is  Ta-Neshishi Coates,  senior editor and water. He is an African-American male who as he states in the first paragraph has six siblings and a father named William Paul Coates.
The occasion is that Coates is arguing about the word N*gger saying that even though it’s just a word some people are trying to ban  while others  use it unabashedly. “ in this case it means exempting black people from a basic rule of communication – Words take on meaning from context and relationships”( Coates 4)
With the continual use of the word we, the audience seems to be other African-Americans or like-minded people .
The purpose of this article is the show that we as a people create meaning to words or drag out the meanings. He uses examples ranging from his father being called Billy or Paul by friends but never but him ,  women calling each other bitches and let’s not forget the rappers who also say the word nigger in both  A negative way and what could be assumed as positive.
The  Tone in this article is serious in a bit zealous when it comes to speaking on this topic. He shows that he understands the negative emotions and memories attached to the word.  “  Nager is the border, the sign post that reminds us that the old crimes did not disappear. It tells white people that for all their guns and all their gold there will always be a place they can never go”. (Coates 5)
My thoughts on the article is that it’s very informative and  has an interesting view on the use of the word .  He reminds you that a word can be just a word depending on the meaning behind it or how it’s being used .
